“What makes the journey especially arduous is that the lessons involved cannot be taught.” (Lineback, 2011) The long and challenging process to become a great boss in “Are you a good Boss – or a Great one?” wrote by Hill and Lineback, published in January-February 2011 by Harvard Business Review. My own experiences lead to think otherwise. If we can modify “teach” for the sake of teaching to concentrate on influencing or inspiring others to see themselves in a clearer light or light up their fire that hidden beneath. I believe we can teach them how to lead themselves and identify with others that lead to better alliance with each other.
There is a saying, “you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.” This is how I would modify it, “We can lead a thirsty horse to water, and it would likely drink.” We should lead, when a true need arise, the likelihood of achieving desired objective is greater. We should teach, when people desire to learn, he/she will likely to learn. Generating these types of need and desire in others are challenging but probable. This is one of the essences of leadership.
The “three imperatives” wrote by Hill and Lineback “Manage yourself. Manage your network. Manage your team.” (Lineback, 2011) is similar to: know ourselves, know others, and to collaborate in concert, that I use. Leadership can be developed, starting from self-awareness and self-reliance as well as the notion that true self-awareness and self-reliance requires effort largely on our own part but others are vital part of our success and can make our journey with fewer unavoidable detours, therefore, we can be faster. It is not absolute must to start from ourselves, but it do offer some merits, because leadership imbeds from our deep personal conviction and is a lifelong journey of forever interactively and spiraling upward of “knowing, doing and being” on our own and together with others. Leadership development can be difficult at first, but as you start to master the basics, it gets easier. Just like any other complex and challenging programs, just getting started we have conquered half of the battle.
Many of us have only a glimpse of the significance and practical application of what we have learned and how it will all play out ahead. Knowing ourselves begin with assemble and emerge from isolated or separated fields of component knowing to interpret ourselves by contemplating the whole self. The process is grueling; assembling the pieces is like trying to appreciate a painting by analyzing the paint. It might be productive in a narrow way but can lose out on the impression of the painting is conveying, if we get distracted. Therefore, concentrate on our known strengths and assemble them into a comprehensive whole, thereby compounding our abilities to our advantage. The nature of leadership cannot be merely understood as the interplay of component “knowing”. It may only be comprehended by taking in the essence behind the components. With the right guidance of others serves like a mirror, and keeps us on the right path.
The essence of knowing ourselves is to approaching our live as a creative composition as opposed to as a reactive act. This means, learning and practicing to see reality more clearly, reflecting and clarifying what is truly important to us, continually. In moving toward our perceived desire destination, we must know why it mattered, and how we intend to get there. Benchmark where we are as well as the relevance to what we want, then determine ways in narrowing the gap with approaches that are sustainable. All of these will help sort out and find our true direction and destination.
I realized, the more I practice and reflect to perfect on my intrinsic value, the more my economic state rises. It’s like the relationship of the water (intrinsic worth) and the boat (economic condition), so I am having both. Subsequently, the more I am in sync the more I am committed. Acquiring knowledge is a cycle including practicing, reflecting and wisdoms. These elements are woven into the fabric of our daily life that contribute to lifelong process of developing ourselves.
There are resistances we should also be aware of that can limit our progress. The gap between what we truly want and the reality of our capabilities can dampen us, if we let it. Instead, have the courage to follow our heart and intuition and turn it into a source of energy and opportunity in resolving or releasing our anxiety. Learn and practice in gaining a realistic and more accurate view of human nature, so others let down or noisy opinions will not drown out our own inner voice. Knowing ourselves alone is inadequate, it is just one of the three legged stool. Knowing others is an interconnected and interactive must have element, the second leg, to master towards our leadership journey.
Knowing others, “our mind makes sense and acted upon on snapshots and assumptions that we selectively stored,” Peter Senge wrote in his “The Fifth Discipline.” (Senge, 1990) If we believe our mind’s views are facts, then we will be misguided in our action, human being is born badly, as an example. How can we detect mindsets differences and what the differences mean? Imagine two people walking down a street together, having very different descriptive of what each of them observe. Although, it is common but we seldom pay much attention to it. Purposefully being aware of the different mindsets allow us in selecting views that will compensate the areas we are lacking or weak but necessary to have. Utilize possible situations to bring out the underlying assumptions can help us examine the validity of our mindset, to modify or change if need be. There are methods which can poke and spread out and let biases to surface to permit active learning taking place that is build on inquisition and reflection. Consensus reached subsequently will likely be more sustainable.
True joy in life is being included and part of creating something grand, with others. Others’ noble ideas can inspire us to reach far beyond our self-interest as it tends to draw out our deep seeded righteousness that is compelling for us to enroll and to commit. When shared vision emerges from personal visions, no amount of challenges or setbacks will curtail engaged commitment. To create more of those great moments together will help us find our way and the kind of person we truly wanted to become.
