Leadership literature is exploding with books and articles to help us become better leaders. At the same time, numerous leadership programs, institutes, centers, coaches, and consultants claim to develop more effective leaders. Annually, the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard measures public confidence in leadership with its National Leadership Index (NLI). It surveys Americans\u2019 attitudes toward their leaders, including 13 of the country\u2019s major sectors such as the military, religious, education, and business. In 2012, according to the NLI, \u201csome 69 percent of Americans still believe we have a leadership crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWe live and work in an environment dominated by an increasing rate of change and complexity. Leading is further complicated because of the mix of four generations of workers and more companies asking people to \u201cdo more with less.\u201d To say the least, knowing how to lead is increasingly a challenge.<\/p>\n
\tSAGES AND SERVANT LEADERS<\/strong><\/p>\n \tIn order to determine the best way to prepare people to be the kinds of leaders needed in these uncertain times, I designed a study called \u201cIn Search of Sages.\u201d Since 2004, I have interviewed more than 100 thought leaders and some of the top executive coaches in the country (i.e., Warren Bennis, Peter Block, Margaret Wheatley, Stephen Covey, Marshall Goldsmith, Peter Senge, and Sally Helgesen). In addition, I interviewed senior leaders of organizations that had received awards for creating healthy workplaces that encourage and support people in bringing their minds, bodies, and spirits to work.<\/p>\n \tTo narrow my sample, I used the criteria of servant leadership as defined by Robert Greenleaf and of sage defined by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. Servant leaders remove obstacles to make progress\u2014serve\u2014 rather than become obstacles. Sages are people who are able to synthesize life experiences and translate them into wisdom shared with others as part of their legacy work. I decided to integrate the lessons learned and wisdom gained into my own personal life\u2014in my teaching, workshops, and life experience.<\/p>\n \tUltimately, this work became a book titled \u201cLeading with Wisdom: Sage Advice from 100 Experts.\u201d I call this my \u201ceat, pray, love\u201d book of leadership because it explains a leadership philosophy and practices that evolved from my active pursuit of listening and putting what I heard into action.<\/p>\n \tBut this was the surprise: When I asked the sages about leadership, they told me about life. And that the most important person to lead you is yourself.<\/p>\n \tPEELING BACK THE ONION<\/strong><\/p>\n \tWhen I reflect back on my learning journey, the point of most of the readings and activities was to get to know oneself on a much deeper level. While self-knowledge is critical, we need to \u201cpeel the onion\u201d back much further\u2014similar to matryoshka dolls or Russian nesting dolls (decreasing in size with one placed inside the other). This involves realizing that our strengths when taken to an extreme can become weaknesses. It means understanding that the ego can manifest into greed, jealousy, manipulation, narcissism, exaggerated sense of self worth, and defensiveness when out of control. These behaviors ultimately can cause environments to become toxic for those who work within them. In fact, Margaret Wheatley told me, \u201cPeople in my audiences describe their workplaces as \u2018land of the walking dead.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \tIn reality, leadership is not a position, but a relationship. It is not something we do to other people, but something we do with other people. Frances Hesselbein, president and CEO of the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute (formerly the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management), often puts it this way, \u201cLeadership is a matter of how to be, not how to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \tSo, much of what it takes to excel as a leader has to do with self-management\u2014knowing who you are at a deep level\u2014and how you use this knowledge and awareness to build relationships.<\/p>\n \tWorking America, a community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, sponsors an annual event called \u201cMy Bad Boss Contest\u201d (http:\/\/www.workingamerica.org\/badboss<\/a>). Workers are encouraged to share an anonymous story about a nightmare boss for a chance to win a well-deserved, weeklong vacation.<\/p>\n \tWhat I realized in my research is just a small amount of self-knowledge and acknowledgement of leadership blind spots is all that is needed to solve most of the problems employees experience. Knowing ourselves on a deeper level prevents the dark side of leadership from dominating behaviors\u2014critical in creating workplaces where people want to work.<\/p>\n \tBREATH OF LIFE<\/strong><\/p>\n \tMy favorite definition of leadership was from a workshop I attended facilitated by Peter Senge, author of \u201cThe Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization\u201d (1990). Senge asked us to come up with different words for \u201cleader\u201d; people mentioned words such as \u201cinspiration\u201d and \u201caspiration.\u201d<\/p>\n \tHe reminded us that \u201cspire\u201d comes from the Latin root meaning literally \u201cbreath\u201d or \u201cbreath of life.\u201d Therefore, he defines leadership as the ability to \u201cbreathe life into someone or something.\u201d I have modified this slightly for my work: Leaders breathe life into people, programs, and projects. If leadership is about breathing life into people, programs, and projects, then the toxic air created in organizations as a result of poor leadership habits and skills is a productivity killer, which eventually will extinguish the life of even the best and most engaged employee.<\/p>\n \tJames Hunter, author of \u201cThe Servant: A Simple Story About the Essence of Leadership\u201d (1998), reminded me that it is not about moving up to the level of leader, but about the end of the journey\u2014being an effective and good leader. One of the main questions, Hunter told me, is: \u201cAre people better off because we are their leaders?\u201d Sadly, this is not true in many cases, because ego and narcissism win the day.<\/p>\n \tExecutive coach Dan Peterson shared this definition of ego with me during a four-day retreat I attended in Colorado: \u201cThe ego is the difference between what you want to have happen and what is happening. It is the gap between what we want and what is. When we learn to \u2018let go\u2019 of the difference, we are controlling the ego and not letting it control us.\u201d Petersen said it is a process of moving from \u201cit\u2019s all about me, to it\u2019s all about us, to the very inclusive, it\u2019s all about all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n \tAt the end of this learning journey is the lesson that in order to lead with wisdom, we need to realize that ego development is an essential component for leadership development. The question I often ask is: Would you follow yourself?<\/p>\n Jann E. Freed, Ph.D., is an author, speaker, and leadership development and change management consultant at The Genysys Group. Her most recent book is \u201cLeading with Wisdom: Sage Advice from 100 Experts\u201d (ASTD, 2013). For more information visit www.thegenysygroup.com<\/a> and http:\/\/www.JannFreed.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Leadership literature is exploding with books and articles to help us become better leaders. At the same time, numerous leadership programs, institutes, centers, coaches, and consultants claim to develop more effective leaders. Annually, the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard measures public confidence in leadership with its National Leadership Index (NLI). It surveys Americans\u2019 attitudes toward their leaders, including 13 of the country\u2019s major sectors such as the military, religious, education, and business. In 2012, according to the NLI, \u201csome 69 percent of Americans still believe we have a leadership crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[31],"class_list":{"0":"post-9769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-magazine","7":"tag-soapbox","8":"magazine_issues-november-2013"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n