It’s tough being different!

I apologise to all my BLOG followers for the length of time since I posted my last BLOG, but I decided to take some time out and head overseas for 3 weeks.

It was a magic time, but I also couldn’t wait to get home to the greatest country on earth.

While I was away I focused on writing the script for the Leadership Circus, a presentation that I will be presenting at for our final Proteus breakfast in 2014. It looks at the topics of diversity, discrimination, sexism, culture, teams and breaking through pain. The story looks at how, through the eyes of a tortured soul, people see themselves and perceive others.

It was very apt travelling and being in several different countries, where you are the odd one out and the language spoken is not your native language and how frustrating it can be at times when you are finding it hard to be understood.

I already knew it, but it was brought home to me through my travels, that people all around us are struggling everyday to be heard and to be understood. They may not even speak another language, but sometimes they feel like they do. They are different, but rather than being able to celebrate those differences, they feel like their differences are an incredible barrier to being accepted and respected.

It is a terrible thing to be the odd one out, when you don’t want to be. It’s like being the last one to be picked in a team or the person at the end of the invitation list to make up the numbers. It is a pain that only people in this situation can feel. But it is a pain that we can all help to heal.

So, my challenge to you this week is to look around you and make a conscious effort to bring someone in closer that is feeling isolated.

You might be surprised at what they bring to your life.

Have a great week and don’t forget to book your whole team into the Leadership Circus breakfast in your state. It is an event not to be missed.

Keep getting disturbed enough to bring about change.

Des Penny

Proteus Leadership is one of Australia’s premier leadership training and development companies. Proteus Leadership provides leadership courses and management training to a range of industries and assists organisations to build positive workplace cultures, implement change and Create Great Leaders. Proteus also facilitates a range of world-class management courses, workshops, conferences and events across Australia and beyond with the sole purpose of bringing leaders together to connect and grow.

“Our core purpose is to Create Great Leaders that will in turn build Great companies and develop Great teams.”