Hi
Here is your Five-Bullet Monday
A quote I am pondering
"Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose
or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path." – Brené Brown
For many of us, especially those in leadership, we often feel the pressure to deliver perfectly, to lead decisively and to paper over any chinks in our amour of self-confidence. We feel that showing any weakness or uncertainty or revealing personal struggles is tantamount to failure. Brené Brown has done more than just about anyone else to show that vulnerability is okay. Those who look up to us want to see our authentic selves much more than they want to see our perfection. That doesn't mean publicly displaying every struggle we have, but it does mean revealing enough of ourselves that it helps and encourages others in their personal challenges.
A question I am asking myself
How would a world-class performer be doing my job today?
Being in a new and unfamiliar role for the last six months, I find myself constantly questioning whether I am doing the right things, pushing too hard or too little or even focusing on the right areas. This question helps me take a step back and think about what a world-class Head of Sustainability (for my job) would be doing and where I might have gaps with what I am doing right now. Try to do the same in your role. You might unearth some different to-dos or to-do-less-of.
A book I am reading
Courage is Calling: Fortune Favours the Brave – Ryan Holiday
Sometimes you enjoy a book, sometimes you learn from a book, and sometimes a book hits you right in the gut. Courage is Calling is the latter, and it genuinely moved me and challenged me to my core. For that reason, I've listened to it twice this week. In the book, Ryan Holiday breaks down the elements of fear, courage, and bravery. He provides several inspiring stories of leaders like Charles De Gaulle, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Spartan King. Highly recommended reading by yours truly.
My favourite podcast this week
FOMO Sapiens – Living with Integrity, with Martha Beck
Martha Beck is a sociologist, life coach, and author. I enjoyed how she spoke of learning to live in the present moment, the importance of structural integrity in our lives, and its role in how we experience joy. She's lived these truths in her own life, as you will hear from the podcast, including going through a pregnancy with, and raising, a downs-syndrome child. Her career was
in top-flight at the time, and several of her Harvard colleagues were advising her to take a different direction.
Hugh-Tips
Learn to make money in a market that goes up and down
When markets are on their bull runs, as many have been around the world for many years now, we all look like great investors, boasting double-digit returns annually and looking forward to enjoying the fruits of our investing. The reality is that markets go through correction periods, and very few can predict when these will happen, how bad they will be and how long they will last. Market corrections can be 20% or more, and they can last for years. When markets turn, that's where intelligent investors shine and show their mettle. They prepare by having well thought-through and diversified asset allocations, and they may also take additional steps to protect their wealth, such as placing options like puts. Think about how your portfolio might perform in such a market correction and what you might do to soften the blow and potentially make some gains in the process.
My highlight this last week
Helping host our first Company leadership immersion session for supervisors in Tumbler Ridge
We hosted our first immersion leadership workshop for some of our supervisors this last week. I was fortunate to attend most of the day, and I also speak a fair bit about my leadership journey and our Company's direction, successes, and learnings over the year. It was an enriching time of engagement, sharing and learning from one another. What also emerged was more profound empathy from senior leaders like me, looking down through the organisation, and from supervisors and managers, looking up through the organisation. We now better understand each others' viewpoints, concerns and priorities.
My challenge to you for this week
Amp up your gratitude
You have heard it from me before, but a reminder to practice more gratitude is always timely. Try it first thing in the morning and the last thing at night, whether you think it, speak it or write in a journal. List out the things you are grateful for, and you will find it beautifully and powerfully bookends each of the days you have on this earth. I personally, morning and night, give thanks for my family members, my health, my friends, my home, my income, my work, and my country. I feel very blessed in my life, and I'm sure you too will appreciate just how much you have to be thankful when you think about it.
Have a wonderful week
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