Understanding and developing your authentic presence enables you to speak up and speak out with an emotional resonance that reflects your inner world, commitment and convictions. These traits are ‘green flags’ to your business connections, because you create a bond when you lead from the heart in your communications. Your business partners, coworkers, customers, clients, suppliers, competitors and employees all feel that authentic presence – a sure sign of emotional fitness. Consequently, your value to each of them goes up.
No one expects a business associate to be perfect – just honest and genuine with a good head and heart. When you are authentically present, you act from pure concern, deal with others directly about issues you have with them, value others and connect to create a shared meaning. You are able to receive criticism, let it into your heart and head, and you learn from it.
Before you interact with your business associates – and with anyone, consider consciously choosing to:
- Raise your attentiveness and level of concern
- Discard any ulterior motives or sense of entitlement
- Increase your authentic presence
This assures meaningful success, creating the aliveness that is crucial to authentic dialogue and ultimately profitable to business.
Develop authentic presence in your actions – give voice to your heart – starting wherever you are. It’s easy when you make new habits of these practices:
- Listen intently for clarity of purpose whenever you enter a discussion or meeting. Be attentive, alert, open, and empathic.
- Value congruency in communications, checking to see that body language is consistent with the words you hear. Speak up when it’s not present.
- Validate new ideas with carefully chosen responses. Future gold is mined in new ideas. With EQ (emotional intelligence) as your guide, offer a way for others to evaluate their own ideas, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and make independent judgments. Doing this enhances pride, creative enthusiasm and the sharing of further new ideas.
- Write an emotionally honest letter from your private-self to your public-self. In the letter give voice to your inner sense of truth and let this voice guide you and your responses to present issues that you face at home or at work. Use this letter-writing exercise on a regular basis to learn better ways to align your choices and actions with your inner guidance and authentic presence.
Can you think of more exercises and habits to help you ‘give voice to your heart’? Let your own ‘felt’ wisdom teach you other ways to flex your emotional fitness.
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