How Nature Taught Me to Be a Better Leader
“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.” (John Muir)
This morning as I begin a new week, I retreat to the back deck of our home perched on the side of a mountain at 7,400 feet in Colorado. It is warm. The birds are singing. The sky is a beautiful color of blue, and the evergreen trees display rich life and vibrancy.
Something shifts
I give myself permission for a few minutes to become like a child again. I become curious and attentive. I realize I am both awake and awakening at the same time. A gentle, quiet wave of peace and calm washes over me. Even though, like Robert Frost, “I have miles to go before I sleep,” I stop beside the woods, a week of work waiting for me. I pause for a few moments to listen: to notice the birds, the trees, the melting March snow.
Every time I enter our neighborhood or take my dog for a walk, I notice the mountains and listen.
When I get quiet and listen, something shifts that reorients my perspective on my life.
I hear a whisper, a gentle reminder. These mountains have been here for thousands of years. They know things. There is deep wisdom. I often say to my kids, “You know the mountains are so happy just being mountains. They are not trying to be birds or grass or clouds.” They are content to be themselves.
Recently, I wrote an article that the most effective human leaders learn to listen to their interior landscapes. Since we are human creations, very much a part of nature, it is in listening to the natural landscape around us we remember who we are. We become grounded and centered again. We reconnect with that which is thousands of years older, wiser, and more transcendent than we are. In 2021 with modern technology and constant digital connectivity, have we lost the ability to be still and be in nature?
Being quiet awakens us to a larger narrative that precedes and supersedes our tiny lives, problems, challenges, temporal titles, and possessions.
How to Fine-Tune Our Listening
Take a few minutes this afternoon on a break or tonight after work to go outside and lookup. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell? Can you become like a child again until the wave of child-like curiosity and wonder awakens you? I often ask my children if we are sitting outside or hiking in Colorado, “What are the mountains saying to you today? What is the river telling you? Can you hear the whisper of wisdom in nature?”
Listening in nature makes us better listeners at work
Did you know having your ears and mind tuned to the music of nature can make you a more effective leader at work? Practice taking time in nature to notice, to listen, to become curious and fascinated. This strengthens your capacity to deeply listen to the words, ideas, and feelings of others you work with. Here is the distinction: in nature, we listen and notice just to be fascinated and take in the full spectrum of beauty.
At work, we listen so we can think of our next thought and the words to say in a meeting. If we are not curious about the person in front of us and the unique contribution they bring to our team and company; we are not listening to them. Imagine if we could be as curious and captivated by those we lead as we are by nature?
Learning to hear the vast non-verbal conversations in nature will train us to hear an ocean of non-verbal messages our teammates are sending us at work.
You may also be interested in my recent article “When I Started Listening on the Inside, You Won’t Believe What I Heard.”
If you want to chat about this article, email me.
To discover how coaching can help you grow into an extravagant listener to those you lead and love, schedule a conversation today.
