What is your message to the world (on your skin?!) Joining with others, where could your message, your vision take us, what could its impact be? If you could “be guaranteed that everyone could hear and understand what you said… what would you say?
Make your voice heard! What you have to say matters,” Natalie Alexia, who created #LoveistheTrueBlack, “a transformational photographic project promoting self love and compassion in partnership with The United Nations that connected 1.6 million people globally.” (Black, as in fashion, a basic (love) that goes with everything.)
As our world breaks open, we need messengers. Consider how our past messengers guided us: “Love one another,” “A house divided cannot stand,” “Vote for women!” “Workers’ Rights!” (resulting in laws restricting child labor, providing safety, a 40 hour work week, etc), “My life is my message” (Ghandi),“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant,” Martin Luther King. “I declare before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service,” Queen Elizabeth II.
“Share your message, take a stand in and for what you value. We’re challenging you to pare down to what feels like the most essential part of your being, your message and your mission… and share it with us by writing it on your body and taking a picture,” Natalie Alexia. At the CAM (Conversation Among Masters) Coaching Conference she invited us to write our message, our vision on our bodies and have our photos taken to #shareyourimpact
I found this a very potent experience, a passionate way to put my message out; reluctant to wash the message off my arms.
As you can see in my photo, my message is “Shared Power–> Peace”: Shared Power Leads to Peace. My vision is humanity living from a place of shared power, leading to peace, all reaching their full potential, with prosperity. Within families (no more domestic violence!), in schools, the workplace, the internet (no more bullying, thus boosting prosperity!), governments (progress on beneficial legislation, saving taxpayers’ money!), within communities (more harmonious police/community relationships, prosperous equity), and the world (no more war).
In contrast, as I wrote in my Sharing Power, Anti-Bullying Blog, the leader of an organization contacted me about coaching two employees: the “bully” and the “victim”. The organization had already suffered financially with the loss of key talent over the years due to the bullying. Do not let this be you-losing money (and morale) over years by allowing bullying behavior in your organization!
Leadership, Executive and Team Coaches consider ourselves to be equal partners, sharing power with our clients. Through this model, leaders learn to share power with their team members and employees, who then take on more ownership in results, boosting the organization’s profitability, including through talent retention.
YOU can #shareyourimpact!
You may wear your heart on your sleeve but what if you wore your message on your body? What one message would you share with the world?
YOU have a message worth sharing.
I invite you to share yours in the comments below.
Unclear about your message to the world, your vision and how to live it out, or want to increase your impact? Apply for an Unlock All Potential strategy session
Find your vision aligned with mine? Let’s have a conversation to see how we might collaborate for greater impact! I recently participated in a Unity Challenge through purposealliance.org, identifying with a small, global group of people I had never met before, a “massive transformative purpose” and then with a certain methodology, design how to bring it to fruition. I am also considering Margaret Wheatley’s Warriors for the Human Spirit: “We need leaders who recognize the harm being done to people and planet through the dominant practices that control, ignore, abuse, and oppress the human spirit. We need leaders who put service over self, stand steadfast in crises and failures, and who display unshakable faith that people can be generous, creative, and kind.” How will you join with others to amplify your message’s impact?
To our potential, prosperity and peace-we are in this together!
Thanks and see you next week,
Marilyn O’Hearne, MSW, MCC, LLC
CQ Leadership, Team and Mentor Coaching; Coaching Supervision
#Unlockallpotential so all can live in prosperity and peace
www.marilynoh.com marilyn@
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cqcoachmentormarilynohearne/
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First published October 2015, Updated September 2020
PS: I realize not all cultures value shared power and some are more hierarchical.
Love the body messages. Have often thought what I would want to say, but struggle to find the message that fits me. Right now, I would say “Intentional Living” because of my involvement with John Maxwell’s latest initiative. John has taken his team on a journey to significance, and he is now extending that across the world. Exciting times!
Thanks, Lawrence. We all search for significance. Congratulations on discovering your journey to that through Intentional Living.