34 Renew, rethink, reimagine, reinvent and Nowruz | Mahan Tavakoli Partnering Leadership Insight

Mahan Tavakoli:

Welcome to your partnering leadership. I am so excited. Excited to have you coming along with me on this journey of learning and growth. And is it incredible? The leaders that we get a chance to have a conversation with. To learn from their purpose-driven impact. And the many thought leaders they're absolutely brilliant and selfless in sharing their experiences and their thoughts with a partnering leadership community.

I love the conversations. I'm really enjoying them and I'm glad you are too. As the podcast is getting traction all across the region and the country and on five continents around the globe. So keep your feedback coming, Mahan@mahantavakoli.com. There's a microphone icon on partnering leadership.com. Love hearing your voice messages. Don't forget to follow and or subscribe to the podcast. That way you will be first to be notified of upcoming episodes. And then finally, for those of you that enjoy these on Apple, I would say really appreciate a rating and review. I know it's a little tricky figuring it out, but every one of those reviews help more people find these episodes and benefit from the conversations with magnificent Change Makers and brilliant Thought Leaders.

Now, this is another one of those solo episodes where I get a chance to share some of my own leadership perspectives. And I am so excited because March is here and spring is right around the corner. Time for renewal, rethinking, reimagining, and reinventing. But to do that, we first need to be willing to let go of the negatives of the past.

One of my favorite traditions, which I always think about when we get to March as an Iranian American is the Persian new year celebration of Nowruz. I'm not sure if you've heard of it or a familiar with it, but it's a wonderful cultural tradition. That's been celebrated by people of various faith, races, and ethnicities all the cross, the territories of the past Persian empire. And now the country of Iran. It's a tradition marking the beginning of spring, which is also the beginning of the Persian new year, Nowruz, which is celebrated at the exact moment of the Vernal Equinox. And Nowruz literally means new day in Farsi.

There are many traditions associated with Nowruz, all of them focus to celebrate rebirth and renewal of nature and a chance for new beginnings. The coming of spring, which with it brings light and forces out the darkness of winter. However, to be ready for the light that spring brings, there are also traditions around spring cleaning and renewal of the soul. 

Before being able to embrace light and the renewal that comes from spring, we need to let go of the dirt, whether literal or metaphorical that has been built up in our homes, workplaces, and in our relationships over the previous year. Not only decluttering and cleaning our physical spaces but also decluttering and cleaning any emotional baggage we may carry to be ready for a fresh start. I think that this spirit of renewal is necessary for all of us as individuals and as leaders. Jim Collins, one of my favorite business authors. He wrote good to great, great by choice. Among many other books said, "there will be no new normal, there will only be a continuous series of not normal times". Whatever you want to call it. Not normal, new normal, next normal. The term does not matter. How we approach building a better future does. That's why we need to renew, refresh, reimagine, and reinvent in our personal relationships, in our work relationships, and as leaders, this is the time for us to work together for a better future. And for that, each one of us needs to do some spring cleaning. Start a new day, Nowruz, and be brave enough to be the light. 

And what better way to be inspired to be the light than to hear the incredible Amanda Gorman.

Amanda Gorman:

Mr president Dr. Biden, Madam vice president, Mr. M Hoff, Americans, and the world 

When day comes we ask ourselves,

where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

The loss we carry,

a sea we must wade

We've braved the belly of the beast

We've learned that quiet isn't always peace

And the norms and notions

of what just is

Isn't always just-ice

And yet the dawn is ours

before we knew it

Somehow we do it

Somehow we've weathered and witnessed

a nation that isn't broken

but simply unfinished

We the successors of a country and a time

Where a skinny Black girl

descended from slaves and raised by a single mother

can dream of becoming president

only to find herself reciting for one

And yes we are far from polished

far from pristine

but that doesn't mean we are

striving to form a union that is perfect

We are striving to forge a union with purpose

To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and

conditions of man

And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us

but what stands before us

We close the divide because we know, to put our future first,

we must first put our differences aside

We lay down our arms

so we can reach out our arms

to one another

We seek harm to none and harmony for all

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true:

That even as we grieved, we grew

That even as we hurt, we hoped

That even as we tired, we tried

That we'll forever be tied together, victorious

Not because we will never again know defeat

but because we will never again sow division

Scripture tells us to envision

that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree

And no one shall make them afraid

If we're to live up to our own time

Then victory won't lie in the blade

But in all the bridges we've made

That is the promise to glade

The hill we climb

If only we dare

It's because being American is more than a pride we inherit,

it's the past we step into

and how we repair it

We've seen a force that would shatter our nation

rather than share it

Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy

And this effort very nearly succeeded

But while democracy can be periodically delayed

it can never be permanently defeated

In this truth

in this faith we trust

For while we have our eyes on the future

history has its eyes on us

This is the era of just redemption

We feared at its inception

We did not feel prepared to be the heirs

of such a terrifying hour

but within it we found the power

to author a new chapter

To offer hope and laughter to ourselves

So while once we asked,

how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe?

Now we assert

How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was

but move to what shall be

A country that is bruised but whole,

benevolent but bold,

fierce and free

We will not be turned around

or interrupted by intimidation

because we know our inaction and inertia

will be the inheritance of the next generation

Our blunders become their burdens

But one thing is certain:

If we merge mercy with might,

and might with right,

then love becomes our legacy

and change our children's birthright

So let us leave behind a country

better than the one we were left with

Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,

we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one

We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west,

we will rise from the windswept northeast

where our forefathers first realized revolution

We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states,

we will rise from the sunbaked south

We will rebuild, reconcile and recover

and every known nook of our nation and

every corner called our country,

our people diverse and beautiful will emerge,

battered and beautiful

When day comes we step out of the shade,

aflame and unafraid

The new dawn blooms as we free it

For there is always light,

if only we're brave enough to see it

If only we're brave enough to be it

(The Hill We climb by Amanda Gorman)