Quantum Leadership

              Dinner time at my house as a child is a memory I cherish. It was a time of creativity and laughter. I was a latchkey kid, my dad worked nights and mom would get home about 5:30 pm and immediately start cooking dinner before she had to run us to practices, help with homework, or some last minute project only because we just told her about it and it was due the next day. LOL! Opps! Don’t worry, my children have repaid the favor. Coming home from school for me meant doing homework and any chores I had. But when mom got home my studies would move to the kitchen bar top. My mom did not just cook dinner she performed dinner. Dinner could be a lesson in math when I struggled with fractions but that was not what made it so memorable. It was the voice in which she talked, and she talked the entire time, telling us everything she was doing. The voice was that of Julia Childs and the meal prep included commercial breaks. My...

         The Success of the Team is the Teams, the Failures are the Leaders to Own!     This has been my motto since I stepped into the role of a nurse leader. I knew I would never take credit for the wins and successes of those that are doing the work. I would own the failures as it meant I did not do a sufficient job at preparing them or communicating the expectations of the job to be completed.     I was sitting in a meeting where awards and announcements were being handed out. An announcement was made that someone had accepted an executive position. During the announcement, the achievements of this person were discussed. As I listened I had a sinking feeling and rush of adrenaline, I realized that some of the reasons this person was being awarded this position were based on the work I did, my ideas, and a program I had conceptualized and built from ground zero. From that day forward I knew I would never take credit for work I had not...

     So many times in our lives we hear or see some reference to emotions being weak or not being treated as the most important thing that affects our lives. More importantly our quality of lives. Our emotions are such strong drivers for our lives and have such an impact in our well-being. Dr. Brene Brown, who has a doctorate in social work, speaks to this so poetically. In Brown's TEDtalk in 2010 on vulnerability and speaking to being a qualitative researcher, if you can't measure it, it doesn't exist. How is this possible? How can something we feel so strongly not exist? Especially the feelings of vulnerability or shame. These are such strong emotions and they are most definitely real. It is only through the limitations of science that we are unable to measure it and since we are unable to quantify something or measure it, then it isn't real?? The is the limitation of humans that I see. If you cannot show it to me then it must not be real. We have been saturated in a ...

As I listened to our reflections moment about releasing the newly hatched sea turtles into the big open ocean I definitely was excited because my favorite animals are sea turtles. They are slow, methodical, and majestic looking as they glide through the open waters. Their soft insides are protected by their hard outer shell and I have always identified with them. Water is source of calmness and serenity for me. I feel at peace there.       However, the hard outer shell is needed because there are challenges that sea turtles face. Even with this hard outer shell, if they are not careful or aware, things like boats can injury them or even worse kill them. Even as they are making their way to the ocean for the first time, they are susceptible to harm. The instinct of the guest, just as a mother would, was to protect and carry them. It is often as parents where we rob our children of their own personal growth. Carr (2016) clearly shows that it is through this early strug...