Introduction: Meet Elad Levinson

Let me introduce myself, my name is Elad Levinson and I will be your provocateur and host on this blog.

My purpose is to offer a few ideas, preferably Big ideas that move your inner furniture a bit; share some tools and skills and speak to social and environmental concerns that I feel strongly about and maybe you do too.

I am a 40 plus year veteran of the work world with just as much time put into spiritual practices. I say this because my point of view about leadership is inseparable from my spiritual life. By spiritual I do not mean religious- I refer to a complex set of values, beliefs and experiences that are integrated into my world view. I am a practicing Buddhist but many times I have thought of myself as a Pantheist- one who celebrates all religions, spiritual paths, deities and philosophies. I continue to care very deeply about and am curious about how others experience their connection to something bigger than themselves- for many of us- work is a part of what is bigger. I am intensely interested in how people bring a noble purpose to their lives- as a parent, friend, employee, leader but for the sake of this blog, I will limit myself to a dialogue about the way work, spirituality and leadership interact.

Something highly paradoxical is occurring in the work domain- and the dichotomy is bidirectional- on one hand my observation is that work has never been less a source of nobility or high minded ideals and on the other there is a resurgence of deep commitment to values and ideals that are aspiration and perspiration. I see a growing tide of passion and intent to bring a whole person to work with a concomitant interest in desiring to see effort result in betterment of the condition of our world- both globally and locally.

There are trends that are contributing to this surge of right minded caring for us all. The urgent condition of global degradation, diminishing value of living in a manner that is unsustainable, baby boomers who are reinvesting in social activism, generations coming into the work world whose expectations are not to be indentured to corporations that demand soul deadness to work in them, feminine-oriented nurturing and connecting adding a spark of kindness and concern for others from men and women who embody these behaviors all contribute to the radical transformation of work as a way to survive into work as a way to bring your most noble aspirations.

In the pages and entries to follow, my desire and intent is to catalyze in you the intent to accelerate your commitment to be noble in small ways in every day life. The word needs nobility. Not nobility that is the “royals” version- more the noble way that is embodied in leaders like HH the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Helen Caldicott and the thousands that are bringing a higher ethic and morality to a globe in need of goodness.

Ideas of the week- lead from your experience; it is what you know. Someone needs exactly what you already have experienced. Every thing you have ever known, learned, felt, wondered about is part of your body of value that you bring into every conversation. You have the right stuff right now for someone. In AA, there is a notion that your experience, strength and hope is needed by others less far along the path as you. I assert that this is true in all situations in life- you are ready right now to lead from your strengths which are what you know, what you are good at even if it is a natural talent- not something that you have had to suffer to bring forth- you are ready to make that ability benefit others.