“I don’t have it in me to do this myself,” she said to me.
She was the heiress to a global cosmetics empire based out of Asia.
It was my first trip to Switzerland. I was taking in the stunning view of the Alps at the campus of the Symposium. I was having breakfast on the patio at the venue.
Global leaders had come to discuss the future of work. All the sessions were interesting.
But it was this conversation I had over breakfast that I remember the most after all these years.
She was vibrant and full of energy. She was deeply interested in my story and gave me her full attention.
I did not catch on who she was until we were well into the conversation. She told me her life story, growing up with the weight and expectations that comes with being an heiress.
She told me about the responsibilities of her role. What it was like to be groomed from a young age to take on this role.
“I honestly just pray and ask a higher power to guide me through these tough decisions. I really, truly, don’t have it in me to do this myself. And so far, it’s been working.”
That honesty was disarming.
Maybe it’s because we live in North America where these deeper philosophical or spiritual matters are brushed underneath.
Where people aren’t this open about something so personal to them.
But we have to accept that great leaders do more than just rely on their logic or intuition to guide them.
There is an element of surrender. There is an element of trusting a higher power. There is prayer. There is faith.
We pretend so hard that these things don’t matter.
I’ve worked with some people who are so driven by logic that working with them becomes unbearable. I’ve seen these people have low empathy, low consciousness, and low respect for their team members. Not always, but often enough.
They leave behind a trail of people who can’t wait to leave the door.
But there are others who have a deep inner life. Filled with a deeper yearning and surrender to the mysteries of life.
These leaders and their businesses are a class apart.
I wonder what would happen if we became a lot more open about this dimension of life at work.
We would probably make more holistic decisions, see ourselves and each other differently…and go home and sleep a bit more soundly.
Leave a Reply