Through BonneFire I have developed a monthly P-R-P:
Pulse Check – Reflection – Practice.
October’s Inspiring Guidance & Teaching for members is
“When the truth becomes clear, have the courage to see it.”
Enjoy a sample below.
Join BonneFire today to gain access to the full text of October’s Inspiring Guidance & Teaching!
When the Truth Becomes Clear, Have the Courage to See It
October’s honored guest for a BonneFire intimate chat is Barbara Cook, CEO of Undercover Colors. Undercover Colors, which has attracted private investors such as Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavericks basketball team), has developed a pioneering test to help reveal the truth of whether or not a beverage has had drugs introduced into it, specifically to aid people in avoiding sexual assault. “The class of drugs the test looks for includes Xanax, Valium, and Rohypnol, which are some of the most common date-rape drugs, or roofies, in use according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.”
Looking ahead to my chat with Barbara has inspired the theme for this month’s Pulse Check-Reflection-Practice: “When the truth becomes clear, have the courage to see it.“
There are many great figures who have spoken on the importance and power in Truth —however, seeing the truth, to get to the source, is not always easy, and it most often surfaces new challenges. In the case of Undercover Colors’s product, learning that there is a drug in your drink could be life-saving, and it also carries the responsibility of how to respond to the information revealed and what steps to take next.
The intention of this company’s product has some parallels to the work I have done with boards and high-level executives. They engage me to exchange and to share in a trusted space, truths about their leadership and the organization’s effectiveness, and those truths sometimes challenge foundational aspects of their company’s culture and about the effectiveness (or even ethics) of their boards and executive teams. During our open exchanges, we ask the right questions and we avoid making assumptions or brushing truths under the rug. In seeing and acknowledging the truths that exist amongst them, these leaders are ostensibly committed to finding ways to do what is right to optimally serve the organization and its stakeholders’ success. That is why we’ve come together in the first place, and this is what they must realize and commit to. Breakthroughs occur as a result of the clarity they get, and the right focus is unavoidable. However, the steps they choose to take after seeing these truths can require great courage.
I invite you to join BonneFire now and not to miss my chat with Barbara later this month, when we exchange about how seeing the truth allows us to be authentic in our lives at home and in business. Please read on, and take a pulse check on your current openness to seeing truth, reflect on how truth can liberate you and your organizations and engage in this month’s practice.
Seeing the truth when it becomes clear
The image I have chosen to accompany this month’s P-R-P is from a trip I took to Sea Beach in Olympic National Park this year. If you look carefully, you cannot help but notice how beauty is everywhere. We might prefer to see the beach on a clear, blue skies day, but whether the fog exists or not, the beauty is there. We need to be open to pause and to seek the beauty when it appears to be hidden. If we have preconceived ideas that a foggy day is dull, that will shape what we see. It does not affect the truth of what is.
This past month around the world, there have been a significant number of events that have revealed truths about ourselves, individually and/or collectively: we are where we are based on the state of our individual and collective evolution. The health of our future will be as a result of what we choose to do today and how we elect to engage together.
We must persevere in seeing the beauty that exists. We must envision how beauty in our world can be amplified and prevail as a result of how we show up to address what needs our attention. We need not to rush and react but to seriously pause and go to the source to thoughtfully remedy what we can. We are capable of transforming situations far more than we can ever imagine. For every situation, we have a choice to harmonize or to be divisive, to be wise or to rebel! Either way we must get to the truth of what causes our dissonance, and help each other evolve.
We don’t yell at a child when s/he is crawling. The truth is, s/he has to crawl before s/he walks and then runs. We know he s/he is eventually going to run, and we have to find ways to enable the process with discernment, love and patience; not by forcing it, screaming, discouraging, shaming or giving up. This truth challenges us for a while, and we need to address it with care, as otherwise the ramifications will be damaging for the child.
What’s in it for you to really see the truth when it becomes clear?
Individually, instead of pretending that everything is ok (or complaining that nothing works, or that nothing can change, or that everyone is wrong), you get to the core of the issues. You are prepared to address what can and should be enhanced about yourself and in your life. You get rid of toxicity in your life by being the change, yourself. You recognize that you can live as your own innate beauty. You get to see the beauty around you, and you attract more beauty into your life. You don’t let negative situations shadow the beauty that exists.
Collectively, you find the courage to address the total picture. In the boardroom you become the truth-bearer to help others see reality and the amazing opportunities inherent in doing the right thing. You can’t imagine not surfacing the real facts and prioritizing accordingly. You are not seeking “to be liked,” shying away from the tasks to tackle. You are committed to lead conscientiously: with an elevated consciousness. You tactfully ask the right questions and positively influence the path forward.
Are you prepared to see the truth and to go to the source?
Do you know what seeing the truth in your life means?
Do you typically avoid seeing the truth in your personal life, or do you take the time to step back and take a reality check?
In business, do you consider yourself a leader and/or an individual contributor who is open to seeing and hearing the truth– both the good news as well as the not-so-good news and the conflicts that you might have been the cause of?
Do you consider the ripple effects the truth might have on your effectiveness as a leader or as a contributor?
Seeing the truth is to take full account of the situation, first recognizing the positives, “what works,” constructively addressing “what needs improvement” and honestly acknowledging “what is missing.” ALL must be thoughtfully brought out in a comprehensive, exhaustive manner to gain clarity before you’ll know how to enable needed change, possible transformation and innumerable results. You will need to be prepared to go to the source in leveraging the positives, open to what can be enhanced and ready to prioritize what is critically missing.
Recognize the positives and what works
Do you realize that if you are not comfortable seeing the truth about yourself and your life at home that you are unlikely to be a truth finder in the boardroom? You can’t pretend to be adamant about getting to the source of the issues in business if you resist addressing the facts in your day-to-day life.
Individually, there is much that you can do to improve all sectors of your life by knowing how you are doing.
Your life can be immensely improved when you simply recognize and acknowledge the positives.
Collectively within your teams, your boards, your communities and your organizations, you ought to have a comprehensive understanding of what works. That cannot be taken for granted. Before criticizing, imagine the possibilities if you outlined and acknowledged all of the positives.
So, let me ask: are you crystal clear today of the positives in your life, at home and in business?
Seeing the truth is a natural and necessary process for our conscious growth. Tackling what is revealed is critical for our positive evolution. Disruption need not be destructive.
Get your feet wet in seeing the truth and assess how you show up in acting on it.
How are you doing in your life?
Think about what needs improvement in your life at home.
Outline one thing that you know needs improvement. Why? Are you the source of it? Why haven’t you addressed it before?
How is your board?
Should you stay on that board? If not, why don’t you maturely retire and push the eject button? Isn’t your role about maximizing the effectiveness of the board? If you are no longer relevant for the current and future strategic trajectory, motivated or effective, why do you stay?
How is the chair? Does s/he have relevance on the board today? If not, why as an individual and as a board do you avoid fulfilling your role in optimizing the composition for governance effectiveness?
Gain access to the full text of October’s Inspiring Guidance & Teaching by joining BonneFire today!
BonneFire is a community dedicated to fostering healthy individuals and healthy organizations. BonneFire is about living our lives loving what we do, being authentic to who we are, to our own unique blueprint. It is about being in harmony with ourselves and caring to be in harmony with others and realizing our individual and collective potential in all sectors of our lives.
BonneFire is in support of being true to ourselves, showing up authentically in roles that we commit to and inviting individuals to be introspective, self-aware, mindful, intentional and purposeful. Together we lead with dignity in alignment on values, governance and strategic priorities, conscious of the impact we can make for future generations. We are in service to each other and all stakeholders.
