How to Lead from Emergence with Freedom and Flow
Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.
– Viktor Frankl
How trigger happy are you when provoked?
Do you still take the bait even when you see the hook?
How often do you fall in that same old pattern of reacting, as if on autopilot?
Have you lived up to your true potential?
How wide is that space within you, where true freedom lives to deliberately choose your own response?
Are you leading through uncertainty with resourcefulness and skilfulness?
Or do you – too often – get stuck, feel shackled by old patterns no longer serving you or your teams?
The Herculean Task of liberating your potential by taming outer dragons and inner demons. That is what Hercules (or Heracles for the Greek) was tasked with in his Ten Labors and eventually succeeded in, when he became immortal by rescuing the Gods from the chaos brought on by the Giants. But not before he went to hell and back, literary, to tame Cerberos – the three headed dog guarding the underworld; overcome his compulsive reactive habits; and discover his hidden potential in the dark shadows of the underworld.
You too can shape the world you encounter – with all its challenges and uncertainty – to place your moves as skilfully as Heracles eventually learned. Sourced from a well of infinite potential waiting to be unearthed. A journey to break free from your prison of reactivity, where most of your actions were governed by conditioned habits of mind when the going got tough. Your compulsive behavior was formed over time, it used to serve a purpose long ago ... but is frozen in the past and has outlived its usefulness today. In fact, more often than not, reactivity sabotages you and you get in your own way of reaching goals. It hinders you in being in real connection with others and it makes you a bystander in life as it is unfolding.
Faced with complex and unknown situations, where most will disintegrate, you can gain mastery over old fight, flight, fawn or freeze impulses. It comes from expanding your awareness; widening your window of tolerance; facing underlying fears; healing scars, wounds or even trauma from the past; deliberately setting intention and directing attention; positively resonating with others. In turn, you will experience more space, more time to generate more options for showing up with confidence and courage in the most difficult of circumstances. You will start responding from consciousness (rather than reacting from conditioning) to challenges faced, with seemingly effortless and spontaneous fluidity, skill and grace.
With Heracles as your companion in a fictionalized account of his mythical Ten Labors, you can learn about the struggles, fighting demons, tyrants and dragons. His’ and yours. With him, you will discover and practice new weapons; gain wisdom and mastery. Eventually Heracles overcomes his darkest self-sabotaging tendencies by defeating the three-headed hound of hell. After completing the road of trials as his companion, you will have gained insights from the inner work every person sooner or later has to engage in: gaining mastery over your old reactive tendencies to win existential freedom and move ahead skillfully under the most difficult of circumstances. It might feel like cutting lose the ballast, the sand bags that have been holding you down for decades. Prevented you from soaring into the pale blue sky as a hot air balloon, fueled by an infinite fire burning within.
At times during this journey, you will feel like a yogi deeply settling into the here and now; an archeologist tracing back the steps of your own ancient history; a scientist uncovering the workings of your own brain; a steersman navigating the undercurrents of emotions and relations and an experienced sherpa, securing the route for your fellow climbers.
This book offers a map of the terrain to explore and a compass to navigate your way through valleys, past cliffs, towards vistas. The author taps into his vast experience in the field of leadership development and connects the dots between diverse fields of science and wisdom that inspired him during his own transformation. The book blends stories, theory, exercises, inspiration and learnings from an eclectic mix of ancient wisdom traditions, neuroscience, quantum physics, mythology, poetry and depth psychology. It weaves disparate concepts such as Ventral Vagal Nerve; Compassion; Quantum Potential; Hero’s Journey; Attachment Theory; Wu Wei; Peak Experiences and much more into a colorful tapestry. The author leans on the wisdom of renown authors in their own fields such as Joseph Campbell; Karen Horney; Lao-Tze; Stephen Fry; David Bohm; Thich Nhah Hanh; Carl Jung; Rick Hanson; Jalal ad-Din Muhammed Rumi.
After reading – and practicing with – this book, you should feel unshackled from what held you back till now, finally participating freely and fully in what life has in store for you. No longer knee-jerk reacting, but responding with wisdom, equanimity and compassion. Getting you squarely on your own path, unfolding in front of you with fluidity, grace and confidence. By showing up from this new place, sourcing from this deep well, you can skillfully shape and work with what emerges from life, influence results for the better and lead others from a new-found sense of freedom and flow.
