Leadership can be tough.

When a group or person bears the responsibility for a company’s direction and effectiveness, it can easily create a weight, a burden that is hard to bear. Soon, we find ourselves on the skeptical (or even bitter) side of the equation. We just get tired, mad, singed, jaded; you get the idea.

What can counter this condition?

Beauty.

I’m sitting in a Starbucks as I write this listening to a beautiful piece of music on my iTunes. The song reaches to some space in me, some place beyond the jaded, frustrated, tired place. The music re-energizes my pursuit of all that is good. It reminds me that this "good" place is in me waiting to be expressed in the world, in my own leadership.

Of course, you know the place I’m referring to, because it’s in you as well. The place where you feel inspired, alive and ready to express that life in the world.

What moves you closer to that space?

I want to suggest that one important dynamic is beauty.

A beautiful song
A beautiful piece of art
A beautiful sunset
A beautiful movie
A beautiful conversation

I don’t know what invigorates that space in you. I do know, however, to be the best leader you can be, you need to live from that place as much as you can. Beauty is a guide that can get you back to that place when you’re too far away.

One more thing: Beauty is rarely on my timetable or schedule. She usually asks me to slow down and pay attention.