Great Leaders - Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon I was born Napoleone di Buonaparte but later called Napoléon Bonaparte. He lived from 15 August 1769 to 5 May 1821 and was a French military and political leader who shaped modern European history. He was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as Premier Consul of the French Republic, Empereur des Français, King of Italy, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine.

Born in Corsica and trained in mainland France as an artillery officer, he first rose to prominence as a general of the French Revolution, leading several successful campaigns against the First Coalition and the Second Coalition arrayed against France. In late 1799, Napoleon staged a coup d'état and installed himself as First Consul; five years later he took the title of Emperor of the French. He set the armies of France against almost all European powers from 1800 onwards, dominating continental Europe by military power and victories, and the formation of diplomatic alliance systems. Napoleon appointed close friends and family members to be monarchs and important state bureaucrats of states influenced or ruled by the French.

The disastrous French invasion of Russia in 1812 marked a turning point in Napoleon's fortunes and manpower. The campaign, and the Russian winter, wrecked the Grande Armée, which was never as large again. In October 1813, the Sixth Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig and then invaded France. The coalition forced Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814, exiling him to the island of Elba. Less than a year later, he returned to France and regained control of the government in the Hundred Days (les Cent Jours) prior to his final defeat at Waterloo on 18 June 1815 byt the British general the Duke of Wellington. Napoleon passed the remaining six years of his life under British supervision on the remote island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, where some claim he was poisoned.

Napoleon originated few military innovations, although his placement of artillery into batteries and the elevation of the army corps as a standard all-arms unit have become accepted in virtually all modern armies. He drew his best tactics from a variety of sources and scored several major victories with a modernized and reformed French army. His campaigns are studied at military academies all over the world and he is widely regarded as one of history's greatest, and luckiest, commanders. Aside from his military achievements, Napoleon is also remembered for the establishment of the metric system of measurement and the Napoleonic Code (Code Napoléon), which laid the bureaucratic foundations for the modern French state.

Great Leaders - The Dalai Lama

The Dalai Lama

The current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso. He was born in 1935 and is the 14th Dalai Lama, revered as a spiritual leader among Tibetans who has great influence over Tibetan Buddhism. He is head of the Tibetan Government in Exile based in Dharamsala in India, as well as being a Nobel Peace Prize winner and the world's most recognised Buddhist monks.

Gyatso is the fifth of the 16 children of a farming family in the village of Taktser. He was proclaimed "tulku", meaning rebirth, of the 13th Tibetan Dalai Lama just two years after his birth. In 1950 he became Dalai Lama, Tibet's most important political ruler. This was one month after the People's Liberation Army's invaded Tibet from China.

Although he ratified an agreement with China in 1951, that was done under military threats. He left Tibet for India in 1959 after an unsuccessful revolt and the failure of resistance by a Tibetan movement. In India he was active in establishing the Tibetan Government in Exile and in working to preserve Tibetans' culture, lifestyle and education among the thousands of refugees who accompanied him.

Tenzin Gyatso is charismatic and a frequent public speaker, and is the first Dalai Lama to travel to the West. He has spread Tibetan Buddhism and promoted the concepts of universal responsibility, secular ethics, compassion, and religious tolerance. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, and the United States Congressional Gold Medal in 2007. He has, however, faced persistent criticism for tolerating harmful treatment of animals which is not allowed by Buddhist teachings of non-harmfulness and compassion.

The Dalai Lama's http://www.dalailama.com/

Great Leaders - Toussaint Louverture

Toussaint Louverture
Liberator of Haiti

Toussaint Louverture led the first successful uprising by a slaves against colonial powers, and defeated the Spanish, French and British armies. The Haitian revolution changed the face of slavery in the New World, and Haiti was the second colony to become independent in the Western Hemisphere after the American Revolution of 1776.

Toussaint-L'Ouverture, 20 May 1743 - to 8 April 1803, was a leader in this lengthy fight, and he achieved military victory over the whites and freed slaves and became governor of the Caribbean island of Haiti in 1797.

