 Making
the Leadership Choice:
A Question of Initiative
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Happy 2009! What
an amazing time this is as we greet the dawn of a new
year inviting reflection and renewal in our private
lives, and simultaneously find ourselves at a threshold
in history characterized by change, hope and opportunity
- the call to personal leadership! As a friend of mine
wrote to me in a recent email, “People around the world
are holding their collective breath with the upcoming
inauguration of Barack Obama – I can’t wait to see what
happens as we actually start breathing together!” I
think I speak for all of us in expressing the deep hope
that this riveting moment does not just make for good
television, but serves as a true wake-up call for
everyone world-wide to respond to what I suspect will be
an over-arching theme of Obama’s administration – and
that is “a call to service”. Given the spirit of his
campaign, I suspect that a major theme in tomorrow’s
inaugural address will be to step up and participate as
active citizens of our communities. Such a summons can
only be responded to, of course, by first renewing our
dreams and desires, and recommitting to our values and
purposes.
It’s interesting
that we take for granted the cyclical nature of the
seasons – even as the pristine silence prevails over the
frozen fields of winter, we hold the hope and faith of
the greening season to come. The same holds true of our
larger lives. We expect to have periods of rushing
forth and blooming bright, just as we expect to have
periods of retreat, slowing down, and freezing up. We
sometimes live in a phase of questions, only to arrive
in a phase that provides answers. We may experience
months in which we feel on the top of the world, and
others in which we feel the weight of the world on our
shoulders. And so we march with the passage of time …
sometimes skipping, other times dancing, once in a while
tripping or stumbling ahead in a life of work and of
play, joy and sadness, adventure and boredom, connection
and loneliness. Two steps forward, one step back -
always with the intention of pursuing our destiny and
staying on a purposeful path.
While we embrace
the cyclical nature of the seasons and of our lives in
general, what we often forget is that this same cyclical
phenomenon is at work in the life of our commitments,
our values, and our purposes. We’d like to think of
them as constant, but the perennial process of birth,
decay and renewal are as much at work with regard to our
dreams and desires as they are to every other part of
our nature. That’s why it is so easy to lose our
footing – to stray from the path – to fall off the
wagon. We can despair about it, or we can face the
reality that we have as much difficulty and need as much
discipline with regard to our intentions and commitments
as we do to our diets, our budgets, and our physical
well-being.
It is in that
spirit that I pose the following question:
In your day to
day dealings at work, with family, in community, and as
a citizen of the world, how often do you make a
leadership choice? In other words, how often do you
defer to the role of observer or innocent bystander
rather than show up as an active participant, or an
involved and committed citizen?
I believe this to
be one of those essential and persistent questions that
arises in times of transition, or at threshold periods …
times when we are attempting anew to take charge of our
lives in some fundamental way, perhaps with a move, a
new job, the pursuit or completion of a degree, entering
a new relationship, at the onset of a new year, or dare
I say, when inspired by a new leader!
Leadership as
a Choice
I pose the
question in terms of “making a leadership choice” for
two reasons: First, contrary to popular notion of
leadership, I do not see it as a question of the
position or the power that one holds in relation to
other people, but the position one takes or the use of
one’s power within any given context. So the teacher
who speaks up on behalf of students and families who are
not being fairly represented in a meeting is practicing
leadership, regardless of the fact that he is not
leading the meeting. The daughter who convinces the
family to give to a local charity rather than partake in
traditional gift-giving is practicing leadership. The
employee who determines that every person in her
workplace should be able to greet customers who speak
Spanish with a few words, and inspires her co-workers to
that end, is practicing leadership. From this
perspective, it is possible that we are afforded
numerous occasions in the course of a day, a week, or a
month, to make the choice to take a leadership stance,
to initiate change or movement, even if in a small way.
With the desire to move ahead as families, as
workplaces, as agencies, or as communities, we have to
be the bridge that connects where we are with where we
wish to be. To that end, we all have to lead!
Secondly, I refer
to it as a “choice” because we always get to choose the
level of initiative with which we will respond to the
questions that arise in any given situation:
-
What role
shall I play here?
-
What
responsibility am I willing/unwilling to take?
-
What is at
stake for me and for those I care about in this
situation?
-
What concern
of this is mine?
-
What level of
influence do I care to have at this time and
place?
These are vital
questions, because while there is a time for sitting
back and a time for entering the arena, the respective
worlds we live in and the larger world we belong to, are
only going to get better if a good number of us decide
to actually care – to make other people’s welfare a
matter of our own welfare - to be participants rather
than spectators, to speak up rather than remain silent.
As we all know, a different world cannot be made by
indifferent people. Social justice will only come about
when we learn to live in a community that actually works
for every member of that community. A culture of
tolerance will come about from the practice of tolerance
within our own lives. The same is true of peace,
equanimity, fairness, hope, truth. We will become what
we practice.
Why not us?
