Being vs. doing

Along those lines, I had a fascinating conversation yesterday with a powerful local business leader and a man I respect a great deal, in which we were exploring the relative power of "being" (reflected in attitudes, beliefs, perspectives, thoughts, and visions) vs. "doing" (reflected in actions and words) in the realm of leadership.  We discussed the natural phenomenon that the higher you ascend the leadership ladder in life - or, to put it another way, the bigger your vision - the more your power tends to emanate from "who you are being" rather than "what you are doing."  The good news is that it really does start to become possible to achieve far more in life while "doing" less.  The challenge is that it takes a growing amount of courage, discipline, faith, and focus to stay clear and concise about who you are and what you stand for.  At one point, we explored the notion that there is often more leadership power in "doing" nothing in the face of many organizational conflicts and dramas than in actively trying to fix things. But there's an important caveat, and that is that who you are "being" for others, as a leader in the midst of this struggle will often determine its ultimate outcome.  At the end of a deep conversation on the subject, I made a brief summarizing remark that he found interesting but a little much to digest after our intense dialogue, so I promised him I would post it here for him to review later, thereby allowing all of us to reflect on it in our own quiet time.

"Doing" nothing, while "being" closed-minded, suspicious, unapproachable, and uninformed - quietly fearing the worst - usually produces unpredictable negative results and a tremendous amount of energy wasted on people blaming each other. On the other hand, "doing" nothing, while "being" approachable, aware, inquisitive, straight, and relentlessly true to your vision - openly inviting and challenging people to be their best - usually produces predictable positive results and a lot of people feeling great about themselves.