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Leadership 101: What a Peacock Feather Taught Me
Many years ago, during a leadership workshop, I was asked to balance a peacock feather on my fingertip. That single exercise taught me an important lesson — where we focus our attention matters.
I found that when I focused my attention on the quill, the point of contact between the feather and my finger, I had to constantly adjust my finger to keep the feather balanced. However, when I focused my attention on the eye of the feather, I needed fewer adjustments to keep the feather balanced. Both focuses achieved the same outcome, but both focuses required significantly different actions to achieve it.
If we extrapolate this to how an organization functions (with the eye of the feather representing our vision and the movement of our finger the efforts of our team) having a vision and focusing on it streamlines efforts and minimizes unnecessary work.
Something to ponder in our leadership journey.
