Twentieth Century Leadership Approach to Change Versus the Twenty-first Century Approach
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Empathy: The Core of Modern Leadership
Leadership as an organizational management nuance has been debated among leadership experts as an art or a science. Leadership as an art is built on relationships and excellent communication skills that are inherent in a leader. It is the ability to apply leadership principles in a flexible, intuitive, and creative manner that reflects your make-up as an individual. Leadership as a science is based on the fact that there are methodologies, systemic approaches, processes, and models to follow for leadership performance. Regardless of the side of the divide that you belong to, it is important to know that leadership is a combination of both science and art. You cannot have the science of it without its artistic approach. That is why leading with empathy demonstrates the overlap that exists between the science of leadership and its art.Sometimes, people just need to be heard, not requiring their problem to be fixed. Accommodating their feelings and being present with them is often more powerful than giving them advice on how to fix their problems. Being with people is more important than working for people. Working for people is often too transactional, creating a parallel of a superhero and a victim, while being with them is the offering of our presence to them in their most difficult time.
Ten Commandments for Possibility Thinkers
Potential is a fascinating subject, but it's worth nothing if you don't put it to work. To perfectly utilize your God-given potential, you have to believe in yourself. You must practice a possibility thinker's ten commandments to believe in yourself.
Robert Schuller, the author of the famous book "Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do", outlined those commandments we must obey if we desire to flourish in life. As an undergraduate, I posted those commandments on the back of the door of my room, and I always read them before I went out for the day. Schuller, as a kid growing up, dreamed of pastoring and building a church that would be all glass and crystal clear for anyone worshipping to see through the sky. He imagined a situation where, when he prayed to God, there wouldn't be any barrier between him and his visual accessibility to God. The Crystal Cathedral was built and dedicated in 1980 for $18 million, the equivalent of about $51 million today, despite being raised in an impoverished background.
The Intent and Purpose of Leadership
There are many ways in which people have defined leadership across time and age. I have been privileged to come across a few of those definitions. Amazingly, all the ones I have come across in my study about leadership are insanely good. However, the definition that resonates with me the most was the one given by John Maxwell, who defines leadership as “Influence, nothing more, nothing less!” Maxwell also says, “Everything rises and falls on leadership!” I couldn’t agree less with him because, whichever way you look at leadership, it is simply about influencing, inspiring, and motivating people to do things they would not think of doing on their own. Leadership is taking people from a state of inactivity to a place of extraordinary accomplishment. When you can genuinely mobilize people to get things done without force or coercion, you become enlisted in this type of ingenious leadership. But when you fail as a leader to inspire people to get things done, it reveals a deep flaw in your leadership ability.
There have been many questions about those who aspire to become leaders. The problem is not always with leadership aspiration. Some people have thought it is wrong to aspire to become a leader. No! There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a leader. What you should be concerned about is why you want to become a leader. This is a question that reveals your leadership motive, intent, and purpose. Your motive is very important if you hope to become a leader that society would be proud of and to celebrate.
The Two Inseparable Sides of a Transformational Leader
If there is a subject I have been passionate about in recent years, it must be transformational leadership. Transformational leadership is a reintroduced concept that is beginning to gain recognition among leading experts because of its role in effecting a cultural change in a society or organization. Although it has been around for a long time, many people do not know what it is and how to identify it in practice. Transformational leadership was first popularized in the 1970s by James MacGregor Burns when he tried to contrast its significance with transactional leadership.Burns argues that transactional leadership doesn't care as much about cultural change as the organization's bottom line. On the other hand, transformational leaders don't just move people toward a worthy cause by mere influence. They cause an actual change in how things have been in society or the organization over a set period. So, they are not just influencers, as you would naturally think of a leader. They are agents of change that cause a significant shift in how organizations or societies operate. A transformational leader's ultimate goal is to significantly alter people's behavior, resulting in societal or organizational development.
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