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Leadership and the Media

Guest post by: Sylvia Lafair

Article Overview: Why do so many people follow Charlie Sheen? So what if Lindsey Lohan goes to jail? Why do we care what happened to Tiger Woods? Do we care if the same thing had happened to a next door neighbor? What is the reason we salivate and wait for the next bit of news about celebrities and their private lives? Maybe we are just getting ready to accept the fact that it is an illusion to want to separate who we are at home from who we are at work from who we are in the media from who we are at a party from who we are at the gym from who we are......get the point.

Leadership and the Media

Why do so many people follow Charlie Sheen? So what if Lindsey Lohan goes to jail? Why do we care what happened to Tiger Woods? Do we care if the same thing had happened to a next door neighbor? What is the reason we salivate and wait for the next bit of news about celebrities and their private lives? Maybe we are just getting ready to accept the fact that it is an illusion to want to separate who we are at home from who we are at work from who we are in the media from who we are at a party from who we are at the gym from who we are......get the point.

I believe we are finally looking for a deeper meaning of what it means to be a human being. We want authenticity. Not just for others, for ourselves. The search is long and hard and there are few sign posts along the way to help us.

So we look to those who we see as leaders, as successful, as models for what we want to become and where we want to go. Tiger Woods is only one example of an individual who has trained long and hard, become a success hitting a little white ball into a little round hole on beautiful greens around the world. He has made a fortune as an example of equanimity and grace on and off the golf course.

So now what? We want to know why he was leaving his house at 2:20 AM after Thanksgiving. We want to know why his car was shattered and windows broken. We want to know if he is really having an affair. Is it just so we can gossip and point fingers at yet another famous person who has possibly made a mess out of his life?

I believe we are searching for what is real and what really matters. In this time of accelerated speed when change happens in a fast and furious manner we are looking for touch stones. We are looking for leaders who we can follow and tell our kids, "Behave like this and you will find success and happiness". Maybe we need to look more deeply and ask deeper questions.

This is a time of radical transparency. It is a time when actions and words are being measured to see if they are aligned. It is a time when integrity means what we think, say, and do, match. It is a time when leaders are being asked to step up to the plate and become the shining examples for future generations to watch and follow.

Do we want perfection? I think not. I do believe what we want and need from leadership development programs, from leaders around the world is to learn from them, to learn from mistakes, to learn about truth and decency, to learn about right actions.

Every day there is another individual who has made a fortune, won a tournament or an Oscar, who has fallen from grace. Maybe we are looking in all the wrong places for what it means to lead, for what it means to become a role model, for what it means to make a difference.

Maybe all the media frenzy would go away if we really began to look at the crazy split we have created showing a different face in public from who we are in private. Maybe if we begin to heal the divide, lessen the compartmentalization, we can all become healthier, more whole human beings.

It begins when we face the illusion that we should be different at home than we are at work. In the Total Leadership Connections program our company has developed, the hardest part is looking at the behavior patterns learned as children and how we need to transform what protected us as kids and change these patterns to their healthy opposites that will serve us better as adults.

Perhaps all of us, celebrities, politicians, teachers, CEO's and everyone else would benefit from learning how to be examples of integrity in all aspects of our lives. No, not to become models of perfection, that is impossible; yet to strive for truth and authenticity, that is doable. Then maybe, just maybe, we will stop the media frenzy, stop looking at other fallible humans and want to become like them because they can hit a ball, make a touchdown, or win an election. It's about you, it's about me, and it's about time!

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Article Tags: celebrities, charlie sheen, illusion, leadership, lindsey lohan, tiger woods



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