Satisfaction or Convention: Which is the Path for You?

Brian Krushel is a friend who shares a passion for people and their potential. I found his musings on Robert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken (and especially the last few lines), "Two roads diverged in a wood and I / I took the one less traveled by / and that has made all the difference", most insightful.


For him: "[i]t speaks a great truth, a truth that we know in our heart of hearts - that well worn paths do not always lead to the finest places; sometimes one must travel another path, an alternate route, the roads less traveled, to find the things that truly satisfy.”

“What would this world be without those people who ‘looked down one as far as [they] could...then took the other’? It’s what drives innovation and creativity, it is what makes good people great people. Most of the great inventors of our world, I dare say, were people who sought out an alternate way to do something. Artists, especially the truly great ones, are usually people who view the world from a different vantage point. Some of the greatest minds of our generation and generations previous belong to people who take the winding overgrown paths just off to the side of the path most take. The road less traveled will not get you to destinations known, but sometimes it gets you somewhere better.”

I think Brian reaches to the heart of the matter. We ask of leaders to be visionaries but gingerly side step the personal cost to them: of separation or maybe isolation or exclusion to some degree. It is the elephant in the room. A true vision must insinuate criticism of what is. Therefore, leaders must expect to raise the ire of those who guard the status quo.

For those that have no choice but to follow a singular path, such knowing is liberating if a little grinding. But it does transform the angst of lonliness into aloneness. It is an important step in a true leader's journey, along with a "recognition that we all share this human experience together". 

Only then, do leaders have the capacity to inspire others to follow, initially - one at a time. The first followers are the champions who will make it safe for others to follow by making "Me to We" possible. It is deep work upon which the foundations of the future rest. 

Alas, true innovation cannot occur without capturing the imagination of those who posses the many kinds of leadership required to turn a vision into a reality. Instead, we've accepted leaders who haven't really ventured off the "well worn path" and forgiven them for never going in search of "the things that truly satisfy”, because they gave us the balm of convention and it did, until now.

Armed with such clarity, my many moments of struggle and even despair would have been accepted as part of the journey, rather than indicators of weakness.  I wish I'd known this in my youth.

Daring to Run Against the Storm

I received an lovely email from one of my young leaders which shed light on the task of growing leadership. She said:

"I don't think there is anything particularly remarkable about those of us in BCLS, we were just given the opportunity, resources and support we needed to deliver. I'm very proud of what we achieved but we certainly couldn't have done it without your groundwork and you setting up those conditions and I'm truly grateful for the experience. I agree with you, given the same opportunities, resources and support young people anywhere could replicate exactly what we did and even take it further and in their own directions. BCLS taught me a great deal about what I'm capable of and more people should have those benefits and that empowerment".

The rest of her email reminded me why I feel so alive in their company. It calls to mind the lyrics of Ella's Song:

To me young people come first, they have the courage where we fail 

And if I can but shed some light as they carry us through the gale

The older I get the better I know that the secret of my going on

Is when the reins are in the hands of the young, who dare to run against the storm 

Now I am left feeling that the judgement of Gen Y as "having a loud voice...and are very forceful" is so negating of their desire  "to build partnerships based on key values, and...mak[e] a difference in the world.” 

As many Boomer leaders ponder "how to handle these upstarts" (1) I am coming to realize their attitude is symptomatic of an anxiety of what is to come. It is the stuff of life: an unfolding drama of waning power confronted by vitality.

So the task for Gen Y is to find kindred spirits across the generations. Who will find it thrilling as you 'dare to run against the storm'?

Like Lindsay-Kay, what impact will you make knowing that:

 ‎"Setting an example is not the main means of influencing others; it is the only means " Albert Einstien 

(1) See Carolin Rekar_Munro

Out With the Old and In With the New

I've received a marvelous email from someone in the UK helping leaders develop a new approach to leadership. He said: "the old formulas of heroic and silo-based leadership do not suffice anymore". Increasingly vexed emails from friends in the UK suggest they are counterproductive, creating division and anxiety in a time of uncertainty.  

And so, his summation of the ensuing dynamic is startling: "If you are a leader and save someone you make them a victim"; and, I would argue, infantilized social relations.


The corollary is plain to see in the BBC's excellent Prison Study. Peppered with raw video clips, it can be viewed as an allegory of organisational life, laying bear our visceral response to poorly executed leadership. While 'civilian' life dictates equanimity, beneath a similar storm does rage. Moreover, this study of exclusion underscores the ultimate power of followers: to judge, to question and ultimately, to rebel. Maybe the under use of people's talents that is so evident in organisation's performance is an act of resistance?

Therefore, what if we were to take these lessons and use them to shape a new leadership model? In my experience, it allows leaders to tap into the deep desires of 'followers' to be something more than bystanders in the face of tough decisions, allowing those wanting to commit to step forward.

