Over my last couple of blogs and posts, we have been exploring the virtue and strength of acceptance.  It is the virtue of “the beginning”.  It is about accepting where we are, as a starting point… as a point of true presence.  No goal of consequence can truly start without it.  It is about this scene from Castaway.  Beautiful.  With that in mind…

Now, let us examine another virtue often not considered such; also a part of that understanding of the beginning of any venture.

Beauty is “a sense of wonder”.  It “calls us to look beyond superficial appearance to appreciate the gift…”.  How does this apply to leadership?

So often, we consider drive a core facet of leadership.  I am of the notion that it is less about drive and more about flow.  A surfer does not create the wave.  He or she finds it.  The surfer recognizes beauty in the wave and chooses to ride it. I would imagine this applies to many sports; finding that “sweet spot” and going with it.  Skiing, hockey, soccer, tennis, basketball, baseball, football, curling, volleyball; in all, an athlete seeks to find “the zone” and “the moment” as a thing of beauty.   Indeed, each of these sports and beyond has their respective skills and moments of beauty.  This is true of the world of work and business.  Great success stories are things of beauty.  Reclaiming and strengthening communities and schools require us to see the potential; the beauty.

The virtue of BEAUTY is about recognizing the wonder of opportunities and challenges alike.  For leadership to be visionary, I suggest that we need to see beyond the superficial to appreciate those with whom we work and the path upon which we walk and even strive.   Beauty is in a great goal in hockey or soccer.  It is in a great comeback in the fourth quarter.  It is in bringing a team together at work to rise to a challenge and to do it in unity.  It is found in serving our customers with dignity and integrity.  It is found in how we treat our employees and volunteers, our clients and our suppliers. It is found in schools where everyone matters.  It is in how we present ourselves and in our work spaces… the decor of our restaurants and waiting rooms.  It is in our surroundings and in the most noble of our motives.

Beauty is not soft.  It is exquisitely strong in its potential to see possibility.  Developing this virtue heightens our ability to see the potential.  That is a beautiful thing.  In the next few posts, we will explore the real application of this virtue; this strength of character.

For now, I leave you with three simple questions.  Where do you see beauty in your life… at school, family, work or community?  Where do you see the wonder of possibility?  How can you build on that?

Until then…

Peace, passion and prosperity,

Barry Lewis Green, aka The Unity Guy™