What Cards Are In Your Hand?
I joined the Color Guard my freshman year in high school. I learned how to spin a flag and toss a rifle. To this day, I still feel the urge to do drop spins or double-time any time I am holding an object that remotely resembles a flag. Brooms, tubes of wrapping paper, golf clubs, etc. they all become wannabe flags in my hands. While I doubt I would be successful at a helicopter toss, I often feel the impulse to try! Even though I am no longer limber enough to do a high kick and a pirouette would trigger a migraine, when I hear certain music my body wants to go through old routines. This is known as muscle memory. After hours of practicing something, your body knows what to do without even thinking about it. I had never thought about this practice in terms of leadership preparedness, but this is just the technique that Eve Poole suggests in her book Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership. She writes, “I am going to call it ‘leadersmithing’, because it is about apprenticeship, craft and hours of practice.”[1] (Emphasis added)
Practice leadership? That seems like a strange idea. How do you practice leadership? Poole provides a handy how-to guide for this practice she calls leadersmithing, stating, “We need more and better leaders badly, at every level in organizations, and also in all walks of life.”[2] In her book, she provides fifty-two different traits a leader should have, using the metaphor of a deck of cards to organize these traits.[3] I grew up playing cards, so I love this metaphor. I was playing Hearts, Gin Rummy, Pinochle, Solitaire, and other games from an early age. Any time we visited my grandparents, we would pull out the cards after dinner and play. My favorite card game has always been Pinochle, so I thought it would be fun to look at Poole’s traits for the namesake meld, a Pinochle, which consists of a queen of spades and a jack of diamonds.
The Queen of Spades: Creativity
This one is right up my ally. I love being creative. Genesis 1:27 tells us we are created in the image of God. It stands to reason that if we are created in the image of the Creator, we must all have a spark of creativity in us. Poole states, “Creativity is one way to limber up a mind that has got stuck in a business-as-usual rut.”[4]Creativity is about looking at things in a new way, doing something different. My favorite creative outlet currently is sewing. When I feel stuck with an assignment or task, I set it aside and work on a sewing project. With each project, I learn something new that I can apply to future projects, and I allow my mind to reset. In The Five Faces of Genius: Creative Thinking Styles to Succeed at Work, Annette Moser-Wellman says,
“The most valuable resource you bring to your work and to your firm is your creativity.”[5] I love bringing my creativity into everything I do.
Jack of Diamonds: Letting Go
Letting go. Sigh. Poole characterizes this as “A complementary practice that will help you surf uncertainty…”[6]This is not easy, and it certainly takes practice. Letting go of expectations, hopes, dreams, or the life you thought you would live. In this program, I am learning to let go of my perfectionist academic practices. No, I do not have to read every single word of every single page of the book. Sometimes just getting the assignment done is enough. What I have worked on letting go the most is the need for approval from others. I spent so much of my academic career working hard to receive a pat on the back from my parents that they were never going to give me. Now, I am learning that I do not need to seek someone else’s approval to dictate my self worth. Bit by bit, I am letting go of the weights the pull me down so that I may, “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Heb. 12:1)
These are the two traits I will continue to hone over the next few weeks. I will bring my creativity into my Design process and continue to work on letting go of my perfectionist tendencies. What about you? What cards do you hold in your hand right now?
[1] Eve Poole, Leadersmithing: Revealing the Trade Secrets of Leadership. (London, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2017). iBooks pg. 116 of 281.15 of 281
[2] Ibid., 14 of 281.
[3] Ibid., 104 of 281
[4] Ibid., pg. 178 of 281.
[5] Annette Moser-Wellman, The Five Faces of Genius: Creative Thinking Styles to Succeed at Work. (London, Penguin Books, 2002). pg. unknown
[6] Poole, iBooks pg. 116 of 281.
About the Author
Becca Hald
Becca is an ordained Foursquare minister, serving as the Online Community Pastor at Shepherd's House Church. She has over twenty-five years of leadership experience both inside and outside the church. Becca has served her community in many capacities ranging from Administrative Assistant and Children’s Ministry Director to Secretary and President of multiple school organizations. She and her husband, Andrew have been married for over 25 years. They have two adult children, Drew and Evelyn. Her great passion is to equip others, to raise awareness about mental health, and to help reduce the negative stigma surrounding mental health issues. In her free time, she loves going to Disneyland, reading, sewing, and making cards.10 responses to “What Cards Are In Your Hand?”
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Becca,
Color Guard must have been a great experience! I can see you twirling, spinning, and marching…making all the moves! It sounds like you built a lot of muscle memory! Today, some of these moves are automatic. I like how you used this to introduce Leadersmithing.
Creativity is a tremendous strength you have! You recently advanced your skills in learning how to sew a button using your sewing machine. Your skill is expanding! I am curious how you are wanting to bring creativity to the NPO research you are working on? How are your creativity skills expanding as you are pursuing your doctorate?
I admire how you took two skills and applied them personally. You creatively used Pinochle to help you choose! You unpacked these well. Thank you for role modeling simplicity to me. I’m currently struggling with my blog that seems too detailed.
