THE LINE that broke me open

The LINE broke me open. It happened in Washington, D.C., a few years ago – 2018, to be exact – and I was attending my first Mindful Leader conference. Listening to one of the keynote speakers, Jim Dethmer, I began to experience something that I frankly don’t usually experience while listening to a speaker at a conference. I was not looking at the program for the next break. I was not scrolling or checking email on my phone. I was taking furious notes, including drawings, arrows, and big capital letters – and colors – (I am a big note taker with colored pens!) I. Was. All. In.

So much so that I changed my flight to attend his workshop on the last day of the conference. And I remember walking up to my room after the session to call my husband, as the concepts Jim introduced could be directly applied to a situation with our son that was difficult to navigate as parents.

So what is the LINE, you ask?

It is about as simple as it gets. A horizontal line. This a line that the folks at the Conscious Leadership Group led by Jim Dethmer and Diana Chapman have used to describe one of the most impactful and simple ways to determine where you are on the spectrum of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. Are you above the line or below the line?

The book The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership describes the LINE as “the most important model we know of for being a conscious leader.” 

How many leadership models have you seen over the years? Compared to the models to which I have been exposed – I ask – how on earth could a simple horizontal line be so effective? 

I will tell you how – It’s because it is simple… it’s because of the binary nature… it’s because of the ease by which an entire office can assimilate. You are either above… or below the line. 

If a leader is operating above the line, they are open, curious, and committed to learning.

If leaders operate below the line, they are closed, defensive, and committed to being right. 

The key is KNOWING if you are above or below the line and why. It doesn’t mean it’s better or correct to be above the line. If you are below the line, that means something is challenging your energy, your values, or even something as simple as the story you are telling yourself and how that impacts your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Sometimes being below the line serves you somehow. Again, the key is awareness.

The folks at the Conscious Leadership Group as so generous that they openly encourage others to use the concept if proper credit is due. And that’s what I do – it is literally one of the first concepts I introduce to my clients, and it serves as a language by which we communicate “how we are showing up.” I love to tell others about good stuff people are doing, and this is totally worth checking out. Read the book, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership – A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success (my copy is weathered, dog-eared, highlighted, and underlined), and check out the free resources on the website too (https://conscious.is/). This is good stuff.