Wonder
The single most underrated leadership skill: Wonder.
Wonder is Approaching the world with curiosity and openness.
Here’s how wonder can give leader’s an edge:
Leadership is more than delegating tasks and making decisions.
It’s about:
- Inspiring others
- Creating a vision
- Shaping society towards its highest potential.
The fundamental skill needed to achieve this: Wonder.
Wonder is a posture of openness.
An orientation towards awe and the unknown. Leaders with a sense of wonder, are more likely to be innovative and adaptive to change. Their fresh perspective offers possibilities where others perceive roadblocks. When we connect with mystery, we’re able to transcend the limitations of this reality.
Unfortunately, society has a bias against Wonder, here’s why:
Control: Wonder inherently invites magic and potentiality, and we fear what we do not know. Our addiction to certainty prevents us from true exploration, and we shame others and others for embracing wonder as a sign of weakness or immaturity.
Efficiency: We’re a busy society, focused narrowly on goals. We rush through life, and in turn, collapse our world through a reductive lens. By prioritizing speed, we live superficially and fail to experience the world with depth and nuance.
Cynicism: When we genuinely marvel, we open our hearts to be transformed. This intimacy can be vulnerable. For some, cynicism is used as a defensive posture.
So why is Wonder so important for our world?
Renewal and expansion: Life can feel exhausting. And engaging in practices of awe and wonder fill our batteries, expanding our experience of time, and enhancing our well-being.
Focus and perspective: Humans tend to catastrophize and take ourselves too seriously. Wonder widens our aperture of life, putting things into perspective so we can begin to source creative solutions. When I lived in Switzerland, one of my favorite activities was climbing the Alps. When you’re up 4000 meters, peering out into the vast majesty, suddenly life’s problems don’t seem that big anymore.
Power and connectivity: When we engage in wonder, we open to Source energy. And we gently attune to the life force in others and ourselves. You know that marvelous feeling when an infant's hand wraps around your finger? That’s your soul connecting intimately with another, recognizing the Divine in another being. As practice Wonder, we recognize this connectivity exists all around us.
Interested in sharpening your skill of Wonder? Here’s a practice to get you started:
Engage in an “Awe Walk”: Take 20 minutes, put down your phone and go outside. Intentionally marvel at the world around you. Our world is sizzling with delight. You’ll likely feel calmer, more focused, and more energized.
