- Grace is lean, agile, and fast. She is happiest when she’s is running and enjoying the outdoors (as long as it’s warm and dry). We’re all at our best when we’re doing the things that we enjoy and do well.
Why would a dog be highlighted by a company that helps business people?
Well, it’s more than just the fact that I love dogs. I believe that all things in our life have a strong connection to each other. Dogs, animals, nature, sports, to name a few: they impact us. When we pay attention to the connections, we can learn and apply those lessons to how we manage other people, even including ourselves!
Grace is a Puerto Rican street dog. When I started looking for a dog to adopt, I had never heard of such a thing.
Nor did I understand the challenges that a puppyhood on the streets would create for her (and me).
Caring shelter workers in Puerto Rico rescued her from a bank parking lot in the fall of 2004 when she was about four months old, then they kept her in their care for another few months, letting her acclimate to a new setting. A well-established relationship with an agency in southern New Hampshire brought her to a foster home close to where I was living.
When Grace and I first met, I fell in love. It was June 2005 and she came home with me.
She was timid and scared, very alert to everything around her. She was also very curious and wanted to be near me. Despite her anxiousness, I knew she had heart and courage. She was a survivor.
Her keen sense of observation fascinates me. And yet despite her great fear of the unknown (and even sometimes the known!), she is affectionate, sweet, and always communicating with me in some way.
From the very early days of when we found each other, I kept thinking of all the parallels between how Grace and I were interacting to the situations I see every day with my clients. There were, and continue to be, untold number of interactions that teach me more about myself, her, and others. It spills over to all aspects of my life. In my quest to better understand Grace, her background, and her phobias — all things that were foreign to me — she has taught me important lessons in leadership.
In early 2011, a marketing consultant and friend encouraged me to write about these ideas and the Graceful Leadership blog was born. I hope you find the stories of Grace as helpful in your world as I find Grace in mine.
