“What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire.”
– title of a book of poetry by Charles Bukowski
Having love (see previous post) and doing nothing about it isn’t leadership by anyone’s definition. You have to express it. You have to walk through the fire. And in trying to express love in real, tangible, and meaningful ways, you will experience fear and you will face uncertainty; you will have OS!M after OS!M. That’s the nature of leadership in the extreme: the dynamic interplay of love and fear. Acting out of love creates fear and love gives the courage to work through that fear.
LEAP–the Extreme Leader’s operating system, so to speak–is, in essence, the active, dynamic expression of love: Love generates Energy, inspires Audacity, and requires Proof.
The Extreme Leader consciously and intentionally cultivates love in order to generate boundless energy and inspire courageous audacity. And he or she must provide the proof that it’s all been worthwhile: proof through the alignment between word and action; proof through the standing up for what’s right; proof through measurable, tangible signs of progress; and proof through the experience of phenomenal success as well as glorious failure.
LEAP creates the OS!M, and the OS!M is fear in the pursuit of creating something greater than the current reality. And the desire to create something greater is a bold expression of love.
Simple as that.
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