Aligned Integration: The Future of Transformational Leadership
SUSTAINAINABLE LEADERSHIP
Over the past year I have been refining my definition of a sustainable leader. Based on this, my definition of a sustainable leader is a person rooted deeply in a spiritual connection who acts skillfully as an integrator of worldly and transpersonal forces in order to facilitate transformational change.
In reflecting on my definition of sustainable leader I was struck by a simple fact. The qualities of a sustainable leader have less to do with their focus on particular concerns then it does with the inner basis of their leadership. That is the real essence of a "Sustainble Leader' isn't their committment to particular social, racial, or environmental concerns, so much as the inner locus of inspiraiton from which their leadership is derived.
As we see in the valuable book, “Leadership from the Inside Out.” Leadership is ultimately rooted in authenticity and the ability for a leader to tap their inner “Core.” In trying to be everything to everybody, a leader ultimately ends up being nothing to nobody. What this means is that the greatest source of leadership rests on the individual’s uniqueness and self realization/expression. This “Soul” of the leader is the real axis of sustainable leadership.
As Rene Guenon writes in his book, “The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times” the fundamental crisis of our age is the reduction of everything to quantity and a focus on external measures decoupled from purpose or meaning. What this means is that modern technological society is lost in a frantic race to nowhere driven ultimately by a set of false suppositions rooted in superficial questions.
From my perspective, a sustainable leader acts as a corrective to this root error, by helping to align and integrate society by firstly aligning and integrating themselves. From the “Inside -out” such a leader works as force for transformational change by engaging the social structures as they stand, and helping to bend and shift them towards more fundamental purposes.
EXAMPLES
Unlike a mainstream leader who works to channel people and resources down a path in support of an organization’s goal or mission that is ultimately tied to this “Reign of Quantity,” a sustainable leader is a spiritual guide who offers a deeper, and more fundamental approach to life.
To be effective, such leaders must not only have a deep spiritual connection, but themselves be rooted in the rules of the game in business, political, or civic life. These “Pragmatic Mystics” must straddle the two worlds of spirit and matter, and constantly be seeking to strategically and intelligently yoke the concerns of both in tighter, more elegantly and harmonious synergies.
There are two people who come to mind when I think of this leadership paradigm. The first is Yogi Bhajan who was the leader of my yoga lineage. An accomplished Yogi and Business man, he came to America in 1969 with 50 dollars, and died worth several hundred millions which he generated by creating a variety of health and wellness focused businesses.
These businesses propagated yoga, healing, and educational resources to people around the planet. He did this by staying true to his own spiritual commitments and leading from the “Inside out.” He constantly pushed his students to strengthen their practice so they could become more effective agents for change as servants, healers, and leaders.
Secondly, I look to Julia Butterfly Hill. Her deep spiritual connection emerged from spending two years tree sitting in a Tree in Northern California during the “Redwood Summer” as she protested the clear cutting of the old growth Forests. Two years living in her tree, “Luna” helped her develop a deep resonance with nature that’s served as a driving force for her activism. In both of these examples, these leaders led from the “Inside Out.” They had deep personal connections that served as the source of their life’s work.
FUTURE LEADERS
Leaders like Yogi Bhajan and Julia Butterfly Hill have the gift of Charisma tied to the ability to engage the world. That said, effective leaders must continually work to enroll people through empathy, humor, and personal connection. In essence, they have to work on “Facilitating to Lead” in such a manner that engages people from the bottom up.
This is a native skill of someone who wants to express “Tribal Leadership.” Such a person is able to intuitively and empathetically tap into groups as they stand and work to encourage and persuade them gradually towards the visions of their heart.
The key to the succesful transformational leaders of the future will be their ability to simulatenously enrich their spiritual connection while also more skillfuly enganging the world. Only by keeping these two loops going simultaneously can such leaders hope to align and integrate the broken shells of a world gone astray. As engaged pragmatic mystics working in the midst of the material world to bend it from the “Reign of Quantity” towards the “Reign of Quality” these leaders have their work cut out for them. This is the task of change agents and transformational leaders seeking to shift the paradigm and bend the world towards a more integrated reality for the 21st century and beyond.
References
Cashman, K. (1998). Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for life. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Guenon, Rene (2004) The Reign of Quantity and Signs of the Times. Sophia Perenis Press.
Bens, I. (2006). Facilitating to lead! Leadership strategies for a networked world. Jossey-Bass Press.