I love the
assertion made by Thomas Davidson: “Do not believe that
all greatness and heroism are in the past. Learn to
discover princes, prophets, heroes and saints among the
people about you. Be assured they are there.” And if
“they” are indeed “there”, or should we say, “Here”, why
would we resist the notion that we would be among them?
Why not us? What would we have to lose by acting as if
our very presence in the world actually mattered? What
if we each carry medicine that is ours alone to give?
Who of us is exempt from sharing the responsibility of
how the world unfolds? Whether we experience it as a
burden or a blessing, are we not obligated by our very
presence in the web of life?
Before you
dismiss me as a “pie in the sky” thinker, what I am
urging us to undertake is not the mantle of the entire
world, but the small portion that lies in front of us.
Even if we start by improving ourselves in even the
smallest of ways, isn’t the world made better? If we
start with the notion of influencing the people around
us in some positive way, be it through a grand gesture
of generosity or some small anonymous kindness, isn’t
the world made better? I think we fail to put the first
foot forward because we sense the enormity of the need
before us, and feeling powerless in the wake of that
enormity, we are stopped in our proverbial tracks.
Benjamin Franklin cut to the very heart of that fear
when he advised: “Be not afraid of growing too slowly.
Be afraid only of standing still.”
The Continuum
of Initiative
I recently
designed a training tool called the “Continuum of
Initiative” for a workshop entitled, “Enhancing
Potential for Everyday Leadership”. The tool
delineates three degrees of initiative-taking with
“Follower/Observer” on the low end,
“Achiever/Self-starter” in the middle, and
“Catalyst/Leader” on the high end. Here are some of the
key factors distinguishing the three stances along the
continuum:
- The
Follower/Observer Stance
Is driven by
emotion and immediate gratification, putting one’s sense
of security first and foremost. Just wants to get by.
Makes the choice that appears most popular or
widely-held, not wanting to rock the boat. Does what is
asked or what is obvious to do. Waits for momentum.
Good at following instructions – willingness to be shown
the way. Pretty much reacts to the situation at hand,
often feeling the victim of circumstance.
- The
Achiever/Self-Starter Stance:
Is driven by
one’s goals and the desire to succeed, willing to “go
the extra mile” in the pursuit of one’s objectives.
Makes choices that will likely position him/her the best
in the situation. Is resourceful and attentive,
ambitiously seeking hidden opportunities to make the
best of a position and to rise about it. Responds
thoughtfully to circumstances. Capitalizes on momentum
and strives to be the best he/she can be.
- The
Catalyst/Leader Stance:
Is driven by
one’s sense of purpose, and with the “big picture” in
mind, focuses on doing whatever is necessary in order to
achieve the greater good. Makes choices based on
matters of principle. Is proactive in seeking creative
approaches to circumstances. Works to create momentum
and to bring others along in the extra mile. Strives to
bring out the best of and for everyone in a situation.
Surely, we have
all been in roles and relationships in which we have
modeled all three stances on the continuum, and
everywhere in between. There are areas of our lives in
which we enjoy the more passive and reflexive role of
follower, others in which we are motivated to stretch
our normal boundaries for the sake of personal gain or
professional growth, and still others in which we feel
called to act as an agent of change or to use our
influence for the benefit of someone or something else.
We may act as followers as members of a church or as
citizens of a community, be quite self-starting at work
or within an educational setting, but step up to be true
leaders within our families, within our neighborhoods,
or as a volunteer for a local non-profit. A person
might take a follower approach to the job search, an
achiever approach as an intern, and a leadership
approach in her support group.
I posit that
while we are not meant to be followers or leaders in
every aspect of our lives, we are meant to take the
initiative of a leader in some part of our
lives. We only have so much time, energy, and attention
to devote to the world, to ourselves, and to the ones we
love. As such, we have to choose carefully where we
will invest the precious gift of our initiative. But
invest it we must - for isn’t the impulse to contribute,
to add value, to speak out, and to serve one of the
great privileges of being human?
I, along with
many of you and so many people around the world, feel so
hopeful and blessed to be a witness to the inauguration
of Barack Obama this coming Tuesday. But I, for one, do
not wish to take an observer stance at this historic
time. I want to feel that I am with him, behind him,
and beside him in the attempt to breathe new hope and
usher in an era of active citizenship. What that will
mean for me personally, I am not certain, but the
writing of this issue of this newsletter is my first
sincere attempt to use my voice and influence on behalf
of the greater good. I ask you all to join me in that
attempt, to step back and look at the landscape of your
life, deliberately choosing those times and places when
you can take the initiative to make a leadership
choice. As the poet so eloquently expresses in the
poem below, “The time of the lone wolf is over.”
With a heart full
of hope,
~ Denise
© Denise Bissonnette, January 2009.
(If not used for commercial purposes, this article
may be reproduced, all or in part, providing it is credited to
"Denise Bissonnette, Diversity World - www.diversityworld.com."
If included in a newsletter or other publication, we would
appreciate receiving a copy.)
Read Denise's previous (November 2008) newsletter...
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