Lead with Wisdom E-Book

Mark Strom

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 486

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

A practical guide for leading others with wisdom, integrity, and humanity This book argues that great leadership requires wisdom. Rather than a formulaic managerial approach to leadership, Lead with Wisdom presents the case for leadership based on our shared humanity and the stories that unite us. What emerges is a model of leadership based on learning to read key patterns of human experience: the way language shapes our reality, how we form new meaning through conversation, how relationships determine influence and how we deal with uncertainty. It presents readers with the tools and illustrated examples to implement the four arts of leading wisely: how to draw out and create a new story in the organization, how to find and leverage the brilliance of people, how to speak with promise to restore meaning and hope, and how to show grace in dealing with the most demanding people and circumstances. * Offers a leadership approach rooted in our shared humanity and the stories which unite and define us * Ideal for corporate leaders, middle managers, administrators, and anyone else with management responsibilities * Written by a popular speaker on leadership and the author of Arts of the Wise Leader, with personal CEO experience and a PhD in the history of ideas * Structured as one key idea per page or double page spread with funky line drawings supporting the concepts and skills For anyone who wants to lead with wisdom, integrity, and humanity, Lead with Wisdom offers a welcome alternative to traditionally robotic and formulaic leadership strategies.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication

Introduction

Part I: Wisdom and Leadership

The Story Behind Wisdom and Leadership

Chapter 1: Wisdom

Wisdom is the stuff of life

Wisdom is close at hand

The Priority of Wisdom

A useful distinction: Wisdom is observation and insight, not law, morality, or formula

Wisdom reads well the patterns of life

Watch life’s patterns and learn

Words change things

The Big Idea of the One and Many

How to Pick a Split World

Abstraction, or the curse of the school project

Wisdom Translates Well the Patterns of Life

Translating takes perspective

Three Tests for Strategy

Wisdom stays open to the patterns of life

Attention is as varied as we are

Thoughts on Attentiveness

Wisdom lives the patterns with integrity

Wisdom lives the patterns with care

Chapter 2: Leadership

Leading well is bringing wisdom to life

It’s a cliché, but leading is a journey

Authority and character are always in the mix

A useful distinction: Formal authority extends to lists. Informal authority extends to hearts and minds.

A Tale of Mana

Qualities that Shape a Group

Deep Character

Blessing expresses deep intent

Build on Brilliance

Create the space to find voice

Truth, Beauty, Goodness & Living Well

Leaders (Re)Shape the System

Leaders who Lead Learners

Failure is an anvil for wisdom

Part II: Patterns

The Story Behind Patterns

Chapter 3: Naming

We live and lead in language

How Naming Can Transform

A useful distinction: Naming is letting meaning unfold in language, not forcing precision through definition

Language shapes reality

Naming is more than positivity

Naming and maturity

The Significance of Naming our Past Well

Strong naming subverts clichés

Behind the Idea of Naming Stand Some Significant Thinkers

Naming complexity by systems

Poets, Wizards, and Misfits

The Unusual Story of Naming as Learning

Hunting for a name

Chapter 4: Conversation

We construct meaning in conversation

A useful distinction: Conversation is not the same as communication

Meaning unfolds in relationship

Two Roads for Engagement

We know by indwelling

How We know Shapes how we Talk

Conversation brings strength

Breakdown enables new meaning

Breakdown enables new meaning

Maintain commitment

Moving to questions

The Arts of Asking Grounded Questions

How One School Began its Transformation

Living Conversation

There’s no point talking to …!

Sustain core conversations

Champion strategic conversations

Chapter 5: Influence

To lead is to influence

The Story of Joshua Chamberlain

A useful distinction: Position influences compliance. Character influences hearts and minds.

The boundaries of influence

Commitment and Meaning Enable Influence

Building relationship

When we Hear Each Other

The Ancient Arts to Invent and Persuade

All it takes is little hinges

Influence in social systems

The Power of Positive Deviants

Character shapes influence

Chapter 6: Character

Character rests on dignity

Reflections on Dignity

Nobility and humility express character

A useful distinction: Personality expresses individuality. Character is the substance beneath it.

Daughter of the Killing Fields Theary Chan Seng

Character holds the will

Two Visions of Life a Tale of Two Trees

Brokenness

‘I wronged you. Period’.

Choosing character

Imagining your end

Growing in character

Part III: Arts

The Story Behind Arts

Chapter 7: Story

Story is the stuff of life

A useful distinction: Abstractions claim certainty by ignoring people and context. Stories enable clarity by engaging people and context.

