Demystifying....What?

Sounds like someone in flowing cloaks will appear out of a cauldron and wave their wand of demystification, I mean it’s a cool word, but what does it actually mean?

According to the Cambridge Dictionary it means to ‘make something easier to understand’. Ok, so the word isn’t a perfect fit for what we are trying to do here, but language often falls short of what we want to say, or as a friend of mine often says, ‘we just don’t have the human words to describe this’. 

I think it is more that we are trying to change understanding about what leadership is, and make it accessible for people to develop and practise more consciously in their day to day. To knock ‘leadership’ off its perceived pedestal as something only people in suits can do or be, and make it easy for people to understand there are many different ways of being a leader, and giving them permission to take ownership of the ways they are already leading.

This is the pathway to developing leadership, or empowerment in our communities, the way to bring fresh action and thinking to increasingly outdated modes of leading, and of supporting all people to lead themselves in the best way they can. What will this lead to? (Hehe) Well hell, if everyone is leading themselves, leading their communities and stepping into bigger leadership roles in the best ways they can, surely that leads to a better world? One led with kindness, empathy and equity, not power and control. I’m not advocating for any political party here, but I did feel damn proud that our own leader is talking about this on the world stage. #timeforchange. jacindaadernonleadingwithempathy .

Obviously Jacinda sits in the realm of leadership that is ‘high power’, and there is a place for that. Here though, we are concerned with the grass roots development of leadership. Driven by the experience of trying to empower a community whom doesn’t see themselves capable of leadership. Like the community member whom we walked beside as she climbed out of the hole of addiction, became a facilitator in a community addiction recovery group, and is now enrolled in Teacher Training, because she ‘wants to be someone’. We were like, damn! ‘Darling! You already are someone.’ This is why we are having this conversation. How will you continue it?