Awakening The Heart of Humanity
November 2021
Hello Friends.
Gina’s recent founders’ letter was a breath of fresh air and inspired me to write about a gathering I recently attended called MASSIVE, hosted by Bob Chapman and Simon Sinek. Twenty remarkable individuals spent three intensive days together focusing on Human Dignity. It was a seismic heart-awakening summit and one that will inspire my life and work for years to come.
Gina’s October Love Letter speaks of her calling to start Lead with Love as a knowing to transform herself to help transform the consciousness of the planet. She highlights the experience of attending Lead with Love Summits as one where attendees left different than how they entered – feeling more whole, more live, more connected, and more loved.
Gina’s focus of shifting fear to love is a remarkably beautiful mission, and one that was resonant with MASSIVE’s theme of Human Dignity. Shifting from fear to love requires a recognition that while we are individuals, we are not separate. The illusion of separation is dangerous and leads us to believe we are separate individuals fighting for our unique place in a world of scarcity.
Bob Chapman is a remarkable leader, a disciple of the message ‘Everybody Matters’. He has worked tirelessly to shift the culture of business through his advocacy for Truly Human Leadership. He touts ‘Building a Better World through Business’, and his main theme: Listening to Understand. Bob’s heart recognizes every individual in his company as someone’s precious child, and he treats all his employees in that vein. He is reshaping graduate level business courses throughout the world to teach Truly Human Leadership in business.
Top executives and thinkers in Media, Business, Finance, Government, and Entertainment attended MASSIVE, thanks to the good work of Simon Sinek. Simon draws a unique leader into his sphere – one that sees the importance of identifying your ‘Why?’ and to focus one’s work on ‘The Infinite Game’, which means your strategy can change with time, but the leader is operating from a place of how one is contributing to humanity long-term.
The conversation at MASSIVE was about Human Dignity and respecting Inherent Human Dignity in everyone. It took courage to look at our systems – policing, Air Force, media, business, entertainment, etc. through the lens of Inherent Human Dignity – where and how we could do better. We listened to how these remarkable leaders are changing language, practices, and protocol to reflect Inherent Human Dignity to everyone who interfaces in their sphere. This is a concept that mirrors Lead with Love Summit participants experience of feeling more whole, more alive, more connected, and more loved.
Bob Chapman at LWL Summit in 2018
In Gina’s letter, she speaks to Dreams and Memories. Dreams are the drivers and the accelerator pushing us forward toward something that ignites our hearts. Memories are the metaphorical medals we get for our courage and willingness to try doing what we dreamed of doing. The shared dream from MASSSIVE was ‘Make America US Again’. We outlined the founding principles and virtues of the United States – liberty, equality, and justice. Not just for the perceived economic American Dream, but one of self-actualization in authentic expression, self-discovery, freedom of being who you are, and of shared Inherent Human Dignity.
The question of ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Do I matter?’ is without limit. On one hand, we are individuals who identify with our ethnicity, race, gender, religion, nationality, hometown, place of birth, etc., and on the other is our shared Inherent Human Dignity – our shared human family. Taking it one step further is our interconnectedness to other beings and life on this planet. That is our ‘True Nature’ or so referred to in Gina’s letter as The Universe/God/Spirit from which we all derive, and that which flows through us all.
In our unique and authentic individuality, we bring diversity – of thought, color, and expression. Just as when astronauts look at the earth in its’ entirety, they see the beauty of the whole alongside the stunning colors of the oceans, the deep greens of the forests, the majesty of the mountains, and boldness of the desert. While we are individuals, we are not separate. In what is being called from us, we celebrate the uniqueness of the individual alongside the Human Dignity inherent in each one of us. Everybody matters, as Bob so eloquently says. There is room for all.
May we ALL live in a world of love, not fear.
Anne White
Executive Director