“The Dali Lama is now following your tweets on Twitter.”
Less than a year ago I wouldn’t have even understood the meaning of this phrase. The word “Twitter”, let alone the concept of Tweets from the Dalai Lama were not in my lexicon a short year ago. Everyone talks about the power of the Internet and new social media. Receiving this message in my morning inbox is one of the most wonderful examples of this I have experienced to date !
I also thought, “Holy cow the Dalia Lama knows who I am!”. Now, I know what you are thinking, that I am pretty naive. He is following 64k people and he probably has a team of Tweeters. But still I like the ratio – billions of people out there and I am within his close circle of tens of thousands.
Raised in stick Catholic schools, I have always been drawn to the Budhist’s liberal teachings and the peacefulness of its followers. I consider the Dalia Lama to be one of the great masters of our time. He is on my top three living people I would like to meet (can you guess who the other two are?). So, for me to imagine that my Tweets might somehow reach the Dalai Lama is mind blowing. I am reminded of the remark Biance made on the evening of Barack Obama’s inauguration, ”He makes you want me want to be smarter”. Now, I feel the pressure to Tweet smarter!
One of the many things I admire about this joyful sage is his love of science and technology. He beleives we need to create a better balance science and spirituality. He is living this model by leveraging the best of the new technology for its ability to connect, while doing it better than even media giants like Oprah. Now don’t get me wrong, I adore Oprah, but she has almost 2 million followers and is following only 19 people – this is considered a collosal faux pas on Twitter!
As I got all caught up in the euphoria, swooning like a teenager at rock concert, I was reminded of the famous Buddhist parable, The Monk with the Sweaty Palms. In this story, a senior monk is about to meet the Dalai Lama when he realizes that he is not ready for enlightenment because he is nervous (has sweaty palms) in the prescence of such a revered figure. This parable teaches us that we are all equal and should not revere anyone no matter what their status in life, anymore than we should look down on those of lower status.
Lately, I have been labouring into the wee hours of the night on a new social entrepreneurial venture – an online platform to support the shift toward enhanced Wellness and Sustainability. As with this type of life changing endeavour, I have been battling my own set of demons. I constantly question whether I can actually pull it off. I don’t believe I could get a better sign that I am on the right track, unless of course God “poked me” on Facebook!
The reaction I received from my friends about this was lukewarm, at best. What I quickly realized is that most of my cohorts have only a vague knowledge of Twitter. I hope that through this post I will begin to illustrate to them and others the incredible power of this new channel.
Posted by Lianne Bridges
President and CEO of Bridges Horizon.
Bridges Horizon equips organizations to fundamentally shift the way they manage and deliver the total customer experience. Bridges Horizon conducts the complex orchestra of internal and external resources, processes and technology required to successfully realize this transformation.
Great post, Lianne. You are absolutely on to something here; the internet (especially Twitter) has fundamentally changed the way we communicate and connect with one another. The potentials are profound.
And I think it’s definitely a sign – you are on the right track, and you can pull this one off!
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?”
-Marianne Williamson
Lianne, your post makes me think.
There is an essential shift occurring not only in smart leadership but also in smart follower-ship. As you have highlighted above, Obama makes Biance want to be smarter and the fact that The Dalia Lama is following you on Twitter makes you feel responsible to “tweet” smarter. The President and the Pop Star, the Spiritual Icon and the Business Woman, united more then divided. Connected. I find myself lingering on the word ‘connected’ as I consider its depth of meaning.
What is this indicative of? We are observing evidence of the shift as we awaken to the power of follower-ship. To me this means that responsibility for everything about our lives lies within. We can no longer look outwards to blame anything on anyone, ever again.
Follower-ship and leadership are merging. This makes follower-ship powerful because we want to be worthy of the ideals that our leaders communicate so charismatically.
In the present context of the shift, wanting to be worthy of the ideals communicated by our leaders makes us think before we speak, act, purchase and consume. We must be conscious of whom we follow, how we follow and why we follow. The power lies within us, not outside of us. Knowing this fact is more essential now than ever before.
The paradox that is created through social media is that the leader has the unavoidable evidence that the following is engaged and it forces him to continue to earn the esteem of those whom are emulating him. He fuels us and we fuel him. The bar is raised as science and technology unite the leadership and follower-ship.
Leadership theorists are making the case for ‘servant leadership’ and the concept of ‘leading from behind’. This evolution is the dawn of the collaboration of humanity, in service of humanity. The guiding principal is truly, that the more you give, the more you gain.
The beacon of light shining from the dark night of past historical events is that emotional intelligence, mental fortitude and traditional intellect are uniting to form a family of leadership values that will serve humanity as a whole. Those in tune with this new level of complex intelligence will coach us away from “I must have more” and towards “There is always enough for every one to have as much as he needs”. ( Note the work ‘need’ is loaded and beyond the scope of this comment.)
As we continue leading through the shift it will be consistently confirmed that the separation between leader and follower is minuscule however the result of the awareness of such; quantum.
And, by the way, a comment to Shauna’s comment; M.W’s words are so wise. In continuation of the quote that you shared above, I ad her next phrase that reads: ‘Your playing small does not serve the world….’ These words should be the credo of each and every parent, leader, teacher, coach and prophet on the planet today. Imagine a world where children where taught to let their light shine.
Thanks for the space to comment.
Thanks for your post, Lianne. Corry Robertson
PS. I did proof read and spell check this comment so I do apologize if there are typos.
Thank you Shauna and Corry for your very insightful and thought-provoking comments.
Shauna, your quote (Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.) is so profound and true in these both trying and exhilarating times.
Corry, your points about “follow-ship” are breakthrough. I have never thought of it in that way, though I have felt the innate pull to be much more, as I follow and am followed by those known and unknown to me.
Thank you both for taking the time to provide your thoughts and insights.
China has canceled or postponed several events meant to highlight its rapidly improving relations with Taiwan, apparently to show anger over the Dalai Lama’s visit to the island, Taiwan’s ruling party said.
The Tibetan spiritual leader’s visit, aimed at comforting victims of last month’s deadly typhoon, has posed the most serious challenge to relations between the island and the mainland since President Ma Ying-jeou took office 15 months ago on a platform of ending 60 years of hostility.
Taiwan’s ruling party said it sent an emissary to China last week to try to explain why Ma approved the visit.
”Beijing’s attitude toward this is important to us, so we tried to explain to them about Taiwan’s thinking,” Nationalist Party Deputy Secretary General Chang Rong-kung said.
He did not say how China responded.
China has canceled or postponed at least two planned visits to Taiwan, and nixed ceremonies meant to mark the expansion of direct air service, said Nationalist Party spokeswoman Chen Shu-rong. China had already said its delegation would not join Saturday’s opening ceremony for the Deaf Olympics in Taipei.
An official with China Southern Airlines, however, said no ceremony had been planned for the direct flights, saying budgets are tight and such flights have become routine.
China had warned that the Dalai Lama’s visit was ”bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan” – a far harsher stance than its earlier comment that placed the blame for the visit on Taiwan’s pro-independence opposition rather than Ma.
The opposition invited the Dalai Lama to visit and comfort victims of the typhoon, which killed 670 people. Ma later approved the visit but said he would not meet the spiritual leader.
香港仔時昌迷你倉
Very cool!