Leadership Gratitude - What are you grateful for?

Today, I simply want to talk about gratitude, and specifically gratitude in leadership.

A few weeks ago I happened to be chatting with a friend who randomly mentioned they were going to the Domincan Republic. After some back and forth, my husband finally said we should go because “it beats hangin’ around here”.

So yesterday we got on a plane. We landed and though there was a lot of people travelling, security line ups, custom line ups, line ups to get in, lines ups to get out, line ups, line ups everywhere….it would have been really easy to get frustrated. I was also feeling my level of anxiety rise because it was VERY “peoply”, which many of us haven’t done in over two years. (I think I have forgotten how to interact in social environments!!) Instead, while driving along to get to our hotel, I found myself breathing deep, feeling the sunshine through the window, staring at the scenery and feeling grateful. I am grateful that we have the time and resources to travel; the health to breathe in the humid air to rejuvenate; to hang out with great friends at a resort; the ability to focus for the next 9 days on my health (mental and physical), my relationship with my husband and friends (who I haven’t seen in over 2 years!), and grateful that I have a job that allows me the flexibility to do this.

All of this breathing in and reflecting has also allowed me the great opportunity to recall the times when I was grateful as a leader. This, as they say, is the benefit of 20/20 vision. I definitely did not share this list with my team at the time and I wish I had. So, for those who were ever part of my team, including those who are cheering me on now, my leadership gratitude list is this:

❤️I am grateful for every single person that was ever on my team. They each have taught me something and therefore I have grown as a human and as a leader.

❤️I am grateful for the times when the team was full and everyone was full trained up and performing at a high level, because we were in flow and man did that ever feel good!

❤️I am grateful the fun we had. We worked hard and played hard which built amazing trust, personal connections and comradery.

❤️I am grateful for the high quality of work because we were damn good at our jobs and was worth showing pride in what we put out.

❤️I am also grateful for the hard times, because we figured it out and got through them together, learning lessons along the way.

There are so many other things I am grateful for, but simply looking back on this list exudes so many other emotions that can’t be put into words! I am certainly feeling sentimental and even more grateful as I write this. I feel so lucky that I was able to lead such amazing people.

So, your call to action today is to generate your leadership list. What are you grateful for today?