He had found the key to stardom. A healthy disregard for unfavorable circumstances and people who imagined that circumstances made the man. They did not. Men created their own circumstances. It took an appreciation that one needed others and so the art of collaboration was another key to winning in life.
Someone put it this way – ‘your attitude is speaking so loudly I cannot hear your words’. This is the burden of validity and acceptance in leadership. Leadership demands authenticity. And authenticity demands that we make every effort to align what we feel internally with what we are expressing outwardly. The result is integrity.
Deborah was a spiritual leader and prophetess in Israel, the Judge and head of government, a military strategist who rose up to the occasion in mustering the nation to war, a poet and collaborator in music, and a woman who identified her womanhood without any belittling or entitlements of gender. Deborah was a woman who threaded and wielded effectiveness in different roles with pure integrity and powerful coherence.
When we fail to align the internal truth of what we believe and ascribe to, with the external truth of our work; when we fail to speak up – and pretend to be part of what we do not believe in, we open ourselves up to ‘war’. War in our own souls. War between our internal and external worlds. War in the outcomes of our lives. We live a disintegrated life. And when the bubble bursts, we are the ones that will be expelled.
And do not let anyone make you apologise for your deepest desires and directions. Those desires and directions define you. What will make you happy as you walk, trip or run along. It is all quite esoteric, so if I were you, I would study me. Frankly, if there is any subject you should watch closely, it is who you are, and your callings and assignments. Therein lies the key to your life’s work.
Integrity is from the word ‘integer’. A number divisible only by itself and one. Not given to divisions of personality, half truths and twisted versions. You walk your talk knowing that you are accountable to those who have trusted you and believe in you. You are who you say you are.