founder of naked leader

Inside each and everyone of us, we have enough

Naked Leader Week – 120 (w/c Monday 5th September 2005)

Please send this on to those whose lives you touch

 I am often asked how I came up with the belief that inside each and everyone of us, we have enough; we are enough, just as we are. And I remember exactly when and where it happened – it happened at my son Anthony’s school, when he was 13.

I was very nervous as I walked into the classroom of 35 boys, and more so when Anthony came rushing up to me and said under his breath “Dad, whatever you do, don’t embarrass me”

 I asked “what do I have to do, to embarrass you?”

 “Anything” he replied

 And so I started, and made my first mistake – I looked at the boys and asked them a rhetorical question:

 “What I’m wondering, is what will the world look like, five years from now?”

 And they all put up their hands!

 I had been asking that question for the previous five years of business and mind/body/spirit audiences, and no-one had ever “answered” – I forgot of course, that if you ask a question in a classroom, then they think you want an answer.

 Moving swiftly on, I walked over to a big cupboard in the corner, took out a spade, dug a big hole, and climbed in it. Half way through my talk, I asked the boys who would play the biggest part in their success. Which one person, above all others, will decide make their hopes, dreams and ambition come true?

 One boy put up his hand, and said “me, duuuuuuuhhhhhh”

 And then said something that will stay with me forever, is my reason for speaking to you today, and for where you will go next on your adventure

 He said: “We all get this stuff David, it’s you grown ups that have to catch up”

 After that, it was all about recovery, and I thought I did ok, and concluded with the statement that I had said to many audiences before:

 “What is absolutely wonderful, fantastic, about being alive today, is that no-one really knows what is going to happen next”

 There was a pause, and then another boy put up his hand and said:

 “I know what’s going to happen next, sir, we’ve got double French”

 I felt about two feet tall, and as I drove away from the school, I laughed to myself:

 ‘Can you imagine, with all of the challenges we have in our lives – in our personal lives, in our careers, in the world, if we could take such control over what happens next”

 And then it came to me

We can

When we look within

When we awaken what we already have, within ourselves, and our organisations

When we remember that we were once enough

 “We all get this stuff…”  Yes, they do, and so did we, once, and we can once again

In whatever moment we so choose

With my warmest best wishes and peace to you all

 David

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