He expelled the French and British forces and invaded nearby Santo Domingo to free the slaves there. For the new state of Haiti he created a written constitution and expected to be Governor for the rest of his life, but he was tricked into captivity by the French. After he died in exile in 1803 free Haiti was ruled by a series of dictators and suffered economic and political decline, as well as ultimately deforestation and uncontrolled population growth.

He is also known as Toussaint Bréda or François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture, and is sometimes referred to as 'The Black Napoleon' for his exemplary leadership and unprecedented achievements, which inspired others to fight for liberation from oppression.

Great Leaders - Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar (102-44 BCE) was a military and political leader of ancient Rome, in what is now called Italy. The Roman Empire was the largest empire the world had known, and it expanded by conquests based on superior Roman military technology, engineering and organisation. Caesar was one of history's greatest generals, a great orator, and published as PR the accounts he wrote of his own successful military campaigns and conquest in Gaul, which is now France. He stated simply, in Latin, "Veni, vidi, vici" or "I came, I saw, I conquered." By political intrigue, charisma, bribery, military force, and civil war Caesar then transformed the Roman Republic into an empire with himself as dictator.
Caesar was tall, dark-eyed, well-dressed, bald, and physically very fit. He came from a well-connected patrician background, and advanced his early career and personal wealth in the usual Roman way by military and political service in provinces of the empire such as Hispania, now called Spain. At that time Rome was governed by a Senate and two annually elected Consuls who made executive decisions. In 60 BCE Caesar returned to Rome dissatified with the system of government. The hugely popular general Pompey, who had conquered Mithridates, Mediterranean pirates and Jerusalem, formed an alliance with Caesar and Crassus, the richest man in Rome, to govern as a triumvirate, or group of three. This ended constitutional government.

Caesar then served for nine years in Gaul, from 58 to 50 BCE, and subdued the opposing tribes and brought the Roman empire as far as the English Channel. He led the first Roman invasion of the island of Britain in 55 BC, losing some ships because they had no experience of the tide outside the Mediterranean sea. After a second invasion in 54 BCE the colonisation of Britain and Gaul followed, but the German tribes were still too fierce for the Romans to beat.

While Caesar was away from Rome relations with Pompey worsened and the triumvirate collapsed, and the Roman Senate told Caesar he must not lead his armies across the Rubicon river into Italy from the north. Caesar ignored them, crossed the Rubicon and started a civil war from which he emerged as ruler of the Italian peninsula and, in title, the Roman empire, though he had further battles ahead to take full control. Consequently the phrase "to cross the Rubicon" still means to make an important decision from which there is no turning back. Pompey fled to Egypt and was murdered there, and Caesar later conquered Egypt and put the highly intelligent polyglot Cleopatra in place as Queen of Egypt, and may have had a child with her.

After this coup de etat, Caesar initiated wide reforms of Roman society and the state, and the unreliable Roman calendar. He was declared dictator for life, and further centralised the state bureaucracy. A conspiracy of senators, led by Caesar's former friend Marcus Junius Brutus, stabbed the dictator to death on the Ides of March, or 15 March, in 44 BC. They hoped to restore the old Republic and the freedoms they valued which Caesar had abolished.

More civil war followed, and then power was given to Julius Caesar's appoiinted heir Octavian, also called Augustus Caesar or the Emperor Augustus, who was later proclaimed a god. As Rome's first emperor, Augustus defeated all his Roman enemies and brought expansion and peace. Roman urban planning, road construction, vineyards, Roman law, and the Latin language spread with the Empire, leaving European aqueducts, vineyards and road routes used to this day, as well as forming, from classical Latin, the modern Romance languages such as French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.

The word "Caesar" became a title and respectful form for addressing Roman emperors. The titles Czar, or Tsar, and Kaiser are variations on the word "Caesar" and were later used to describe absolute rulers in Russia and Germany respectively, and in the English language a "caesar" can be a pejorative term for a despot or dictator.

Shakespeare Wrote a play about the conspiracy which murdered Caesar. When Caesar is stabbed he turns to his friend Brutus and says "Et tu, Brute?" meaning "And you, O Brutus?" and then Brutus too stabs him.
The murder took place on the fifteenth of March, also called the Ides of March, and Caesar had been warned to "Beware the Ides of March". The play also features a famous speech by Marc Antony, who says "Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears...I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him" and then proceeds to praise Caesar and his memory and stir up the crowd.

