we had a great exec team retreat this week, in a beautiful lodge at forest home camp NE of LA. we had a list of opportunities facing ys to work through, which was way-exciting. but i also wanted to make sure we spent a good amount of our time in team building and interpersonal growth. we’ve learned to see our exec team as a board instead of a management team; but as such, we’ve found it essential to work together out of a place of commitment, understanding, relationship and trust. we’ve had a little change to the make-up of this team in since our last retreat, so wanted to make sure we were working out of a place of connection and trust.

our freakishly insightful consultant (mark dowds) took us through a variety of self-reflections, interactions, exercises and processes. some are way too personal (me or the others on our team) to share here, but i’ll share what i can over the next days.

we started with thinking about our commitments to ourselves. we knew this would move to making commitments to each other — but were starting with ourselves. we took a few minutes (15?) to write a first-blush response to the question, “what am i committed to for myself?” here’s my response:

i am committed to passionate living — i must have a significant portion of my involvements be things i can be passionate about.

i am committed to growth: in self-knowledge, in emotional intelligence, in knowledge about subjects that interest me, in leadership, in spiritual fruit, in new and refined skills.

i am committed to a life of joy.

i am committed to experiences — i want to experience more people, places, situations and involvements; and to experience more of god.

i am committed to a full life.

it was great to read these in front of each other, listening to what each person had to say.