Obaitori – Every flower blooms in its own time
When everyone sees everyone else as their competitor in the mad rat race, Obaitori, a Japanese idiom, comes as a great mental model to instill sanity in us. It refers to the four trees – plum, apricot, cherry, and peach that bloom at their own time during the spring season. It is a reminder to non-comparison and focus on our own strengths in life.
What can change us?
When I first began as a leadership and executive coach, I thought, a new situation would bring out the changes I desired. However. I came to realize that it is not the situations that transform us. it is our beliefs that shape who we are. By changing our beliefs, we enable our own transformation and that allows us to handle the situations we are in.
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life” – Kahlil Gibran
Socratic Leadership
It is easier to share your wisdom with your team and give solutions to their problems, all of which make you feel that ‘you’ are developing them. Socratic leadership involves nudging your team to find their own answers, bringing out what is best in them, and making them feel competent and confident about their own capabilities.
“I cannot teach anybody anything. I can only make them think” – Socrates