25 August 2008
Successful Intentions Newsletter
Hi ,
Working for a living would be so much better with a good leader!
But good leadership is also about good followership. We get the leaders we deserve. And "toxic leaders" are easily cultivated. They promise us the illusions of safety, security, and significance. And we lap it up. Why? Because in a chaotic and frightening world we want:
- Reassurance: The need for reassuring authority figures to fill our parents' shoes, to make us feel special.
- Belonging: The need for membership in the human community and the certainties of cultural norms and roles (to avoid the fear of ostracism, isolation, and social death).
- Knowledge: The need to be amongst "the chosen", at the centre of action where knowledge resides, and where privilege and status are to be found.
- Identity: The need to identify with a noble vision, with heroism and purity, to find a scapegoat, and to banish the "other" as impure and unworthy.
- Certainty: The need to overcome the anxieties and uncertainties of everyday life and surrender personal freedom in return for submission to a seemingly omnipotent leader.
- Immortality: The need for achievement and self-esteem, to complete a worthy task, accomplish some heroic action, to be worthy of symbolic immortality.
But if this is all that motivates us then we are on "the march of folly" (folly: foolishness, lacking good sense) and in danger of supporting toxic leaders. Here are 4 steps for averting the march of folly:
- Become self-reliant: Learn new ways of connecting to our creativity, become more resilient, growing from the confrontation with our complex anxieties (matriculating in "the school of anxiety").
- Avoid illusion: Accept, seek out, support, and create leaders who refuse to provide illusions, or who may even insist on puncturing the illusions we have fashioned for ourselves. Work towards "authentic existence".
- Avoid "we/they": Kick the addiction to leaders with grand (or worse, grandiose) visions. Only when we see others as ourselves can we understand their strengths, their frailties, and even their darkest needs and actions.
- See mutuality: "Connective leadership" is the capacity to see mutuality in the needs and agendas of others, the ability to foster interdependent relationships, connecting their visions, tasks, and goals to those of their supporters. Look for the overlap among diverse groups and work to enlarge it.
, here are two upcoming events that will equip you with the skills to free yourself and others from toxic leaders, and build wisdom in leadership:
Wednesday September 17 - Thursday September 18.
The Coaching for WisdomŪ two-day workshop: Professional coach training - skill development, deep personal discovery, and reflection. At the Sydney campus of the Melbourne Business School, Pyrmont.
Friday December 12.
The Coaching for WisdomŪ one-day workshop: An introduction to the psychology of wisdom and its application in coaching practice. At the Sydney campus of the Melbourne Business School, Pyrmont.
Keep your intentions clear,
Peter Webb
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