Denny Strigl, of Verizon Wireless’ “Can you hear me now?” campaign fame, has a wonderful new book that speaks to leaders seeking a simple, yet actionable way to lead their teams and organizations. A few resonated with me:

A dear friend of mine passed on an article earlier this week: “18 Things I wish Someone Had Told me When I Was 18.” The entire article is worth a read – as the narrative is where the ‘good juice’ is. However I have condensed the 18 into this Fine Line – just to give you a taste:

Many of us find ourselves living in nostalgic memory of “what was,” rather than embracing what the present has to offer us. Many changes are our choice; others are forced upon us. Yet, one fact remains the same: we must learn to live and embrace what is now – not what was.

Many of you are contemplating new positions in your current organizations, exiting from existing companies to other related fields, and even going out on your own to try your hand in an entrepreneurial stint. The reasons for your changes are vast. Regardless of the reason why you are embarking upon change, this question invariably comes up:

“Now, what do I really want to do?!”

The pursuit of knowing yourself. Many of you who follow my writings and services, know how vital I believe true self-awareness is to us as leaders. This principle is also one of the foundations of a dear friend’s new and fabulous book, “If You Will Lead”, based in Rudyard Kipling’s beloved poem “If-“.

Many of us may be facing hard, relatively large, and potentially life-changing career decisions. Will we decide to stay in our current position or company even though we are not totally happy or fulfilled? Will we take that promotion which may bring greater span of control, power, and money though it may not be what we really want to do? Given the condition of the job market, will we decide to stay put despite being somewhat disenchanted?

This past week I had the incredible opportunity to see and hear His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, along with Sister Helen Prejean, of Dead Man Walking fame, and Vincent Harding, a long-time civil rights activist who worked tirelessly with Martin Luther King. The energy in the room was palpable. Whether you agree with their passionate positions on non-violence or not, their solidarity around tolerance, compassion and love is undeniable; and many of their messages are universal truths.

It seems like every time I turn around there is someone speaking or writing on how to develop, maintain, and foster a ‘personal brand’ in your career and life. In fact, I give talks on this myself – which have been enthusiastically received over the past few years. Yet, as with so many things, these discussions can become complicated, complex, and just “one more thing” to remember when we are already inundated 24/7 with voice mails, emails, deadlines, and other pressures at work and at home. So, how can we keep this concept simple and still relevant? A few tips as we start this new week:

I found this past week’s “Corner Office” in The New York Times particularly provocative. Adam Bryant interviewed Caryl M. Stern, president and chief executive of the U.S. Fund for Unicef. Her background is diverse and interesting. She graduated from Westchester Community College where she was involved in theatre. Mr. Bryant acknowledged she was one of several CEO’s he has interviewed who also studied theatre. What was the lesson? This was her answer:

“You need to be able to get up and deliver the good news and the bad news. It’s just that same feeling before you go on stage, and you take that deep breath. In my organization now, with several hundred people working for me, I have to be that policeman and that show leader at the same time. So what better training is there?”

Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. ~ Abraham Lincoln   What makes up our shadow and our tree? As Barbara Walters would say: “What kind of tree do we want to be?” What is holding us back?