You play with a full deck, Becca! You have so many cards to play with!!
Thank you Kristy. You are so encouraging. I am definitely using creativity in my doctoral studies. With my NPO, I am learning to see things from a different perspective. I like Poole’s discussion of the Five Faces of Genius by Annette Moser-Wellman – the Seer, the Sage, the Observer, the Alchemist, and the Fool. (iBooks pg. 143) The Sage strips things down, which is what I have been doing with my NPO. There are so many different ways I can take it, so many things I could do. I need to strip it down in order to have something I can do rather than floundering with a million different ideas. Poole suggests going through these five faces to gain a new perspective when you are stuck. (Poole, iBooks pg. 144) I like this approach.
Becca,
This sounds very interesting:
Five Faces of Genius by Annette Moser-Wellman – the Seer, the Sage, the Observer, the Alchemist, and the Fool.
Makes me want to get the book!
Stuck….yes, this sounds all too familiar! It is wonderful to get unstuck. I pray that we can shift out of ‘stuck’ easily. I’m finding that I need to pray and take breaks.
Hi Becca,
It is so good to hear that the stretching part of this program for you is learning to let go of perfection! This is a tough one, but what a great (and unexpected) skill you are learning!
I want to follow up on creativity. This is an essential skill to cultivate in leadership. I remember Dr. Clark talking about the importance of “play” in leadership while we were in South Africa. But you are a busy person! We all are busy! So my question is, do you schedule time for creativity, or is it spontaneous? Or both? This is a skill I need to lean into. Thank you for inspiring me to do so.
I think time for play needs both spontaneity and to be scheduled. I do schedule in regular times of play (especially trips to Disneyland or Disney World!) and set aside times of intentionally being creative and working on projects. Sewing or other crafts are a stress release for me, so it is important to make time for it. And I have plenty of spontaneous craft projects. Just this afternoon, we went down to the local general store and I noticed that they had a few Christmas stockings out for staff members, but did not have enough for all the staff, so I came home and made Christmas stockings for the rest of the staff. It was a spontaneous craft afternoon and ministry opportunity for me – a chance to love my community. I think part of it is learning what areas you excel at or want to learn more in terms of creativity. Then make sure to intentionally schedule time, but also be open to opportunities that arise. Many of the creative skills I have are because of time spent doing things. Ask any artist and they will tell you about the hours spent on their craft. I get better with each sewing project I make and I love learning new skills. I encourage you to pick a skill and, as you said, lean into it!
Becca,
I wanted to encourage you in your creativity. Particularly, I wanted to say how much I have enjoyed watching your creative sewing processes. I loved seeing you shop for materials in Cape Town, and think about things you might make with them. And I was overwhelmed with all of the lanyards you created for each of us. This is certainly an area in which you excel. You are a blessing to so many. Thank you!
Thank you so much Tonette. I really enjoy being able to bless others with my creativity. I see it a ministry. I have had many people tell me I need to start an Etsy shop, but for me being able to make something for someone and give it to them is so rewarding.
Becca,
I can totally picture you doing this and love the picture of your past. I also enjoyed you pushing all of us to be more creative in our blogs. This week you added a link to further explain the helicopter throw and that was genius!
It’s absolutely a craft of excellence that you could bring a card game that was so dear to your heart, and it match up so perfectly with your life. We all know you are VERY creative!
My question to you is how you would mentor the new cohort DLGP 02 in the art of letting go?
Thanks Alana! What a great question. I find that sharing stories is a great way of mentoring people. I love sharing my own trials and triumphs in hopes that I can be an inspiration to others. When we share our stories, we give others permission to share their own trials and triumphs.
I would share how I spent so much of my life seeking after approval from the wrong people for the wrong reasons – looking for affirmation from my parents that they would never give me. I spent most of my life honestly believing I was stupid because nothing I did was ever good enough, at least that is what I thought. I have had to let go of those thoughts in order to grow. It helps to be reminded that we all feel the imposter syndrome in higher academics.
Another aspect of letting go for me is learning how to find balance in my life. I have had to out of necessity. Because of the health issues I face, I am not always able to do what I think I should be able to do. In grad school I told myself to be okay with whatever grade I got as long as I did my best – and not my best on my best day, but my best in the given circumstance. I have had to let go of perfectionism because I am simply not able to do everything I would wish to do. Another thing that has helped me is not saying yes to volunteering to do something until I talk to my husband. As the often first one to raise my hand and say yes, this has helped me find balance and not say yes when I should say no.
I would share what my pastor years ago taught me, that just as we tithe of our finances, we should learn each year to tithe of our activities. Let go of 10% of what you are doing. You only have 100% of your time and energy and if you do not let go of something, you make no room for the new.
I would share my stories and then I would ask them to share their stories. I would ask what are the things they need to let go of and I would ask how I can help them.
Becca,
Expanding on Poole’s leadership concepts with cards and applying them to your own life was well done. The creativity and letting go discussions resonated with me as I too am struggling with some health issues that prevent me from going 24/7.
Something I’d like to explore with you in the future is: in light of how much creativity is stifled in church and in the workplace – how does one inspire others to tap into their God-given creativity?