Around one year ago, I did one of the most courageous things in my life. After spending several years in leading roles with one of the most complex organisations I know, I found myself in a time of deep transition, following an inner call for rest and rejuvenation. This call took me to the beautiful island of Jamaica, where my partner already awaited me, excited to show me around his birthplace. We had the most wonderful 4 weeks, and as our time came to an end I started to feel a growing inner turmoil, facing the expectation of the ‘next steps’ I already orderly put together. A direct flight to India, co-hosting a training for a practice I love, together with a group of people I truly admire.. This being said, I found myself in the car to the airport, the inner silence being hard to withstand, tears building up in the corners of my eyes, fog clouding my mind. Would I be able to leave? I passed through security and the flashing colours of a diversity of duty free shops as if I was on autopilot, all fading into one monotonous shade of grey. The moment I was sitting down at the gate and seeing the plane waiting in front of the window, something suddenly had shifted. I felt a tremendous flush of warmth rushing up my chest, expanding throughout the space around me. The colours rushed back into my vision and with the clarity of seeing anew I stood up and found my way to the head of the cabin crew. There was only one way for me, and that way would lead me out of the airport, straight back into the arms of my beloved.
There, of course, is so much more to this story, such as the incredible generosity of the customs in letting me back in, and the privilege of taking this decision. But the point I want to share with you is this heartfelt experience of courage that opened up a different path for me. A path that was about choosing myself, honouring my longing for rest and relationship, and daring to leap into a narrative outside of the ‘what’s next paradigm’. Reading this, you must know that I consider myself a highly loyal person, and breaking commitments is one of the worst things for me. It was scary to share all of this with my amazing team, waiting for me in India. Never have I encountered such warmth and respect as a response. I have been working with them ever since, and my partner just made it back to Europe to further explore this beautiful relationship.
This was one of the many personal stories that set the tone for our encounter at the Windsor Leadership Dialogue in 2024. A start of a 2-day conversation around courage and leadership that would bring us to many places of personal inquiry and collective learning.
Being human, we all know courage as a felt experience, a leap of faith, a surrendering to our own or a wider moral truth which then often turns into clarity around an actionable path.
From the idea of courage as a socio-cultural phenomenon to the appearance of courage in nature or exploring the courage it takes to address themes such as death and dying on a family and societal level. One could almost see the space lighten up everytime people encountered each other, diving into the questions they generously offered into the middle.
Following through our beautifully facilitated, unfolding dialogue, we all could feel how this little word ‘courage’ had opened to so many further meanings, melting into our collective body through a powerful combination of head, heart, body, and play. At the end of the two days, our individual ‘baskets’ were filled with rich personal learnings, a strengthened sense of courage and a spark of wisdom that emerged out of difference, held in a tight weave of deepened connections between this wonderful group of human beings.
Comments