It’s a challenging idea. Belonging is a fairly fundamental human behaviour. We intuitively understand the psychological challenge we would all feel if sentenced to solitary confinement, we belong with if not to other people. We transform a space into place by creatively occupying the space and getting a sense of belonging to that space.

So, if we belong nowhere and to no one, what does belonging mean? Brown argues that she belongs to her self and she will not negotiate her ‘self’ with anyone – she is who she is and she owns that, psychologically and in physical space. Being herself and not trading who she is she hopes to be her best self, shedding some of the worries about what she isn’t and focusing on being who she is as.

Ekhart Tolle explains something similar when he points out the duality of the phrase ‘my self’. This implies there is a me and a self but aren’t we one person? Eckhart refers to not compromising our being. In terms of the zeitgeist, authenticity is what these well researched leadership scholars and motivational speaker are describing.

Authenticity as a leadership concept has been around for a while, and it’s taken a fairly strong grip at a time when exploitative gain and quiet chat about ‘imposter syndrome’ is not hard to find. It is a subject which can strain even the most generous corporate/ C-Suite training budget, with motivational speakers, coaching and leadership retreats all booming.

Some people however, have had no choice but to live with authenticity. Being genuine, they are unseen, unheard by most and their teaching is more powerful for all that. One you will have heard of is the late Doddie Weir, perhaps now more famous off the pitch than on, despite being amongst the most accomplished rugby players ever to have lived. Doddie famously owned MND, he talked often and fondly of family, great friendships and loved his Scottish Borders home. But no one who met Doddie would think he belonged to anywhere or anyone but himself, wholly, authentically and completely.

It is a great privilege at @Leuchie to work with people every day whose neurological conditions leave them with little choice but to live authentically. They teach us to try to be ourselves, wholly. They teach us to use our abilities with purpose. They teach us to be honest about what we cut out for and what we cut out for and really importantly, without judging ourselves, to recognise what we are not cut out for. With this knowledge we can look for the help of others who can fill the gaps. And, to try as Maya Angelou says to “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Mark Bevan, CEO, Leuchie House

It’s a privilege to work with people who can teach us how to live authentically - Mark Bevan

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