The Leadership Mystery of 2010
I have joined several excellent Leadership Groups in Linkedin and it has been a fascinating journey for me. Reading the questions and comments of others, as well as the responses to my comments, what has ‘hit me on the side of the head’ is that although there are some truly well articulated ideas about what leadership is – there is absolutely nothing new! Great authors like Hamel and Prahalad, Peter Senge, Rowan Gibson, Kouzes and Posner, Stephen Covey and Jim Collins, amongst many others, have said everything we are saying in these online groups today.
Nothing new? So What Does That Mean?
And yet, every one of us, including myself, who keep the conversation going, thinks we see the light. Each one of us thinks we have a new pearl of wisdom that can enlighten others about what leadership really is. But truth be told, none of us have come up with anything that is radically different. Don’t get me wrong about these groups. I know that people are posing critical questions and the collective dialogue is causing some of us to re-frame our previous notions about leadership. I have learned a great deal from participating in these groups. Still I am struck by the fact that the leadership groups are now examining what it takes to be a true leader, because of the fact that this is a radically changing environment. Yet, with all these bright minds we have not come up with anything radically new, in fact we are falling back into comfort zones.
Ground Zero
This astonishes me because I think that as a result of everything that has happened in the past year, it is critical for us to realize that we are at ground zero on the issue of leadership. And ground zero always requires a transformed approach, not a tweaking of the old approaches.
I have always thought that in times of declining growth we need to go beyond our comfort zones and seek a new way that addresses the new realities. I would think that this is a time for us to go beyond what we already know and find a way to discover what we don’t know.
I am confused – as you may have noticed – and would love your thoughts about this:
- What are your beliefs about the idea that the basics of great leadership do not change, irrespective of a radically changed environment?
- If you believe we need to rethink leadership, how do we get past our traditional ingrained ideas?
I happen to think that the new way is Spirited Economics™, an approach where leaders use employee spirit as a quantifiable financial asset. What do you see new about this?