Great Leaders - Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, the leader of China's twentieth century Revolution, was born 26 December 1893 and died 9 September 1976, and was formerly called Mao Tse Tung in English. Mao was the hugely powerful Chinese leader from 1945 to 1976, and many see him as a hero who advanced women's and peasant's rights, saved China from foreign rule, raised the standard of living and literacy while making China more equal and more industrial, and avoided the economic chaos and suffering of capitalist nations. Others see his legacy as millions of Chinese deaths under totalitarian rule and enforced industrialisation, as well as the crippling cruelty of the backwards Cultural Revolution of the 1960s.

Mao was born in 1893 in Hunan providence, China, and grew up in a farming family. He became a revolutionary Communist while working at a library, and throughout the 1920's, his power increased in the Communist Party of China, and by 1933 he was its leader. The Communists sought to make the country a one-party state pursuing a socialist ideal and liberating workers and peasants from harsh exploitation and oppression. During the 1920's, a Chinese Civil War began between the Communists and the dominant autocrat Chiang Kai-shek's group, the Kuomintang or Nationalists.

Mao and his forces escaped defeat at the hand of the Nationalists by marching, with huge losses along the way, to a remote part of China called Yenan. This retreat was called The Long March and is one of history's most famous and possibly most successful military retreats. When Japan invaded China in 1937, Mao and Chiang ceased fighting. Later the United States entered the war in the Pacific and defeated Japan in 1945, causing the occupying Japanese armies to leave China and allowing the Chinese Civil War to continue. By 1949, Mao had expelled the Nationalists to an island called Taiwan, previously Formosa, which remained an independent state under Nationalist control. Mainland China was now a unified one-party state, The People's Republic of China, under the dictator Mao Zedong.

Uniting China, dividing opinion

Virtually anything said about Mao raises objections from either his supporters or detractors. In China, as in much of Sinology and academic historical studies, few are neutral about Mao. Asking around in the People's Republic today will still yield almost universally positive reviews of the man, his work and legacy. In the West, he is typically characterised as a dictator and mass murderer along the lines of Stalin, at least among those who know anything of him. This split in opinion may say more about attitudes towards China, Communism, social equality, or openly autocratic government systems than anything else, as probing further often reveals a general lack of knowledge both about the man and about the differing views of him.

So what did he accomplish in his days? Why is he still so revered and condemned? After heading the foundation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao remained leader until his death in 1976. In this time he expended no small amount of effort to change the country in vast and irreversible ways, ways which for the most part he believed to be not only good for the country, but essential for its progress. Mao is, however, currently most remembered in the ex-imperial West not for his efforts as a moderniser or the "father of a nation," but for his brutal methods of gaining and retaining power throughout his time at the top. These methods were applied to his own countrymen, in contrast to the external populations which were brutalised, enslaved and robbed by European empires.

Great Leap Forward

From an early age Mao believed in realising the ideals of a more equitable society. His attempts to implement his interpretation of Karl Marx's prescriptions in taking China from an agrarian society, where well over 90% of the population were peasants enduring a bitter life of mere subsistence, to a powerful, modern industrialised nation produced some failures and disasters on a huge scale. While his goals of greater economic equality, as well as that between the sexes, had started to be realised quite early in his time in power, efforts to streamline production in both agriculture and industrial sectors proved misguided. One early example was the Great Leap Forward campaign, which began around 1958. Lasting roughly two years, it is often viewed as an unprecedented disaster for China. While the figures are still hotly debated, it is known that millions, and likely tens of millions, died of starvation and other causes as a result of bad policies enforced in the name of "leaping" directly from an undeveloped society of farmers directly to a more mechanised society of the type Marx had in mind when he wrote about the proletariat revolution. A similar programme of enforced "collectivisation" of agriculture in the Soviet Union in the 1930s had already dispossessed and displaced huge numbers of people without achieving the intended gains. The Soviet Union had, however, successfully achieved the production of refined industrial products from raw materials, as China would later, leading to better material living conditions, education and medical care for many.

