For our final post of 2011, I thought it would be good to reflect upon what has been an amazing year for Global Leadership Foundation. Many of you will know that we base the way we work on three guiding principles: self-realisation, collaboration and stewardship. These are good perspectives for reflection too.

Self-realisation

In April this year we attended the International Enneagram Association (IEA) China Conference. We have been applying the Enneagram in business for some time and have always been inspired by these conferences and the chance to mix with many people we deeply admire.

At one point during this conference, there was a panel discussion between some of the pioneers of contemporary application of the Enneagram, including Russ Hudson, David Daniels and Ginger Lapid-Bogda. At one stage during the conversation, David Daniels looked at Malcolm and I saying “while those of us up here might be regarded as the pioneers of the Enneagram, these people are the translators.”

This was a turning point for the way we saw ourselves in the Enneagram world: a ‘mentee’ being acknowledged by a mentor. It gave us a tremendous confidence boost and helped us recognise much more clearly the value others see in the work we do, and the potential of that work in the business environment in particular.

Collaboration

Thanks in no small part to QuantumThink, which keeps us open to possibilities and a both…and approach, we have been able to keep our minds open to all sorts of collaboration this year. Opportunities have opened up which really have challenged (in a positive way) our views about the potential of combining business, emotional health and the Enneagram.

Some of our new collaborations, either underway or in the offing, are with: Margaret Smith in L.A. (we’ll be launching an online product with Margaret in 2012); Andrea Isaacs in Colorado (looking at the obstacles leaders face); Karen Jacke in San Francisco (linking our work in the world of the Enneagram in business with Karen’s great experience and knowledge in the Enneagram and Coaching); Bente Boe in Denmark (working with individuals, teams and culture, and translating some of our materials to Danish) and Gloria Hung in Hong Kong (undertaking some Chinese translation of our work as well as supporting us and working together in Hong Kong).

In addition, we continue to enjoy and learn from our wonderful group of Associates as well as strengthening capability in working with us (or indeed in our place) on the work we are doing.

There is so much potential for more collaboration, which we find very exciting.

Stewardship

The highlight of the stewardship aspect of our work this year has been our work with Tetepare and Arid Recovery. Our Leadership Experiences not only provide leaders with a genuinely ‘both…and’ perspective, but which also have provided significant and meaningful benefit to a remote island community and a fragile ecosystem respectively.

We are very excited about an opportunity we have been given in the new year to work with the Highgate school in Cyprus, extending our work on emotional health levels beyond leadership to children and their parents. Ironically this feels a bit like going full circle for us, as both Malcolm and I have both been teachers early in our careers!

So it has been a busy and very satisfying year for Global Leadership Foundation, and 2012 already promises to be at least as interesting. I look forward to keeping you posted and sharing our work in the new year.

Gayle