A New Kind of Leadership: Part 1, Leading for Transcendence

There’s a new kind of leadership needed. One that rests on the willingness of people to follow, instead of the strength of authority. One that commands respect and reflection instead of blind obedience. One that works for all people involved: those who follow, those who are affected by the actions of the group, those that observe it. I have written a lot about these issues in past posts, but this time I want to take a structured approach by touching on each of the three main concepts in my Aspirations Theory and how they relate to leadership. So, starting with this post I will be exploring how to lead in a way that brings out each of the aspirations. A six part series with two posts on each aspiration should spark a good conversation! The first one will be my reflections on the subject and the second on a few action steps to start moving in that direction. Let’s get started with transcendence this week…I can’t wait to read your comments!

We all truly want to leave something behind when we are gone. Transcending this existence is a human drive that is at the very heart of the creation of great works of art, feats of engineering, systems and proceses that make work easier or more effective. Great leaders know this. They understand the connection between what they are doing now and what will come to pass long after they are gone. Though nobody, by definition, gets to experience the extent to which her work transcends, it makes for a very different kind of leader. One who is focused not only on the immediate results, but on the lasting effect of his own actions and those of his followers.

Sadly, with the overly focused slant on productivity that we inherited from the industrial era and the financial pressures of today, many leaders in organizations, government and communities have forgotten to seek transcendence in their everyday actions. They have grown weary of thinking into the future for fear of losing out in the present. And our way of life, our livelihoods and, quite candidly, the meaningfulness of our productivity have suffered. So much so, that we are living an unsustainable lifestyle that will create nothing but a legacy of dire consequences left for future generations to take care of.

The first way of transcending for any leader is leaving an inspiring mark in the people that have chosen to follow! A seed that will be nurtured by their passion and commitment to a shared purpose. A drive that will lead them to become, in turn, leaders of themselves and others. Leaders of the same brand, that will transcend the time together and leave the seed for others to nurture and grow into future generations.

A leader should always be asking herself: What am I creating for the future? What shall I leave behind? If the only questions she has are about the present and the bottom line, she is missing the point of leadership altogether. And there is no worse let down than finally understanding that your whole struggle was in vain and that the results of last quarter have not been enough to make a difference. So how can a leader strike a balance between present and future? How can a vision be kept alive and shared enough to create a lasting legacy? Those are the issues we will discuss in the next post. And I hope your comments here will feed into it. So what do you say? How can you lead for transcendence?

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Lead Yourself First!

A while back, I published a great post on the subject from Randy Hall (Self-Leadership: The Toughest Kind). His insights were so masterful and to the point! I do recommend you head over there and read them.

As part of my commitment to the LeadChange Group, I am preparing a members-only webinar on Leading

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Dropping the Balls

I know when I am in over my head because I start dropping the balls. Some of them fall on my head. Some go unnoticed for days. I might have forgotten to make a call, or a payment! I may have not gotten around to canceling that appointment, or that project! The point is,

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Three Ways To Restore Optimism at Work

This post first appeared on Shawn Murphy’s wonderful blog at Achieved Strategies, as part of his Wake up and Shake it Up leadership series. I just loved it and had to share it here!  So I asked, and he graciously agreed. Shawn does change management consulting for expanding how organizations, leaders & employees

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Boundless Energy

Have you ever experienced a time in your life when you have boundless energy? You know: you get much more done that usual, you have energy to spare for your hobbies and friends, you can take on new projects with little or no difficulty and time seems to expand as you need it to?

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How To Make Yourself Ready!

I know, I know…when the student is ready, the master appears! This is so true. And everything in your life is much clearer and better when you are ready for it. I have been starting this exploration about readiness with my friend, colleague and co-conspirator Ethan Schutz, who shared his musings on the Human

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Focus on the Flow

I have been talking recently with several friends who worry they are not focused enough. For some people focus is about getting through that to-do list, completing the path from a to b or just doing one thing at a time. But that is not always the case. Some of us focus better when

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Citizens, Students or Teams.

In Mexico, several towns have an established occurrence called “Citizen’s Wednesday”. On the said day of the week, the Mayor will be out in the square to listen to the citizens’ requests and comments openly for a few hours. The idea is to bring government closer to the common citizen, opening different, more immediate

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Which is the Interruption?

A week or so ago, I was talking to my good friend Marion Chapsal and she was telling me about how her daughter came into the room while she was busy working, a cute vision patiently standing within her view. A bit crampy about being interrupted, Marion was gently reminded that she had promised

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That One Thing

If you are anything like me and the people I work with, you have a full week ahead of you! There’s appointments to make, people to meet with, things to get done, calls to make, places to be. All this has to get done of course, but it can become overwhelming and put you

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