You may be confined these days -imprisoned in your own home — by order of the state. Bummer and so boring! But cheer up.

You can break out of that virtual prison.

You can break free of the mounds of dishes that seem to continuously overwhelm your sink day in and day out.

You can break free of the incessant beat of the laundry twirling in the dryer.

You can even break away from your screens screaming more bad news day in and day out.

Take a break —on your front porch. And turn your confinement into an enshrinement to those who mean so much to you.

Just step out on your porch and visually reach out and touch friends and family with a colorful array of heart-shaped signs festooned all over your front porch like this:

Each heart-shaped sign pays tribute to a family member, or family friend. Personally and poignantly. The magic in the magic marker as you carefully write their name stirs a fond memory and a smile crosses your face as you reconnect with that person.

Printing their first name imprints something more on your heart and soul than even a phone call. Those heart-shaped signs project something more lasting and more visible to others: a sense of hope. Notice that those heart-shaped signs on this front porch are also fortified with the word HOPE stated six times for emphasis on the central anchoring sign designed to express the key familial theme:

ALONE TOGETHER

The heart-shaped signs on this home in the heart of America demonstrates a critical aspect of leadership: staying connected no matter how fragmented our lives, no matter how literally out of touch we are with each other and no matter how isolated we feel.

The leader in all of us reminds us that though we are
isolated from each other we can never
be insulated from one another.

That’s why these heart-shaped shout-outs to family and friends are so poignant and purposeful on this home on Main Street in any town.

This porch also features a special thank you sign to the one person who is likely to visit this house most often despite the stay-at-home order: the mail carrier. That tribute to the mail carrier is an homage to normalcy, an opportunity to be grateful for even the most ordinary daily tasks: getting your mail. And in the process we feel a greater sense of connection to others.

Stay connected with a magic marker in hand. Or stay committed -and connected with chalk in hand and make your mark like this leader walking the talk with a piece of chalk. And in the process leading all of us vicariously on this path forward to defeat COVID-19.

So step up — and out — and turn your porch into a Portal of Affection that can ward off this infection -or turn your walk into a chalk talk that silences this virus as long as we STAY the course. And remain Alone Together!

For more ideas on how you can lead with empathy purchase a 296-page book filled with 77 examples from business sports and politics available on Amazon. com.

It’s titled:   LOVING Like a Leader with Empathy- one of three books in The Leadership Mints Series designed to help leaders refresh their feeling for leading. And as a bonus, the postscript titled- BUSINESS: A HUMAN EXPERIENCE — shares the impetus for this book on empathy impacting the bottom line.The two other books in The Leadership Mints Series -now available on Amazon.com — include THINKING Like a Leader with Clarity and SPEAKING Like a Leader with Civility.

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The 3-books
in The Leadership Mints Series
available on Amazon.com
in print and e-book

Consumed like a breath mint — quick and on-the-go — a Leadership Mint is a short story that energizes leadership behaviors and personalizes leadership principles so they are more easily remembered, more readily acted upon and more fully applied.