“Deep within humans dwell those slumbering powers;
powers that would astonish them, that they never dreamed of possessing;
forces that would revolutionize their lives if aroused and put into action.”
Orison Marden
It’s 9:01 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, Friday, May 18, 2001. I am writing this on an Air Canada plane flying from Toronto to Los Angeles. I will be spending the next two days working with Dr. Linda Berens. Linda is one of the leading theorists in North America regarding personality type. She heads Interstrength Associates, an organization devoted to promoting the understanding and ethical use of personality type.
At the end of June, I will have the privilege of co-facilitating a 2-day training session with Linda at this year’s Annual Meeting of the Association of Psychological Type in Minneapolis. We will be teaching the methodology of the Interstrength Self-Discovery Process™. During the next two days we will be planning our 2-day session. We will also, no doubt, spend a lot of time theorizing and dialoguing about the wonderful world of personality type.
I am, to use Interstrength’s terminology, a Catalyst in temperament. Catalysts are driven to find and live out a deep and meaningful purpose for their lives. We also feel driven to help others discover their true potential and purpose so we can make this world a much better place to live. If you are gagging at this point, that suggests that yours is not likely an Catalyst temperament. Nevertheless, I encourage you to read on!
My Idealist nature may explain why I was so struck by Orison Marden’s words, quoted at the beginning of this article. I read them about ½ hour ago in Robert K. Cooper’s new book, The Other 90%. I would like to suggest that you read this quote again before continuing.
“Slumbering powers.” It’s a marvelous phrase. It conjures up in my mind the image of a sleeping giant. Awesome power, but quite harmless until awakened.
Marden suggests that this tremendous untapped leadership potential exists in each of us. “Forces that would revolutionize their lives if aroused and put into action.”
Is he right?
Or is he merely an idealistic Pollyanna? A hopeless, if well-intentioned, romantic?
Well, let me ask you to consider two questions.
First, have you ever been surprised – amazed even – at the uncharacteristic leadership demonstrated by a companion in responding to a crisis? Perhaps it was the fierce love and boldness your normally timid partner displayed when arguing for adequate treatment for your critically ill child. Perhaps it was a friend’s dogged refusal to give up on their dreams when their personal world came crashing down around them. Maybe it was a flash of creative genius from an otherwise normally less-than-inspired colleague that solved a crucial problem at work.
Whatever the specifics, these moments provide a glimpse of the inner leadership potential of that person. They are a glimpse of their slumbering powers awakened momentarily to confront and overcome life’s challenges.
Here’s the second question. Have you ever been surprised, perhaps amazed, at the uncharacteristic leadership you displayed in a trying situation? Maybe it was your child who was ill, your personal world that came crashing down, or your workplace problem. Perhaps your triumphant response left you wondering where that ability came from!
Upon reflection all of us can answer, “Yes,” to these two questions. Our affirmative responses suggest the truth of Marden’s words.
Slumbering powers exist in all of us. But is it only unforeseen crises that can arouse the giant? Are we destined to live mediocre lives with only occasional flashes of brilliant leadership, temporarily and unpredictably called to the surface for unplanned momentous events?
I believe the answer is, “NO!” We can choose to awaken our sleeping powers, to rouse the giant of our true leadership potential and accomplish more good in the world than we ever dreamed possible
But let’s not kid ourselves. In a world where mediocrity is the norm, where the quest for excellence and greatness is often derided, where our dreams of truly making a difference in the world are cynically trashed, a decision to do what it takes to awaken our slumbering powers may be mocked and resisted by those around us (sadly, often by those closest to us).
And yet, if your heart is stirred by Marden’s words as is mine, I beg you not to let sleeping powers lie. More than ever, the world needs truly great people serving truly worthwhile purposes.
It seems to me that the lifelong journey of awakening more and more of our slumbering powers is well served by three things. I will call them the ABC’s of awakening.
AWARENESS
The first is personal awareness. You need to be aware of where your true potential lies – and where it doesn’t.
I don’t subscribe to the common self-help platitude that you can be anything you really want to be. For almost all my life I have desperately wanted to be much more detail oriented. I have spent a lifetime of missing road turn-offs, forgetting where I put things, missing typo’s on important documents, not noticing exactly how high things are (my head has the scars to prove it!). I have desperately wanted to and tried repeatedly to change.
