The source of all your power is within you; it always has been and always will be. It doesn't come from someone else, from the company you work for or the environment you live in or from the world around you. It comes from your connection to yourself, your True Self. For some, this is stating the obvious. For most of us, we have lived our lives not even knowing it was possible to be disconnected from our True Selves. And yet it is…all the layers of fear, doubt, insecurity and unworthiness build up over time and come between the person we are living as and the person we are at the core of our being.

When you peel away these unwanted layers to unearth your soul, you find the purest energy: love. Love is the most powerful and beautiful energy we can unleash – upon others and upon ourselves. And yet, so often in business I hear leaders today say they do not want to use the word, “love.” Do you want to know why? It’s because they are afraid to look weak.

How ironic, when love is the greatest power of all.

True love for this country and the freedoms it stands for was the wellspring that our Founding Fathers used to ignite a revolution. Joan d’Arc's love for and faith in God was the beacon that drove her to save France. Overflowing love for the sick and impoverished led Saint Teresa of Calcutta to care for and heal so many of the poor. And deep love for humanity in all its colors is being unleashed around the world today as the people of this planet stand up for justice. 

The planet is going through a transformation right now.
We all know this; we all feel the winds of change.  There is one thing each of us can do as leaders to affect this change: unleash love. Stop suppressing love and putting walls around it out of fear that you’ll look weak or it won’t be reciprocated. You are a leader. The world is looking to you to lead.

Start by loving yourself unconditionally. Unearth your True Self and share You with the world. Watch how it transforms your ability to lead others – the shift is bound to be noticeable if you’ve been holding back.
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Choose to raise the vibration of love in your life. It’s as simple as making the choice. If you think this sounds ridiculous, ask yourself what you’re really afraid of.

At this point in the history of the world, I don’t think we have anything to lose by unleashing love. Do you? Now is our time to “rediscover fire;” to use it to build a better world; to 'set the world on fire' with light and love. It will take all of us to lead the way.

Photo by Michael Fenton on Unsplash

There is no escaping the fact that when we show up for work and for our leadership roles, we bring the entirety of ourselves to the table. We bring our convictions, our strengths, our fears and our weaknesses, along with our insecurities, knowledge of our past failures, our pride in past accomplishments and our desire to lead our teams successfully.
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I believe that to be a leader of true character requires a connection with, and acceptance of, our whole selves. I also believe it requires not only a vision of where you are taking the organization you are leading, but a clear personal vision that clarifies why you’re working with, and leading, that organization in the first place.

It involves understanding who you are, within yourself, at your most personal and deepest level.

For only by being truly connected with ourselves at every level, by facing this truth, and by having a personal vision can we come into our roles as leaders and say to our followers (in essence), “This is who I am, this is what I believe, this is where I am heading, and this is why I am heading in that direction.  Please follow me.”

By sharing this with our followers and letting our leadership flow from within, our followers can:
1. Hold us accountable and expect actions to match our words
2. Understand our character, from which we will lead

Glen Senk, former CEO of Urban Outfitters
One CEO I admire profusely for being so connected to, and honest about, his vision, values and personal character is Glen Senk, former CEO of Urban Outfitters. In an interview with Glen that was published in Knowledge@Wharton, Glen was quoted as saying (after a reference to him successfully battling cancer in 1989), “You realize you have to take responsibility for doing what is right for you,” Senk noted. “You have to live a life you want to lead.”
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Senk added that focusing on living what he called an “authentic” life has paid huge dividends. “A lot of my friends who went on to be very successful in investment banking or law or consulting … are not as happy as I am. There is not a day that I don’t wake up bounding out of bed and can’t wait to get to work.”

The words, “You have to live a life you want to lead” are some of the most powerful words one can express, believe in and commit themself to as a leader.  Glen knew relatively early on that his vision meant following his love of retail, of which he said, "I love the theater of retail. I love that I can control every part of the experience — the product itself, the pricing, the way the product is sold, the way we communicate and so on."

The fact that he was so committed to this vision that he applied for a job at Bloomingdale’s 46 times before landing a job with them speaks volumes about the power, and compelling nature, of his personal vision.

And vision played a role later in his career when he took a risk and left Williams-Sonoma to work for Richard Hyne at Urban: “I went from supervising 200 people, having two assistants and flying on the Concorde [at Williams-Sonoma] to running one store that did less than $1 million,” Senk said. “I had a vision for myself and what it could be. And I believed so strongly in the culture [Hayne] had created at Urban.”

Senk described that culture as one where creative, collaborative and curious people are given the freedom to operate almost like entrepreneurs. Diversity — including diversity of race, religion and political views — is also central to that vision. “Dick Hayne is a Republican,” Senk noted. “I’m the first openly gay CEO of a Fortune 1,000 company.” … “We believe as a company in hiring diversity, not because it is politically correct, but because diversity makes us stronger. I look for people who complement me, not [people] who look at the world the same way that I do.”

