Leadership Signs which Kids teach us --- Food for thought

This week’s post on what we can learn from kids in our lives. 

As we grow up, we tend to forget what we loved when we were kids. For example, when I was a kid, I loved spending hours and hours in creating imaginative castles, threat situations with my friends and strategies how to come out successfully of those imaginative situations. Even when I created those threat situations, I would not know what comes next, after 3 hours of playtime, we used to come out successfully of the imaginative threats. 

Last week on my Birthday, my 3 year old niece called me up for singing a birthday song on #FaceTime. As I was speaking with her, she kept showcasing numerous tricks, jumping on the sofa, taking a leap, trying cartwheel …, not all her tricks were successful. However what amazed me, was her attitude of just moving on. 

If you’ve ever watched children play, then you would see that some just seem to be natural born leaders and it comes to them with little to no effort. They take charge without even really trying to make it happen. With the rigid mindset of adulthood, we often abandon creative pursuit – especially as professional leaders or organizations as a whole –either for lack of time or due to the realization that your masterpiece looks nothing like that bowl of fruit. Try ignoring what you can’t control, do what you can control....

Children, however, see what their mind’s eye wants them to see, so they lose themselves in dancing, jumping, singing random songs to express their feelings, coloring, finger paint, clay or sand castles, creating priceless works of art that absolutely must receive prime refrigerator real estate. This is how they continue to learn, grow and invent. Effective leadership requires you to pull yourself back to that time and lose yourself in something you love

In a child’s mind, everyone they get to play with instantly becomes a new friend. They act like this person is their best friend and will be for all of the time within minutes of meeting each other. They savor the moments they have with each other to the fullest. They aren’t afraid to ask personal questions and get to know each other. They make instant plans to spend more time together if their parents allow it. Every time I talk to both of my niece, what amazes me, that they make realize about every minute details throughout that week - what did I cook, do I have chocolates, do I have groceries, did I do something interesting, am I having my food on time? It is surprising that I should be doing it myself as a part of daily self-awareness exercise however I rarely do it these days. Very important to start it up again.  

With all the joy children find, it’s no wonder that they see the silly and humorous in what would be considered uninteresting or mundane from our vantage point. Studies have found that the average child laughs roughly 200 times a day while the average adult laughs 14-17 times a day. These statistics alone are enough to make you cry. My 3-year-old sweet heart had hurt her knee but in spite of that she was smilingly trying out new tricks. Even in the bad times, effective leadership requires that you find a reason to laugh. It might be a lot of work at the time. It is worth it. Find out a reason to smile…. I am sure you will have one everyday.

— More next week…. Stay Tuned….