By Stacy K. Waltman
“The ability to perceive or think differently is more important than the knowledge gained.” – David Bohm (http://twm.co.nz/Bohm.html )
What is leadership and what makes a good leader?
As with many of our perceptions, the definition of leadership has been evolving with our understanding of the world and each individual’s place in it.
We have historically thought of leadership as a quality that exists in certain people and not others. In the past, the idea of someone in a leadership position has been one with a great deal of authority, power and independence.
When we have this mind-set and search for this fixed type of person, we don’t really see each other. Instead of seeing what is in front of us, we see stored-up images, interpretations, feelings, doubts, distrusts, likes and dislikes that the other person evokes in us. We’re locked into a frame of reference that can keep us from perceiving things outside of our basic assumptions.
In this fixed state, people learn to don masks and play pre-determined roles void of authenticity. Evolution from this place is limited.
In Daniel H. Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind, he discusses how our society is moving away from the Information Age into the Conceptual Age where leadership is marrying our left-directed reasoning ability with our right-directed aptitudes like design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning.
Story, myth, allegory, empathy and relationship are the qualities that a machine cannot replicate. In this way, we are differentiated from our computer counterparts.
Our future depends on our interdependence on the whole of being human instead of fragmented and compartmentalized parts as in the previous way we interacted in the business environment.
For years Joseph Campbell wrote about The Power of Myth and related truths.
“Myth is the secret opening through which the inexhaustible energies of the cosmos pour into human manifestation.”
– Joseph Campbell (http://www.mythsdreamssymbols.com/herojourney.html )
Our emerging definition of leadership includes believing there is a different or better way to do things than they have been done before.
It’s not a pose of arrogance but rather a viewpoint with an infinite amount of possibilities.
This vision of Leadership is that everyone has leadership capacity which simply needs to be called forth from the collective knowledge base.
“Leadership is about empathy. It is about having the ability to relate and to connect with people for the purpose of inspiring and empowering their lives,” says Oprah Winfrey.
According to Joseph Jaworski in “Synchronicity – The inner path of leadership”, today’s effective leader has an attitude of servitude.
The leader who has the wisdom to ask, “How can I serve you?” is based upon a greater understanding of how we are all connected in a larger cosmic body.
When one of us is in trouble, we are all suffering. When we view how our actions affect the world, we are operating out of the understanding that we are all links in the same chain.
Leadership is also the ability to be transparent by taking off the masks which were worn in an archaic time by those who were afraid of many things, including change.
The willingness to take risks and embracing failure as a tool for growth and refinement is a valuable asset in today’s leader. “Where you stumble, there your treasure lies,” says Joseph Campbell.
Ultimately the qualities of a true and effective leader has more to do with their state of “being” than with their state of “doing”.
This state has an effortless quality to it that is steeped in trusting a higher power and allowing the synchronicities of our lives to unfold without effort.
The ability to listen and allow people to feel heard is another benchmark of a authentic leader. They engender trust and show respect by holding confidences close to heart.
Today’s leader is adept at merging their heart and its wisdom with their rational mind and its knowledge. Leadership in this emerging dynamic has a lot to do with integrating your whole being into the Leadership role.
We are in a time of integration where the individual is learning to merge the various areas of their lives that have been previously compartmentalized. New skills are being learned and practiced. The way is not always clear ~ until it is.
The individual leader is taking their personal integration into the business environment and businesses are taking this wisdom into the global economy.
Leadership is a state of being whole and integrated in an ever-evolving refinement that occurs throughout our entire lives.
As within – so it is without.
The limits to our individual potential and the potential of business environments as well as our world are mostly imagined.
Go beyond what you think is possible. Find the miraculous in your day – operate in the realm of possibilities. Live your life with a whole new mind.
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