Inspirational Presence. Jeff Evans
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points. Some are based on the ability to manipulate others (à la Niccolò Machiavelli) or to lead armies to victory (à la Sun Tzu); some focus on skills and behaviors (à la Kurt Lewin); some look at the motivational ability of the leader (à la David McClelland); some are based in power (à la John Kotter); and some are based in authority (à la Max Weber). Each of these has its success story and obviously makes sense in some context. This approach to leadership is a combination of two groups of skills: individual and group. The group skills are essential to overall leadership ability, but the basis is in the individual, with who you are as a person and where you want to go.
The act of leadership is a combination of skills and unique worldviews that combine to allow leaders the flexibility to create new conditions, to move the hearts and minds of others, and to manifest reality that would not have emerged otherwise. There have been many individuals who have exhibited great leadership in their fields, including (among others) artists, scientists, scholars, musicians, and explorers. Their pioneering efforts created new possibilities and encouraged change around them from people who had learned from either their example or their tutelage. Many of these pioneers had little or no interest in whether anyone else went in the same direction as they went. They were simply following their own passion. That, in itself, is a fundamental part of leadership—the piece that begins at home, deep in the soul of the creator. That is the part that cannot be falsified. It is true passion. Very often, these people lead by creating movements or new thoughts that others imitate or adopt later. The act of individual creativity, however, often does not have a number of immediate followers, nor does it necessarily have the intention of having others follow.
Then there is another category of leaders, those who are emphatic in their desire for others to share in their path and to create better conditions for many people. These leaders are much more concerned about the efforts and results of groups of people, not just their own efforts. The ability to lead yourself and follow your own passion is still the starting point, but this form of leadership also requires a broader understanding of how groups and organizations work. These leaders must have a means to fully grasp and order the entire system with which they are working. For example, a person with a passion for clean fuels and a sustainable environment can spend his time in the lab creating the technologies, or he can become a social activist, creating broad change that requires clean fuels and a sustainable environment. Each would have different levels of involvement at the group level. While the first example requires the creative spirit and discipline of personal passion, much of that energy is turned toward the technology and mechanics. In the second, much of the energy is turned toward the people who are using that technology. Both require the fundamental passion to fuel the creativity. Both are immensely valuable to our world, and both have their lessons. Both can benefit from the ability to tap into their inspiration and allow their presence to impact the people with whom they are dealing.
LEADERSHIP STARTS AT HOME—WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE ARE YOU GOING?
I have heard two approaches to living your life. One old adage is “Bloom where you are planted.” I greatly admire and respect the ability of people who make the most of any situation. Martin Luther King, Jr., said it like this: “If it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets as Rafael painted pictures, sweep streets as Michelangelo carved marble, sweep streets as Beethoven composed music or as Shakespeare wrote poetry.” This approach is a fundamental part of being present and fully putting your love, light, and humanity into whatever situation you encounter. There is a real beauty in this approach to life.
The second approach is to go out and create your own life. This involves an inward journey to begin finding more than just where you have wound up on this planet. This means finding where you want to be. From here, you can actively step out and find a pathway to a destination that only you have imagined.
Ideally, a leadership journey would involve a combination of the two. You would decide the destination and path, then fully engage every moment along the way with full passion and commitment to experience the joy of the journey.
In the last chapter, I spoke of leaders who found their inspiration and, through that, inspired others to places of greatness. This is one point of paradox in this model. Those people who are most connected with their source of power and inspiration are often the least concerned with directing or controlling what others do. They are, in their deepest and most sincere places, driven to direct their own actions. This deep and innate personal commitment is what creates the sense of tribal unity that causes others to work their hardest to move in the same direction as their leader.
These leaders usually want particular outcomes in the world, and they want for other people to share in particular sensibilities. In a business setting, the global leader definitely wants for people in the organization to pay attention to particular areas and details but usually only to the degree that these areas produce certain results. This leader will hope that the people in the organization actually want the same things and that their desires guide constructive action.
There is a very simple path to accomplishing this basic and essential first step of leadership. Here’s the formula:
1. Find your passion—that is the thing that you most love and want to have happen in the world.
2. Connect with your passion on a deep and personal level. Become an expert. Make it an integral part of the fabric of your life and the essence of your being.
3. Launch your passion into the world in a big, big way. Imagine the greatest possible contribution that you can make; double that, then double it again, then figure out how you can live it into being every day of your life.
Simple, right? Well, actually, it is. We begin early in life with this, learning things that interest us, excelling in sports, learning music, becoming artists, engineers, architects, and engaging in other creative pursuits. We initiate this process in small ways, but as we become more conscious and aware, our interests start to shift to larger and more socially connected issues. As we grow beyond the point of being able to do it all ourselves, we enter the realm of influence, where we must begin to rely on others for our dreams to be fully realized. We expand our passions from areas of interest to hobbies to life purposes. Along the way, those areas of interest will probably change. What will remain constant is the skill that you have acquired in learning to engage an idea and hold it in a deeply important place.
While it may seem formulaic and perhaps daunting, it is an absolute requirement. If you cannot be inspired, how can you ever hope to inspire others? If you cannot find your own way, why would anyone ever choose to follow you?
Each of us comes to this life with something to accomplish. We have our core lessons to learn, and our core contribution to make. Every aspect of our lives weaves together to form a tapestry that is unique in every sense, with its own beauty and sense of purpose. Humans are creative and generative beings. During the time we walk this planet, some of us will find that place and will live life to its fullest, contributing to the society and the evolution of humanity. Others will not, regardless of the opportunities or the deep desires they may have.
This first step of leadership is of great importance. It is not necessarily about finding the one thing that is our deepest and truest purpose for all of time, although we may aspire to do that. More often it tends to be learning to search, find, move, and learn. Many people’s purpose shifts throughout life, as we try out different ways of being and as we experiment with different paths. Mine certainly has. At times, my sense of mission seemed to turn sharply. Other times, it just seemed to course correct. The trend has been mostly one of sharpening, with the mission gradually becoming clearer. It has also become far simpler than in the early stages. More recently, I have found how all of the seemingly disparate parts that I lived earlier in life integrate into a more robust ability to deliver on a very simple mission.
It is perfectly acceptable to refine a sense of mission. Ideally, the process of refining will have us actually move through the redefined mission, not away from it. From there, we will adjust to our next sense of mission. Often we will transition into an endeavor, and while there, discover some aspect that is even more important or deeply satisfying. If that is the case, then move with it. That is ultimately