Where is the joy in your job?

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Butterflies and beach balls seldom occupy the same airspace: one seeks safety and calm and the other likes a party.  We had both last Friday at the Good Leadership Conference.

The Green Room in any theater is the one place of calm before the production begins.  As I sat in silence the butterflies flitted in my stomach. One each for all of the people who were counting on this endeavor to succeed. A gastric butterfly stampede.

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Slowly, each butterfly heard the Swing music and felt the winds of the movement on stage. One by one, as the chatter of an audience grew, the beach balls took over the airspace.  A sold-out, standing-room-only crowd was waiting…and the butterflies began to fly away. The party was on!

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The goodness took over: we began an intense conversation about rewarding excellence, living generously, promoting fairness and consistently spreading positivity.

But this conference highlighted the fact  we’re all on edge about something…it’s always something. Friday the edginess came from our subject matter around fairness. No one said Good Leadership is easy.  The conference programming highlighted we’re all a little edgy about leading effectively in a multicultural, multi-generational context.

Several attendees confessed to me during Happy Hour they also had butterflies coming into this conference. Especially Caucasians who don’t often venture into a racially blended discussion.  I’m fully aware most of the people invited did not choose to come to the conference because of the anticipated content.  Shall we say a gastric butterfly boycott?

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But the beach balls took over as the Breaking Ice Company performed the world premier of the production entitled “Leading Together”. The audience’s butterflies vanished as the actors recited their final chorus: Apollinaire said come to the edge
“it’s too high”
Come to the edge
“We’ll fall”
Come to the edge.
And they came
And he pushed them…And they flew!

Standing ovations always drive butterflies away. Always.

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So now the game is on: for the goodness movement to succeed, we have to recruit more passionate followers.  And help them buy books and tickets, become sponsors and ask them to be clients to help fuel the movement. Does that sound like butterflies or beach balls to you?  Please follow this link to see a photo collage of the event.

Good leaders make a habit of finding the joy in their endeavors, no matter how big the risks.  And they make sure the beach balls drive the butterflies out of the important moments of growth.

Drop me a note: if you attended the Good Leadership Conference, please share your thoughts with the rest of us.  If you missed it, please tell me: what’s causing the butterflies in your stomach?[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]