Drawing one voice out of two separate strings

Thoughts on the poem “Drawing one voice out of two separate strings” by Rilke, and how it relates to changing paradigms of leadership.

Today’s post comes from one of my usual wide-ranging conversations with my brilliant friend Bruce Peters. Our general theme was, as it often is, about how to support organisations and leaders to play to their strengths in a way that is, in Bruce’s words, “Beyond Teal” or in mine, about #OpenLeadership. As my home page puts it:

“Command-and-control leadership is losing its grip. A new way of thinking is emerging: leadership that embraces change as constant, encourages individual thought, relies on intuition more than data, fluidity more than hierarchy, trust more than fear, and the common good more than profit.”

Today, an inspiring poem that inspires and gives food for thought on how any leader, any organisation, can inspire and draw the most from every person within it.

I took the title for this post, “Drawing one voice from two separate strings” from a poem by Rilke.

The poem is about an aspiration for what a love relationship can be, of two people living and growing together in interdependence, supporting each other on life’s journey for each other as individuals while at the same time creating their own harmony together.