Inner Leader Movement
By guest blogger Lisa Clayton
I was first born of four children being raised on a farm in Ohio. I became an innate early leader as my mother put an apron on me at 9 years old and had me coordinate and cook the meals while she milked the cows and worked the fields, in addition to supervising my three younger siblings.
Leadership has always fascinated me. When I became an elementary and junior high school teacher, I realized every child had the potential to be a leader in some way, even being shy and introverted. I would ask the most introverted students to tutor or read to other students one-to one as a way of connecting and sharing their unique gifts. I believed in the leadership ability of each student in the sense of bringing their best gifts forward and utilizing them to their fullest potential.
I continued my leadership mission in life by becoming an independent training consultant designing and leading projects to deploy organizational training programs. As my leader success shone, I was encouraged by a Fortune 500 client to start my own company. Source Potential was founded in 1999 and ahead of its time as I was told time and time again, “Develop the potential of our employees, but don’t talk about that Source thing. It’s too woo-woo.”
Yet, that woo-woo was my passion to help others connect with the “source” of their being. Thus, I hid behind the real meaning of Source Potential and wove in heart qualities of intuition and inner wisdom in side conversations or through stories I was able to share while facilitating leadership classes.
Throughout my 35 years of professional experience, I observed and witnessed almost every leadership style imaginable. I worked with master manipulators, control freaks of micro management and abusive bullies. Believe it or not, these leaders kept producing successful bottom-line results, yet the people they managed were miserable.
I also worked with some amazing leaders who were successful as they engaged loyal and supportive followings. They were labeled as “charismatic or people focused” leaders. They were different by being courageous enough to share their true feelings and lead by their intuitive guidance instead of being driven only by the bottom line. The sad reality was for the most part, these leaders burned out easily and weren’t recognized for the time and effort they put in coaching and inspiring others. They usually were the first ones walked out of the door when the reorgs or downsizing occurred. Asking why one of the most respected executive leaders I ever worked with was let go, the answer was, “He was too nice and not tough enough on his people.” At that moment, a new inner fire started to burn inside of me.
Even though I was very successful and made tons of money, this polarity in leadership made me extremely uncomfortable and frustrated. I knew intuitively the root of my misery was not being able to teach the “inner” guidance and capacity for leaders to open their hearts to more compassion, understanding, acceptance, kindness and more heart intelligent qualities.
Another missing link was my belief that everyone had leader abilities in some way; from back office accounting, janitorial services to the front-line staff. I remember vividly a Human Resources Vice-President saying to me, “Lisa, you can’t teach people how to be leaders. They either have it or they don’t.” This statement fueled my inner fire even more and started a bonfire that wouldn’t extinguish.
When my corporate contract terms ended in December 2016, I made a courageous move and took a huge leap of faith. I wasn’t going to renew my contracts or run after the money and success I previously experienced. I was going to be true to my inner leader and help others discover, activate and follow their inner leader, also.
So, I combined my gifts of being an intuitive, ordained Angel minister, HeartMath trainer/coach and entrepreneur with years of corporate leadership experience and birthed the Inner Leader Movement.
The Inner Leader Movement is needed now, especially now, with all that is unfolding in our world with the chaotic changes and upheavals. Navigating life by establishing a coherent flow for change and direction by activating heart qualities WILL make a difference to live a fulfilling and meaningful life.
How? Discovering and listening to intuition and understanding heart intelligence as the keys to wisdom unlocks the power of heart. And when this type of leadership power comes forth, new directions with clarity and focus for change happen. From an executive leading an organization to a stay-at-home mother leading her children daily, the Inner Leader Movement promotes a new energy of heart for living in what is unfolding as an Age of Heart Consciousness.
My hope is you will join in the Inner Leader Movement for revealing your true heart desires to step up and out in the world with your work and service. I’m doing it and I’m watching my clients do it with waves of success and satisfaction that I’ve never witnessed before.
Yes, this inner heart fire of mine can no longer be extinguished as it fuels forward with teaching, coaching and promoting successful inner leaders in the world today!
Lisa A. Clayton, MS, Author, Founder and President of Source Potential
Lisa offers more than 35 years of experience in professional training, coaching and consulting. Lisa created a unique learning method for developing individual potential and application of learning concepts which was used worldwide by clients such as American Express and HSBC in facilitator certifications for leadership programs.
Lisa conducts intuitive sessions as an ordained Angel minister and specializes in connecting individuals with their spiritual gifts. From her passion for heart intuitive learning, Lisa became a HeartMath® Certified Trainer and Coach for stress reduction techniques and creating coherent environments.
With Lisa’s life-long teaching and coaching philosophy of “learning from the inside out”, she has creatively combined her intuitive abilities with heart-focused techniques to establish the Inner Leader Movement.
Lisa’s website is www.lisaaclayton.com.