I believe that an understanding of, and commitment to, a culture that demonstrates the values you profess, is a critical result of character-based leadership. You may not agree with a leader’s values, but a leader demonstrates their true character by being the foremost steward of company values, and by imbuing those values in the corporate culture.

One should give honest consideration to whether it makes sense to work at a company where your values do not match the leader’s. As Glen points out with poignant truth: "If it is not a culture fit, you probably will not do well. Spend time in the lunch room, spend time with the receptionist — spend time with the real people in the organization if you want to know what the culture is really like."

Glen is a brilliant example of a leader who is genuinely connected to his inner self, to his personal vision, purpose and values, and to living it all through his leadership. As we aspire to be leaders of true character, especially in this new world that is literally rising from the ashes, we can look to him and the path he has blazed for inspiration.

​Photo by Aziz Acharki on Unsplash

​You may call me an optimist, but when I give serious thought to what leadership will look like in the future I see a world full of people leading from within, for the higher good of themselves, each other, and the world at large.I say this having just participated in an hours-long interview with an international news station where we discussed and envisioned countries in the future being led by trust, honor and respect. But the trust, honor and respect we talked of referred to essences within each citizen rather than solely representing the leadership principles of official leaders.

The Power of Higher Consciousness
We talked of a world where people empower themselves to be more of who they are meant to be and less of who they are not. A world where each individual takes personal responsibility for their own empowerment and prosperity, and where prosperity is encouraged for all and never begrudged when obtained with values, ethics and  higher ideals. Because after all, prosperity is a state of thriving and abundance that allows each of us to truly be all that we were born to be.
But most importantly we talked about a world where people trust, honor and respect each other and expect this of each other.  Where formal leaders demonstrate trust, honor and respect in every decision they make, and where every citizen returns trust, honor and respect to their community because these principles represent the truth within each person. You simply cannot commit a crime or corruptly harm your fellow man if you honor and respect yourself profoundly…

All of this represents a state of higher consciousness for the planet.
To get to this place requires each individual to lead from the good within them and to be aware of the abundant good in the world. It requires each individual to search their own soul and let go of the fear and “lack” that may have settled comfortably within them. And it requires the recognition that when a higher consciousness is sought, there can truly be enough prosperity and success and abundance on the planet for every man, woman and child.
And yes, this vision requires love.
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So call me an optimist or even a fool, but this is the world I am working toward as a leader. What does leadership of the future look like to you?

​Photo by Bekir Dönmez on Unsplash

If you’re like me, you light up when you discover TRUE leadership in the world: leaders whose vision invokes a higher purpose and who have a passion for their work that is pure and infectious. St. Joan of Arc is a perfect example of an indomitable spirit on fire with purpose, as are Martin Luther King, Jr. and Gandhi. And then there’s Malala Yousafzai, whose personal mission and orated letter to the abducted Chibok schoolgirls represent some of the most inspirational courage I’ve ever witnessed.
 
What each of these leaders has in common is deep-seated self-empowerment.

The simple truth about empowerment is you cannot be truly empowered without a strong foundation of self-empowerment. While there are a plethora of empowerment programs in the world today, many of which are aimed at women, the vast majority of these programs serve to give people something outside of themselves: access to economic resources, training, skill-building, a broader network, mentors, sponsors, and even inspiration. But these critical resources are ineffective without a foundation of worthiness, value, and an intrinsic belief in oneself.
 
Because, you can give someone limitless resources, but they will have no effect if the person stands in their own way due to fear, lack, self-doubt, unsupportive thoughts and beliefs, or underlying feelings of unworthiness.
 
The truest empowerment comes from within.
 
During the last few years my “volunteer life” focus has moved to helping leaders and entrepreneurs awaken their inner empowerment and let go of everything they have (unwittingly) allowed to get in their way. What I didn’t realize early on is just how pervasive it is for humans to stand in our own way. Even a simple principle such as focusing on what you DO want – instead of what you DON’T want - has a profound impact in your success. Yet, how often do we say, “What I don’t want is…” What happens when we do this? We get more and more of what we don’t want. Because all our brain can see is our focus on that which we don’t want…it cannot discern our preference to not have it; it just focuses on it.

This is huge.

So, to be a leader that truly lights the world on fire, whether in your family, company, community, or the world at large, it all starts by looking deep within yourself for the source of your purest personal power, and then removing the blocks that have built up over time. Think of it like this: the way we dig deep within the earth to find the most valuable diamond, and then remove everything around it to access its beauty.

That diamond deep within us? Self-empowerment that gets its source from self-awareness and love; it all starts here.

Photo by JewelersTouch.com