‘Storied’ thinking

Faith, Hope, and Love as Storied Ways of Knowing

Story and identity

Story and relationship

Story and culture

What History Offers Us

Drawing out stories

A Storied Approach to Change

Stories unlock value

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address

A storied approach to strategy

Images of a storied heart and mind

And then we Speak

Chapter 8: Brilliance

We all shine somewhere

A useful distinction: Brilliance is ability, heart, and mind expressed uniquely. Conformity shrinks each.

Everyone can shine

[Not so] Everyday Brilliance

Our stories hold the clues

An Exercise to Map your Brilliance

Unpacking the exercise

Introducing the BrQ©™® Brilliance Quotient

Brilliant by design

Unlikely brilliance

A timely word can release brilliance

A Wildly Generalised History of Brilliance

Finding Brilliance in Craft

Mapping Reputation

Chapter 9: Promise

A strong and true word of hope

A useful distinction: A promise speaks truth with hope. A platitude is a banal wish.

Words that kill strategic capacity

How words can limit life

Calling false and weak behaviour

Promise strengthens interpretation

What Do you See?

Clarity and Respect in Straight Talk

Enabling Robust Meetings

A Model for Speaking Life into Strategy

Reflections on the Idea of Transformation

Ripple of hope

Chapter 10: Grace

Grace is the ‘yes’ of life

Grace is a radical idea

A useful distinction: Grace subverts status

A further distinction: Rank is responsibility. Status is self-interest.

Grace reframes strength

A Tale of the Harmony of Grace

Grace: How to Use the Arts

Exploring the Practical Insights of Grace in Business

Let it go

When rights are not enough

Peering into the Puzzle of Grace Upon Grace

Growing in grace

Part IV: Applying the Patterns and Arts

The Story Behind Application

Chapter 11: Leader’s Journey

We need to know our stories

This is Mark’s Story

We need to make sense of our stories

Look for the Patterns and the Arts

Chapter 12: Leading One

We enter the other’s story

Mark on Mark and Luke’s Story

Luke on Mark and Luke’s Story

We need to make sense of our stories

Look for the Patterns and the Arts

Chapter 13: Leading Many

We embody the story and sustain the conversation

The Surprising Untold Story of Paul

We need to make sense of our stories

Look for the Patterns and the Arts

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Endnotes

Lead with Wisdom is a heartfelt, powerful, compelling and beautifully observed map of leadership.

Sir Robert ‘Bob’ Harvey KNZM QSO

Chair, Auckland Waterfront Authority

Mark Strom accomplishes a truly extraordinary task: illuminating how wisdom drives leadership. His approach is intellectually fascinating and practically simple, and reflects the impressive existential depth of his own life’s course.

Pierre Gurdjian

Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company, Brussels

I wish I’d had Lead with Wisdom the past three years while our city has beenrecovering from a natural disaster. I’m inspired to never give up the hope of a better future nor the search for a better way of leading.

Ngaire Button

Deputy Mayor, City of Christchurch

A truly original and deeply innovative guide to wise and powerful leadership.

Tom Morris PhD

Author of If Aristotle Ran General Motors, and many others.

Former Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame, USA

This is a wonderful and thoughtful treasure chest of the very human talents to belearned on the journey to wise leadership. It is rich with stories of the ways in whichwe can better connect with one another — the foundation of leadership. Mark has created a special guide for us all, as leaders, and as human beings.

Jo Brosnahan QSO

Founding Chair, Leadership New Zealand, Auckland

Profoundly reframes the connectivity of leadership and wisdom.

Jim Varghese AM

Chairman and Director

Former CEO, Springfield Land Corporation, Brisbane

Former Directors-General of Queensland Main Roads, and Education Queensland

A bright vision of real, true leadership.

Feena May DBA

Head of Global Learning and Development,

International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva

We have long needed a deeper theory around leadership. This is it. Mark lifts the whole debate to a new level by aligning the modern word of ‘leader’ with the ancient concept of ‘wisdom’.

Tony Golsby-Smith PhD

Co-Founder and CEO, Second Road, Sydney

This book is a must. An inspiring, elegant, humanist vision of leadership. A journey to the heart of being human.

Muriel Hanikenne

Coach and Career Development Manager,

GDF Suez Energy Europe, Brussels

In a world crying out for wise leaders who can speak to the heart of matters and people, Mark’s insights both from the lens of history and modern day stories will strike a chord.

Martin Tan

Co-Founder and Executive Director, Halogen Foundation, Singapore

Mark partnered me when I saw a real need to infuse conversation around making a difference in the way my staff and I catered to the needs of the students in our school. What came from that partnership was truly remarkable and forever changed the way we all saw our roles in the students’ lives. Mark has had an everlasting and positive impact both on the school and on me personally.

