Find Your Leadership “Neverland”.

There is a magical place, often dreamt about, but rarely visited, a place of eternal childhood, escapism and immortality. We each have our own unique version, a wonderful place without boundaries and where anything goes, an island inside our heads that many of us have simply forgotten.

The author of Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie called it Neverland, for him a place of fairies and pirates, lost boys and redskins. It is where his Peter found his eternal youth, a place of daring dreams and impossible feats.

All of us live in our own little Neverland during our childhoods, but as life starts to weigh us down, memories fade and the island becomes harder and harder to find. We do still have moments of unbridled and childlike joy, but they are fleeting – the stresses and strains of life soon bring us back down to earth. In the comfort of our own homes, snug in front of a roaring fire, it is still possible to visit every now and again. In the fast paced and aggressive office environment, opportunities for flights of fantasy are few and far between.

I would argue that actually the most inspirational leaders visit their own Neverlands all the time. Their find it easy to tap into their 5-year-old personality, and they transport their people on a journey of wonder and discovery. Every leader holds the key to their own Neverland – first they have to rediscover it and then they have to have the courage to invite other people. Neverland is no fun on your own….

When you take your team to that place of childlike wonder, you feel able to question everything. There are so many aspects of our life that we take for granted, but if we questioned the reasoning behind them, we might make entirely different decisions. Who came up with all these rules anyway? In the age of disruption, curiosity and a certain willingness to be different will go a long way. Allowing people the freedom to ask the most stupid of questions can often reveal some unexpected answers. Kids also tend to be grateful for the smallest of things. Their innocent gratitude warms the hearts of those around them and makes them think about all the good things that they have in their lives. Leaders that don’t take things (or people) for granted are setting the best possible example – they ensure a positive culture where results are always acknowledged, no matter how small.

There is a long list of other childlike attributes that leaders could seek to emulate, too long for this brief post, but the last one that I should mention is love. Kids love doing the simplest of things, they love to watch ice cream dripping down the cone, they love to roll down hills – they simply love life, in general, without expecting anything in return. While I am not suggesting that leaders indulge in the amorous type of love with their staff, a little more care and compassion would work wonders. People spend a large proportion of their lives at work – a little unquestioning love from their leaders would not go amiss.

So, leaders need curiosity, gratitude and love. In Neverland, there is an endless supply of that stuff.