Mao's knowledge of the dire consequences of the Great Leap Forward have also been debated. Policies enacted by Mao like melting all the pots and pans held by families in the country for the sake of vastly increasing the available supply or iron for purposes of industrial production turned out to be a great failure; while the resulting "big pot" communal mess halls created did serve their function, the iron did not. In most villages there was no one to be found who knew about working iron, and the vast majority the "dog iron" that came from the campaign was utterly useless. Thus the largest consequence of this policy was only to remove the ability to cook at home from the hands of millions of peasants. It is known, however, that when Mao toured villages to review progress, even in the wake of such disasters, local leaders would do all in their power to make sure he only saw that things were going splendidly. He would be shown areas where success had been staged by officials, who may have been seeking promotion or more likely were simply unwilling or scared to show their failures to the Great Leader himself. In his mind, then, these policies may have been great successes, at least in the beginning.

Yet his firm belief that he was ultimately correct and that authority was better wielded in his hands than others also led to events which built, and then cemented, his reputation outside his country as a man of great wickedness. Even if supporters would like to claim that at least initially he knew little or nothing of the hardship caused by his modernisation campaigns, there were other instances where his involvement and intentions are much clearer. One such instance is the Hundred Flowers Campaign of the early 1950s. After several years in power, Mao and the communists began to receive growing amounts of criticism for their handling of the new government and its shortcomings in addressing some of the major problems China faced. Rather than use brutal means to silence them Mao surprised his detractors by drawing on a famous ancient quotation that he would like to "let a hundred flowers bloom, let a thousand schools of thought contend." Mao stated it was his unwavering belief that criticism was good for the country, that it would spur on the Party, and that ultimately disagreement and debate would lead the way to the best path and make clear the benefits of his socialist programme of modernisation over all others. The response was rapid and gigantic, likely to an extent which he had not expected. While he may have been initially surprised at the volume and voracity of the criticisms heaped on his young government, he did not let it show. Rather, he waited, and in time responded by claiming it was all part of his plan to out the worst elements of society: in the ensuing crackdown, thousands of people who had criticised Mao and the government were killed, exiled to the west of the country, imprisoned, or simply disappeared. Far from being ignorant of their demise, he boasted that he had orchestrated this result himself; as such, it can hardly be surprising if Western intellectuals take issue with his methods as leader, seeing as he knowingly crushed many of their Chinese counterparts with the Hundred Flowers Campaign and the later Cultural Revolution.

The 70% Solution

Shortly after his death, the new leaders of the Chinese government, Mao's heirs, were faced with deconstructing his cult of personality and finding a way to establish themselves as the legitimate and logical extensions of his rule and ideology. This left them with the difficult task of casting Mao in a new light, not as simply the lone leader who had single-handedly brought China to where it was in 1976, but as part of the Party that they were members of. It also left them to determine how much of what he had done was seen to be in error and how much correct. To balance their use of Mao as a source of legitimacy for the next generation of government, while simultaneously changing the direction and policies of that government, including the disastrous ones, they settled on a ratio the same as that used by the Soviet government for Stalin: Mao was 70% good and correct, and 30% wrong. This reevaluation enabled them to move forward with reform while still claiming to possess the spirit of the Party and the man who had led China for the last three decades. The formula stuck, and even today is often quoted in the country when discussing the legacy of Mao.

Mao also left a significant linguistic legacy. He changed the Wade Giles system of Romanization of written Chinese to Pinyin, an easier system. Taiwan however still uses Wade Giles, so its capital city is written Taipei rather than the pinyin Taibei. Mao also simplified the writing of Chinese characters, making them easier to use so that more people would be able to read the new Simplified Chinese.

Great Leaders - Gandhi

Gandhi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as Mahatma Gandhi, was born in 1869 in British-controlled India and died in 1948. He became a twentieth century political and spiritual leader of the Indian movement for independence from British colonial occupation. He launched Satyagraha, or resistance to oppression by mass civil disobedience, meaning peaceful non-cooperation with the enemy. This was based on ahimsa, the yogic principle of non-harmfulness to other beings. When this achieved independence, India's example motivated civil rights movements in many other countries and Gandhi became an inspirational figure to many peoples.