Logan, David, King, John, and Fische-Wright, Halee (2008) Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization. Harper Business
Over the past year I have been refining my definition of a sustainable leader. Based on this, my definition of a sustainable leader is a person rooted deeply in a spiritual connection who acts skillfully as an integrator of worldly and transpersonal forces in order to facilitate transformational change.
In reflecting on my definition of sustainable leader I was struck by a simple fact. The qualities of a sustainable leader have less to do with their focus on particular concerns then it does with the inner basis of their leadership. That is the real essence of a "Sustainble Leader' isn't their committment to particular social, racial, or environmental concerns, so much as the inner locus of inspiraiton from which their leadership is derived.
As we see in the valuable book, “Leadership from the Inside Out.” Leadership is ultimately rooted in authenticity and the ability for a leader to tap their inner “Core.” In trying to be everything to everybody, a leader ultimately ends up being nothing to nobody. What this means is that the greatest source of leadership rests on the individual’s uniqueness and self realization/expression. This “Soul” of the leader is the real axis of sustainable leadership.
As Rene Guenon writes in his book, “The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times” the fundamental crisis of our age is the reduction of everything to quantity and a focus on external measures decoupled from purpose or meaning. What this means is that modern technological society is lost in a frantic race to nowhere driven ultimately by a set of false suppositions rooted in superficial questions.
From my perspective, a sustainable leader acts as a corrective to this root error, by helping to align and integrate society by firstly aligning and integrating themselves. From the “Inside -out” such a leader works as force for transformational change by engaging the social structures as they stand, and helping to bend and shift them towards more fundamental purposes.
EXAMPLES
Unlike a mainstream leader who works to channel people and resources down a path in support of an organization’s goal or mission that is ultimately tied to this “Reign of Quantity,” a sustainable leader is a spiritual guide who offers a deeper, and more fundamental approach to life.
To be effective, such leaders must not only have a deep spiritual connection, but themselves be rooted in the rules of the game in business, political, or civic life. These “Pragmatic Mystics” must straddle the two worlds of spirit and matter, and constantly be seeking to strategically and intelligently yoke the concerns of both in tighter, more elegantly and harmonious synergies.
There are two people who come to mind when I think of this leadership paradigm. The first is Yogi Bhajan who was the leader of my yoga lineage. An accomplished Yogi and Business man, he came to America in 1969 with 50 dollars, and died worth several hundred millions which he generated by creating a variety of health and wellness focused businesses.
These businesses propagated yoga, healing, and educational resources to people around the planet. He did this by staying true to his own spiritual commitments and leading from the “Inside out.” He constantly pushed his students to strengthen their practice so they could become more effective agents for change as servants, healers, and leaders.
Secondly, I look to Julia Butterfly Hill. Her deep spiritual connection emerged from spending two years tree sitting in a Tree in Northern California during the “Redwood Summer” as she protested the clear cutting of the old growth Forests. Two years living in her tree, “Luna” helped her develop a deep resonance with nature that’s served as a driving force for her activism. In both of these examples, these leaders led from the “Inside Out.” They had deep personal connections that served as the source of their life’s work.
FUTURE LEADERS
Leaders like Yogi Bhajan and Julia Butterfly Hill have the gift of Charisma tied to the ability to engage the world. That said, effective leaders must continually work to enroll people through empathy, humor, and personal connection. In essence, they have to work on “Facilitating to Lead” in such a manner that engages people from the bottom up.
This is a native skill of someone who wants to express “Tribal Leadership.” Such a person is able to intuitively and empathetically tap into groups as they stand and work to encourage and persuade them gradually towards the visions of their heart.
The key to the succesful transformational leaders of the future will be their ability to simulatenously enrich their spiritual connection while also more skillfuly enganging the world. Only by keeping these two loops going simultaneously can such leaders hope to align and integrate the broken shells of a world gone astray. As engaged pragmatic mystics working in the midst of the material world to bend it from the “Reign of Quantity” towards the “Reign of Quality” these leaders have their work cut out for them. This is the task of change agents and transformational leaders seeking to shift the paradigm and bend the world towards a more integrated reality for the 21st century and beyond.
References
Cashman, K. (1998). Leadership from the inside out: Becoming a leader for life. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Guenon, Rene (2004) The Reign of Quantity and Signs of the Times. Sophia Perenis Press.
Bens, I. (2006). Facilitating to lead! Leadership strategies for a networked world. Jossey-Bass Press.
Logan, David, King, John, and Fische-Wright, Halee (2008) Tribal Leadership: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization. Harper Business