Culture Jolt #26 – Dare with humility, not arrogance

Welcome to our Conscious Innovator® process!

Are you ready for a new, insight-provoking “Jolt” … something that challenges conventional thinking about the "right" mindset for being innovative? It's not that the conventional understanding is wrong - just limited.

Jolts wake us up. They emphasize a shift of focus that taps into a deeper, more expansive consciousness. The result can be profound insights into yourself and others that bring out your full, innovative potential, whether in small, daily tasks or major projects. 

Jolt #26: Dare with humility, not arrogance

“I double dare you!!” Does this bring back any childhood memories? How does that feel in your body?

Maybe you had a parent or older sibling who challenged you to do things you didn’t know how to do. Or a neighborhood bully who challenged you just for the thrill of it. Or perhaps a teacher who loved to push you beyond your limits.

Behind most dares is a challenge to prove yourself. And if we’re vulnerable to needing the acclaim and self-esteem as “a hero, not a zero,” we can fall into arrogance or anxiety. Then the effort and decisions we make are likely to be, shall we say, “sub-optimized.”

Yet to have a strong culture for innovation, we need to foster the motivation and commitment to face challenges full of complexity, paradox, and not-knowing. Challenges that require us to employ a holistic heart, not a dualistic mind, to see wholeness amidst complex interdependencies.

Such challenges dare us to solve seemingly unsolvable problems. Dare us to be different, to move out of our comfort zone. Dare us to go where no one else has gone before, or take on a challenge no one wants to touch. Dare us to change the macro paradigm of how things work.

As we scratch below the surface of every daring innovation, we typically find that each required a deep inner drive to summon the many small, courageous moments that make things happen. So for every innovative culture, the question is, “Where’s the sweet spot where we can stay centered, energized, and wise as we embrace daring opportunities throughout our daily work?”

What if humility was the key to finding and staying in this sweet spot? In his Forbes article “Why Humble Leaders Make the Best Leaders” Jeff Hyman describes the attributes of humility that help us find and stay in this sweet spot:

“There’s nothing about humility that makes it incompatible with strength and courage. Humility is most closely associated with a cluster of highly positive qualities including sincerity, modesty, fairness, truthfulness, unpretentiousness, and authenticity. When things go wrong, humble leaders admit to their mistakes and take responsibility. When things go right, they shine the spotlight on others.”

With humility, dares become invitations. So we double dare you – double invite you –  to humbly fall in love with uncertainty and unknowing. To humbly feel a strengthening presence inside, without the need to control. To humbly know that you don’t know what you don’t know… and that’s OK. To humbly appreciate complexity and interdependence without having to fully understand it. To humbly experience an open freedom to act with curiosity, from a centered, proactive, heartfelt space.

-=-=-=- Now it's your turn -=-=-=-

Being a Conscious Innovator® has a 3 phase cyclical process: become aware, capable, and versatile. Try on this Jolt in your life and work, then take self-reflective time to engage in the process:

-=-=-=- An invitation to join our process and share your insights -=-=-=-

If you haven’t already, we’d love for you to join our process and share your own experiences, while learning from the experiences of others! We appreciate what one person said about the Jolt process itself:

Innovation is a world by itself. It can change lives and help people become more positive. Doing a Jolt is already something! A new habit that promotes innovation and reflection.

It’s totally FREE to participate. To sign up and join us, go to this link and follow the easy directions: https://innovate.vci.global/p/the-conscious-innovator. 

Even if you haven’t participated up to this point, it’s never too late to start the process! It’s like a concise gym workout that provides an insightful “pause that refreshes” and evokes your unique, innovative potential in life and work.