A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe.
Authentic Leadership & The Heart-Centered Business is a great conversation to have, especially in a world that needs a new form of leadership now more than ever. Wherever I look, I see more finger-pointing, labelling and name-calling, while love, compassion and kindness are squashed under the big patriarch thumb of “let’s be real” or “don’t’ be woo woo.” Every dialogue I have about new possibilities ends with “yeah, but there is no money in this” or “big corp will never let the cream rise to the top.”
Let’s take it from the “top,” shall we. Type leadership into your search engine and you’ll get a large variety of John C. Maxwell’s definition:
Real leadership is being the person others will gladly and confidently follow.
What if leadership, instead of gladly and confidently following one person, was a group of people collaborating? What if we’re all leaders following our own hearts?
Authentic Leadership & The Heart-Centered Business: Why It's Time To Put Your Big Girl Pants On
In a result and productivity-obsessed culture such as the one we live in, business and academia have become especially adept at discrediting our feelings’ intelligence. Following our hearts if often considered illogical, counterproductive and absolutely unreasonable.
“You can’t get ahead by following your heart – actually – it’s the biggest lie we’re told,” says best-selling author Danielle LaPorte. “Choosing fulfillment, choosing to activate your feelings can turn the tide of your history and our collective future. When we make feeling good a priority – everything changes. Our individual lives change and social and cultural systems change. How we make and spend money changes, and how we teach and love will change.“
According to the Heart Math Institute, the heart generates the largest electromagnetic field in the body. The heart field’s magnetic component is about 100 times stronger than that of the brain and can be measured several feet away from the body. In other words, feelings are stronger than thoughts. When our heart guides us in business as in life, we lead with our authentic selves instead of our survival self. We make better choices! Feelings aren’t facts, but they are how we perceive our life, and perception informs how we live it.
These are uncertain times, and we need to meet them with the certainty of our own inner wisdom, not following someone else’s.
I know firsthand that operating in a world built by men for men isn’t easy. That it’s discouraging to get interrupted in boardrooms and exhausting to work twice as hard to have our ideas heard. But it’s time for us to take our seat at the table. The qualities that we’ve learned to suppress (love, compassion, nurturing, collaboration) are the key to creating a different world and the value we bring to co-creation. These are uncertain times, and we need to meet them with the certainty of our own inner wisdom, not following someone else’s. Open your heart and take the lead.
authentic leadership
Authentic leadership means having the courage and confidence to take your place in your community and co-create a new world by sharing your insights from the experiences you’ve endured for the collective’s betterment.
Join me in this powerful conversation about Authentic Leadership & Heart-Centered Business with Soulful Business Strategist and Desire Map Facilitator Ann Marie McKenzie. Ann Marie has worked for over 20 years with individuals, youth, families, corporations, and communities, developing and facilitating programs that promote wellbeing, authentic leadership, and sustainable business practices.
PRIVATE
Coaching
create a thriving life you love
I help women create thriving lives by identifying their core destires, restoring work/life balance and focusing on overall wellbeing.
I work with women just like you!
Hi I'm Yvonne
I work with entrepreneurial women just like you who feel a deeper calling to explore the meaning in their lives.