ALF believes that courageous, mindful, heart-centered leadership is required in order to move us through and soaring beyond our current reality. This means making decisions that center equity in the highest service to people and the planet. In order to live up to this ideal, we need to begin from a heart space. When we are leading with love, we play out decisions and their full consequences, taking into consideration all concerned and the mark our moves will leave on the world. No longer can we be blind to the long-term consequences of ego-centered decisions, prioritizing profits over people and the planet, while blindly descending into spiritual and ecological bankruptcy.
Heart-centered leadership is not meek. It is not soft. It requires us to practice tough love, call each other in when we are not living into the good of the ecosystem or have blinders on. It requires us to open our hearts in curiosity and courage. Listen while suspending judgment. Sit in the fire with each other because we are committed to knowing, learning, and being changed.
“Heart-centered leadership is not meek. It is not soft. It requires us to practice tough love, call each other in when we are not living into the good of the ecosystem or have blinders on.”
As our planet endures accelerated impacts from the overuse and abuse by our species; as the wealth and opportunity gap widens along racial lines; as divisive rhetoric creates a widening rift between ideologies; we can make a conscious choice to come back to love, come back to center, and come back to dialogue. Love does not subscribe to a liberal or conservative ideology. Its motivation is unselfish and courageous – in service to our highest purpose as human citizens.
In 2022, ALF Silicon Valley invites us all to spend time in our hearts – suspending judgment, finding grace, and impatiently moving to action, mindful of what it means for the entire human ecosystem and the future of our planet.
Suzanne St. John-Crane joined as CEO of American Leadership Forum Silicon Valley in March of 2016, having been through both Classic Class XXV and the inaugural Urbanism Class XXXIV. St. John-Crane has worked in community media for the last twenty-four years, having served as the founding executive director for two community television stations in the Bay Area, including CreaTV San Jose. St. John-Crane was named one of Silicon Valley’s 100 Women of Influence in 2012 by the Business Journal and currently serves as Board Chair of ALF National.