However, the wise leader knows when to retreat.  She knows when to let those she holds get on with things without her intervention.  She knows when she’s screwed up and that ‘fessing up is the ethical and ecological thing to do… a very wise retreat!

She also knows when to withdraw to nourish her body, feelings, mind and creative energy.

This leader’s taking her own advice, leaving for 7 days withdrawal from my normal world.  Ostensibly it’s to complete the first edit of my upcoming book.  But it’s also for woodland, lake, quietness and warm company, palpable history which touches my soul… and great food!

When’s the last time you served yourself with a leadership ‘retreat’?

A commitment to your purpose demands total loyalty and faith… nothing more, nothing less.

It might mean you disturbing the status quo and encountering unpopularity as President Obama is doing with his intended reforms for medical care in the US.  It might mean you making a stand like Rosa Parkes, a black woman who refused in 1955 to give up her bus seat to a white woman on the grounds of race.  It might mean that you go to jail for your cause like the late 19^th and early 20^th century ‘suffragette’ women who, refusing food, were force-fed.

Are you courageousness enough for any of that?

It might be unlikely you’d ever have to face those challenges.  However, unless you’re prepared to go to the edge of the cliff and fall if you have to, how on earth can you lead with purpose?

© Sharon Eden 2009