How emotionally healthy is your leadership?
In Peter Scazzero’s book The Emotionally Healthy Leader he touches on emotional health affects your leadership both on the inside and on the outside.
Peter is a great writer for a book filled with systematic structure and practical application he does a nice job of telling stories to highlight his experiences in order to keep the literature interesting. He focuses the first half of the book on the interior because he knows the inside affects the outside.
The biggest take away is how the four inner life roots can be used to make emotionally healthy decisions. They are:
Face your shadow- The accumulation of untamed emotions, less than pure motives and thoughts that shape your behavior. The damaged but most hidden version of who you are. How might this be impacting decisions you are making? What wise counsel would minimize this?
Lead out of your marriage or singleness- What changes might I need to make in order to take into account the need for a healthy, vibrant marriage or singleness?
Slow down for loving union- On a scale of one to ten, what is the level of anxiety as I consider this decision? Have I prayed for prudence? Gathered all facts? Have I done the slow diligent work needed to listen for God’s whisperings about his definition of success?
Practice Sabbath delight- How will this decision affect our work-Sabbath rhythms?
Peter says that watching these four things is how he watches for the canaries.
Before tech Equipment gold and coal miners carried canaries (they are highly sensitive to poisonous gases) as a barometer of the air quality in the mines. Dangerous gases would accumulate and lead to devastating explosions.
The canaries would chirp and sing all day long but when the carbon monoxide levels rose too high, the canaries would stop singing. When the singing stopped the miners knew it was time to quickly leave the mine to avoid the explosion.
What are you decision-making canaries?
What are those small indications that something may not be right?