The ‘H’ Balance | Passion |Tribes
Hello there! Welcome to my weekly LEAPS.
You’re receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly Wednesday feature or our mailing list. Every Wednesday, I share 5 things using our LEAPS approach:
Learn: something new or an idea
Energy: an energy (good or bad) word and it’s meaning
Action: something to do
Processing: a question to consider
Shout out: something or someone that I want to celebrate or acknowledge
LEARN
Something Worth Sharing
The ‘H’ Balance
We’ve been doing some research just recently focusing on family businesses in an area of the US. I was delighted to stumble across professional advisers who promoted their ‘family business’ work; they appeared to focus on helping with succession planning, dispute resolution, next generation strategy and governance. I was excited to find people working in this space - until I looked deeper. Every single thing was built around the ‘head’. By ‘head’ I’m referring to strategy, the approach, the results, financials, rules and management.
Much of the work you’ll still see around family businesses is built around the 1970’s Three-Circle Model of the Family Business System (developed at Harvard Business School by Renato Tagiuri and John Davis). This talks about 1) the family, 2) the management, and 3) the ownership of a family enterprise. Not one of these 3 things is the same as it was in the 1970s as well as missing out identity and purpose, but more than that even, is the lack of understanding at a ‘heart’ level*. Now, we’ve all encountered the ‘sandals and candles’ heart brigade that want to hug a tree and just hope for success - this holds issues and challenges, just the same as being too ‘head-based’.
Family businesses are the perfect example of the need for “the H balance” - the careful and considered head and heart approach. It doesn’t mean it needs to be a perfect 50/50 split, but a natural and ever-moving recalibration of balance. People - and organisations - that fair the best have developed strength and resilience around both the heart and the head, and how they work together. Too much heart without the head may feel great, but lacks clarity and is fuzzy. Too much head without heart may feel clear but cold. Both of these result in chaos, overload, and feeling lost and stuck. When we get head and heart working together we end up with people, teams and businesses in ‘flow’.
The flow zone of a balanced heart and head is where true progress happens. While I’ve given the example through family business work, this simple fact and approach is true for every happy and successful individual and team.
*these are the reasons why we use the GLAS Method, and 7 elements, for families and businesses.
ENERGY
An emotion or energy; a stand-out word / s
Passion
‘Do what you’re passionate about’ is advice that you can’t really argue with. The word passion has an interesting origin.
‘Passion’ is from Late Latin passio meaning "suffering, enduring". The notion is "that which must be endured."
Do what you are able to endure still works!
ACTION
Something small that you can do that might make a big difference
Focus on Head and Heart
Most of us, at any given time, tend to favour either our heart or our head. This week’s action is to consider what your percentage split is, and which one you’re favouring at the moment. Would your nearest and dearest agree with your assessment? Start a conversation with someone to talk about when and how you both tend to experience your head and heart working for and against you.
PROCESSING
A question to think about and consider (you can discuss this with someone or write your thoughts down)
“When have I displayed underdog bravery?”
The expression ‘underdog bravery’ is taken from this week’s book below. The idea being that sometimes we have nothing to lose or we aren’t prepared or equipped for what is ahead - but still give things a try regardless. When has this happened to you? What did you learn as a result?
I’d love for you to send me your own stories / thoughts about this. Drop me a line with your answer / thoughts on this question
SHOUT OUT
Who / what I think deserves recognition - my gratitude or to be celebrated.
Being Uncomfortable
We all love being comfortable, but this week I’m shouting out being ‘uncomfortable’. The reason for this is that being uncomfortable is often where we grow and learn!
BONUS GIFT FOR YOU
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LEAPS is a process used by our team and clients all the time - and even my own family on a daily basis.
I’ll be sharing a set of LEAPS each week with you and encourage you to do your own version:
L: what have you learned?
E: what’s your energy / feeling word
A: what’s one thing you need to do?
P: what are you thinking / processing?
S: who or what can you shout out?
