If Nouveau #0
IF
Blind in the darks of the maze
And burning in the flesh
Of open wounds
If you can exercise
Your free will
And call the White Dragons
For them to help
Throw your fears in the flames
And intervene
For your healing
If you can
Here, now
Forgive and love
And free yourself
And heal
The broken child within
If you can
Far and wide
Deploy
Your majestuous wings
The right
Devoted to the Light
The left
Devoted to the Rose
And balance both
In harmony
And take off
Fly high into the winds
Above the walls
If you can
Give yourself
The gift of forgiving
And of empowering
All sisters
And brothers
For in the loving them
It is you
You’re loving
Stop
And inspire within
If you can
Do nothing
Stay still
Listen
And inspire within
And let light
And let grace
Penetrate
Exist
And radiate within
And through
You
If
Open eyes
open heart
You keep amazed
And resonate
With the beats of beauty
Here, around, within
And the bits of magic
Of Divine creations
If you learn gratitude
Every day say thank you
Awaken
Bend space
Bend time
And see that all that's right
Is left
And all that's left
Is right
If you can let it flow
You forgave
You can give
It’s time to let abound
Do it
Now
And if you can become
Anew as once you were
Polish your divine gifts
Shine, thrive
Enlighten your powers
And honor Creator
Then
My Child
You will have accomplished
Your first
Of many miracles
Then
New and welcomed to the flock
Bright, powerful White Dragon
In turn, you’ll teach
In turn, you’ll heal
And
Inspire Forward.
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Offered to:
Nick, Chloé, Élie and all children, around and within.
Inspired by:
If, by Rudyard Kipling
Viviane Nyiramana and Jean Pierre Karenzi
Magnolia’s School of White Dragons, by Martin Lefebvre
© Dominique Bel, 2020. All Rights Reserved in all Countries.
Photography © Franck Vogel.
_________
Inspiring Leaders START WITH WHY.
For What's Next, We Ask: SO WHAT?
As we have lived through the first twenty percent of our twenty first century, we are left to ponder a plethora of daunting questions: What’s the way out of extreme polarization? Can we protect democracy? Will we ever revert the climate crisis? Is sustainable development a chimera? How can we reboot our economies anew and for the benefit of many, not just a few? In this anxiogenic context, merchants of hope brought the search for purpose back to the fore.
In 2020, the respected Harvard Business Review published a special issue titled “How to lead with purpose”, the French food and beverages multinational Danone amended its corporate bylaws to broaden its purpose to positive social impact, and in his victory speech, Joe Biden invited all Americans “to defeat despair [and] build a nation of prosperity and purpose”.
Far from being a fad, the search for purpose is foundational to our quest for a better future. In words that sing to our ears like a Chopin melody, French writer, poet, aviation pioneer and author of The Little Prince Antoine de Saint-Exupéry put it beautifully: “If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
Following a series of encounters and conversations with CEO’s, entrepreneurs, social innovators, advocates, researchers, artists, adventurers, spiritual leaders and sometimes with himself, the author of The Book of So What takes us with wit on an iconoclastic journey beyond purpose to reveal some of our contemporary blind spots: purpose bloating, purpose washing and purpose myopia to name a few. As the stories of transformations and reconciliations he narrates take us from the Loire Valley in France, to both banks of the Saint Laurent River in North America and then to the Jordan Valley in the Middle East, he shares with us a few valuable keys to clear the way forward with courage and explores the liberative powers of the modern jester’s question:
“Inspiring leaders start with WHY. For what’s next, we ask: SO WHAT?”
In red.
Upper right.
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© Dominique Bel, 2020. All Rights Reserved in all Countries.
Photography © Franck Vogel.