By taking action to clear up my integrity.....I have gained a powerful listening

Yesterday was a really great day. I met with a friend I used to work with for lunch and I was amazed at my ability to listen and be with her. This friend knows about the training I have been doing with Landmark Education and while I always spoke about what it was giving me I was never sure whether any of it was making any impact. When we met yesterday she told me how a management course she had been on recently reminded her of things that I used to say. At one point she said to the trainer 'that sounds very like Landmark'. To his credit he didn't respond then but afterwards went up to her and confirmed that he had done a Landmark Course. This is in keeping with the policy of Landmark in that graduates are requested not to use having done Landmark courses to aid any kind of promotional activity. It is permissible to state the training on a CV or to mention it in a job interview but not to use any reference to it to promote or grow one's own business. I was proud that this guy showed that integrity when I'm sure the temptation was there to speak about it when there is someone there who recognised some of the concepts. The joy I felt when she told me this was great. I know now that there is a listening for what is possible for her and that at some point in the future she may give it some serious consideration.

This to me is what being a stand is all about. Winston Churchill said 'success is being able to go from failure to failure without any loss of enthusiasm'. I would adapt that to say that this to me is what being a stand is. Being committed to everyone having the access to living a life they love and living it powerfully. That access to me is the Landmark Forum so for my friend to be finally in that atmosphere was just so brilliant. I also saw from this that I don't have to do it alone. Once my stand and commitment are in place that other ways and means will be created that I am not directly involved with. I had no input into the decision to send my friend on that management course. But it was my continuous stand in the face of much resistance which enabled it to happen. I say this not to sound arrogant but to give the importance of taking a stand for something I believe in passionately and having it be present at all times and in all circumstances.

Since I wrote the letter where I said what I was pretending and what was the truth my ability to listen powerfully has grown. I suddenly saw that being a leader is getting into another persons world. What is life like for them, what are they dealing with, what matters to them. I knew all this before but writing the letter has provided the space for a new understanding and experience of powerful listening. This was validated last night when I left a fellow course colleague after a training agreement and she said to me 'you are a great listener'. Up to this point my assessment of myself was that I was a good listener but no-one had ever said it to me, last night I owned my ability to listen and I understand in a whole new way what it means to be a powerful listener. Powerful listening is essential for bold leadership - what I want to achieve at the end of this programme to be an effective Landmark Forum leader for children and young people.....