One morning, the birds were singing and the sun was shining, but I was troubled. It seemed like our leaders are failing most of us.
My thinking went like this:
- Most humans on Earth are not being well served by our current economic and political leaders.
- Most US workers are disengaged at their jobs. Gallup says 70%.
- Leaders seem confident that they can abuse their power without suffering any consequences. Climate change, #MeToo, income and wealth inequality, structural racism, etc.
- On a good day, every problem can be seen as a leadership opportunity.
- If this is true, then we have a great leadership opportunity before us. It’s time to begin a global set of personal conversations to redesign leadership models and methods. Not just the how, but also the who, the what and the why of leadership.
This put me in a tight spot.
Of course, we’ve got a lot of good things happening around health, poverty and at the edges of technology. But we don’t have to look very deeply into our culture around work, the environment, equality of opportunity, politics, gender relations, et cetera to realize that we are falling far short of what’s possible much less aligned with our highest values.
Our currently predominant models of leadership revolve around valuing speed, assertion, manipulation, pro-activity, money, and power. We reward those who “transcend” their human limitations, by working harder, smarter, longer, faster than others. “You’re a machine, Bob! Here’s a leadership role.”
In my troubled moment, I also realized that new methods and model would come not from some inspired, lonely genius, but out of conversations among a wide variety of fresh and experienced leaders from around the world, across disciplines and generations.
We need a deep, sustained creative conversation about what really, humane leadership might look like, how it could improve performance and engagement and how we might take our newly developed and proven model and work it into our global leadership culture.
If our values are significantly aligned with yours, please consider how you might be served by joining us.
History has presented us with the creative opportunity of a lifetime.
I look forward to connecting with you,