In India Gandhi is titled Father of the Nation and his birthday is a national holiday on 2 October every year. In 2007 the United Nations unanimously declared 2 October 2 to be the "International Day of Non-Violence."

As a trained lawyer, Gandhi started trying his ideas of peaceful civil disobedience in the Indian community's struggle for civil rights in South Africa, at that time also a British colony. Back in India, he rallied poor farmers against oppressive taxation and general racial discrimination. As leader of the Indian National Congress, Gandhi carried on broad campaigns for reducing poverty, for liberating women, for religious and ethnic tolerance, and to end the caste problems of Untouchability and exclusion. He also strove for Indian economic self-sufficiency and above all Swaraj, the political independence of India as a nation state.

Gandhi led Indians in the famous refusal of the salt tax on the 400 kilometre (Dandi Salt March in 1930, and in a public demand for the British to leave India in 1942. Gandhi's actions led to repeated imprisonment both in South Africa and later in India.

Gandhi practised non-violence and truthfulness, even in very challenging circumstances. Following Hindu philosophy, he lived a simple life, setting up a self-sufficient ashram, making his own clothes of Indian dhoti and shawl, and enjoying a healthy vegetarian diet. He also practised strict fasting for purification and protest.

Ironically, a Hollywood film was made of his life, with Gandhi portrayed by a Westerner in makeup.

Ten Ways of (Re)Defining Leadership

1. Know Who You Are:
This means being aware of and aligned with the unchangeable parts of yourself, Your humanity is not bound by title, position, power or wealth.
2. Clearly Communicate What You Bring to the Table:
Everyone has something meaningful to contribute. Leaders understand their talents and skills and know how to offer them to the world.
3. Know What You Want to Change:
Telling someone you want to lead or hold a particular position of power is passé. Rather than an end within itself, leadership is the means to achieve a goal. Leaders are passionate about something and work toward achieving it, regardless of how it looks.
4. Bring Leadership Wherever You Go:
Being a leader doesn’t mean you bring your best to only one area of your life, it means that you maintain your integrity in all facets of your life, from your family and community to the world.
5. Align Your Life With Your Leadership:
It is difficult to be a successful leader and have personal habits that don’t support a fully actualized life. Do you take care of your health? Do you have healthy relationships in your life? Are you engaged in life long learning? Do you regularly connect to something greater than yourself?
6. Communicate Effectively:
Effective communication is not about mastering the art of “the spin.” Leaders are comfortable being open and real in all situations and are connected to the wants and needs of those around them. Ultimately, communication is about connecting and a leader needs to understand both sides of the conversation.
7. Solve Problems Before People Know They Exist:
Heroes act with skill and precision after the crisis has hit; leaders anticipate the needs of the community before a crisis takes place and make changes to avoid it. The leader often receives less fanfare than the hero, but the leader’s service to the community is priceless.
8. Measure Your Results Against Resolving Issues:
In today’s image-driven culture, many of the people who want to be thought of as leaders claim victory by rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic rather than trying to right the ship. Leaders care less about how it looks and focus on what is actually being done to resolve the root causes of the problem.
9. Be The Change:
Hopi wisdom says, “do not look outside yourself for the leader.” No one else is going to “fix it.” and to change things, leaders takes responsibility for the results—everyday. Everyone is responsible for leadership in some way and the best time to start is now.
10. Be Happy:
Being engaged in your life, as the leader you are, is a true joy. When you free yourself from life’s “shoulds” and create opportunities to bring your best self to the world, you eliminate the burdens and inspire others to do the same.

By Kathleen Schafer

Redefining Leadership for the 21st Century (1)

Leadership, with all its facets and complexities, is constantly being examined and defined. With the challenging organizational changes that today's leaders face, the concept of leadership is critical to organizational success and health. Thus, the scrutiny focused on leadership concepts and themes is invaluable to discovering and nurturing the seeds of leadership in an organization. Some important themes have emerged from this quest to understand what is sometimes the obvious but often the elusive idea of leadership.

