I recently had the honor of facilitating a leading edge cafe discussion table at the Barrett Values Centre International Conference. Our table topic was our personal leading edge for level 7 values. If you are not familiar with the Barrett values model, level 7 represents the highest spiritual values of humanity; such things as wisdom, ease with uncertainty, ethics and future generations. My task was to distill 3 major themes that came out of our discussions. Well, spirit cannot be contained nor neatly summed up, so instead we offered our fellow conference attendees 7 questions, a drawing and a prayer.

The drawing was the work of Tom Boardman, a wonderful leader and the former CEO of Nedbank South Africa. Tom turned the Barrett model in on itself, offering a spiral rather than the traditional hierarchy of levels, noting that all value levels are present at all times and a true leader knows how to seamlessly shift to what is present and needed in the moment. Below are the seven questions and the prayer.

  • Who am I?
  • Where do I stand?
  • Can I express in fearless humility the beauty, peace and love I wish to be and truly am?
  • Can I mirror the wisdom of All-That-Is back to itself?
  • How do I call to and inspire my fellow beings to their highest self?
  • How do I learn and listen to reveal what is next?
  • Can I play in the spiral of consciousness to serve the planet, humanity and future generations?
The level 7 leaders prayer:
May the pain of playing small
inspire me to fearlessly express
who I really am
To boldly proclaim
This is where I stand
and to humbly ask
How may I serve?