Words are powerful.
Recently in the news, we see yet another celebrity immersed in backlash for words spoken. True, as Maya Angelou stated, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” It is those words that we speak that create such an emotion-filled response.
Thoughts are powerful, but only because thoughts are steeped with words and stories we tell.
As leaders, we have a huge responsibility to be thought-filled of our words, the vehicle, by which we communicate.
Let’s not just be conscious and strategic in the words we don’t say, but even more responsible in the words we do say. Do your words lift up or pull down? Do your words encourage or diminish? Do your words inspire or de-motivate? Are your words love-fueled or your words fueled by fear?
Remember, leadership is powerful—use your power wisely.
In love,
Maria
Content copyright 2012. Dr. Maria J. Church. All rights reserved.
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I remember beginning work on my dissertation in post-graduate school and interviewing faculty as potential committee members for my study. I outlined to them the model of leadership that I wanted to introduce into the great body of knowledge. 
We all leave a legacy, whether by choice or unconsciously. So why not intentionally create the legacy? Do you really want someone else to define your legacy? Meaningfulness, is feeling a part of something bigger, as big as a legacy.
Did you know the majority of heart attacks occur around nine o’clock on Monday mornings? “
Do you remember the classic rock song by The Who, Who Are You? It is truly one of my favorites! Little did I know when I first heard this song in 1978 that I would ponder the importance of this question 35 years later. 
Leadership. What is it? How is it defined? Two great questions. Two reasonable questions. Two thousand responses. 
I changed my wardrobe, hair, and personal style. After all, I was in senior management. I had arrived. 
We see social responsibility manifested in the philanthropic activities organizations are doing; and they are not just writing checks to non-profits. Companies are building schools, putting shoes on children, and teaching third-world countries how to harvest water. We have business models emerging with the primary purpose of serving others. Guess what? These businesses are making money! They have learned how to connect the heart with the bank account. A Course in Miracles tells us, “If you feel the love of God within you, you will look out on a world of mercy and of love.” That is exactly what some organizations are doing. 
Power is a hot topic. Not all power is equal. Bertram Raven and John French identified five different power bases: legitimate, coercive, expert, reward, and referent. 
Love of Self, Love of Source, and Love of Others (the love-based leadership model) all require love, trust, and commitment to growth and development in the workplace. If trust and love are not ever-present, then fear-based decisions will result. “For centuries the human species has been discovering that it is the creator of its own reality, making the discovery, and retreating from it in disappointment (because the wizard [referring to the Wizard of Oz story] is not what we expected) and in fear (because the freedom the discovery brings is unknown and terrifying).”1. Fear is powerful; so powerful that it alone creates a false reality of that which is feared in the first place. Victor Frankl illustrates, “It is characteristic of this fear that it produces precisely that of which the patient is afraid…the wish is father to the thought…the fear is mother to the event.”2. Once again, choice is everywhere, calling for a decision between choosing love to guide us or fear to guide us. “Man is not born slave or free, but creates himself as one or the other through free or voluntary action.”3. 
I am almost embarrassed by the fact that while I knew forgiveness intellectually, I didn't really learn the heart-lesson until 10 years ago when I had a great learning experience regarding forgiveness. My mentor, a consultant hired by our corporate office, leveraged the difficulty in the relationship I had with our division general manager to his advantage. By indicating that he was still needed beyond his contract because the division general manager and I were not getting along, he prolonged his lucrative consultant income. 
This is a photo of my business partner, Dr. Dorothy Bonvillian and I in Old San Juan standing in front of a plaque at the home and office of one of my mentors, Dr. Victor Frankl. Victor Frankl’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, revolves around our striving to be fulfilled along with the powerful message of choice. Dr. Frankl, a brilliant psychiatrist, was working on his Logotherapy theory when he was captured by the Nazis and imprisoned in a series of concentration camps. His notes and all of his possessions were seized. Stripped of everything, literally and figuratively, he was given a number to replace his name. “The experience of camp life shows that man does have a choice of action,” Frankl stated, “Man can preserve a vestige of spiritual freedom, of independence of mind, even in such terrible conditions of psychic and physical stress.”1. Dr. Frankl realized the truth in his theory when he wrote, “What alone remains is ‘the last of human freedoms’—the ability to choose one’s attitude in a given set of circumstances.”2. Those are very wise and applicable words then, and today. When we place ourselves in a victim role, we are victims. We do create our own realities. However, we have a choice in how that reality looks, as co-creators. We can choose to create a different perception, a different reality. 
Perceptions are the stories we tell ourselves regarding what we see and how we interpret the world around us. Les Brown, one of the great 21st century storytellers said, “How people live their lives is as a result of the stories that they believe about themselves,” What are your stories? Do they serve you as your aspire to reach your highest potential? Do your stories lift you up or do they bring you down? Do your stories represent who you really are, your true essence?