Leading yourself in turbulent times – personal leadership capacities & practice
Authentic leadership for a just, resilient and thriving world
Christopher Baan 25th April 2012
21st Century Network
We live in a period of accelerated and profound change …
… or transformation?
We live in a period of accelerated and profound change
‘It is the best of times, and the worst of times, the age of wisdom, and the age of foolishness.’ (from the opening to A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens)
THE EARTH
IS FULL
WBCSD&2009&
We are collectively creating results nobody wants…habitually recreating solutions from old way so of thinking…
•
• “We cannot solve problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein
Collectively, we are creating results nobody wants…habitually recreating solutions from old ways of thinking…
Talking and planning lead to more of the same results… … a di!erent approach seems to be needed.
…Today, many things indicate that we are going through a transitional period, when it seems that something is on the way out and something else is painfully being born.
”I think there are good reasons for suggesting that the modern age has ended….
… It is as if something were crumbling, decaying
and exhausting itself – while something else, still
indistinct, were arising from the rubble.”
- Vaclav Havel
… and what do you see emerging around you, in the world?
What do you see dying…
A few observations
Scharmer&2011&
Cynefyn framework
COMPLEXITY EMERGENCE
“!e greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” – Peter Drucker, 1980
We know a lot about leadership skills & competencies, strategy and the exterior aspects of leadership
but…
… what is the ‘root’ of our action and inspiration?
… what if the way we show up as a human being is the core of authentic leadership?
… what if it’s about engaging what already exists in you, with focus and purpose? What if it’s about nurturing who you really are?
“!e success of an intervention depends on
the interior condition of the intervener.”
–Bill O’Brien
(former CEO of Hanover Insurance)
Scharmer&2007&
#e Blind Spot of Leadership
Source: Who
Blind Spot: Inner place from where we operate
Process: How
Results: What
What if change is not about re-structuring, re-engineering, or re-organising, but
about re-perceiving – seeing the world with new eyes?
Our brains are overloaded, our multitasking is draining us….
What if the currency of the new (emerging)
economy is awareness, and the quality of awareness, that we bring to our work?
Bringing your whole self to the conversation/to work*
Think of a time at work where you had a peak experience; where you felt fully engaged and working in line with your values and deepest beliefs.
*including your good, bad, wise, confused, scared, hopeful self.
Authentic Leadership
‘Authentic leadership is an ongoing process of fully inhabiting oneself, one’s work, and one’s world.’ (ALIA institute)
It is about synchronising your awareness, intention and action, your vision and values
Authentic leadership (from last time: Chris Tamdjidi/ ALIA institute)
• In order to develop oneself as a leader, one has to train body, heart and mind – Body: Strength, vitality and presence. – Heart: Passion, Ability to motivate and emotional intelligence – Mind: Inner peacefulness, Wisdom, clarity of understanding – INNER PATH as well as ACTIVITY IN THE WORLD
• Congruence of vision and values – Personal, team, organisation values supporting societal values – Without vision it is not possible to motivate people – money alone is
not a vision – Without values one cannot realise the heart of ones vision
• Harmony of being, action and results – Mindfulness, thoughtfulness and re$ection as part of leadership
process – Ability to take decisions to the bene%t of all (people, results)
Personal capacities of authentic leadership
Personal leadership capacities are our internal resources that help us navigate our personal and professional lives with $exibility and adaptability based upon congruency of mind, body, spirit and heart.
#ey are fundamental ‘ways of being’ in the world.
Synthesis of research tools and theories into a model.
Personal Leadership Capacities
How do you cultivate these capacities?
• Where you place your attention… grows • Embodiment • Practice
Essential and very useful practices of change agents (currently practicing)
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Closer up: Top 10 practices 94%
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Mentor/Circle Meditation Attention to Breath
Retreat Spending time in nature
Relaxation exercises
Mindfulness Reflective journaling
Silence Generative Dialogue
% Response: Practice 'Essential' or 'Very Useful' in your work % Repsonse: Currently Practicing
‘Conditions for success’
Conditions of success for developing capacities: • Personal AND collective practices • Combination of contemplative, physical and spiritual practice to align body,
mind, spirit
• Quality of attention more important than kind of practice • Integration in personal AND professional life
Conditions of success for practices: • Mirroring quality
• Its ‘a container you can’t manipulate’ • Willing to do repetitively
Taking it home Start a practice… something that suits your needs. What do you yearn for? What’s inkling in your body?
Further resources http://www.thelotus.info (practice guide, video interviews with thought leaders, etc) Practice: the wormhole of transformation http://www.thelotus.info/%eldnotes Suggestions for starting a (meditation) practice: see www.susanpiver.com Noetic Institute: Transformation model: http://www.noetic.org/research/transformation_model/
Upcoming events
Facilitating transformational change towards sustainability. www.thelotus.info/what-we-do/workshops-training
If you want to become a leader, you %rst must become a human being.
Questions & Re$ections
www.thelotus.info
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