Therefore, in a time of retrenchment, rather than scrambling to tackle pressing problems without cognisance of the wider impact -  why not pause, step back from finding 'the solution' and seek the perspective of team members in identifying the right issue to tackle? 

In other words, invite people to participate in finding a way out of this crisis. Immediately anxiety levels will dissipate, allowing individuals to commit to a vision knowing it is tempered by reality.

Gen Y understand this well: they are used to inviting varying perspectives and seeking a common ground. Yet it is the very thing that is lacking in much of today's leadership behavior; along with an ability to re-craft vision in the light of changing circumstances. 

For boomer leaders willing to change, the reward will be teams confident in their ability to generate critical thinking and sustain and reinvent their organizations in the light of changes to come.

So the question is: how well do the old formulas of leadership serving you and what's stopping you from breaking out?

Finding the Courage to Listen

Judy Chartrand and Bonnie Hagemann's article: Next Generation of Leaders: competency deficits and the bridge to success continues to give food for thought.

Specifically, their comment that "successful strategic leadership will include both critical thinking skills, a keen social intelligence and level of empathy that empowers and energizes healthy momentum and change".

I think these attributes are inextricably linked. It requires leaders to become a subtle listener, creating a quiet presence which allows powerful leaps of the imagination to occur. 


But first, leaders must explore their own limiting assumption and why they feel the urge to control the level and direction of thinking in others.  Unless this is understood, leaders will continue to gag ideas and queries - with no possibility for energizing a "healthy momentum and change"; or critical thinking.

Perhaps, we experience Gen Y as 'loud' and 'brash' because they react openly to not being listened to with full attention?


When was the last time you were listened to without interruption and with full attention; what impact did it have on your ability to critically think or be creative?


Alternatively, think back to an incident where you were interrupted when talking through a problem; what impact did it have on your ability to think, let alone critically?

Satin Lined Boxes

I learned a lot from the Gen Y leaders I worked with in the UK. As we set about reviving a failing organisation, their flair and talent turned adversity into adventure, peppered with many moments of fun.

It causes me to wonder why so many leaders and organisations fall short of using people to their full potential? Why have so many institutions been brought to their knees in recent years as a result? The more I read, the more I feel that we are skirting around the issue.

Is it because we are confused as to purpose of leaders? Convention dictates that the role of 'leader' can only be ascribed to the few who exhibit defined competencies.  So we demand of the few an exhausting combination of qualities and competencies that must impose a hollow quality on life.

I suspect that this is the nub of the problem. For both leader and follower find themselves in satin lined boxes, the former fearful of being found wanting and the latter resentful of being denied opportunities to realise their potential.

What fear compels us to guard our box so jealously and ensure others remain in their box too? Is it this instinct for self-preservation that allowed for unbridled risk in our banking system and for leaders to eschew responsibility as the effects continue to ripple out?

Or, is it because it is tabu for leaders to be followers, so denying any possibility of understanding complexity from below as well as above? Most likely it is a combination of both. Also, memories of being ridiculed make guarded relations preferable to risking oneself in pursuit of genuine relations. 

I suspect it is a failure to confront the ensuing compressed quality of organisation life that is at the heart of Gen Y's impatience for change; as is a profound scepticism that only grindingly high levels of unquestioning activity can deliver performance.

How are these issues being played out in your organisation?

"Tell me, I forget; Show me, I remember; Involve me, I understand" Confucius

I've recently reconnected with someone whom I admire for her unceasing quest for solutions to social problems.

At the end of her email she added the oft quoted saying of Confucius: 

"Tell me - I forget,

Show me - I remember,

Involve me - I understand."

It prompts me to think about how we achieve a higher level of consciousness? Then it struck me - as generations, we are shaped by different experiences and therefore, see and experience the world in different ways.

What if in involving Gen Y in the task of leading, we were to explore these different perspectives  and combine it with thoughtful questioning, designed to facilitate self-examination and self-discovery as leaders? Perhaps together, Boomer and Gen Y leaders could illuminate what is known, what can be, and how it can be achieved. 

Moreover, the level of consciousness gained is more likely to go beyond the accumulation of information toward knowledge.


If this were to happen, what level of creativity would be unleashed?

"No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it" Albert Einstein

I am aware that hindsight affords 20:20 vision and that each generation's actions are a critique of what has gone before. I am also aware that in this period of uncertainty, Gen Y is highly critical of the Boomer generation for being profligate.

I hope, however, Gen Y leaders will look beyond the last 40 years and remember that the illusions of certainty in recent years is a very modern phenomenon. I hope too that they will seek to understand the experiences that shaped the attitudes and expectations of the last 40 years, rather than simply judging them as wanting.


