Are you bringing out the best in others?
It is a legitimate question. As a leader, are you bringing out the best in others? Do you offer hints for them to see the potential in a given situation? Are you inspiring them to do better, go further, or see clearer? Do you help reveal danger in their path? Do you intersect danger on their behalf?
Throughout history, the great prophets and saints in virtually every culture have spoken of angels. They are sought for encouragement or advice during difficult times. They are drawn to laughter and beauty and are summoned to shield us from harm. People who claim to have seen angels are rare, yet angels inspire some of our noblest aspirations. They are bright lights in our world, often likened to invisible friends watching over us.
We often speak of angel investors
as those who are first to see, and
courageously fund, the promise of a new
idea or venture. When describing people
who go out of their way to protect others,
we call them guardian angels or angels
in the workplace. Mother Teresa was
called both a living saint and an angel
of mercy. She professed to being neither,
yet touched the world in much the way
that an angel might. New research
indicates that many of the individuals
who make the greatest difference in
the world combine the paradoxical
qualities of personal humility and
unwavering resolve to do what is right; demonstrate personal accountability when times are
hard and a great willingness to credit
others when things go well. 
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When Dr. Albert Schweitzer talked of developing the “soul of an angel,” he meant it in unsentimental and very practical terms. Consider the following:
Angels don’t worry about you, they believe in you. According to legend, angels don’t get trapped in the worries that plague our world. Instead, they remind us why we’re here and help us sense our own hidden possibilities. Even the smallest effort to apply some aspect of the soul of an angel can lift us out of our everyday limitations. In what ways do you help others sense their own possibilities?
Angels don’t try to fix everything
or take away life’s lessons. Angels are
believed to possess amazing detachment.
They wait patiently nearby, observing
the lessons being learned. They aren’t
interested in giving us an easy way
out. They watch over our learning--or
resistance to learning--and only rarely
interfere or intervene. They quietly
guard the space around us so that we can
better focus on making learning happen.
They may plant a thoughtful question or
kind reminder. From time to time, they
inspire us to shift our gaze or give us a
needed nudge in a new direction. When
we stop trying to make everything all
right for others and, instead, can stand
back a step and encourage their own
growth, we may have found another
small thread of the soul of an angel.
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No matter what their size, angels are large in spirit. As the legends have it, many angels are young at heart yet wise. They are unabashed about letting us see what we need to grow. They know when to choose being kind over being correct, and when to remain detached from our own necessary, and sometimes difficult, learning.
Angels take the high road. Like the best mentors and teachers, angels are unwilling to leave anyone behind. They encourage both planned and spontaneous acts of goodness and generosity.
One of the ways you might make this concept practical is by pausing during interactions to consider how you aid others: Do you have the soul of an angel in helping to bring out the best in them? If not, why not? Maybe we’ve been assuming that the soul of an angel is out of reach. Maybe we’re wrong. Perhaps it is right here, and has been all along, and we’ve been too busy or distracted to see it.
When you bring out the best in others, you bring out the best in our world.
~ The End ~
