Ability In Abundance
Abundance is really an ecological term. It speaks to the representation of a particular species in an ecosystem. In basic terms, the number of individuals found in a sample. This is then figured by a ratio called relative species abundance. As a person who tries not to use superlatives when working with people, I love the thought of abundance. Think about it, I can tell an individual or several individuals they have an abundance of ability in a group without making someone feel the lesser. If I say something like, “Julie, your just the best” everyone else in the room is suddenly not the best. But, I watch this happen in meetings all the time.
I just founded my own company, Leadery Global. The name came from the word Leadery which was created during a leadership workshop (click here to read about that) I was doing. We noted that those who showed, and acted, with an abundance of courage were said to show “bravery.” So, we decided that those who show abundance in the practicing of leadership should be referred to as acting with “leadery.” Note, it still has gets the dreaded red dashed line under it, but that’s what’s cool and creative in my world – making up a word!
I came across the phrase, “ability in abundance” this week and love it. When I think about those who show leadery, I ponder what that abundance is. Granted that abundance won’t be the same for everyone, but I do believe there are some common traits. These traits include:
- standing up for what is right,
- taking the first step forward,
- making sacrifices,
- always acting with integrity,
- preserving,
- developing and helping others grow,
- fulfillment of duties, and
- giving others hope.
I’m sure you could add other traits to to the list one needs in abundance to practice leadery, but that is a pretty good start. I believe there is potential abundance in every person. It is our responsibility to help develop those abilities. In our own organizational ecosystems let’s begin to increase the “relative ability abundance.”
Leading With Global Reach
This post continues my reflection on this past week’s Virtual LeaderCon put on by Kevin Eikenberry. We had the opportunity to learn from bestselling author and authority on leadership methodologies, Keith Ferrazzi. His great book Leading Without Authority is a must read. Right out of the gate Keith taught us that to reach abundance we must do three things as leaders and that by doing so we will achieve these three things in our organizational communities. Here they are:
- Serve
- Share
- Care
Leadership, according to Keith, is about the management of relationships. It’s about being committed to “going higher together.” It’s the proven methodology he calls Co-Elevation®️. It’s about getting rid of something I talk about a lot: turf. He described it as holding space for the team to cross the finish line and share the win together.
Keith certainly believes, as do I, that everyone is a leader, Recognizing we have made progress in education in the advancement of developing teacher leaders, I asked him how we could get this non-hierarchical thinking even more universally embedded in education. He told us we need to become movement leaders. Get small groups to discuss and work on issues like this. Then get others involved. This would allow us to become exponential leaders by co-creating together. I loved the idea of making our impact exponential.
This would allow for global reach. Think about what changes we could make in the world if we all committed to going higher together by being leaders who served, shared, and cared.
Byron's Babbles 
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