Where 1+1=3

There can only be one dream and that dream requires you to dream of being you so that I can be me. In that space of you being you and me being me, we will find ourselves as one. Things add up differently when you look at the world with your heart. Where there is…

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More than surviving the dream

Do not try to survive that which is, at best, a path to your own cultural undoing. This is what I so want to say to all people of difference who come to this land chasing a dream.   Do not come to this place and try to survive it. It is already lost, a zombie…

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Honor thyself

The journey into joy is a model of honoring who you are. It comes from a deep and data-driven understanding of how you intuitively move through the world. It is a model that inspires leaders to know themselves and to trust their intuition, so much so that they can most authentically lead from their hearts….

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Detaching from the code

Code-switching has entangled far too many leaders in the very tongues of those who oppress them, and it must stop if we are ever to be free of the many ways in which we harm each other through our words and basic needs and desires to communicate effectively with one another. We all know what…

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No fighting in the garden

In the garden of your heart, there is one universal and unbreakablerule: no fighting in the garden. The key to always abiding by this rule is to lead through your sense of self-love. There is no fear when you receive the life experiences that have shaped you through the lens of self-love. Even the traumatic…

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Keys to healing leadership

• Call out the toxic energy for what it is, and pinpoint which false rules are blocking your authentic development as a leader. • Give the weight of your pain back to those who laid it at your soul in the first place. • Stop fighting against the trauma, as that energy only feeds the…

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Joyful illuminations

From a positive psychology perspective, there are different types of inquiry or ways of partnering with leaders that bring them into their own understanding of who they are in strengths and in this case joy. These approaches and models must continue to evolve with the times. From deficit-oriented methodologies to a positive psychology frame these…

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The soaring of joy from within

The flow of joy surges like a bird soaring in the sky from the inner sanctum of your soul through all the veins in your body until it lifts up and beyond the illuminance of your heart for all the world to see.

The productivity of self-love

Measures of productivity are usually defined by what someone else wants you to produce. Some of that is okay, because you may have signed a contract saying that you would produce X number of widgets for someone else. However, what also must be considered is your own personal model of productivity, and how that fits…

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Fullest potential of co-creation

In an ego-driven world, personal success is the ultimate goal. Through joy it is co-creation. But what do we really mean by co-creation? According to Mirriam Webster co-create means to create (something) by working with one or more others. to create (something) jointly. These definitions are well and good, but they are missing a critical component, and that…

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What is guidance?

Joy is an evolutionary model of leadership that empowers leaders into their authentic leadership presence. In other words, joy focuses on the evolution of each leader from first breath to to the last. It centers, on who one has been and still is becoming before focusing on individual goals of the moment. Consider, what does…

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Nurture your leader within

Just as a gardener tends to plantings, real leadership is about nurturing what may flourish within you, given the right amount of light, energy, guidance, and love.

Let love lead

To lead without love is to breathe without air. The dictionary describes self-love as “regard for one’s own well-being and happiness.” In the Joy Manifesto, we name that self-love is that and so much more. Self-love /ˈˌself ˈləv/ noun is a deep state of gratitude for oneself that grows from seeing one’s heart in action;…

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Black joy

The warriors of any struggle, themselves, are never afforded the opportunity to breathe. Their breath, always tethered to the fight, is constrained, burdened, and belabored. This is truth for Black women. Hearts coopted by humanity on the frontlines, fighting for others to have a chance. The liberation granted to them upon their first breath slips…

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The joy of partnership

When I was co-running a start-up organization, I would be asked by another community leader how many paid employees we had. It never felt right to answer that question but I could not name why at the time. Once, I was able to mutter out a simple “We don’t have employees, we have partners” but…

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