ON LEADERSHIP

     The phenomenon of leadership has been associated with a
person (the leader) and colored by our management/organization
paradigm to relate specifically to the CEO or top manager. This is
a mistake. Leadership is an inherent capacity in everyone and no
organization or human system will be "successful" in a personally
meaningful way unless individual leadership by everyone is
enhanced by the processes of the organization/human system.
Leaders, real leaders, understand this and provide vision,
support, and personal relationship with those around them, thus
empowering them to experience and actualize their own leadership.

     There is no hierarchy of leadership. Some, however, have more
clarity of vision and purpose, greater intrinsic motivation and
more compassion in their relationships. These we instinctively
trust and call leaders. They call out the best in us. We resonate
to their inner experience of their own life callings, and we
follow them. Not blindly, but with ever increasing clarity of our
own life purposes. This is the unfolding of leadership in a
wholistic sense. Leadership finds expression in the person to a
greater or lesser degree, but it is more properly associated with
the whole.

     Leaders understand power in a different way. Lord Acton put
it very succinctly when he observed that "power corrupts and
absolute power corrupts absolutely." The leader's power is not
conferred by the organization or system, it is intrinsic. It is
never used to motivate, reward, or punish. It is the personal
expression of the leader's commitment to the fulfillment of his or
her vision or dream. It may be quiet and steadfast or joyously
ebullient, but is congruent with their inner character. It is used
to build and to enhance. And it is founded on the bedrock of love.

     We may mistakenly offer or give up our own power to leaders,
but they will not accept it. They gently return it to us enhanced
by their own expression of its value. This is the true meaning of
the term empowerment. Leaders empower no one, except themselves.
They simply awaken us to our own innate capacity, and encourage us
to express it in the pursuit of our own vision.

--Phil Alexander, 9/5/91

"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has
genius, power, and magic in it."

--Alexander Penney, Editor-in-Chief, Self magazine

                        REFLECTIONS ON LEADERSHIP

     When I wrote the little essay on leadership (see the article
"On Leadership"), it clearly called to attention the unlikelihood
that one would find leaders at the top of organizations.
Organizations are founded on an altogether different understanding
of power. Managerial power, the power of position conferred by the
organization to accomplish the organization's goals, is altogether
different (and more like the power Lord Acton was concerned
about), than the intrinsic power of leadership. Further, it seems
likely that the more an individual relies on managerial power and
authority and uses them to punish, reward, and motivate, the less
the individual is likely to experience his or her own personal
power. Climbing the management ladder may be the best
way to the top of the organization, but it is probably the worst
training for leadership.

     And therein lies the dilemma. We want leaders. But we seem to
want them to head up our big corporations and governmental
bureaucracies. And this is the least likely place to find them. It
is not that leadership is such a rare commodity in and of itself,
it is simply rare in those situations. Nor is it likely that we
will ever find it there. There is too much extrinsic power
associated with these systems.

     If we were truly serious about creating the opportunity for
leadership to arise, we would begin by eliminating the power of
position or managerial power. However, this would destroy most
corporations and bureaucracies.

     These institutions are not likely to disappear. They won't
because we want them to continue. We are afraid of our own power.
We prefer to give it to someone in return for direction and a
false sense of security.

     We may decry the lack of leadership, but until we are willing
to experience and use our own personal power, we will not find it.
The lack of leadership in our organizations is a reflection of our
own inner situation. As Pogo noted, "we have met the enemy and
they is us."*

--Phil Alexander