Positive leadership and the Pope

What can we learn?

The Pope and the hand incident got me thinking. I recognise this might sound odd, but it reminded me that no matter where we’ve got to in life, we’re all just trying to do our best at the end of the day, no matter our position and level of leadership. It made parallels for me between how challenging it can be to be empathetic, compassionate and take an appreciative inquiry lens to life (one where we look at the good stuff that’s getting us to where we are, rather than the stuff that’s not) when we’re under pressure, tired or busy, yes ‘sometimes even I lose patience’! It made me think when I’m setting my mindset for the new decade that I remember as much as I want to run at 100mph into the new challenges I am excited about, that ultimately everything is just one step at a time and about consistently trying our hardest (which is about as good as it gets). It reminds me to be kind, compassionate to myself and to others, and to put steps in place for this when the going gets tough and the joy of a Christmas downtime wears off (surprisingly quickly?).

Whatever your religion or philosophy in life, we see the Pope as somebody who has dedicated their entire life to a cause bigger than themselves and trying to make a difference in spite of the life-threatening challenges that no doubt come with this brave stance. He is a positive leader, and being a positive leader as recent events show is not easy. Nor are any of the goals we set for ourselves on our quest for positive leadership – we’re not just setting them for the sake of it or setting ourselves up to fail, they mean something to us and to others and we should not let them drop to the wayside. The challenge then is in how we set our goals, and the conditions we create around them.