Good morning, Leaders! It’s Friday!

Michael Allosso, actor, director, and coach to CEO’s stopped by to listen in on our monthly leadership conversation for an hour before he led the group in increased awareness training of how we “show up” everyday.
A buzzword for this phenomena is called micro messaging. According to Wikipedia, it’s described as
Micro-inequities are subtle, often unconscious, messages that devalue, discourage and impair workplace performance. They are conveyed through facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, choice of words, nuance and syntax.

Mr. Allosso’s career includes acting in Pink Panther 2 with Steve Martin but spends much of his time training (we were his 1331st training engagement) and gave us some insight as to what actors deal with on a daily basis.

Who better than an actor and director to observe, point out and encourage improved performance?

The point he was making with all of his raw feedback was a giant step toward increasing our emotional intelligence through self awareness. Things to be aware of like
•Eye contact
•Demonstrating genuine interest through meaningful questions
•Body language has to be in sync with what you are saying

I don’t know about you, but often times I barrel through my day giving little notice to how I show up as long as I get my mental list done. It isn’t intentional if I walk past people without acknowledging them, I’m in a zone…some might call it the twilight zone.

Michael talked to us about a different zone, as actors, like Daniel Day Lewis, who gets into a part and doesn’t come out of the zone until the project is complete.

He also recommended that we “gather beauty”. Perhaps a play on stop and smell the roses but it sticks for me. A great and simple way to be more aware of our surroundings beyond just showing up as the best version of us.

Interpretation of this random stream of consciousness-
You have to be intentional in how you show up. Awareness is only the first step…you must be deliberate. During the hour of his listening and observing, he heard me talk about my “failed” empathy training. We all got a chuckle but in the end, it wasn’t that I had no empathy, it turned out I didn’t know how to display it. I simply need to work harder in order that my body; my voice, my eyes and my actions reflects my heart.

Leaders make themselves vulnerable to feedback in order to improve.
Einstein said that anyone who claims they’ve never failed never tried anything new.

Try something new today. Make an honest assessment of your strengths and weaknesses. Seek out advice. Strengthen the connection between how you feel and how it shows up to others.

Have a blessed weekend!