"Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the
excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning." Lucius
Annaeus Seneca.
As an observer in the system, we are part of the system and
therefore have to appreciate others views. We have to harness our frustrations, with understanding. Servant leadership is movement in the right direction. How can we change hierarchical structures that
have worked ‘so well’? What I learnt in two worlds was that Government's struggle to
achieve Outcomes because the 'system' drives for Outputs. The ‘cycle’
continues, as activities are more easily measured against the monies put to them. How can we help leaders of tomorrow.
The most extraordinary leaders have been those that
‘transcend’ their thinking. They do it for the people, by guiding for the whole.
As Lao Tzu said, “A leader is best when people barely
know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did
it ourselves”.
In World War 2 soldiers would get
fed up with the lack of decision and join small units that worked behind enemy
lines. They came for the adventure and wanted to get on with it. Charles Upham,
received 2 combatant VC’s: told he would never make an officer: received C pass
at officer training. He challenged his warfare training – still in WW 1, as the
Blitzkrieg smashed across France. Many more examples show that those that see a
new future, are criticised and sometimes ridiculed. My readings show that those
with vision, can be cast out of the system; that they learnt more from their
failures, learnt more than those that conformed and refused to be open
minded.
When I entered policing as a young man, I could not help
but ask, Why? – the answer was not there. I searched for what I called the ‘holy
grail’. I could only find one time that peace came to a community in Confucius
time: Where the “people did the policing” and not the Police. As a Mayor, he
strove for a way of life that could restore the cultural-political order. He
believed that reform would come through educating the leaders in the classics
and in his philosophy. A political position of influence, from which he could
implement his principles.
Now I ask myself, do we teach to learn or teach to
conform. With a designed national curriculum: we must therefore, conform.
I believe we do not have a
leadership development problem: its a ‘development’ problem. With all the money
spent on leadership development programmes: millions of books, pushing out the
same concepts and philosophies; why is it that the world cries out for
extraordinary leadership.
How do we shift thinking that conforms all the way up to
our Universities? Would our most senior thinkers – academics, want to change the
way we learn. The research is there, saying our schools need to teach
creativity. Einstein guides us, today's problems are yesterday’s thinking. How
then do we manage to get the thinking to move in this direction?. It seems
crazy that we continue to do the same things in our systems. “The definition of
insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over again and expecting a
different result” Einstein.
“People do not resist change per se. People resist loss“
Heifetz and Linksy 2002.
We therefore have to sell a benefit, of the proposed new
futures.
My thoughts, are that this is exactly what futures we
need to talk about – but the system is against it. Leaders hold back thought
with their power and ego. We could imagine a way of selling the benefit of the new
futures.
