We coach leaders.

As my regular readers know my business is named AnD Consulting to represent my commitment to an and/both life.  For example, as I coached a recent Leadership Coaching client who was exploring a shift in career direction, I encouraged her to explore both its idealistic and pragmatic aspects by thinking through – was this career move congruent with her vision and did it pay well enough?!!

In the first weekend of August I had my annual treat of three days at the Byron Bay Writers Festival.  On day two I gathered another great example of two choices that, in an either/or world would be contradictory, but that, in an and/both world, are each possible.

Expect the Unexpected

Much to my surprise the highlight of the festival for me was an interview with a bloke called John Keane.  I further surprised myself by purchasing his 958 page book called The Life and Death of Democracy.

On the back cover Keane is describd as one of Britain’s leading political writers, a man whose work on democracy is of world-wide importance and declares that the book confronts its readers with an entirely fresh and irreverent look at the past, present and future of democracy.  Keane is in fact an Australian and is just home after many years offshore to become Professor of Politics at Sydney University – lucky students I say!

And/both in Monitory Democracy

Keane’s and/both message was in relation to the Monitory Democracy we now have that includes regulatory bodies (such as ASIC) and an opportunity for us to have our say through lobby groups such at GetUp! and Amnesty International – to name just two – as well as with our vote on election days.  Keane however did caution that change takes time in a Monitory Democracy and urged us to be both patient and impatient with our politicians.

What are your thoughts about this new form of democracy and/or have you any recent examples of an and/both way?

I had lunch with a friend called Margaret Kelly the other day.  She told me about an art exhibition she recently held in a village in Italy themed on a quote by Max Weber:

Man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun.

Ignoring the gender exclusiveness common in Weber’s time, the quote really spoke to me.

However, where Margaret turns to art and paints pictures to express her thoughts and feelings about how we can get tangled up in webs of our own and others’ making, my mind turns to the power of having a personal vision to weave a web of my own choosing.

I wrote my first vision in the mid ’80s and review it annually.  I’ve always seen my vision as a rudder that helps me keep steering in the direction I’ve set rather than getting caught up in the whirlpool called life.   Weber’s quote has given me a new analogy:   having a vision means I weave my own web of meaning and purpose and stops me getting tangled in others’ webs.

Do you have a personal vision that helps you weave your own web?  If not, and Weber’s quote speaks to you too, check out our Vision Coaching service.

I’m currently reading the book Mandela’s Way – Lessons on Life and to my great delight “It’s always both” is the heading of one of the chapters.

The book, written by Richard Stengel (who helped Mandela write his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom), lists and describes Mandela’s 15 messages for life and leadership.

More on Mandela’s 15 messages in the next Value Adding newsletter (out soon).  But for now I can’t let the sun set on today without writing a blog about Mandela’s belief in “it’s always both” because it matches my commitment to do my best to live in an “and/both” way.  Indeed, my business is called AnD Consulting to represent this way of being and doing.

However, as I’ve learned, it can be hard to live this way and to explain to others what it looks like in action.  So I was heartened to read this chapter earlier this morning.

Stengel:  Shades of gray are not easy to articulate.  Black-and-white is seductive because it is simple and absolute. .. This way of thinking is demanding … it requires us to put ourselves in the shoes of those with whom we disagree. .. But the reward, as we can see in the case of Mandela, is something that can fairly be described as wisdom.

Yes!!  As I juggle my hats of home duties and business owner on this mid winter Monday by writing this blog between getting washing in the machine and onto the line I celebrate Mandela and thank Richard Stengel for this piece.

What are your thoughts on Mandela’s “it’s always both” belief?