Shared vision gives a sense of commonality that gives coherence to diverse activities. (Senge, 1990) People want to be connected and are committed to make it work. Each person is part of the whole, and seeing the whole from a unique angle. Leadership is about letting each person relate his/her piece of view to the whole and make his/her vision come alive. Active leadership emerged shared vision connects each person’s understanding of their own vision which become part of the whole vision is active leadership. Leaders can stem from their own personal visions and interact at many levels. Building shared vision requires ongoing conversation where individuals feel free to express their desires and learn how to listen to others’ desires. It requires openness and willingness to contemplate a diversity of ideas, to allow multiple visions to co-exist, to listen for the right course of action that transcends and unifies all the individual visions. The process lets individuals learn as well as teach each other. (Senge, 1990)
To collaborate in concert depends both on individual strength and on how well we work together as teams, not necessarily as friends. When a group of people function well as a whole, they are aligned and effective. A commonality of direction emerges and individuals’ energies harmonize and a resonance or synergy develops. On the contrary, individuals may work extraordinarily hard, but their efforts do not efficiently translate to team effort, rather, incoherent, scattered and wasted energy. Understand how to complement one another’s efforts; individuals do not have to sacrifice their personal interest, rather, shared vision is the sum of the personal visions.
Team learning process is about aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create the results its members truly desire. It builds on shared visions and on personal strengths. Talented teams are made up of talented individuals, who learn how to play together. We need one another to act and to create something material jointly. A team is capable of learning to tap the potential of many minds and to be more intelligent than one mind. A team can act in spontaneous yet coordinated ways, and where each team member remains conscious of other members and knowing they can be counted on to act in ways that complement each others’ actions. Improvement requires collaboration with others, this unable generative learning which is interconnected with creative energy. (Senge, 1990)
Leadership is about knowing when to lead and when not to. While we are acquiring knowledge, practice, and gain wisdom, others are masters of their own life and capable of teaching us if we let them. Knowing how to spot worthwhile teachers and when to learn and when not to learn from them depends on our own leadership capabilities.
When time, place or person is not right, leadership is about when not to lead. Knowing when, how long, how to, where, what, in what way, to what extent, we offer support and guidance. Knowing when, where, in what way, and for how long, we provide environment and breathing room for others, or even ourselves to develop. This is like the butterfly struggling to free from its cocoon. It has to do it by itself, but we can protect the environment and secure the time frame it needed.
To become a good leader and to know ourselves well, we need to learn and be responsible of our own developmental journey. Through self-development we become aware of our strengths and weakness. By beginning from our strengths, we expand our uniqueness that can compensate some of our weaknesses. By knowing others we can further strengthen our strengths and with the help of others to minimize our weaknesses. Through collaborating with others that are different than us, allow us the chance to expand our personal vision to shared vision, and to have the chance to be part of noble initiatives that reach grand results that we could have done alone.
To learn to be a good listener, we need to learn how to quiet our mind, so we won’t let our thoughts take control of ourselves and only hearing matters relate to or involve us. By learning how to reflect often, we will learn how to slow down our thought so we don’t jump the conclusion to act before we have grasped the full story.
Through others we learn what to do as well as what not to do, therefore, they are all our teachers. We ought to be grateful for them playing a part in our leadership development journey.
“When we step back far enough we should be able to ‘see the forest for the trees.’” – Peter Senge. If we step back and see lots of unorganized trees, or one or two types of trees, we are still able to learn about ourselves and also be aware of our locations. I believe it is totally all right for not able to see the forest ever. Although our makeup are all different, it doesn’t mean we should think what we do matter insignificant and allow ourselves to be trapped and victimized in life. (Ming-Dao, 1992) We can easily become prisoner of establishment that we are unaware of. Leadership is about learning and developing the best we can, and “each day, try to do a little more than I think I can,” (Lady Bird Johnson) or care a little bit more than we think we can, or to forgive a little bit more than we think we can. We are responsible in accepting where we are, but don’t need to settle and feel trapped in where we are. Learning to see the structures within which we operate and begin in the process of freeing ourselves by advancing our ability to work and change them is self-development and self-leadership. After all, each one of us can be the healthiest or the beautiest tree in the forest. Imagine if a lot of trees hold this belief and start developing themselves one by one… we are going to have the most beautiful and healthiest forest in the world very soon. This is the true essence of leadership – so powerful indeed. Is it possible? Of course it is, just remembering the ripple effect, one at a time. Enough of them we create tidal waves together.
Finally, leadership can be taught by others - all the time and everywhere. It is about integration among us and others. It is about enrollment and commitment to play well together. We will learn to recognize it and we are all in this together. The point is, everyone counts and everyone matters, one at a time.
Bibliography
Lineback, L. A. (2011, January - February ). Are You a Good Boss - or a Great One? Harvard Business Review .
Ming-Dao, D. (1992). 365 Tao, Daily Meditations. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.
Senge, P. M. (1990). The Fifth discipline. New York, New York, USA: Currency Doubleday.
