Knowledge. Kindness. Kinetic.
Letters to Leadership: K
Good afternoon!
September was a really full month, as my wife and I purchased and moved into our first home!
When I shared my intention to write and publish once a month, I obviously underestimated the amount of time and attention it would take, which is why you haven't seen an email from me lately.
We are so grateful to be settling in and making it more into our home every day, and now that our schedules have become a bit more routine, I'm ready to get back into my writing rhythm.
To get the momentum going I decided to share another Letters to Leadership. In this series I'm going through the alphabet and sharing 3 words that belong in a leaders' lexicon.
Today the 3 words begin with K:
Knowledge
There's a multitude of reasons people get riled up about education today. Be it quality, access, cost, trust, influence, career progression, wages, safety...to name a few.
Why? Because we KNOW how important it is to live a life that's flourishing.
Knowledge is what distinguishes the human species and is widely regarded as a key to lift others out of poverty.
"To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge." - Socrates
"A wise person is hungry for knowledge, while the fool feeds on trash" Proverbs 1:14
Kindness
This virtue is one of the 24 VIA Character Institute virtues, which means that many PhD's, researchers, and social scientists agreed that it was one of the top character traits associated with a good life. It is number 18 of 24 on my individual assessment available on their website, which I highly encourage you take for free at via character.org!
They define Kindness as "Doing favors and good deeds for others; helping them; taking care of them."
Being that Kindness is also a biblical fruit of the Spirit, it seems that there are few other K words that should be present in the hearts and minds of today's leader.
My wife and I recently purchased a house and moved into a neighborhood. I'm grateful to share the warm welcome we've received from those who live closest to us. In the past two days, I've borrowed a branch shredder from next door and had the opportunity to return the favor by helping them jump their car when their battery failed.
When I told my neighbor how much I appreciated him, he said "we're neighbors man, what's mine is yours".
How kind.
Kinetic
"of or relating to the motion of material bodies and the forces and energy associated therewith"
(how cool a word is 'therewith'?!)
As I helped Frank with his car battery, he asked what my tattoo of a scientific illustration of a brain and heart was about.
I told him what I tell most people, that it's about the mind/body connection. The importance of making what we think manifest in what we do.
Being Kinetic is about ACTIVE involvement. The moving through the world, knowing what we know and knowing what we dont. There's a time for stillness, but stagnant water eventually becomes a hazard.
Which calls to mind another fun fact about water that helps bring this point home. In 212° The Extra Degree by Sam Parker and Max Anderson:
"At 211°, water is HOT.
At 212°, it BOILS.
And with boiling water, comes STEAM.
And steam can power a LOCOMOTIVE.
It's your life. You are responsible for your results.
IT'S TIME TO TURN UP THE HEAT."
What are you one degree away from moving toward?
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