The Future of Leadership
The idea that leadership matters – that the quality of an individual in a position of authority makes a difference would have seemed less relevant just a decade ago. But since 2000, we’ve seen too many examples where executive leaders change and the organization changes with them. Someone of greater caliber and capability comes in, and the whole place improves. (Consider, for example, Procter & Gamble under A.G. Lafley.) Or someone of lesser caliber and capability enters, and everything goes, as W. EdwardsDeming put it, “down the tubes.”
Last Winter, I coauthored an article for strategy+business called “A Blueprint for Strategic Leadership." The key point: Great leaders don’t act alone. They start by setting a context: they bring together a team of colleagues, a set of starting initiatives, an articulation of their purpose (“why are we here in the first place?”), an organizational structure that makes sense – and perhaps other things – so that they have the support they need to set a new direction.
Over the forthcoming year, I’m hoping to refine this perspective and learn much more, starting with a couple of events that may be of interest to you.
1. May 4-7, Peterborough, Ontario: The Future of Leadership. As part of the Shambhala Institute’s new Regional Intensive program, I’m leading a scenario planning session on leadership over the next 10-20 years. In this 12-hour module (taking place across three days), we’ll consider how societies and organizations will evolve, going forward, and the types of opportunities and challenges that will face leaders between now and 2027. Our purpose: To prepare ourselves, our organizations, and our communities for more effective action. Our method: The scenario planning approach pioneered at Royal Dutch/Shell in the 1970s and 1980s. The Shambhala Institute’s sessions are unique and very powerful, in part because of their combination of meditation, arts, and organizational change work. This session is, I believe, the first of its kind and it may set a very powerful precedent.
(By the way, others speaking or leading modules at this program will include: Barbara Bash, Arawana Hayashi, Michael Jones, Toke Møller, C. Otto Scharmer, Peter Senge, Karen Stephenson, Bob Wing, and Brenda Zimmerman.)
For more information, see
<http://www.shambhalainstitute.org/alia/2008ontario/home.html.>
2. September 10-11 (Sydney) and October 28-30 (New York): The neuroleadership summit. In 2005, strategy+business published a groundbreaking article, “The Neuroscience of Leadership,” by executive coach David Rock and UCLA brain scientist Jeffrey Schwartz. Then, in May 2006, the authors asked me to facilitate the first neuroleadership summit in Asolo, Italy – a meeting of quantum physicists, cognitive scientists, educators, and organizational change experts. It was a challenging session, very difficult at times, and yet it was also one of the great learning experiences I’ve had. It brought together so many disparate professionals and practitioners, and it raised questions that will not go away about the knowledge of neuroscience and the nature of organizations. This year, there will be two such sessions, and I have again been asked to facilitate.
For more information: <http://www.neuroleadership.org/.>
Thanks very much as always for your consideration and interest.
-- Art Kleiner, editor in chief, strategy+business
(http://www.strategy-business.com).
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