In honor of Earth Day, I spoke with Patrick Flynn, climate change expert and former head of global sustainability at Salesforce, to learn how he embodies conscious leadership.
Patrick leads with his values - love, impact and responsibility. Throughout the conversation, you get a sense of how his commitment to serving our planet ties directly into all three of these.
In this video, you’ll hear Patrick’s take on “leading from within, not from the front” and how he maximizes impact through INFLUENCE.
Patrick shares how he persuaded Salesforce to install the blackwater recycling system in the Salesforce Tower of San Francisco - the largest of its kind in North America.
Important Takeaways:
How Patrick leads through his values
The importance of speaking other people’s language
How to influence cognitively | emotionally | somatically
A specific approach Patrick takes to influencing others: fear (risk averse) + pride (reward)
How Patrick gets on other people’s wavelength
How Patrick applies his gut / spidey sense
Concrete action you can take to engage and contribute to climate change.
How to leverage your corporate purchasing power to make a difference in sustainability.
My favorite takeaway: “When you are trying to get people to take action, cover the enthusiasts as well as the risk-averse in the same breath.”
What’s your favorite takeaway or next step?
#earthday2024 #sustainability #climatechange #servantleadership
3 Critical Ways Leaders Increase and Access Alignment
Why Access Alignment, you ask? Aside from a love of alliteration, and a penchant for un-sexy brand names, I chose this name because it felt big enough to encapsulate three of the most important things we do:
1. Leading Purposefully: access alignment with your values
We continually witness and I’ve personally experienced how powerful it is to align purpose with path. When leaders align their values with their everyday actions:
- Everything falls into place.
- There is flow.
- Work can be done with greater ease, fulfillment and enjoyment.
- It’s not so heavy, burdensome or tiring.
- Impact multiplies.
2. Leading Fully as a Whole Person: access alignment with all parts of yourself
We know about IQ. We’re increasingly familiar with EQ and how this is essential for leading well. Very few understand or utilize SQ. In fact, what the heck is SQ?
SQ = soma (body) quotient. This is not even standard nomenclature yet but you’ve likely heard others touch on this untapped super power. Amy Cuddy, PhD taught us Power Poses. Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD explains how The Body Keeps the Score. And I learned from a decade of training in ZenBodytherapy® that our physical alignment - how we sit, stand and move - dramatically impacts how we think and feel. So increasing alignment physically and tapping into the brilliance of your body is something particularly potent. When you attune to all parts of yourself - head, heart and body:
- You connect more deeply with yourself, with others and the world around you.
- You increase empathy.
- You increase your capacity to be inclusive with others.
- It’s easier to create psychological safety.
- You know how to increase your own sense of safety in a world mired with triggers and trauma.
- You open doors and opportunities for yourself and for others.
3. Leading with Impact and Leverage: access alignment with others
When you’ve increased alignment within yourself, gaining alignment with others is a much easier, organic process. It’s far easier to craft a vision and embody it such that others are naturally drawn to it.
When you’ve done the groundwork of #1 and 2 above:
- You’re naturally more curious, humble, open and able to make adjustments or corrections when needed.
- You gain traction and influence.
- Generating or accessing alignment in your teams and in groups is easier and even exhilarating.
- Teamwork, collaboration, innovation, efficiency, and productivity soars.