Has there ever been more magnificent, jaw-dropping colors in the nature around us? This year seems especially vibrant, almost iridescent. The yellows are turning into a bright salmon. The reds are becoming a deep magenta, and the oranges…on fire! Even the goldenrod color is popping in a way I’ve never seen before! Thanks, dear GM for pointing that out! We are lucky ducks to live up here. I can’t get over the beauty of what I am seeing.
When I think about how lucky we are to live here, it made me think about a wonderful staff meeting from 2024 I had with my team of colleagues at Penobscot Bay Press in Stonington. It was one of the most heartfelt gatherings I have ever experienced in the business world. One of the senior staff members (thank you, Debbie) led us through a beautiful exercise titled Discover Your True Colors, based on the book Living Your Colors: Practical Wisdom for Life, Love, Work, and Play by Tom Maddron. Have you heard of it? It was very beautiful and eye opening. It helped us see that we all have different ways of communicating and behaving with our own unique preferences. And by working with the exercises in the book and diving into some deep self-assessment, we were able to honor and recognize each of our gifts – each of our colors.
His exercises, through a series of fun thoughtful questions, help us determine what our primary color is. It’s way more than I can explain in a column, but Maddron defines the four primary color personalities as: Orange – spontaneous, energetic, adventurous, Gold – Organized, structured, detail-oriented, Green – analytical, conceptual, systematic and Blue – Empathetic, warm, sensitive.
To be in a room full of colleagues who took the time to reflect on themselves to better understand their strengths and weaknesses, was deeply moving. It brought us together with respect and awareness, reminding us that we need a little bit of each of our unique colors to make it whole. It showed us the deep importance of understanding and appreciating and knowing the strengths and limitations of each other.
I just loved it. It was pure Local Love.
Maybe we can take some exercises from the book and experience them in our classrooms, our homes, board meetings, town meetings, book clubs, etc.? Do we really know the people we live and work with?
And how about bringing some pure Local Love to our businesses too? The next time you are about to click “buy”, think about who has what you need locally. We have the coolest bookstores and shops around, hands down. If they don’t have it, they can order it for you. This support is so important and ripples out into our community in big ways.
Support our local banks too. And, while we are at it, another good reminder is to support your local paper. It’s so important to stay on top of what is going on right at home. Penobscot Bay Press does an excellent job of bringing us up-to-date local news and showing us our true community colors.
“Learn what happens when you let your true colors shine through.” – Tom Maddron
“Don’t be afraid to let them show. Your true colors…. are beautiful. Like a rainbow.” – Billy Steinberg/Tom Kelly – sung by Cyndi Lauper
Love and gratitude,