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<img src="/icons/book_gray.svg" alt="/icons/book_gray.svg" width="40px" /> Source
Most of this document is a direct excerpt from The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership.
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COMMITMENT ONE
Taking Radical Responsibility
Above the Line: I commit to taking full responsibility for the circumstances of my life and for my physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual well-being. I commit to supporting others to take full responsibility for their lives.
Below the Line: I commit to blaming others and myself for what is wrong in the world. I commit to being a victim, villain, or hero and taking more or less than 100% responsibility.
Keys
- Locus of Control: We take full responsibility (toward ourselves) and place blame (away from ourselves).
- Depending on wiring, people blame either someone else, themselves, or the system.
- We blame because things don’t go the way we think they should. Our reaction to this is to become anxious.
- Victims see themselves as having something done “to them.”
- Villains find fault and place blame.
- Heroes hate conflict, pain, and tension and seek to temporarily relieve their discomfort without dealing with the issue. They habitually over-function and take on more than their share of responsibility. Heroic behavior is toxic because it leads to burnout and supports others in being victims.
- Judge: Sorts things into “how the world should or shouldn’t be.” This guarantees things won’t always go the way we think they should. When this happens, we react with anxiety, resentment, and attempts to control.
- Learner: Presupposes that there isn’t a way the world should or shouldn’t be. It just is. Shifts questions from, “How can we fix this issue or keep it from happening?” to “What can we learn from this or I wonder what this is here to teach me about myself and life?”
- Conscious leaders are open to the possibility that instead of controlling and changing the world, perhaps the world is just right the way it is. This creates huge growth opportunities on a personal and organization level.