"Everyone is a Leader."
Studies have shown that there are many kinds of leaders arising from all levels of the organization. Each person has a leader inside of them and it is a matter of circumstance when and where those leadership abilities will be called upon. Remember that leadership is a process and many variables act upon the emergence of a leader. But each person must be viewed as your next potential leader.

"Bringing out the Best in Everyone."
In the past leaders have used non-empowering techniques to get results from their people. But today we see that not only have the people changed but the rules have changed as well. What worked yesterday no longer works today. Leaders today find that a mentoring, sensitive, and sharing approach is more effective. They guide their followers toward mutual goals rather than forcing them to achieve imposed goals and allow members to share in the feeling of success.

"Leadership versus Management."
In today's world of constant change and complexity, organizations are looking for leaders who cannot only cope with these variables but flourish in them. It is easy to teach someone the rules of the organization with its protocols and procedures and have them administer those programs. But it is no longer practical when overnight new protocols replace old ones and procedures change everyday. Embracing new challenges and inspiring others to do the same is what defines today's leader.

"Sensitivity in Leadership."
Because of the global and cultural demands of the business world today, leaders must be intuitive and proactive in the way they approach management. Together with an evermore diverse workplace, leaders must embrace experiences and backgrounds that are different from their own. They must shift from accommodation to empowerment and then they will be witnesses to the best in people. Being a sensitive leader used to be regarded as a weak leader but today's greatest leaders show that sensitivity is the path to building a strong organization.

"The Holistic Leader."
The image of the "totally together" leaders will be replaced with the "life-long learner." Areas that used to clear cut and black and white have now become shades of gray. Leaders can no longer rely on historic values and judgments. A new covenant has been formed between leaders and followers and it is not based on historical perspectives. We have evolved into a day where individuals are valued and appreciated for the characteristics that are intrinsic to them and their uniqueness. An effective leader has to embrace these differences and find creative ways to build an organization from a group of individuals.

"Leaders as Change Masters."
The ability to embrace change with a sense of excitement and challenge is the one characteristic that today's leaders must have. It has become an essential part of the "leader's personality." Where change used to be a burden, change is now a way to do things in a better way. When every day is different than the one before complacency is gone forever. There is no such thing as routine in today's business world and a new sense of excitement has emerged. 21st Century leaders are blessed with this new atmosphere of stimulation and must embrace it as a blessing and not a burden.

These themes are some of the new ideas coming from leadership studies. They define the requirements that are now essential to today's leaders. Companies are no longer looking for good people to manage their businesses' assets but leaders who will maximize their company's assets to the greatest degree. Making the most out of the resources available and making those resources the best they can possibly be is the standard to which leaders are held. Making do is no longer good enough just as meeting goals is no longer good enough. Doing the very best and exceeding goals is the direction today's leaders are heading towards.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/582642

Redefining Leadership for the 21st Century

Leadership Wisdom

What appears needed for leadership in the future is a deeper more fundamental
wisdom. Wisdom is seldom spoken of in leadership research studies and texts yet it
has been the foundation upon which most great cultures, philosophies and societies
have developed. Athens, the Florentine Renaissance, the golden era of the Indian
culture, and the great Chinese and Japanes empires all had great philosophies such as
Vedanta, Taoism, Zen Buddhism and the Bible as great sources of wisdom. Great
indirect and direct leader/philosophers such as Socrates, Sankara, Buddha, Marcus
Aurelius, Marcilio Ficino and many others have contributed great wisdom and insight
which has uplifted and steered these cultures for centuries. While it would take a
considerable number of pages to adequately distil the key properties of this wisdom,
the following three points are put forward as key essentials that relevant for the
leaders of the future.

