Author, co-founder of the Huffington Post, and general badass Arianna Huffington sat down for a chat with Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson in a new series called IdeaCraft. Our much-loved friends at Etsy created this internal series to provoke dialogue about great leadership in order to learn from their expertise. Arianna was a clear choice. After writing 13 books, running for governor against Arnold Schwarzenegger, raising two daughters, and, of course, running Huffington Post, Huffington had many wise words to share with the Etsy staffers. First she emphasized the importance of just taking care of your own body: “When people are burnt out, sleep deprived, exhausted, they make bad decisions – they are not connected with their own wisdom. After all, leadership is about judgment. It’s about being able to see the iceberg before it hits the Titanic.”
She also spoke about vulnerability, proposing the secret power it holds in attaining fearlessness. “I described fearlessness not as the absence of fear but as not letting our fears get in the way of what we want to do,” she said. “Because fear is a human emotion that we all have, and fearlessness is really a muscle that we cultivate so that when fears come up we don’t have to listen to them; we don’t have to make them the final word.”
One of my favorite aspects of this talk was that she discussed the importance of storytelling. Huffingtong shared personal anecdotes and encouraged others to do the same. She challenged her audience, “Share your story!” She continued, “I feel that the more personal we make our contributions, the more people will want to share them, and the more emotional resonance they will have.” I think that’s something all of us BUSTees can agree on. Write on, Huff!
Source and photos via Etsy.
