Yes, I am aware that ‘evolutionizing’ isn’t a legitimate word…. yet. I choose to make it one since we verbify many words now like, googling a topic, wazing an address, or friending someone.
Evolutionizing is the process of accelerating growth in yourself, teams, and organization. As a student and practitioner in leadership development for over 30 years, I have seen how it has evolved. It’s an art and science. We have learned more over the decades about human instinct and how the brain works. As such, the complexity of 21st century leadership demands not only our operational and strategic agility, but our humanistic ability to develop and serve our employees, teams, constituents, and, most important, ourselves.
The term ‘evolutionizing’ randomly came to me as I was leaving a retreat with a group of CEO’s, aged 32-55, whom I have worked with for a while now and were all evolving into better leaders. Years ago, the most senior of the group balked at our centering exercise and called it ‘hokey.’ Today, he embraces a regular meditation practice that helps balance his insanely type-A personality in a rigorous financial industry. I have observed a more thoughtful approach to his interactions and a more consistent sense of calm. His peers claim that he is more strategic in his presence and is more connected in his relationships.
We used to struggle with the question “can people really change?” Now more than ever, I believe transformational change is possible, but it requires a rewiring, muscle-building, and maintenance of our cognitive and emotional thinking. And how our body holds our beliefs and our stories. With these practices, we can activate our nervous system to achieve our desired state of fulfillment through conscious living and leading. We can inspire and accelerate performance through adaptive and supportive leadership. And we can foster deeper and richer connections in our professional and personal relationships through open, healthy, and generative communication.
Another question often asked, and I often have ask is, “What is your passionate purpose?” Mine is “Evolutionizing the World One Leader at a Time.” Wow, that’s bold and nervy of me. Well, Jim Collins told me back in 1997 to have a big, hairy, audacious goal (aka BHAG), so there it is. There are many progressions that foster evolutionizing leadership, from classic textbook theories to breakthroughs in neuroscience. We will continue to unpack these together, and I welcome your comments and contributions.