I spent Friday evening and Saturday in the presence of a great man with a valuable message, in a program called “Claim Your Voice, Claim Your Life,” with Arthur and sponsored by The Abundance Network.

Arthur asserts, and lives, that vocal awareness gives us presence, and power, and authenticity.  After my short experience I concur and I saw it evolve in the room.

As Malcolm Gladwell points out in Outliers, 10,000 hours of practice are required for true, complete, in-your-bones mastery to occur.  That is so with Vocal Awareness as well.  Arthur’s work requires daily practice — seven minutes a day, to be exact.

If this concept is interesting to you and you want to know more, go to http://www.theabundancenetwork.com.   These several follow-up events with Arthur are occasional, spread out over time to allow practice.  It is not too late for you to join us!  Whether this is your path or you have another, and you are interested in mastery, I recommend the book Mastery, the Keys to Success and Long-Term Fullfillment by George Leonard.  It is small and mighty.  And, I recommend Arthur’s book, Vocal Power, Harnessing the Power Within and other products that can help you along that path.  Life is a journey, not a destination.

For me, I am on a journey to generate a conversation about trusting leaders, and leaders earning that trust.  That passion fires me up every day, and I am highly motivated to become more of myself, if that makes sense, so that I can illuminate the crying need, empassion and embolden leaders to be principled and to make choices that are not completely self-serving, but serve the whole of humanity and the earth as well.  That vision will take all I’ve got for the rest of my life, to make the difference I was put on this planet to make.  Not being a spring chicken, I’m in a bit of a hurry — but as Arthur pointed out, yocannot hurry the loving breath, which sources vocal awareness which sources authenticity.  The opportunity lies in the paradox — slowing down to accomplish more.  Oh, and by the way, being accountable for those choices!  Accountability pays!

I first found Dr. Kent Keith’s Paradoxical Commandments in 2002, and have carried them around with me.  I have looked at them from time to time as a source of inspiration when some particular challenge came along.  Recently I asked Dr. Keith if I could share them with you, because these days I believe we would all be well served to keep them top of mind.

THE PARADOXICAL COMMANDMENTS

By Kent M. Keith

1.  People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.

2.  If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

3.  If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

4.  The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.

5.  Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

6.  The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway

7.  People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.

8.  What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

9.  People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.

10.  Give the world the best you have and you’ll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.

© Copyright Kent M. Keith 1968, renewed 2001

The Paradoxical Commandments were written by Kent M. Keith as part of his book, The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council, published in 1968 by Harvard Student Agencies, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Here are some of my thoughts about this topic, and very shortly I’m going to be conducting a survey so everyone can feed the conversation!

Authenticity is one element that fosters trust, as does integrity (doing what you said you would do, when you said you would do it at the low end, holding an empowering context at the high end).  I agree that having a vision (a future that is enrolling for followers) is critical, then the sustained execution that actually moves the organization toward that future, visibly, is important to sustaining trust.

The disappointment comes for followers when the gap widens between what is promised, and what develops.  (Many a slip twixt the cup and the lip).   And, with a company name of Accountability Pays, of course I would have to include accountability as very important; producing results you said you would produce, or being in communication and adjusting expectations.

But the essential ingredient that is not an acceptable “business term” that I believe needs to be present is love.  When love (an open heart) is present, people listen for other peoples’ greatness.  They are generous when mistakes are made.  In other words, they allow for humanity when it creeps in, which it will always do. In my view, this intangible, contextual element (love) needs to flow in both directions, up and down, between a leader and his/her followers… there is that intangible link between two people that, when expectations are not met or promises are broken, hurts emotionally.

Because the feeling love is intangible and contextual, and usually is not included in the context of business, it isn’t addressed when damaged, causing damage beyond the damage that is visible and tangible.  I think the presence of love as an ingredient in leadership is a missing conversation, and because it is such a large conversation — an elephant in the room — and because it means bringing feelings into the discussion — it is easier to leave it out than deal with it.

Love brings with it a level of engagement that is personal deeper than just getting results.  It makes firing people for shrinking profits much more difficult, for example.  And maybe it will always live in the background unspoken, but I see in my own experience as a coach that love is present when real leadership is present, which is paradoxically both more magnanimous and creates greater accountability.  And love clearly fosters trust.