Toni McKinnon

Former Principal, Liverpool West Primary School

The best book on the practical application of wisdom for life and leadership I’ve ever read. This book needs to become the alternative leadership guide for the 21st century.

Mike Thompson PhD

Visiting Professor of Management Practice

China Europe International Business School, Shanghai

Co-founder and Chief Integrity Officer, Good Leaders Online (GLO), Shanghai

If you’ve ever felt unsettled by a formulaic approach to change or hoped that there is a deeper and more noble path, this is probably the alternate wisdom you’ve been looking for.

Ann Austin

National Sustainability Manager, Lend Lease — Building, Sydney

A compelling map, guide and inspiration to those willing to think and grow as leaders.

Selwyn D’Souza

Partner, Head of Strategy, Deloitte Consulting Australia, Sydney

An inspiring and artful weaving together of ancient insight and modern realities.

Bessi Graham

CEO and Co-Founder, The Difference Incubator, Melbourne

This deceptively simple book provides profound advice and insight.

Bernard McKenna PhD

Associate Professor, University of Queensland Business School

It would be foolish to claim any book can turn you or anyone into a wise leader. Butthis book is likely to set you, like it did for me, on a path to dare to become one.

Laurent Ledoux

President of the Executive Committee,

Federal Public Service for Mobility & Transports, Brussels

Offers a fundamental schema for effective leadership with humanity, integrity and brilliance.

Mark Diamond

Instructional Leader and Leadership Mentor,

Department of Education and Communities NSW, Sydney

A hymn to our history, our nature, and the beauty of inspiring the best in others.

Ana de Montvert

Business Ethics Work Stream Leader, Caux Initiatives for Business, Zurich

Poignant, elegant, substantive, profound, simple.

Theary Seng

President, CIVICUS, Phnom Penh

First published in 2014 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064 Office also in Melbourne

© Interpretive Consulting Pty Ltd 2014

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Author:

Strom, Mark, author

Title:

Lead with Wisdom: how wisdom transforms good leadersinto great leaders / Mark Strom

ISBN:

9781118637463 (pbk.)9781118637579 (ebook)

Subjects:

Wisdom. Leadership.

Dewey Number:

153.4

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

To the generations that follow: Miriam, Luke & Jo, Hannah & Leon, and your little ones on the way. You teach me what it is to walk and lead in wisdom and grace.

INTRODUCTION

Mud. That’s what Aussie bricklayers call mortar. Leadership is a lot like laying bricks. Every day you handle ‘bricks’. These are the substantial things that have to be done, delivered, checked, and signed off. But in and around them is the ‘mortar’ of countless small things. Like the words you use. Or the corridor chats. Or what you did with that nagging intuition. Or if you were really present in that conversation yesterday. Or whether you believe your own strategy. The strength of a wall is in the mortar, not the bricks. This is a book about laying bricks. The ‘mud’ is wisdom.

Leadership needs wisdom. Every day you face oddities that need more than standard answers. Sometimes you just need a great question to unearth what’s really going on. But how do you find a great question? How do you craft a compelling argument for moving forward? How do you do this so people come with you as active authors rather than as passive readers? How do you help them find their brilliance? For that matter, how do you find your own brilliance and become more deliberate about leading from it? This is the stuff of wisdom.

None of this is about numbers and formulas, or even processes. It’s not even so much about answers. It’s deeper and simpler and more human. This is about how words shape our experience. About how people interpret and form meaning. About the power of questions and stories. More than anything, it’s about relationships. How you build true authority and influence. What it takes for people to trust you. How you stay true in the face of fear or opportunity. What it means to be present and attentive to people and ideas. And how you bring conversations alive that stimulate serious innovation and deep, lasting change.

None of this comes quickly or easily. I’ve been a CEO twice as well as advising many leaders over many years. I know that the expectations of leadership can be overwhelming. A lot pushes back at you from outside and inside. The good news is that we don’t need to master any of this. What we need is the desire and confidence to grow.

Wisdom is for dining rooms, lunch rooms, board rooms, and parliaments. Lead with Wisdom offers a map of wisdom for leaders and clues for navigating from it. You can see that map on page 2 and repeated at the start of each section. There are four parts to the map and the book, and thirteen chapters.

In Part I: Wisdom and Leadership, I view wisdom as reading the patterns of life with discernment and applying your insights with integrity and care. I then look at leadership as a pattern of human experience. My aim is to dignify leadership while demystifying it.

In Part II: Patterns, I examine four patterns of human experience that you deal with every day. I call them Naming, Conversation, Influence, and Character. Simply, they are about how language shapes reality, how meaning is formed in dialogue, how relationship shapes influence, and how the will faces uncertainty and fear.

