Page 84 - Appreciative Leadership
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The Art of Illumination:
Bringing out the Best of
People and Situations
Inquiry Inclusion
Appreciative
Inspiration
Leadership
Illumination
Integrity
TEN MINUTES OF ILLUMINATION
The president of the R&D division of a major pharmaceutical
company was welcoming 400 people to the company’s annual
leadership conference. She was to speak for 10 minutes and
then introduce me as the keynote speaker. Not knowing
her well, I worried that she might spend her full 10 minutes
listing all the reasons why this group of exceptionally talented
people needed leadership development. That she might fl ood
them with problems and reminders of inadequacy, the way
I have seen all too many executives do, to make their case for
leadership development. I was surprised that she did just the
opposite—in fact, so positively surprised that throughout my
speech I referred to her talk as an example of “10 minutes of
illumination.”
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