AUTHENTIC Intelligence for the Win!

We were concluding the final session of a leadership development program that included eight sessions over four months. In a thoughtful round of open sharing, leader participants were articulating their visions for the future. Because of the sense of safety that had been created over time, each individual felt comfortable expressing themselves with vulnerability and honesty, and in some detail! As such, we were running short on time and asked the group’s main supervisor to distribute the certificates of completion while participants completed the session evaluation, rather than distribute these ourselves.

What I witnessed next gave me goosebumps. The supervisor took on the task and approached each individual, stopping to genuinely thank them for their participation. She made personal comments to each of her team members, looking them in the eye, and telling them how much she appreciated them. Each interaction took 20-30 seconds. She had no time to prepare these comments. Rather, she chose to show up and be fully present with each individual, speaking authentically and from the heart. I am certain that those 20-30 seconds will remain with each individual for a long time to come.

We are living in a time when ARTIFICIAL intelligence is on the forefront of just about everything we encounter. This, laid upon the backdrop of current events in our world, reminds me about the critical nature of CONNECTION. I believe it is more important than ever to remember the power of AUTHENTIC relationships.

Thank you, Reyna Woods of Tucson Water, for modeling this so beautifully today.

When was the last time you showed up authentically for someone for 30 seconds?

When were you fully present, without your mind racing to what’s next, preparing your response, making a mental grocery list, remembering that you forgot to give the dog its medicine?