Poise is often under-valued, and may even be misconstrued as a sign of weak leadership. As presented in Chapter 4 of my book, poise means a number of things:
· Placing Oneself In a Serene Environment (being calm under pressure),
· Positioning Oneself In Seeking Excellence, and
· Priming Oneself In Striving for Effectiveness
The ‘P’ verbs in the three assertions above are in the present continuous tense to signify that the actions are continuous in nature. You do not ‘reach a state of poise’ and then stop. Poise is something you continually work towards, and like most things, the more you practice it, the better you become. You are continually placing yourself, positioning yourself, and priming yourself.
As you think of poise, remember the image of the water ripple effect when you throw a stone in a pond. The water is most calm (poised) at the centre, while there is some frantic activity all around it.
The calm centre represents the poised leader, while the ripples represent the possible frantic activity around you.
"Rethink without over-thinking"
GAICD, M.Comp (Monash)
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