On Thursday, August 07, 1997 5:44 AM, cbraun@v-wave.com wrote:
> Hello, Thomas! I agree also, however, as an appendice I thought I would
> draw an analogy. I believe that our school system/culture does much the
> same thing to the capacities mentioned by Mike such as creativity etc., as
> a zoo does to animals- it renders them inert to functioning in their
> natural ways. It is no small task to create the conditions that would
> reignite the innate fires of self-direction in people. [snip]
Conrad, Thomas et al.
The sentence by Conrad ("It is no small task to create the conditions that
would reignite the innate fires of self-direction in people.") kind of
grabbed me. There are implications here for leadership which are becoming
different as we begin to embrace complexity.
On one hand we much "design" structure (even if the choice is not to
structure, it is by design) and on the other hand we must not "do" so much
that we create the caution and lack of trust so widely experienced in our
"slow-moving" organizations.
We must do all of this along a broad multidimensional continuum that both
is stimulating to those who seek growth and those who see stability. Much
of the problem we have is like Covey stated, "we try to get everyone to
look through our own glasses, thinking that because we see, they will also
see clearly."
I'm starting to get the feeling that while leadership is situational, it
also becomes reciprocal. IF we as leaders fail to be led FIRST by the
understanding we achieve through awareness of the needs and desires of the
constituency, we have all but precluded the conditions of high performance
in that constituency.
I am reminded of the quote by Ben Gaye III that states: "No amount of
travel down the wrong road will lead to our destination." Within the
constructs of this statement, we begin to see that leadership and learning
are a lot more than "taking charge."
Thinking out loud,
--mike jay <quarterback@msn.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>