Fifty years ago the UK was about nationalised industries and state control. Leaders found their best selves through outward-bound development – physical challenges often in heavy drizzle and muddy ground.
Over the past few years the UK has been moving back to nationalisation. Rail has gone first. Then steel. Maybe water will be next then other utilities, assuming the taxpayer can afford it. Whether state control is the right approach or not time will tell.
However, given how the world has changed, how turbulent, complex and uncertain the environment in which organisations operate the possibility of leaders finding the new capabilities they will need in raft building and abseiling seems unlikely.
Leadership development in a world that is changing faster than leadership is evolving must be different…inward-bound, not outward not just for organisations themselves but to help improve our world.
As novel and complex challenges arise increasingly often, right answers are elusive, and past experience less useful, a different, more conscious approach to leading is needed – developed through an inner journey to Self to support greater impact in outward expression.
This means building our capacity for deep reflection/meditation so the habit of thinking in the same old way can be by-passed and new insights and wisdom emerge. It means trusting and valuing the intuition that comes through as much as or more than logic.
It means bringing our heart into partnership with our head. Engaging our courage to do things differently. Extending the love and compassion to all that we tend to reserve for our closest loved ones.
It means prioritising people and building a better world over profit. The financials matter, of course, but prosperity for a greater good matters more. It is about our organisation, its people and all stakeholders thriving as a result of what we decide and act on.
It means being willing to experiment where uncertainty and complexity fog the way ahead. We make progress in small steps, sensing the way forward, adjusting course and approach when needed and going again.
It means being brave enough to confront ourselves and continually challenge to be better in service of a better world. We’ve been guiding leaders on inner journeys for many years. We call the work releasing your inner power. Are you ready to release yours?