As leaders, many of us need to develop the muscle of making bold requests. The muscle of thinking bold things others might pass up, the muscle of taking bold action.
So I ask myself, how would my work change if I had a practice of taking a bold action every day? Maybe today I would make the bold request of myself, do something that moves my work forward in a new way. Then on another day I would take a bold action in service of a client that would push our work together in new directions for more impact. .
This practice changes everything. Especially if, like me, you learned only one side of the Icarus myth, the injunction against flying too close to the sun. But many of us never heard the part of the myth that was a warning against flying to close to the water.
Flying too close to the sun is a bold move, a bold request. And I can tell you from experience that flying too close to the sea feels safer. But in reality it has sometimes sucked the life right out of me.
So today I’ll take a bold action.
The feeling in my chest as I write that tells me this will not be easy for me.
You see, stepping up to lead requires bold action, bold requests. The leader asks that others follow her vision. The leader steps boldly in the direction he feels the world should go. To fully embody our leadership, we must take bold action and make bold requests.