Bunny Young says leaders rely too much on tools and external fixes. She uses a horseback-riding story to argue that letting go and returning to basics helps you find your natural strengths and lead more authentically. She recommends Tracy Goss's The Last Word on Power.
Chapters
On Instagram and that we're also live in Difference Makers. So hi Difference Makers on both Instagram and on Facebook. So glad that you guys are able to join us. I have my magical unicorn Zoom appropriate attire on here. And so the the last Facebook or the last Live of April, if you can believe it. I have a ton of content, especially in the Difference Makers group. So make sure that you go and watch the video there so that you don't miss out on this. So the title of today's Live with Bunny is Letting go of the power or Let go of the Power. And so one of the things I wanted to share with you is about and most of the blogs that I've written right now have been about these lessons that I've had in the saddle because I've been riding a lot more. And I think that there is such a relationship between work that I do with the horses and the work that I do with the teams because it's just one big herd. And if you haven't seen my Disrupt HR video on the power of a herd, I'll make sure that we share that in the group this week so that you can see it. So I had an absolutely horrible ride. So when you think of like horseback riding, like, what comes to mind is probably like those old westerns where they're just like charging through the desert and like they're just, you know, completely seamless and the horse and the cow person are just like one in the same in the saddle. Well, in actuality, it takes a whole lot of effort and energy and bonding and relationship to get there. So even if you have a really well trained horse, it just takes a lot of relationship between the person in the saddle and the horse in order to get to that moment that you see in the movie. And I had a horrible ride the other day. No fault of my horse, just me. It was absolutely horrible ride. And I called my mentor, Dr. Alan Hamilton, if you haven't already looked him up, he's amazing. So, so definitely go look him up. And he and his wife, Dr. Jane Hamilton, are who are responsible for me being able to kind of pair the leadership lessons and the business lessons together with our power retreats and the lessons from the ranch. And so I called him and I told him about this horrible ride and he was basically like, you know, well, how did you learn how to ride? And I said, well, I learned how to ride bareback. And he's like, then how did you think a saddle was going to improve that? And so like, and he said it A lot nicer because he's an amazing human being. But the lesson was that I was relying on these tools that I had thought that I needed in order to be a better rider, a better human, a better professional, you know, and as I equate that to right now, in our times, we needed to go to work, we needed to go to this office, we needed to go and have these 50 million meetings in order to be a functional company. And when we stripped it down, and so I literally stripped it down and I did a couple rides bareback, I found this, my balance point. I found my natural seat. I was able to connect better with my horse. So for you, you can connect better with your team when you kind of strip away everything, go back down to the basics, which is the opportunity that we have right now, and be able to just listen to what is the hi, I'm waving to people on Instagram. So if you want to wave, I can also see my comments here on Facebook live in the Difference Makers group. So feel free to comment and tell me if this resonates with you. But going back down to the simple aspects of what we do in everyday life, personally and professionally, and having that teach us the lessons of how we can end up being better humans, better professionals, better parents. And Dr. Hamilton had recommended this book. It's called the Last Word on Power, and it's by Tracy Goss. So for those of you that I'm going to take away this. There we go. So we can see it a little bit better. The Last Word on Power by Tracy Goss. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. And I'll make sure I type it in to Instagram Live. So Last Word on power for you guys. This is all about how these tools that we end up believing that we need end up being crutches that we rely on so much. And so if we don't want our businesses and our lives to go the way of the dinosaur, then we need to realize when we reintegrate and as we go through this, what is absolutely necessary, what's necessary to spend our resources on, whether it's financial, whether it's energy, whether it is humans, and be able to look at how do we go back to the basics to learn to find our seat, to find our balance, literally from me and the saddle, and then move forward from there. And I'm going to end on the difference makers with this picture right here is me riding on the beach and have this huge smile on my face. And I was looking back at this picture. And it was like, I didn't know anybody was taking the picture. I didn't know anybody was watching. I wasn't thinking about proper mechanics of riding. I wasn't thinking about anything like that. But if you look at the picture and you're a horse person, you can see my heels are dropped, there's very little pressure in the stirrup, My seat is centered. And so when you look at that in the business, it's like when you do the right thing and when you're a part of the right actions in business, not because of the recognition, not because of the awards, not because of what you think somebody is going to say or do, because you're doing this thing. When you just come back to yourself and be authentic and use the lessons and the skills and abilities that you're naturally gifted at, that is the true power. And so in my letting go of the power is being able to just release all of those thoughts of what we thought we need or what we think we need and then return to kind of the simple part of that. And if you are looking for some simple exercises to be able to do that, remember that this week that how to stay sane during Insane times. That ebook dropped. And that's a no cost ebook for you, for your companies, for your teams. And there's some simple exercises in there. So if you need copy of that ebook, just let me know in the comments, send me a direct message and I'll make sure that you get that. And that's no obligation, no cost. So I'll just. It's a tool that I want to give to you so that if you're like, yeah, Bunny, this all sounds really great, but like, where do I even start? Let's start with this ebook. And if that's too overwhelming right now, let's just start with a conversation. And so just put in the comment that you want to chat. Send me a direct message to your favorite business unicorn and say that you want to chat. And I really hope that I have that opportunity and I'm humbled to have that space with you and stay safe and stay sane.
