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Sorry for the lapse in journal entries. Life has been full. I just finished a training intensive for seminar leaders. What an eye-opener. The idea was to learn how to hold a group's interest by using accelerated learning techniques.

One of the "tricks" for doing this is to engage the audience through questioning, not merely to lecture to them - to be more interested than interesting.

This was a revelation to me. It's something I naturally do when I work one-on-one. But to engage a whole room full of people always seemed daunting to me. The way to accomplish this, I discovered, is to leave no one out, to ask questions that, in one way or another, speak to the entire group.

This, it seems to me, is something we all could do, on stage or off - leader or no - engage as many people as we can. Truth is, we are all leading our own lives. This is more than simply a figure of speech. Each of us literally takes the lead in creating the life we envision. Enrolling others in our vision can often make the difference between success and failure. Knowing how to communicate effectively, as a leader, is an essential piece of the happiness/success puzzle.

Other important qualities that we touched on in the training were: sincerity, passion, heart centeredness and a genuine concern for one another's needs. The only way to do any of this is to ask questions. As in life, it's important not to presume to know what someone else is thinking or feeling.

Learning to lead is a humbling experience. It asks for the willingness to step out of one's own way, to not plow narcissistically ahead with one's own agenda, but to seek to enroll as many as possible for the sake of as many as possible. I look forward to learning more about leadership.