1. Ability to be in the present, to see clearly what is happening in the moment

Most people spend a great deal of time involved with inner self-talk: images, feelings,
thoughts and judgements of other people and external events. Much of the time they
are automatically caught in this ‘self talk’ commenting, judging, liking or disliking the
people or situation around them “Why couldn’t he have done it better?” “I am the
one that will have to fix this up now?” Much of this dialogue is centred around the
ego – the image they have of themselves and what the ego wants to hold onto – my
job, my idea, my status, being right or liked, etc.. This ‘voice in the head’ divides,
evaluates and compares things to internal ego expectations even when this process is
not needed at the time. When someone begins to talk to them their internal self-talk
often automatically responds so they stop listening, even though they are pretending
to hear what is being said, “Yes, uh, huh! I see.”. Eyes are wide open but no one is
home!
A wise leader therefore, must be in the present because if she/he isn’t they will be
operating from their past ideas or some imagined future in their mind. This means
that the leader goes back into their store of experience, judgements and ideas and tries
to solve a current problem based on these. While information and experience from
the past may be useful at times, it is important for a leader look at the situation freshly
and free from bias so that he or she can see the best course of action, especially in a
world that is rapidly changing and different from the past. A key skill of a wise leader
is to let go of ego attachments and to see what is actually occurring in the moment.

2. Serving the Need of the Present

Robert Greenleaf has described servant based leadership as the ability of a true leader
to serve workers so that they are free to do the best job possible for their customers.
This can be described more specifically as the ability to find the need of the moment
and direct the attention and efforts of the team to serve that need. Meeting the need of
the moment occurs by bringing the attention and energy to the situation free from
internal self-talk and emotional biases and acting in a way that reconnects all the
associated elements and people to provide what is needed at that time. This has been
called ‘moments of truth’ by leaders such as Jan Carlzon, ex-CEO of Scandinavian
Airlines.
In many cases we see or hear of a leader that imposes their view on the people in the
situation rather than actually listening to or seeing what is really needed at the time.
While serving the need of the moment may sound rather simplistic, it has
extraordinary implications for customer service, interpersonal and team dynamics as
well as strategic management in an organisation. If leaders based their strategic plans
on fulfilling the genuine needs of society and their customers for example (Argenti
calls these ‘strategic elephants’), they would find the success of the organisation and
commitment of their employees would be much easier to attain. In team meetings
were focused on fulfilling genuine customer and staff needs the value and efficiency
of meetings would increase substantially.

3. Connects the Part with the Whole, the Self with the Other

Very closely linked to meeting the need of the moment is the ability to connect the
parts with the whole. This can be needed on an individual, team and/or organisational
level. The leaders must balance and integrate the needs of the individual with that of
the team, organisation and society. This linking fulfils the need that was referred to
above. The effective leader is able to see the individual, the team and organisational
needs and align them with customer needs. A truly great leader also aligns these
needs up with the economic, social and spiritual needs of the nation and international
community.
A definition of ‘wise leadership’ based on this perspective is:
The ability to influence and develop individuals, teams and organisations to achieve a
worthwhile vision that meets the present needs of everyone and everything affected by
their work.
This involves a very high level of self-development and awareness of business, social
and environmental issues. At the foundation of every leader is their sense of self,
how they feel about themselves and who they think they are. The future will require
an increased level of awareness and self-development. Goleman in his book,
Emotional Intelligence (1994), provides research that shows that individuals who have
greater awareness of their own emotions and are able to understand and work with the
emotion of others. These people, according to Goleman are more likely to become
effective leaders.
In the turbulent, high pressure organisations of the future, leaders will have to first be
able to recognise and manage their own stress. Based on this self-knowledge they
will need to see the warning signs of employee stress and burnout and help workers
have access to a wide variety of techniques to deal with high stress. Every leader will
be misunderstood, disliked, and have to deal with conflict among the people they
manage. Communication and conflict resolution skills are vital in dealing with
various team members.
A model of the skills and competencies of wise leaders would involve self, leadership
and management as well as strategic skills needed by a leader to fulfill the
organisation’s change directions at that time.
A model and 360 profile has been developed by Cacioppe and Albrecht that has 52
questions that covers these domains and the eight key roles of leadership and
management. The eight roles are:
Visioning Directing Facilitating Brokering
Stewarding Achieving Coaching Monitoring

These competencies have been well researched as good indicators of effective
leadership behaviour (Albrecht and Cacioppe, 1999). They have been based on the
work of Quin et al (1996) and Wilber (1996) have been developed into a ‘Holon
Model of Leadership and Management’ which links established leadership research
into an integrated perspective.

by Dr Ron Cacioppe Graduate School of Management, University of Western Australia