I ran across one of Albert Einstein's quotes the other day that made me think about leading as though life is a miracle. It goes like this,

"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

In my business, all my clients are leaders at various levels, working diligently to manage the best they can—influencing teams and individuals to focus, to speak their truth and their good ideas, to stretch to develop themselves, and ultimately to care about the success of the whole. Looking from the big picture viewpoint, these things align with what leaders want to achieve and how they want to contribute. But our humanness traps us from time to time in the mundane, the density drag of details, and in the petty interactions that get blown out of proportion. Swiftly the miracle fades and what's left is the battle, the bitterness, and the blame. Finding one's way back takes intention, consciousness, and a generous dose of discipline—all traits which leaders possess and most often embrace. But, of course, we forget about these values from time to time and need some gentle reminders.

One of the most common hooks that derail bright, competent leaders is thinking there is something they have to prove, and more often than not, this entails showing the world that they are "better" than someone else—usually another leader in the company. It starts out innocently enough, with the leader of one group, we'll call him Ryan, guiding his team along a particular well-thought-out path which results in advancement toward a goal. Simultaneously another leader, Rachel, is guiding her team towards the same end result, but framing things from a different viewpoint. For a while, there's no conflict. However, once the teams intersect, it's not totally clear which people are creating positive movement and which ones are causing a slow down. Both leaders think their direction is the correct one, and neither sees the merits of changing strategy at this point. There is dissention between the leaders, although they never speak about it directly. It comes out indirectly in meetings, in hallway conversations, and clearly is manifesting among the two teams who realize their efforts are appearing to be at cross purposes.

As this spreads, other key staff are innocently brought in with a request by one leader to get information about how the other team created a particular strategy or tactic and when it all began. In our example, Ryan is lost in proving himself and his team right, and trying to build a case against Rachel's decision-making. Rachel gets wind of what she perceives as foul play, and strengthens her defenses and plots how to maintain her position and keep her team on the track she has laid out.

Hence, the battle, the bitterness, and the blame scenario is in full swing, and neither of our leaders is living or leading as though anything is a miracle. They've both lost their way, lost their dedication and commitment to be strong, solid leaders who are an on-going example of staying focused, speaking their truth, and caring about the success of the whole. There's no crime in this—it's human—and we must constantly be a reflection for one another to remember the Larger Vision. What are we here for? What matters most? How am I being a contribution to the whole? Am I putting my best self forward within my team? With my colleagues? What could I do to improve my ability to build on the Larger Vision?