Being the Red Sea

Red Sea flickr Dead Sea flickr

If you are still and listen well even the seas are great teachers of leadership lessons.

Consider two seas in the same region. Both are ancient. Both are fed by tributaries which bring nutrients and water. But here their similarities cease.

One sea is the Red Sea. The Red Sea teams with life. From what it takes in the Red Sea nurtures the growth of some of the most life filled coral in the world. Then it shares what it receives by feeding the shores of Egypt, Saudia Arabia, Sudan, Yeman and Somalia where it empties much of its wealth into the Indian Ocean.

The other sea is the Dead Sea. The Red Sea contains no life. The Dead Sea shares nothing. It keeps everything it receives and gives of none of its wealth. So long it built up its mineral wealth that now no fish can live in it. And so, we say that it is dead.

If I can choose, and I can, I choose to be like the Red Sea. I wish to take in what I need and grow from it. But, I also want to make sure that I share as much as I can so that others may also thrive. This is what leadership is.

Elemental Value Added Truth: "There are many things we would throw away if we were not afraid other might pick them up." Oscar Wilde