What is Full Monty Leadership?
The full monty is a British expression for giving it your all, everything possible, the works. The exact origin of the term is uncertain, but I like the gambling reference to betting the full monte – Spanish for mountain.
Full Monty Leadership requires that you care enough to dare put your whole self into your highest aspirations as a leader.
Gamble everything. ~ Rumi
Half-heartedness doesn’t reach into majesty. ~ Rumi
Aspirations
At the end of her poem, The Summer Day, Mary Oliver asks, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” Consider the poem. Then think about a version of this question I penned especially for you.
The Summer Day (excerpt)
Who made the world? Who made the grasshopper? The one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down- who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Full Monty Leadership asks this last question somewhat differently. Tell me.
“What is it you plan to do with this one amazing opportunity to affect thousands of precious lives?”
The answer is your highest aspiration. Think well-beyond the realm of products and services. Think about the lives of those precious people who build and market and sell these products and services. Thing about their families, and their communities, and all the people they touch. As a leader, this is your amazing opportunity.
My highest aspiration as a coach who works with leaders, is to be a catalyst for the evolution of humanity. This means being aware of, and holding, all aspects of our precious humanity with tender kindness and compassion.
Intentions
Once you identify your highest aspirations, set your intentions to do what’s required. My intention is to be fierce about my aspirations; to hold my failures lightly, tenderly and with kindness. Then to begin again.
Practices
Aspirations and intentions don’t come about by naming them. Just as wishing to lose weight doesn’t make the pounds fall away. We have to identify practices that support our aspirations. To lose weight I might go to Weight Watchers and attend a weekly fitness class.
Because it’s easy to get lost in thoughts about the past or worries about the future, my aspiration to be aware requires practice. The same is true for being tender with failure. So I practice mindfulness meditation to support my aspirations and intentions. What practices support your aspirations?
Reminders
We do what we write down. Why? Writing it down is both a commitment and a reminder.
As a reminder of my commitment to practice meditation on a regular basis, I created a bracelet from red string and tied 3 knots in it. My accountability partner tied the bracelet around my wrist as I stated my aspirations, my intentions and my practice commitments. With the bracelet as an every day reminder, I practiced more regularly. When the bracelet fell apart 4 weeks later, the practice had become a habit. The habit is still in place. I don’t intend to break it.
In review, to achieve Full Monty Leadership set your:
- Highest aspirations
- Intentions
- Practices
- Reminders
Then give it your all, every day, all day.