DANCING LEADERSHIP

Here is the next in a series of blogs on leadership and coaching. The DANCE that I refer to is twofold:
1) There is the dance between giving and receiving, receiving and learning.To be an effective leader,coach,teacher and mentor, you must be a good student and follower. I suggest that you be open,receptive and listen to those you lead because they can teach you about who they are and this will make your work more effective. When you accrue this wisdom, you,in turn, can lead and teach them as they can now more effectively follow and learn from your wisdom.
2) There is the dance between the two distinct axes of leadership, the first being performance management, the x's and o's of the business,sport or project...or life. The second axis , perhaps more important and crucial, is what I refer to as the Spiritual or Inspirational axis , allowing you to INSPIRE and EMPOWER those under your guidance. Oren Lyons,leader,caretaker and faith keeper of the Native American tradition and a member of the Onondaga Council of Chiefs,claims that you can't have effective leadership without spirituality. Without spirituality, you have a unidimensional approach which,in a work, is DISPASSIONATE, or the absence of heart. Without heart ( love,caring,kindness,respect, positive regard,trust)you set a tone with a team, organization,family or individual that is UNSAFE,unloving,uncaring and spiritless in a results-driven culture where failure is unacceptable and taking risks is discouraged. In this unsafe environment, progress and growth and change are inhibited and curtailed. Emotional cancer is abundant and proliferates. All involved suffer. What is needed is an environment of "emotional engagement", very much like being a good parent provides.
     The ancient Taoist sage and author of  "The Art of War", Sun-Tzu,reminds us about how to lead with HEART: "Regard your soldiers as your children,and they will follow wherever you lead. Look upon them as your beloved sons and they will stand by you until death".
     All the great leaders and coaches today seek to inspire and empower others. They accomplish it in environments that are safe, where those they lead open their hearts and give permission for them to enter and that's where a leader's greatest INFLUENCE takes place, where others will begin to believe they can be something other than ordinary. Don't be a wallflower, don't sit out this dance. Waltz like a Warrior Leader and dance the dance.
     I'm on my way out the door for a dance with the mountains.    DOCJ