Rhythms for Leading Under Pressure

If you’ve been leading for any measure of time, you’ve felt the pressure. It’s inevitable. Yet it can feel so intense you may burst.

What do you do with that pressure? What rhythms can help you deal with the pressure in healthy ways?

Over 20 years of leadership in high pressure contexts has taught me two invaluable big ideas that have saved my soul and allowed me the opportunity to lead well no matter the season. The big ideas aren’t complicated but they are critical to find your own rhythm so you can be and do all you’ve been created for in this world.

If you want the presentation slides that support this message, you can download them below.

April L. Diaz - Rhythms for Leading Under Pressure

#1.

Take a Real Rest

Sabbath / Check Out / Energize

April L. Diaz - Rhythms for Leading Under Pressure

#2. Honor Your Body

Sleep / Eat / Move

Lead on, friend. We need you to be healthy and whole.

A New Way to Be Human: Abandoning Separation

Our world is a bit of a hot mess. It can be utterly exhausting and overwhelming because there is so dividing us as a people. This last weekend I had the seemingly impossible task of talking about a new way to be human when it comes to judging another human. Judgment is the inhumane way. The human way is love. It’s time for us to abandon what’s separating us and find how we can connect better to one another. One of the most fun parts of this message was in honor of Black History Month, I prepared this message with the thought-provoking voices of African-American leaders Dr. John Perkins and Bryan Stevenson. Race is one of the most divisive issues in our country, including the church, but it’s important that the very things that divide us can be what connect us back to each other.

Truthfully, this was a hard one for me to prepare and preach. There was a lot happening within me as I was preparing this message. I felt like it was in a pressure cooker of judgment. Perhaps my vulnerability will lead you toward some better places, too.

May my own stumbling and fumbling through being made new push you toward a new way to be human. God knows we need less divides and more love in our world.

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April L. Diaz

April has been a visionary activist her entire life. She has made it her mission to lead high performing teams and develop leaders in the margins of society while caring for our bodies, mind, and spirit. Secretly, she’s a mix of a total girly girl and a tomboy, and is still crazy about her high school sweetheart, Brian. Together, they co-parent 3 fabulous kiddos and live in Orange County, CA.

The Global Fringe

Once upon a time there was a girl who had a thousand dreams and a deep desire to see whole the world. She went on adventures and fell in love with the people she met, the countries she visited, the food she ate, and the lessons she learned. "Let's always be adventurers", she said. Thankfully, her favorite person (aka her husband), was also an adventurer and together they dreamed about the adventures they'd take their kids on and how they could together contribute their whole selves to make the world a more beautiful place. 

On her many adventures, she met so many unbelievable people who found themselves outside the majority. They were on the fringe - misfits, outlier, rabble rousers, dreamers, creatives, and leaders in their own rites. They were people who helped her see the world bigger than she could imagine. They taught her about their cultures, food, perspectives, world views, traditions, and ways of doing life and work. They were outside the mainstream, but found their way to make invaluable contributions to this globe. These people blew her mind, enlarged her heart, and made her believe we were meant for more. She was never the same after meeting these people.

Welcome to The Global Fringe.

I never imagined myself hosting a podcast, but today one was launched!! It is so, so, so good because the guests on this podcast are beyond smart, hungry, humble, and provocative. They are leaders and learners. They're bridge builders and instigators. They are wildly creative because they've had to figure out how to change the world as a minority. Some of the names you'll know if you're in their sector, but some of them you will learn and instantly want to follow more. It is so fun to have conversations with friends, mentors, and wise people who are leading us to be more in our bodies, minds, and spirits.

At the heart of it, here's what The Global Fringe is all about:

If you want to experience more of our complex, diverse world, lean in to these stories.
If you've ever found yourself on the fringe of culture, this is for you.
Our hope is that in the next few minutes you feel seen, emboldened, and compelled to more. Welcome in...

The first two episodes are launched and it'd mean so much to me if you'd subscribe, listen, review, and share!! We're just getting started...

Massive props and thanks to the one and only, my producer, Michael Yoder for breathing life and vision into this podcast. If you're interested in launching your own podcast or starting a website, you've got to reach out to him at Truth Work Media.