Dear Friends,

As I write this letter our nation’s engagement in the Iraqi war has everyone on edge. The economy is fighting for its life. Most organizations are requiring people to do more with fewer resources and not to expect promotions or raises any time soon. The circumstances are giving us a chance to rethink our priorities and hold our loved ones a little tighter each day. With all this uncertainty around us we can be pulled off center in a moment and forget that we are still in charge of our destiny. As leaders we are expected to provide stability and certainty when there is very little or none at all. I invite you to use the tools of Contextual Leadership now more than ever in hopes that they might give you, as a leader, some additional support during these very difficult times. I will speak about these specifically a little later in this letter.

We just completed the March Women Leading Change (WLC) and I am thrilled to report that our alumni network has just grown with some new, courageous and inspiring leaders from across the country. I experienced my own profound breakthrough in WLC this last week. I saw that I have been operating inside “the tyranny of either/or thinking” with regard to the future of IWL. As you know I have always held my job of parenting Chelsea as my highest priority. I have refused business opportunities, declined to travel, and generally organized myself and IWL around the premise that I wasn’t going to compromise being a great parent to my only child. The staff has been fantastic in supporting me in this commitment. We have done great things in three countries for the past 12 years! We have been in double digit growth for the past three years. What I was blind to was the limits that I had placed on IWL’s growth because I couldn’t see how to do it without excessive amounts of travel and overtime, silly me!

Now, thanks to the March WLC, I am outside of that limiting context and I am thinking and listening in new ways.

IWL fundamentally is out to change the world by advancing women leaders to greater positions of power. We are committed to building a global community of women leaders who have access to each other as resources for leading change in their organizations and communities. We are committed to growing IWL to be the most respected and reliable resource for developing women leaders in the world. We are committed to expanding our community of leaders within the US and internationally so that we have a presence on all seven continents. Our profitable growth is ensured by providing exemplary service and quality built on a foundation of lifelong, strategic relationships.

Without compromising my commitment to Chelsea, I can NOW see that with a modest amount of creativity and a large helping of partnership, anything is possible for IWL’s growth. In fact I am excited about it and taking action to grow and expand our reach nationally and internationally, truly a breakthrough! I will write more about this in a subsequent email but suffice to say, “you CAN teach an old dog new tricks” or contexts that is!

In getting back to our discussion about how Contextual Leadership can be useful in these trying times, let me propose three key skills to practice:

1. Keep organizing yourself and your colleagues around a compelling purpose -- keep asking the questions, “For the sake of what are we doing this work?” “What does meeting our objectives allow for in the bigger picture; who will benefit from this; how will they benefit; how does this advance what I care about in life?”

2. Take care of your relationships with customers, with colleagues and with your family -- Keep inquiring into what they are committed to and concerned about. Organize your priorities to address those commitments and concerns and be sure to communicate your own to them.

3. Keep distinguishing between facts and conclusions -- Using a rigorous but compassionate approach, keep the facts to only those things that are made of carbon or are able to be recorded by audio/visual means. Treat everything else as a “tentative conclusion” and therefore subject to reframing in a more empowering way. Keep looking for conclusions that you would like to propagate in your organization (e.g. “This is our finest hour!”)

As we enter the beauty of Spring may we remember that we are a community of women and men who are a resource to each other in the spirit of generosity. Don’t feel alone or isolated. Call the office, send out a request on our list serve, or just reach out an email someone you attended the course with.

IWL remains your partner for the next 50 years and I welcome the chance to connect by email if nothing else (rayona@womensleadership.com). You continue to be the source of great inspiration and accomplishment. Thank you for providing such meaning in my life while the world is in such a crisis, I am forever grateful.

With love and partnership,

Rayona