Years ago a small group of designers and engineers thought everyone should have their own loom to make their own fabric.

Most of their colleagues insisted that even if they could make it, nobody would want one.  Looms are machines for big business, not individuals.  Nevertheless, this small affiliation of creators kept making prototypes until people started actually buying them.  Eventually most of America had one.

Of course, all this is true except for the loom part. Instead of the loom the personal computer is the real invention.  But, the struggle was the same, and the critics weren't wrong.  There was no market for a home-based computer.

Gates, Jobs, and others who created the personal computer market had what we call a Receptive Worldview.  Where most saw no market they saw opportunity; where most saw walls they saw break through.

Having a Receptive Worldview means releasing your judgments and limits on situations and people.  It feels risky, but without it we may never really break though.

In the old days of the circus, trainers had a way of conditioning elephants to stay put that involved nothing more than a thin rope. A rope tied to nothing.

When the elephants were babies, their trainers would tie one of their legs to a heavy post. Being so small this worked to keep them in place. Eventually, the elephants became conditioned to knowing they could not move with the rope around their leg.

As the elephants grew, their conditioning remained. With a rope around their leg the elephants thought they were immobilized, even if they were tied to nothing. These powerful animals no longer had a mindful presence of their true strength and freedom.

As people, we often fall into similar conditioning. We react and limit ourselves out of fear, resignation, habit, and close-mindedness. However, if we create an accurate awareness about our true situation, we may find that we're not tethered to those limits. Simply being mindfully present will help us break through.

Q: Do you know all you need about your business to lead it to its full potential?

The Microsoft Corporation is big. Really big.  Around the turn of the millennium, Microsoft's founder and CEO overtook the Sultan of Brunei as the wealthiest man in the world.  His name is Bill Gates - you've probably heard of him.
 
Interestingly, Chairman Gates knows his stuff.  In the midst of running one of the world's largest corporations, he found time to dig into his business.
 
Gates doesn't just know leadership, he knows the guts of the business, down to the computer code, the language used to write computer programs. Former Microsoft executives tell stories about sweaty-palmed meetings with him in which he dissected computer code as easily as he led the meeting.
 
Knowing the guts of your business is an integral aspect of leading.  So is understanding those you lead at that same molecular level.

Theologian and philosopher C.S. Lewis once said that our greatest fear and our greatest desire is to be known.  To really be known we must break down the walls separating our "outside" selves and our "inside" selves.  So, what would that look like?
 
Well, it might look something like Roberto Benigni on Oscar night in 1998.  Benigni won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film for Life Is Beautiful.  When his name was called, Roberto's walls fell away: he jumped on seats, shook strangers' hands, hopped up the stairs like a little boy and, in heavily accented English, spoke profusely about joy and gratitude.  Everyone watching him immediately knew Roberto Benigni inside and out.
 
Letting our walls fall away to be truly known can be scary.  But, the less we hold our true selves back the better others can know us and the better we can know ourselves.  And, we get even closer to real breakthough leading.
 
(Want to see falling walls for yourself?  Watch here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cTR6fk8frs)

Q: Your family knows your job title, but do they know what you accomplish with your genius?

So, how's work?"  It's a question we may have heard many times over the past few days.  With the holidays coming soon, answering questions about our work might be common for a while.  

Why do we fall into stock answers that don't really tell the stories of our work lives?  After all, aren't family members included as our stakeholders? Stakeholders don't have to work with us; they're just folks who affect and are affected by our work.  

Your non-work stakeholders such as family and friends can learn a great deal by knowing the source of your professional purpose. In the coming holidays we'll have opportunities to expand our personal narratives with others. We can even seek to move past mere job titles and explore the passion and purpose of our careers.  

Q: Is your wisdom helping you wield your cutting edge?

Are knives good or bad?  
 
"Well," you may think, "that depends on who's using them."  Indeed.  A scalpel in the hand of a skilled surgeon is a wonder to behold.  However, in the hands of a fool it is a colossal danger.   
 
We can think of the scalpel as representing intelligence.  Made of our education, our skills, and even our talent, intelligence is a great competency to have.  But, intelligence without wisdom can be dangerous.  Your success is certainly due, in part, to your intelligence.  But, we must seek to increase our wisdom as well.  Knowing how to wield our intelligence makes it a truly useful tool, not a destructive one.
 

Q: Are you ready to leave the B.S. on the farm where it belongs?

Can you smell leadership B.S.?  
 
Livestock farms are an important industry with honorable work.  But, let's face it, they smell.  And, it's not the wildflowers in the field.  However, if you ask folks who work on a farm how they stand the smell they'll generally say, "What smell?"  
 
If an outsider sat in on meetings with your team would they be tempted to ask, "How can you stand all that B.S.?"  Would you answer, "What B.S.?"
 
In many industries the lack of authenticity present in leadership and teams has become so commonplace we're no longer able to smell it.  Find a way to clear the air and take a deep breath assessment of your organization.