I’ve been thinking a lot about grace lately. It isn’t a word that gets much airtime in leadership writing and scholarship.
Perhaps we have gotten wrong.
I would argue that this uniquely difficult past year, in fact, has been a study in grace extended and grace denied. As the dual crises of health and social justice/racism have ravaged the spaces between us, they have called on us to be our best selves. We have sterling examples of great achievement and stunning defeat in that task. It as been a year when our very best decisions, our most well-intentioned leadership moves, too often feel short and begged the question, where does grace reside?
Our public officials, for example, have worked in the belly of the crucible, dealing with constantly emerging information and a growing sense of frustration all in a surreal moment of politicization when the known, the seen, and the heard became matters of debate along the political spectrum. How do we move our own personal spheres of influence forward in the context of all of that? Perhaps by leaning in on grace.
Grace, is turn out, is work. It is not some lofty edict, in fact, but is really at its heart about the choices, the leadership moves, that we make. And leadership is about just that - the art of navigating, moment by moment, the large and small choices that shape an organization or a team. We make choices about where where to focus our energies, whose voices to lift up, and how to approach those decisions and realities that fall outside the margins of the expected. Each of those instances offer us an opportunity to engage with grace.
But how does one lead gracefully? It can look like assuming positive intent when others bring divergent, even dissonant, points of view; it can manifest in a commitment to deep listening and ensuring that historically silenced voices are heard when our systems might be geared towards shutting them down. It means staying true to our core values when the pressures of the moment would sway us from that course.
Gracious leaders become adept at that artful dance of simultaneously staying centered in the ground that they stand on while at the same time bringing multiple points of view and divergent perspectives into the room.
In fact, perhaps dance is a fitting metaphor for graceful leadership. The art of dance in its simultaneous discipline and artistry, flow and design, and presence both in physical space as well and in relation to others is an art of dissonance and harmony, complexity and simplicity. Just like powerful leadership.
So, as you engage in the dance of leadership this week, do so with a bias towards grace. There has never been a more opportune time to lean in on grace in our leadership. As we begin to recreate our shared spaces and connections in new ways over the coming year, the measure of grace is a fitting yardstick for our success. So commit fully. What are we waiting for?
As George Balanchine, Choreographer and Co-founder of the New York Citry Ballet, asked, “Why are you stingy with yourselves? Why are you holding back? What are you saving for – another time? There are no other times. There is only now. Right now.”
Artwork, “A lovely garden.” By Avi Juni, 2020.