Embracing Giant Legacies

Being a giant

We stand on the shoulders of giants. Saints are a form of company.

Is it comforting to know that we are not alone? Have you ever considered what you are if you are standing on the shoulders of a giant? Another giant perhaps?

The truth of that is potentially terrifying. There is a path to this being less daunting and more inspiring. Let’s examine such a path, starting with the balance between rights and responsibilities.

Rights, responsibilities and coaching

I am a firm advocate of defending the rights of others. This has manifested in the donning of various uniforms over the years and over three decades in public service.

I also advocate equally strongly that with rights come responsibilities.

This can be really tricky ground to cover as a coach. I have found the path to weaving this connection lies in two steps – identifying how one’s core values lead one to perform as a leader responsibly and in the daily practice of gratitude. Core values have been covered in recent blogs, for example: Here

Accessing gratitude

In practicing gratitude, we can gain insights into heart-felt connections with those who have blazed trails on our behalf. These ceiling-breaking pathfinders have navigated untold difficulties to lay down the choices we can so easily take for granted.

Here in Manchester, we have the historical reminders of the folk who stood up for the right to vote and paid with blood and lives at the Peterloo Massacre. We will be executing the right to vote that comes in part from the response to that day. Manchester also lays claim to being the home of Emily Pankhurst, as well as many others who helped the broadening of The Suffragettes.

Connecting with these giants – upon whose shoulders we stand – is an accessible way of creating authentic gratitude.

Daily Gratitude Practice

Undertaking some form of daily gratitude practice helps create the mindset that paves the way to insights into others. Gratitude brings openness and humility. Gratitude has also been linked as a predictor of accessing joy. In a previous blog post (Here) a path to joy was outlined in finding that balance between utility, passion, what you are good at and what the world values. Gratitude is another path. These two paths need not be an either-or situation. Indeed the sum of the two parts is greater than the individual elements.

Gratitude, Authenticity and Responsibilities

With gratitude developing and connecting to values such as humility and openness comes authenticity. At that point, accepting responsibility has already happened. It’s just an organic (and authentic) process.

The coaching sweet point here is to initiate the development of gratitude – everything else cascades from that wonderful starting point. From this start, the view from the shoulders of those giants is less daunting and more inspiring.