In Part III: Arts, I examine four arts for working with the patterns. I call them Story, Brilliance, Promise, and Grace. Simply, we learn to work with story to shape identity, intent and community; we learn to draw out people’s capacity to shine; we learn to speak so as to deepen character and hope; and we learn how to strengthen heart through dignity and kindness.

In Part IV: Applying the Patterns and Arts, I share three stories central to how I came to see these patterns and arts and work with them. The first is my own story. I tell it to encourage you to know and tell your own. The second is the story of my friendship with my son Luke through rich and difficult years. The third is an ancient story whose legacy is the contradictions that shape our ongoing attempts to lead with wisdom.

A simple idea underpins the design of the book. Apart from the final three stories and chapters, there is a single idea to each page or double page spread. Think of them as conversation starters that build one upon the other. There are also specific layouts throughout to distinguish different types of content that build and crystallise the whole meaning.

There are one and two page ‘articles’ where I address important tangents. For example, this isn’t a book on strategy but when you link wisdom and leadership to strategy you get some interesting ideas. The illustrations help illuminate the ideas, make key concepts accessible, and hopefully take some stuffiness out of leadership. The ‘Question and Answer’ sections in each chapter are a personal favourite where I’ve tried to anticipate what a reader might want to ask at those points. And every chapter mixes ideas from history and even a little philosophy with everyday stories and practical how-to suggestions. It’s full of tips.

Wisdom is big and old, but it should also stay accessible and fresh. This is a book you can dip in and out of, go deeper on certain topics, pause, skip forward, and easily come back later. You can read from start to back, a chapter at a time, or just browse. May it refresh your heart and mind to lead with wisdom.

PART I

Wisdom and Leadership

Leadership needs wisdom. Although we can gain wisdom and still not lead well, no-one leads well without wisdom.

THE STORY BEHIND WISDOM AND LEADERSHIP

Leadership needs wisdom

I never particularly liked the word leadership. I always knew it could be a rich word full of nobility and people doing bold or selfless things to open up a way through great difficulties. But it could also mask something narcissistic or even darker.

Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Mandela, and Mary Robinson are all called leaders who served their people well. We hear stories of unsung people who lead people to safety and action in the face of floods, fires, famine, and war. We’ve also seen and heard manipulation, intimidation, belittling, and hype called ‘being a leader’. Everyone who accepts the call to lead must find a way to think about leadership. For my part, I put it inside the bigger idea of wisdom.

In Chapter 1: Wisdom, I view wisdom in terms of reading the patterns of life. It’s an old idea found in traditions from the ancient Near East to the First Peoples of America. The ways most things happen in the human and non-human worlds forms patterns. We grow wise by paying attention to them and drawing conclusions that help us live well. And living well brings integrity and care into the picture.

In Chapter 2: Leadership, I apply this old insight to leadership itself. What is leading if it too is a pattern? I think this helps sort out some old questions, like: born or made, position or person, formal or informal. Since we were kids just about everyone has led at some time. And, no matter who you are, or what your title or role, you still have to follow. It’s the pattern. That means our positions don’t make us leaders. Our positions are our contexts, where we can lead wisely or foolishly. But we want to lead wisely. So let’s start with wisdom.

CHAPTER 1

Wisdom

Wisdom is the stuff of life

We know it when we see it

Plato recalled Socrates saying, ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’. Whether the old sage was right, we cannot say. But what we surely can say is that the unreflective life seldom leads to wisdom.

No definition will do wisdom justice. It’s simply too vast, subtle, and profound. Yet wisdom is not utterly mysterious to us: we recognise it in the words, actions and characters of people. Perhaps, like love, we know wisdom more tacitly than overtly: we know more than we can say or define. We know love, and wisdom, as much by its absence as its presence, and we can discern the genuine article from pretence. And, like love, we long for the ways wisdom enriches and completes us.

Wisdom is as old as humanity: the accumulated insights of cultures and traditions gained over vast generations. At our best, we live, we notice, we learn, we remember, and we bequeath a better legacy.

Wisdom is as varied as we are. It lives in all our glory and profundity, contradiction and absurdity. We glimpse it in fleeting insights as often as in settled understanding. We name an enduring relationship with our dearest ones as a life of love. Yet not every moment of even the most intimate relationship bears all the marks of love. We cannot live with such intensity. Likewise no-one, not even the wisest, thinks and acts with unbroken wisdom. Just as we lapse into forgetfulness and thoughtlessness toward the ones we love most, so even the wisest lapse into folly.