Considering that leadership can be defined as intentional influence, and in its simplest form leadership is represented by getting a team from HERE to THERE, it follows that leadership is a selfless act.
Legacies can take many forms. Some people donate large sums of money to buildings or endowments, which are in turn named after them, but that is not the kind of legacy we are talking about here. While those are fantastic contributions they do not belong in the same category of legacy that is associated with leadership.
By nature great leaders get themselves out of the way and allow results to speak for themselves while they themselves stand in the background.
Great leaders own the consequences of actions gone awry, but give accolades to others for endeavors that succeed.
Great leaders also look beyond the momentary and place greater weight on future impact. Hence, combining selflessness and future orientation results is the kind of legacy that great leaders leave.
Some define Consciousness as being painfully aware.
Maybe that is why it is also said that ignorance is bliss—less consciousness equating to less pain??
The four stages of development are:
Unconscious incompetence
Conscious incompetence
Conscious competence
Unconscious competence
And all development starts with awareness—becoming more conscious:
Awareness that what you know today is less than you will know tomorrow, but more than what you knew yesterday.
Awareness that if you don’t do something different you will stay where you are.
However…unless and until you do something with your increased awareness the added knowledge is just useless information.
That is what is meant by consciously choosing to operate above the line. Taking ownership of our circumstances. Welcoming accountability for our actions. Accepting responsibility for the outcomes.
Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Warner Klemp wrote a great book on this subject, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership.
Their experience is that:
Unconscious leadership is not sustainable. It won’t work for you, your team or your organization in the long term.
Unconscious leadership can deliver short-term results, but the costs of living and leading unconsciously are great.
Fear drives most leaders to make choices that are at odds with healthy relationships, vitality and balance. This fear leaves a toxic residue that won’t be as easily tolerated in an increasingly complex business environment.
Conscious leadership offers the antidote to fear.
Their book contains a comprehensive road map to guide you to shift from fear-based to trust-based leadership. They claim that once you learn and start practicing conscious leadership you’ll get results in the form of more energy, clarity, focus and healthier relationships. You’ll do more and more of what you are passionate about, and less of what you do out of obligation. You’ll have more fun, be happier, experience less drama and be more on purpose.
Your team will get results as well. They’ll be more collaborative, creative, energized and engaged. They’ll solve issues faster, and once resolved the issues won’t resurface. Drama and gossip will all but disappear, and the energy and resources that fueled them will be redirected towards innovation and creativity.
Dethmer, Chapman, and Klemp assert that any one of the 15 commitments will change your life, but all of them together are revolutionary.
Their promise is that leaders who practice the 15 commitments:
End blame and criticism
Speak candidly, openly and honestly, in a way that invites others to do the same
Find their unique genius
Let go of taking everything—especially themselves and their problems—so seriously
Create win for all solutions
Experience a new relationship to time and money where there is always enough
What do you need to bring to the table? Be curious. Sounds so simple, and yet in their experience it’s a skill few have mastered. Most of us are far more interested in being right and proving it, than we are in learning, growing and shifting out of our old patterns. By default we gravitate towards the familiar. We’re asking you to take a chance and explore the unfamiliar. You’ll get scared and reactive. We all do.
Here is a brief video that introduces the concept of Conscious Leadership:
What is struggle, but effort exerted to overcome an obstacle.
What is courage, but action taken in spite of fear.
When faced with an obstacle we must first believe we are able to overcome it—otherwise, why would anybody try. Second, we must face our fears and bravely take the first step.
The greatest leader of all time, Jesus Christ, told his followers that in this world they willface trials of many kinds, but to take heart [and be brave] because He has overcome the world. In other words, it is guaranteed that we will face struggles [trials and obstacles], but we can move forward with courage knowing that the struggle is not insurmountable.
Jesus further encouraged his followers that these momentary struggles are for our good and will eventually result in great gain. This suggests that avoiding the struggle will keep us from a better future.
Athletics is a great teacher about the value and importance of struggle—no pain no gain!
Nature is a tough teacher about the value and importance of struggle—survival of the fittest!
I am reminded of a powerful story of a boy’s good intentions in helping a butterfly overcome its struggle (Original Author unknown):
Once a little boy was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it.
The little boy got a large jar from his mother and put plants to eat, and a stick to climb on, in the jar. Every day he watched the caterpillar and brought it new plants to eat.
One day the caterpillar climbed up the stick and started acting strangely. The boy worriedly called his mother who came and understood that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon. The mother explained to the boy how the caterpillar was going to go through a metamorphosis and become a butterfly.
The little boy was thrilled to hear about the changes his caterpillar would go through. He watched every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day it happened, a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle to come out.
At first the boy was excited, but soon he became concerned. The butterfly was struggling so hard to get out! It looked like it couldn’t break free! It looked desperate! It looked like it was making no progress!
The boy was so concerned he decided to help. He ran to get scissors, and then walked back (because he had learned not to run with scissors…). He snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and the butterfly quickly emerged!
As the butterfly came out the boy was surprised. It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, enlarge and expand to support the swollen body. He knew that in time the body would shrink and the butterfly’s wings would expand.
But neither happened!
The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly…
As the boy tried to figure out what had gone wrong his mother took him to talk to a scientist from a local college. He learned that the butterfly was SUPPOSED to struggle. In fact, the butterfly’s struggle to push its way through the tiny opening of the cocoon pushes the fluid out of its body and into its wings. Without the struggle, the butterfly would never, ever fly. The boy’s good intentions hurt the butterfly.
Great Leaders understand that as we go through life struggle is an important part of any growth experience. In fact, it is the struggle that enables you to develop your ability to fly.
That is why great leaders brave the struggle and encourage their teams to do the same.
It is intellectually dishonest to say, “I had no choice!” The truth is, we always have a choice.
Great Leaders understand that not only do they have the power to choose, but every choice comes with consequences.
We have the power to choose what to offer and the power to choose what we are willing to accept. Unfortunately, most people do not want to take responsibility for their choices [when the consequences are negative]. They do not want to humble themselves and admit that they made a poor choice.
The challenge is that until we are able to own our choices and the corresponding consequences we are not ready, or able, to move in a better direction.
Great Leaders also understand that they are unable to make anybody do anything that that they do not want to do and that people do more of what they ‘want’ to do than what they ‘have’ to do. Hence, it is better to provide people with options and let them choose which direction they prefer to go.
When people are given options, and the power to choose, they take greater responsibility and ownership over their behaviors and the corresponding consequences.
That is why shared beliefs and philosophies between members of a team are important—so that people’s choices and behaviors are more naturally aligned—to produce better results with any given effort.
