In his beautiful book 'The War of Art' Steven Pressfield writes “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands resistance.”

I believe this line is more relevant than ever, that we've never felt this resistance as present in our lives as now. The world is changing quickly, and we follow these changes in real time from our smart phones. We're full of impressions, trying to make sense of it all, and trying to make sense of who we are in all of this. And while technology is evolving and creating possibilities in an unprecedented pace, we're still humans with a mind that hasn't evolved much in the last few thousands of years.

We're still tribe animals, primarily concerned with our own safety. The difference is that in modern society our primary threat is not physical death but ego death, still it's the same basic instinctive impulses that we need to learn to manage.

Bob Anderson, founder of Leadership Circle, writes "The primary tension in life and leadership is the tension between purpose and safety, between the part of us that wants to be about something great, make a difference, and demands our deepest commitment—and another part of us that simply is not up for that much risk. This tension is inherent. It lives in all of us, all the time."

With this tension inside and an outside world characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, the biggest challenge we have as leaders is to engage others in our worldly journey. The most powerful tool to create engagement is conversation and since you can't relate to others greater than you relate to yourself our leadership challenge starts within. 

This is what I'm passionate about - helping leaders explore and deal with the tension between purpose and safety, to surface, explore, and shift the beliefs, values, and fears that consciously and sub-consciously guide how we perceive ourselves and how we interact with the world.

It's about the transition from an outside-in to an inside-out mental operating system, the shift from being driven by safety and fear to being driven by courageous curiosity and authenticity. Because that's the only way, not only to engage others to create progressive sustainable change, but to live a fulfilling life.