“Carpe Diem” – seize the day

But I discovered last week that “seize the day” was only a part of the challenge.  The sentence continues ….. “seize the day and do not at the time of your death find that you have not lived at all”.

All that we do at Learning To Lead is driven by the sad observation that somewhere near 80% of humans aren’t living fully.  To quote Oscar Wilde, “they only just exist, that is all”.  Malidoma Some from Burkina Faso says it in a uniquely African way, “When death finds you, may it find you alive”.

And it’s not about poverty, joblessness and illness alone, though those circumstances must make staying alive a critical focus.

So many people and organisations with good lives and ample resources aren’t fully alive.  We just haven’t mastered how to create and use our personal energy effectively on a sustainable basis – day after day with few exceptions.

Nor have we really linked the concept of a fully alive team or organisation with a new kind of leadership appropriate to South Africa now.

Robin Sharma, the author of the bestseller “The monk who sold his Ferrari”, writes in his latest book “The Greatness Guide” :

"The ultimate competitive advantage of your enterprise comes down to a single imperative - your ability to grow and develop leaders faster than your competition. Your role is to grow leaders fast and develop a culture of leadership before your competition does".

It is what we at Learning To Lead understand most about, and what we do best.