And so  it was that Boomers were born into a world convulsed by tragedy and fatigued by want arising from two world wars and a Great Depression.

Therefore, I ask Gen Y to look beyond and to  find an understanding of their place in history. For me Vera Brittain's A Testament of Youth,  is an eulogy to a doomed generation that gives me clarity about my role in history: as beneficiary of sacrifices of previous generations and in turn, benefactor to future generations. 


So, find a way past being angry about the failings of recent years and find a way to raise your level of consciousness but; do it with compassion and humility in the knowledge that you too will make your share of mistakes. 


Now is a huge opportunity because there is no space of hubris. Find those with whom to critically reflect upon what has gone before and seize valuable lessons that are to be had.

What Is Leadership?

Is it a bit late to stop and ponder what is meant by 'leadership'?


It appears there is "no widely accepted definition of leadership... and remarkably little evidence of the impact of leadership or leadership development on performance and productivity; [furthermore] most initiatives appear to actively avoid addressing these issues [opting] for doing something about it… whatever ‘it’ may be!".(1)


Maybe an audit of leadership performance in using more than 30% of talent is a good place to start? How about clarifying leadership styles most beneficial in optimizing performance and understanding why, through critical reflection? Only then will it be possible to create a template of traits and skills upon which to create a meaningful leadership development framework.


Or, maybe it should start with envisioning what 'impact' all this effort might have in the world. Maybe then, leadership will come to be an alignment of values with talents in pursuit of goals that are meaningful and worthwhile. What mosaic of possibilities could we recreate?


In knowing what 'impact' means, growing Gen Y leaders at a service and team level will have a focus and provide a filter by which they can work out where and how they are most effective. 


In time the 'growing' may take them to a place of  operational or strategic oversight or it may mean extending their purview to maximise their contribution and impact upon performance. At all levels the process demands an educative relationship based on trust and mutual respect. Only then, will we get away from "doing something... whatever 'it' may be!"

Richard Bolden (p.4), What is Leadership? Research Report, Centre for Leadership Studies, University of Exeter and The Windsor Leadership Trust (2004)

Releasing Energy A Step At A Time

Talking to leaders here  in Canada, I find the same level of fatigue as in the UK. 

There is a profound awareness of the need to sustain their work but the years have ground down their capacity to initiate a liberating leadership development process.

On the other hand, I witness as much of a yearning here, as in the UK, among the Gen Y to be given an opportunity to discover their potential. 

And so, I am lifted by an email from a young person, apologizing on behalf on his Executive Director for a late reply. It positively fizzed with excitement and joy at being part of something big and ambitious and despite the effort involved, it was clear there was no other place to be.

I can't recall a more uplifting encounter - which makes lament how rarely people's talents fully explored, let alone used.  Why are so many people kept boxed in their role? There is a cornucopia of talents and abilities to be found and people waiting to be asked.

If only exhausted leaders can find the energy to look at problems anew and work with Gen Y to pilot one solution at a time. How much energy will be released if their talents were to be recognized, used and celebrated?

Taking Stock

I continue to be shocked by my discovery that "organizations are running on a fraction of their human potential....less than one-third".(1) Should we not re-examine received wisdom?

For instance, why is recruitment so heavily reliant on competence to perform? Also, why the blind spot in seeing the impact of putting the role before the person on social relations?

Surely, without a foreknowledge of what kind of a person is most successful in a role, the likelihood of a good fit between an individual and a role is a matter of luck - get it wrong and the agony of micro-managing begins. Do we ever count the cost in terms of potential performance or a reduction in trust and generosity of spirit played out in the name of self preservation?


As parents, teachers, coaches etc. we search for and nurture latent talent, knowing that performance, self-esteem and confidence will grow. Yet, job adverts never communicate what talents will suit best. Likewise, training is less concerned with developing talent than ensuring competence.


I remember once running a emergency scenario and being deeply impressed by a participant who calmly and firmly took control of the scene by managing the anxiety of bystanders and responders alike. The debrief revealed a complex analysis of the situation and a highly intentional response. Yet there was no means by which the organisation could embrace his potential.


What if we were to go in search for those with latent abilities and develop their talents? The resources are there, if we care to look. How often do we help exceptional people understand why they are really good and template their skills and qualities to help us define  success? Why don't we throw unlikely people into scenarios and discover their talents?


How often do we ask: "What are you good at?" and go from there. It may go towards explaining why in the US, for instance, between 1950 and 2000, nonfinancial company profits fell from around 20% of GDP to just over 5%.(2) And so, what of the non profit sectors?

(1) Curt Coffman and Gabriel Gonzales-Molina, PhD (p. 19), Follow This Path: how the world's greatest organizations drive growth by unleashing human potential (2002)

(2) The Economist, December 8, 2001, p. 65 - cited by Coffman and Gonzalez-Molina