Leading Beyond©, A Seminar for Developing Leaders
Able leadership is a quality and asset most in demand in organizations. Leading Beyond is a six-month action-learning seminar to develop leaders experientially applied within the context of the business interests of the organization. The seminar is designed to enhance the leadership capacities of executives, develop the applied leadership expression of high potentials, and build a critical mass of active leaders within the organization.
Applied Leadership … An Overview
The notion of leadership is distinctively American. Leadership theories and concepts, up to now, have reflected the prevailing American mythic hero. The initial model was authoritative and patriarchal; the evolving notion focuses more on the understanding and application of the authentic self. This evolution is shifting leadership thinking from the man-of-action hero to a more understated, less visible individual characterized by humility with fierce resolve.
An effective leader is not a Xerox copy of anyone else.
In the past, academic theories about the great American hero offered traits or a format for the aspiring leader to emulate or apply. In contrast, the premise of this seminar is that an effective leader is not a Xerox copy of anyone else or their methods. Instead, in becoming a leader, there is more to just studying or imitating other leaders; it is not the commonplace or universal that characterizes a leader, but their uniqueness. The path to successful leading, therefore, lies in discovering and developing one’s own unique leader identity, one’s Leadership Fingerprint™. With this knowledge of self as the foundation, actual leadership development is then achieved primarily through pragmatic experience, i.e., trial and error. Leadership is reflective action; it is about change, growth, or development.
Seminar Synopsis
The Process of Developing Leaders: the Four I’s
The Four I’s of the leadership development process, Intention, Intellectualization, Internalization, and Implementation, emerged over the years of reading MBA student papers. Repeatedly, the same descriptive terms filled the margin notes from instructors to students. Eventually, it was recognized as the developmental pattern of today’s successful leaders.
Discovering the Leader Within
Leadership is internally derived, externally manifested. The leader is developed from one’s innate self, that core that requires introspection, reflection and adaptation. One must discover and come to terms with the inherent self, and learn to live as is natural, or authentic. It is possible that Socrates was referring to those who intended to lead when he said, “the unexamined life is not worth living.”
The Leading-Following Relationship
It is ludicrous to talk about leading without addressing the part that followers play. Leading requires trust in self and followers expressed through influential relationships. Before one can lead, there has to be a connection of followers to leader that goes beyond the formal hierarchical structure. Leaders, together with followers, are the ones who cause growth, development or change to occur.
Leading in Uncertainty
Chaos and uncertainty have become the new norm. Long range forecasting, predictability and control, which we once deluded ourselves into believing we could do, are gone. Yet their false promises remain, because the premises upon which they are based still have to be unlearned. Learning how to lead effectively in today’s uncertain, complex and ambiguous world requires a different mind-set. The leader must help followers reframe their thinking about their world, anticipate change, and create an environment for effective action.
Leading as a Whole Person
Leading is not an intellectual exercise. It cannot be learned as a skill because it is more an art or process. It is internally derived from deep within the leader’s core at the point where emotions, intellect, and spirit come together. This confluence, which is loosely described as the whole person, is where our authenticity as human beings is rooted. Leading as a whole person is lived and applied externally in the crucible of action. Understanding the why of those actions is the heart and soul of leadership experience.
The Continuum of Courage
Intentional leadership is a transformation strategy; it is about change, growth or development. Human beings naturally seek predictability and resist change. If one intends to lead, one must find the courage to overcome resistance, no matter the intensity. The call to leadership is provoked at different times in different ways, unique to each individual, but common to all is the need for courage. Not everyone can lead; not everyone has the courage to stand when it matters, to fight for what he or she believes in.