book will deal with the leader on an individual level as well as larger levels of the system, such as a team or an organization. I started in this field, working with large groups of people as an organizationchange consultant, hence my first work on large scale change, Ten Tasks of Change. During the years of consulting work, I spent most of my time teaching leaders how to change an organization by first changing themselves. This is the biggest differentiator of Inspirational Presence in that it teaches leaders how to effect change across many layers of organization through transformational change.
Consequently, there are many references in this book to change, which might seem odd when you think of it as a book on leadership. In truth, leadership and change are tied tightly together, as you rarely lead people to where they already are. New undertakings and directions are achieved when people see the world in new ways and spend their days doing different things. Therefore, it is critical to understand the aspects of how people engage new concepts and how a leader can influence this.
OVERVIEW
Inspirational Presence presents a framework of what makes a leader and what makes that leader powerful and able to support transformation. The book focuses on transformational change or when the rules of engagement change. This is the sort of change that brings about reform movements and restructures businesses. Transformational change creates new paradigms about what is possible in the world of business as well as humanity.
In this book you will encounter the use of the word spirit—it is not meant to be religious but to denote the connection of human spirit and our perpetual desire to be more, to be connected to a higher source or a greater cause, and a yearning to make a deep and lasting impact on the planet in the years we spend here. In the early years of my work in organization development, a colleague told me that most people who spent any amount of time in this field wound up on some sort of spiritual journey through self-exploration. My experience has shown that statement to be true and, if anything, a bit limited. In my studies of literature and history, I tend to see a much more expanded view of that and believe that every human on this planet goes through some sort of spiritual quest in his or her life. Some are deeper than others, some are longer, and some are more life-encompassing than others. At any rate, it is part of being human. We all hold in our core this spiritual being that is connected at much higher levels of consciousness than we realize most of the time.
Inspirational Presence is about connecting with that spirit, but it is not necessarily about the quest itself. This book is about what to do with that energy and how to create a world in which those aspirations can manifest. The passion of that direction becomes the energy of creativity and a connection that drives us and fuels us. It is what sustains us when we might otherwise feel all alone in the world, particularly when we are off the beaten path, forging new directions, leading the wave of innovation, or just standing up for something simply because it matters.
Throughout time, cultures and religions have believed and lived out practices that held a time in our lives for a spiritual awakening; a time when we became aware of a higher purpose or a deep calling within us to do more than exist from day to day. In more recent times, this seems to have become more routine than meaningful, so we often have to look for other means of awakening that spirit with us.
This book is written from a belief that we can find that spirit through fairly simple means, as it is always there and always accessible. We simply need to listen. Our beings are perfectly designed to operate from a higher level of consciousness, and it is not something that we have to learn. There may be practices from our ego and our humanity that we need to unlearn that can get in the way of the essence of our being, but those will become clear as we listen. For now, let us just believe that those things will unfold.
The principles put forth here are a synthesis of practices and research in the areas of leadership, systems theory, psychology, emotional intelligence, and consciousness. They are meant to be a guide for meaningful action. The practices themselves are simply mechanisms through which you can access the power of leadership from within yourself and put it forth into the world in a manner that people can easily join. The practices apply to any endeavor and seem to be cross-culturally applicable.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book is a guidebook, intended to present concepts and practical ways to use them. Think of it as a reference guide to your leadership development. Each chapter presents a concept that stands for a critical piece of the leadership equation. Each can stand alone and, when studied and adopted, will significantly improve your ability to lead. Put together, the chapters form an integrated framework through which you can learn to create and sustain profound change in others. There are a number of competencies presented, and it is intended to be simple.
It is most valuable to allow yourself the latitude of thinking how this book may present concepts in a different way from those you have heard before. Look for the simplicity here and the elegance that you can achieve as a leader, simply by applying a few principles and practicing some simple techniques.
One of the principles of change that has been a centerpiece of our work is that change can occur quite easily. All we have to do is change our minds. Once we see the world in a different way and look for different data, we immediately create new realities. The only things left are ordering all the mechanical aspects of our lives to align with our new way of thinking.
The issues we have found in our years of working through personal and organizational change are not lack of good ideas or desire of people to create different conditions; they have been the strength of organization designs and management systems that intentionally and reliably function to perpetuate the current state. The effort involved in change is one of constantly disconnecting from old ways and connecting with new, with as much integrity and conviction as we can muster.
Our world and our systems need transformation, and we need leaders to do this. With the size of the systems that we now have in play, we need many, many leaders who are operating at all levels to make these changes. We need world leaders who will take on the transformational aspects of nations and international issues. We need leaders who will lead schools and communities to create more than has previously been imagined. We need business leaders who will create emerging business models that are created holistically and generate collateral good to communities and their environment.
Whatever sort of leader you are, use this guide to enhance your ability to create transformation. Start with yourself, then your sphere of influence, and then increasingly increase your scope. Today, you; tomorrow, the world.
CHAPTER 1—THE CASE FOR INSPIRATION
Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson
Buddha. Jesus. Mohammed. Mahatma Gandhi. Nelson Mandela. Aung San Suu Kyi. His Holiness the Dalai Lama. John F. Kennedy. Indira Gandhi. Sequoyah. Abraham Lincoln. Sir Winston Churchill. Eleanor Roosevelt. Desmond Tutu. Maya Angelou. Mikhail Gorbachev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Oprah Winfrey. Al Gore. Jeremy Gilley.
What do they all have in common?
Each of those people is known for the difference he or she made in the world. They made contributions through their ability to follow a passion and inspire others with their commitment and connection with people. They were clear and engaging with others. While in every case, there were people who did not agree with them or did
