Anthony Landale

There was an advertisement run not so long ago for that very distinctive relish, Tabasco Sauce. In this advert a stereotypical male God was shown sitting in the heavens on a cloud. Clearly it was meal time and the advert showed the divine being shaking the said sauce onto a waiting sandwich and salivating over the prospect of his fiery snack. However, while he was concentrating on shaking the bottle he was quite unaware that some drops of the hot sauce were falling onto the earth below – causing destruction wherever they fell and leading to people in the vicinity fleeing in all directions.

And so it is everywhere with people/leaders when they take initiative. When you are leading and trying to make a difference you will find that some people like being around you and thrive while others will go quiet or even disappear because they find it hard to express themselves when you are around.

In FED terms we call this ‘the shadow you cast’ and finding out about your shadow can can provide you with some essential information about your leadership. Why? Because leadership happens inside the impact you make and the impact you intend may be nothing like the impact that is experienced by others.

So here’s a practice for this week. Ask one or two people who you work with regularly what light and shadow you bring to meetings, to teams and to stakeholders. Ask them for their experience of what it’s like to be around you and then consider how you might reduce your shadow and bring more light.

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