I haven’t.
My personality type make-up and wiring condemns me to a life of missing details and paying the price for it! I try to compensate for it, but I will never be a master of the minutiae. My slumbering powers exist in a different realm (please notice I said different not superior). My area of true potential, my slumbering powers will be consistent with and the development of my natural talents as an Idealist personality.
This means that I need to be aware of what I can become and what I can’t. I need to stop trying to be what someone else thinks I should be, or what I think I’d maybe rather be and instead accept my true self and my true potential.
Awakening your slumbering powers is similar to an acorn “awakening” to the realization that it will one day be a towering, mighty oak tree. It is foolish for acorns to wish they were pine, willow, or palm trees. Wishing won’t make it so. The acorn needs to accept it’s unique make-up and strive to unleash all of it’s inner potential to be the magnificent oak it was intended. The world needs and benefits from many varieties of leaders, just as it needs and benefits from many varieties of trees.
Understanding personality type is an incredible aid in gaining awareness and acceptance of your true potential. Personality type doesn’t define everything about someone’s unique potential. It operates more like a compass, giving you a basic orientation regarding your particular slumbering powers.
BELIEF
Beyond an awareness of where your “zone of potential” lies, you will also need a deep seated belief that you can access and develop your leadership potential. Many around us will think this pursuit naive, misguided, narcissistic or perhaps even dangerous. So, we may face opposition or ridicule.
believeBut perhaps the greater problem is our own belief that the pursuit will not yield anything of consequence. We may fear ending up disappointed, disillusioned, and discredited by such a quest. Couple our inner disbelief with the outer lack of support, and it is easy to get stopped without ever starting.
How can we overcome this inner denial? How do you develop a deeply-rooted, unshakeable belief that it is possible to be a vastly more effective leader than you currently are, that great slumbering powers lie within and can indeed be roused to revolutionize our lives and the lives of those around us? Here are two suggestions.
First, read the lives of great people. You will notice that especially in their “pre-great” years they were just flesh and blood like you and me. But they chose, often in the face of opposition or ridicule, to do something significant with their lives and in the process found their inner greatness. My personal heroes include Nelson Mandella, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, and Martin Luther King, Jr. These are my heroes and they may not be yours. Whoever it is you admire, pay attention to their beginnings. Almost always they seem ordinary. But history’s great ones found that in serving a greater purpose, their slumbering powers awoke.
A second suggestion is for you to reflect often on your own times when you did more than you thought you could. It doesn’t matter how small the action or success may seem. These events are a concrete demonstration that you already possess slumbering powers that once were awakened and can be again. And new ones yet unseen lie dreaming of their opportunity to make a difference in the world.
CHOOSING
Awareness is the first component of awakening our true leadership potential, belief is the second, and consciously choosing to put ourselves in situations that demand effective leadership is the third.
The occasions in our own past where we have surprised ourselves with unanticipated leadership strengths characteristically emerge from unplanned circumstances which created a sense of urgency and need to which we simply responded. Necessity was the mother of awakening.
But why depend on chance and circumstance? We can choose to put ourselves into situations that will require our slumbering powers to awaken and spring into action.
Scary? Certainly.
Risky? Possibly.
Crazy? Definitely not!
I’m not suggesting doing things that require potential powers that we do not possess (that’s why awareness comes first in the list!). But I am suggesting that we consciously, proactively choose environments that keep pushing the boundaries of our current leadership abilities and talents.
Seven years ago I would have laughed at you and thought you were nuts if you had suggested that today I would be a self-employed speaker/trainer travelling around the world working with clients from all levels of government, major corporations, and worthwhile non-profit organizations. But that’s exactly what I am doing. Because I choose to step outside my comfort zone and believe in my slumbering powers. And I am continually realizing that even more worthwhile, challenging pursuits are realizable.
It’s been scary at times, there have been moments where I have questioned my sanity, but mostly my own journey of the last few years has shown me that there are many, many slumbering powers within me waiting to be roused and unleashed. Powers that have revolutionized my life.
It’s a conscious choice to face the fears of failure and possible criticism. But it’s a choice with an incredible pay-off. It’s a choice to accept life’s call to greatness, to make a difference for good in the world, in your world.
Slumbering powers.
Haven’t yours slept long enough?
©2009 Scott Campbell
