From the desk of Teresa Jordan, Executive Director – I had the privilege of taking some time out for training this past week. Nouman Ashraf, a professor and outrageous-in-all-the-right-ways human being, led a session that hinged on translating identity into capacity each and every day.
Getting to know where you have been – your own story and your own blind spots – and then translating all of that into the contribution only you can make was Ashraf’s focus.
The professor challenged that we all need to meet people exactly where we find them in our daily interactions; however, our aim is not to leave them there. Bring about a moment of inspiration, a moment to hold a cause, a space in time where the interaction is the only pressing matter.
We all have some form of a to do list that we reference to keep us on track for our millions of tasks. Ashraf suggests a daily “to be” list. A “to be” list is how we show up, how we decide to navigate the world with intention. Today I choose to have impact, today I will be more empathetic, today I will be present, today I will actively listen or maybe even single task for a period of time.
Ashraf turns the steps in the river chestnut on its head; we cannot step into the same river twice because the river is always changing and moving. However, we are also always changing, so we are different people as well every time that we step into the water.
Everyone loses if we do not intentionally show up exactly as we are, one interaction at a time, bringing our unique brand of outrageous to each interaction, deciding how to be and aspiring to leave people in a place different, and better, than where we found them. Outrageous.
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