Leadership
There’s a dance planted
firmly in the eyes. Care, respect
and press. You can tell
it all from the hands - where
they rest, how they flow.
How they rise! The way a
structure needs to first
dig deep, then the
smoothing.
Take the stage, despite the garish
light. Pay no mind to making the world, this room, turn.
Fly freely among the pulse
of murmuration.
Tend as to a forest - knowing all
things grow in time, and giving
is a part of taking.
This poem is another in my series of the language of “work”. Previously, I wrote on the subjects of Vocation and Collaboration.
My boss Tom once shared with me “leadership is sharing the credit, taking the blame” which I found profound and succinct - probably a poem in its own right. I tried to incorporate that push pull throughout this poem. (Thanks, Tom.)
I think that too often we treat people as something we must enable to grow, similar to plants in a garden - where we also weed, trim and often only attend it lovingly for a season. I think it is much more akin to stewarding a forest - where things will grow regardless of our meddling but that in order to live among them we must give and take in equal measure and acknowledge the vastness of what we don’t know.