Later this month I'll travel to Park City, UT to bring my Soar project to the Leadership Circle's first ever Leadership Summit. The conference is dedicated to "elevating the conscious practice of leadership," and will be attended by some of the most respected minds in the industry. Bringing my project to the conference is especially meaningful because insights from my Leadership Circle 360 Assessment drove me to create the Courage Wall in 2015.

At the conference, there is an opportunity to host a special interest group on a topic of interest. I'll offer to host a conversation on expanding impact. If you've read my blog, you know that I believe we are all here to make a contribution. When I step into a place of contribution it adds more meaning and fulfillment to my life. I hope sharing some ways I've been able to expand my impact gives you some ideas about a larger contribution you might make.

1. Think of a way you're growing and share that with others.

All of my posts and projects reinforce learning I'm doing in my own life. You don't have to write a blog or create public art to share your own realizations with others. Here are some ideas:

If you're a leader in an organization, theme meetings around an area of growth for you. For example, if you're working on your delegating skills, share a few things you've learned and make that the theme of the week. Follow up by asking people what they observed and learned about delegating within your organization. The conversation could give you a better understanding of your team and the systems that either support or inhibit what you're trying to achieve.
If you're a parent, share your personal growth insights at the dinner table. This helps your kids see that you're continually learning and evolving. It also exposes them to life lessons decades prior to when most kids hear about these concepts, setting them up to develop their own conscious leadership early on.
If you're a student, leader, parent or community advocate, create a discussion group to share learnings and ideas that will help everyone around you rise up. For example, I created a women's leadership lunch group with some of my clients for sharing challenges and lessons learned.

2. Look for trends and think of creative ways to address them.

All of my public art projects are born from spotting trends. When you see a trend, pay attention to it. Think about how you can bring the trend to light in your own special way. Here are some things to consider.

Write a white paper or publish an article to share your idea with more people.
Speak about your special point of view at a conference or at a local event.
Host a TEDx, gathering different speakers to address the topic.

3.Utilize the news media, social media and tools to help your message spread.

I'm always amazed at how my ideas take root and spread. I have the news media, social media and tools that I create to thank for this. With multiple releases of an Upworthy video, over eight million people were introduced to my UNITY project on Facebook. Since then, almost 1,000 people from 24 countries and 48 states have downloaded the how-to manual I created so they can bring the project to their own communities.

Granted, these kind of results are extraordinary, but here's another example, my 15 minute Facebook Live #WeLiveBigWednesday videos garner about 1.5k views a week if I spend just $10 to promote them. This means that for 15 minutes of my time and $10 from my wallet weekly, my message can spread to thousands of people each year.

If you have something to say and want a wider reach, consider these tips:

Try Facebook Live. Facebook promotes live video, so take advantage of their reach. Sure, it's a little scary to go live, but after 18 weeks of live broadcasts, I can tell you that it gets remarkably easier!
If you're doing something really special, reach out to journalists and influencers who share a passion for the message you want to share. Again, this is scary, but they have the audience that can get your idea to go viral. I've seen how the media feeds off of each other's stories. Hook one and you might see interest spread.
Create tools that allow people to pick up on your idea. If you're really interested in making a contribution, create a tool that allows people to spread your idea. If even a fraction of people who downloaded the manual create UNITY in their own towns, hundreds of thousands of people will participate in a UNITY project paid for, organized and publicized by someone else. Amazing!

National Cathedral Hosts UNITY

You know how sometimes you set a goal and magically you achieve it? A few weeks ago, I wrote a goal of having one of my projects hosted at a landmark of national significance. Literally one day later, I received a call from National Cathedral letting me know that they would be hosting UNITY as part of their Interfaith Picnic on September 9th. Wowzers!

I'm so excited to support them in training their volunteers and showing them the ropes (or the yarn, as the case may be) on how to manage the project. I hope you'll join me by attending this inclusive community-building event!

Want to Develop Leadership Skills in Yourself or Your Team?

Earlier in this post, I mentioned the Leadership Circle 360 assessment. This is the best tool I've seen for effectively measuring and developing leadership. I use this tool in one-on-one coaching, for facilitated discussions on leadership culture and in large-scale leadership development projects.

The tool measures creative competencies like how leaders achieve results, bring out the best in others and improve organizational systems. It also measures the tenancy for reactive behaviors like being overly concerned with other people's opinions; retreating and distancing when threatened; and leading with a heavy-hand.

The Leadership Circle 360 opens the door for difficult conversations that result in transformational growth in individuals and within teams. If your team is great and you want to make it even better, this tool will focus your efforts. If your team is facing some challenges and must improve for you to stay competitive, this tool will zero in on what's not working and give you insights on how to make a shift. Give me a call to learn more information on how I can help your team flourish!

Stay Tuned to WJLA for a Long-Form Soar Story

Jay Korff of WJLA, ABC7 Washington spent time with me before, during and after the Soarproject to capture a unique view of Soar's creation. The story will be announced on their live broadcast with a link to the long-form story on their website later this week.