As we look forward to a new year, it’s customary to look back as well at some of our most popular content.
Our most-read blogs of the past year have centered around five main themes: Purpose, Hope, Self-Care, Soft Leadership, and of course, Change. As we go into the new year, I hope you take some of these themes with you to continue making a positive difference for yourselves, for those around you, and for our world.
In case you missed any of these posts, here is a roll-up of the top blogs of 2022, with links to the original content:
- One of our most popular pieces, New Theories of Change, takes a closer look at change through the lens of a living-systems framework. When you use the strategies of Nature in your change initiatives, you are actively creating a deeper and more meaningful impact.
- Organizational change only holds when the mindset of the larger cultural shifts along with the processes that support the desired change. If change isn’t happening in your organization, maybe it’s time to look at The Relationship Between Culture and Change.
- On that same note, culture matters when attracting talent to your organization. Is your organization treating your employees like chickens or bees? As part of our culture, we need to reimagine what leadership looks like when it is based in attraction, not control.
- Change isn’t easy. Sometimes, we need to lean into the emotional dimension of change to build trust and a sense of comfort into our initiatives.
- Instead of getting caught up in having a scheduled life, try experiencing the gifts of an unscheduled day. This is a day where you take time to be present and in the moment – no alarms, no reminders, no schedules.
- What if we added adjectives to leadership as it is modeled today? Instead of “ethical leadership” or “regenerative leadership,” would we use adjectives like “destructive leadership” or “self-interest leadership”? Would this help us choose better leadership to represent us and our organizations?
- When we create change in an interdependent world, we are creating change in an interconnected system. This change ripples and spreads, just as water ripples after throwing a rock into a calm pond. If enough of us began making a small difference in an interdependent world, our actions would spread to everyone. Eventually, we would change the world.
- Speaking of changing the world, kindness is a powerful and underrated force. We all have a choice of how we want to live in this world. Do you choose separation and meanness, or connectedness and kindness?
- Our actions over the past 100+ years are catching up to us. As our planet needs us more than ever before, we all need to reflect on the quality of the future we’re creating for all those who will come after us.
- It is a dangerous thought pattern to think of our organizations as being “frozen.” This myth insinuates that an organization is at a standstill, making a system transformation feel like a daunting task. The system we want to transform is actually far from frozen. Instead, it’s always moving and experimenting as part of its evolution.
BONUS BLOG
As we go into 2023, I hope that you take some of these lessons with you. Just like Nature, we are all capable of growth and evolution.
Read how signs of new growth can be detected on the trees as bright hues of green emerge. Similarly, trees show signs of new growth as rings appear after the trunk expands. If Nature has these unique ways of showing its annual growth, perhaps we do too. We just need to look inward to see these unique patterns in ourselves!
