As an academic, in a university setting, I found myself leading a sustainability degree program and the charge for many sustainability projects and situations that I felt needed change on campus and within the local communities. I would not say I am a person who aspires to be a leader. As an introvert and an intuitive empath, I confess that before I became an academic, I preferred a role of being more in the background. Once I started to lecture in classes and at many professional conferences, I found my voice and became comfortable in exercising it. If you google quotes for ‘leadership’ a great many inspirational ones come up. Rather than just have a list of great quotes, I will simply say that to me leadership is taking ownership of your personal convictions and leading by example, and perhaps more importantly, inspiring others to be their authentic selves. Think of the people you truly admire as a leader, not the ones who necessarily call themselves the leader by virtue of a job title, but the ones who truly lead in a positive fashion.
When I was researching and needed insights from within a group, I would often ask the group who I needed to speak to. Many times, it would be the one with ‘leader’ in the job description, but often, they would point me to a quiet person sat unassumingly just doing their work. For instance, if I wanted to know what was going on at a large group or business, I would talk to the head person and get their insights and then I would seek out the support staff and get their input. It never failed to amuse me how the two perspectives were usually different about the topic I was researching. When I was working on evaluating and improving my university degree program I made a point of asking my students their perspectives. Of course, the student perspective was incomplete, as they did not know the ins and outs of what I did every day behind the scenes. Yet, what was invaluable was the feedback I got about how the program was actually working for them, or not. For some reason, the evaluation staff at my university thought this was innovative – asking the users what they thought of the service being offered to them. Obviously leaders have to deal with many variables of which the users are unaware, but empowering people to be a part of the system rather then a simple user helps them learn to use their voices to improve things now and in the future.
To many times the leaders of a system make assumptions about the users of a system, without actually asking the users – look at any political or business system in the world and you will see this being played out. Good evaluators are trained to ask the hard questions using a variety of sources. Good leaders look seriously at the results and discuss them at all levels of the hierarchy. I know one man who sits through a lot of meetings as part of his upper-level leadership position, even though he doesn’t particularly like being a upper level manager. After all the others have had their say, the head boss often turns to this man and asks his perspective, because he knows he will get an honest answer with well thought out rationale. The boss values this man because he understands the big picture and leads with compassion and courage. This man also looks out for the well-being of his team, speaking up even when it is not popular, or even job secure, to do so. What I am trying to say is that leadership comes in many guises. As we move forward in these times of great change we need the leadership to arise at all levels, whether they be the world leaders, colonels that lead a charge into the fray, or a quiet adept person leading a small group of friends on a task. We especially need all leaders to demonstrate compassion and understanding for everyone they affect. Sadly, today, I see most leaders caught up in egoistic power struggles about special interests in which they have a vested interest, whether that be politics, business, or even home owners associations. Part of the reason for that is that we – yes, the collective WE – continue to let ourselves be bamboozled by empty promises that just happen to seem to fit our belief structures. I get concerned when I see people who desire power and do not exhibit true concern (have no track record of demonstrating compassion) for the people they want to ‘control.’ I observe that people who do show compassion, critical thinking, and true concern are usually ridiculed by the ‘old guards’ in order to discredit them.
Each of us has the gift of leadership at some level of our lives. The ‘Internal Locus of Control (LOC)’ is there for everyone to enable themselves to become a leader (see previous post How people think about the future 1 – how beliefs form actions, or non-actions!). We just need the courage of our inner conviction to stand up and be heard. In my college classes I used to tell my students that if they had a question, then I would guarantee others in class also had that same question but were waiting for someone else to speak up first. We have managed to condition ourselves to be totally afraid of looking silly, foolish, or being wrong. This is a consequence of a system that propagates competition and individual success at the expense of others. Fear of failure is one of the greatest fears we harbor in our modern world and one of the barriers for anyone who knows in their heart that there is a better way to live than this sham we call consumerism. Social responsibility is an ethical framework and suggests that an entity, whether it is an organization or an individual, has an obligation to act for the benefit of everyone in society. “Social responsibility is a duty every individual has to perform so as to maintain a balance between the economy and the ecosystems.” “It is true that integrity alone won’t make you a leader, but without integrity you will never be one.” Zig Ziglar
We need leaders to help others see that there is a better path to transform our world to one of Compassion and Love. As David Korten says, “Success requires leadership from all levels of society, including from people everywhere working to grow community-facilitating cultural values, institutions, and infrastructure in the places where they live.” I can write as many words as I like about change but unless we all stand up in some way to make things happen, then we are merely sheep bleating in a closed pen awaiting whatever fate awaits us. When we choose or accept leadership that makes us feel inferior (and disempowers us) then we deserve what dark agenda’s they use to control us. If we wish to transition to a better world where sustainability and equity for all of life becomes the norm, then we need to accept responsibility for our own deliverance. We all need to be leaders for a world we truly desire. Superman is not coming to save us (see previous post The Hierarchy 2 – Waiting for Superman) – we are the ones we are waiting for!
TBC…….
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