Food for Thought No. 11
IWD Edition - Happy IWD day!
Hi everyone,
Welcome to our 11th Food For Thought newsletter.
GC's 3-2-1 newsletter usually comes with 3 ideas to explore, 2 things to read/watch/listen to, and 1 question for you.
To mark IWD day, I wanted to share my deepest gratitude to all the women and men in my life and beyond who support women blazing new trails and bringing leadership, light and empathy to this world.
EXPLORE
I. SPACE/LESS
My one word intention last year was flow, which allowed me to embrace uncertainty and change in ways I could never have imagined. And the unintended consequence of this flow is that it brought a lot of opportunity and obligation to the point of overflow. In addition, as I am sure you all have experienced, living and working virtually at home with my family all at home, was a new norm of “busy-ness” and interruption. As a result, my one word intention this year is the antidote - SPACE/ LESS.
This one I think is especially pertinent to IWD - so many women are caught in the middle of wanting and needing to do so much - the lines have completely blurred between home and work and the tasks, asks and expectations can seem never-ending.
I recognized that intentionally trying to do LESS and intentionally taking more SPACE is essential for my leadership and well being. This year, my intention allows me to put choices through a filter of SPACE/LESS to create essentiality / focus and flow. In honouring SPACE or LESS, I learned how to say not no, but rather not now. This in turn ironically allows for more flow.
How can you create more SPACE or do LESS in a world filled with ABUNDANCE, MORE and INTERRUPTION?
II. GRACE in GRATITUDE
There are so many ways to be and to do. It is often not what we do, but how we do it. Recently I found myself getting caught up on all the ways things were not perfect. In my work, I kept focusing on what wasn’t quite there. In my family, I kept highlighting what wasn’t quite right. In myself, I kept focusing on what I hadn’t yet accomplished. In my interactions with others, I spoke of what I didn’t appreciate. There is value in this at times - it can be how you get better - however, it can be quite demoralizing, and challenging for yourself and for others when nothing is ever enough. In taking SPACE (see above), I noticed this pattern recently and realized I needed to shift from a place of perfectionism and never-enough-ness to a place of grace and gratitude.
And so I experimented with radically changing the way I spoke to myself, and to my team and to my family with a deep focus on gratitude for what we do have or the work we have done. It was amazing to see the shift. The shift when people feel valued, seen and enough. The shift when people feel they are in a safe space to create more and do better work through iteration, experimentation and improvement.
With this grace, my relationship with myself and others profoundly change. The best way to create GRACE is through gratitude. I have found I can even be grateful for what ails me - for the obstacles, the learnings, the challenges and the transformative insights that come from not having had GRACE or GRATITUDE.
Who or what can you show more GRATITUDE for that will allow you more GRACE?
III. ACCESS and EXPOSURE
“We can’t be what we can’t see”
When I reflect on my journey in life, I am deeply aware that access and exposure are two ingredients that allow people to succeed and become what they aspire to.
Access: the notion that you actually get a seat at the table to lead.
Exposure: the notion that you get exposed to what opportunities even exist or people who have done what you would like to do.
These are two fundamental principles that I know have helped me in my life achieve what I have been fortunate enough to do.
Whether its access and exposure to STEM, to business, to great role models in parenting, to leadership roles, to capital, to Boards or to creative endeavours, we can’t be what we can’t see.
For women in particular, this is huge as it is only recently that we have begun this massive transformation of the role women have played in society.
I want to thank all the amazing women and men in my life who have granted me access and exposure. Whether its the learning/mentorship I received, the communities I have been invited into, the Board roles I have been asked to join, the capital I have asked to invest, the leadership roles I have asked to be responsible for, or the visions I have asked people to believe in, all of this was because I asked and was granted access and exposure.
On IWD day, my ask for all of you is two fold:
Those who have positions of power - men and women - may you be generous with your access and exposure. It is through sharing access and exposure, that we can create a better world that is more diverse and net positive.
And to those who need ACCESS and EXPOSURE, don’t sit back - take the agency to ask for it and find the mentors and role models who inspire you to learn how they got it.
How can you share your ACCESS and EXPOSURE?
What ACCESS and EXPOSURE do you need to ask for?
READ
I.Think Again by Adam Grant
I love reading Adam Grant. His work has inspired me and pushed me to reach new heights in my career and life. His latest book continues to do so.
“Adam Grant’s latest book pushes us to reconsider, rethink, reevaluate and reimagine our beliefs, thoughts, and identities and get to the core of why we believe what we do, why it is so important to us, and why we are steadfast to hold on to those ideas and beliefs. . . . It teaches us to stop digging our heels and doubling down and consider other people’s points of view so that we may grow our own. Once again, Adam Grant succeeded in turning our very way of thinking upside down as he pushes us to examine the obvious.”
—Forbes
https://www.amazon.com/Think-Again-Power-Knowing-What/dp/1984878107
II. Dare to Lead by Brene Brown
Such powerful wisdom in how to lead on IWD that I hope more men and women can embrace.
“Leadership is not about titles, status, and wielding power. A leader is anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas, and has the courage to develop that potential.
When we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We don’t see power as finite and hoard it; we know that power becomes infinite when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when it’s necessary to do good work.”
https://www.amazon.ca/Dare-Lead-Brave-Conversations-Hearts-ebook/dp/B07CWGFPS7/wwwbrenebrown-20
III. REFLECT
On IWD, how you can create more SPACE/ do LESS , find more GRACE/ live with more GRATITUDE and ask for / grant more ACESS and EXPOSURE?
INVITATION
Join me on ClubHouse this Friday at noon to have an interactive Gamechanger conversation with some exceptional Gamechanger Women & Men from our community reflecting on these themes of SPACE, GRATITUDE, ACCESS and EXPOSURE….
Thanks for reading, happy IWD and thanks for being a part of our community.
We will be back later this month with a new schedule of live, learning experiences.
Can’t wait!
Stay tuned.
Best,
Candice and the Gamechanger team.
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P.S. You can watch all previous Gamechanger Sessions and see highlights on our website.