I started the series on leading role models with the purpose of learning from heart-based leaders who are making a difference in leadership and business today.
In my experience, when we hear other leaders share their ideas, thoughts and choices, it helps us gain personal insights into how our own unique qualities of leadership and business can impact the world in a meaningful way.
This series of leading role models shines a spotlight on 12 people who achieved success the "right way" -- with heart.
Recently, I had the privilege of talking to Joseph Jaworski about heart-based leadership.
Lolly Daskal: What does heart-based leadership mean to you?
Joseph Jaworski: Leadership, at its essence, is the capacity to create new realities, and the physical heart is central to this capacity. It is the seat of our core power. It is the receiving station for accessing new knowledge from the Source -- the field of active information -- that is tacit to us. Modern science is just now confirming what most cultures through history have known -- that the heart is the core of intelligence; it is central to what the experience of being human really means.
Lolly Daskal: What are the traits of the heart-based leader?
Joseph Jaworski: Humans must take an inner journey towards releasing their capacity. It's accepted today that we pass through four milestones or levels of development from adolescence through old age -- milestones that are universal in nature. Regardless of background, everyone must pass through critical inner stages in evolution of human consciousness. In my writing, I refer to heart-based leadership as "Level IV Leadership," reflecting the final and higher state of human development. The most important traits of such leaders include:
(a) One who sees the world as open, interconnected and emergent; a world that offers infinite possibility.
(b) One who has begun the journey to discover his/her purpose -- his/her reason for being on this earth. And who consistently strives to live into that purpose.
(c) One who is committed to that purpose and to the process of unfolding. This is a commitment of "being" -- decidedly not a commitment to ceaseless activity. Sometimes, the greatest act of commitment involves reflecting and waiting until he/she knows what to do next. This is what I call the paradoxical integrity to surrender and let go, waiting for that "cubic centimeter of chance" to show up. When we learn to wait expectantly for that opportune moment, we are required to move instantly without conscious pre-meditation. With the slightest gesture, all sorts of actions and results are brought into being by what has been called the "supernatural assisting force" or "helping hands." This phenomenon is known as synchronicity.
(d) Finally, one who is committed to a process of inner self management -- a disciplined path that includes teachings from ancient traditions developed over thousands of years. These include contemplative practices like meditation, qigong, yoga and direct exposure to the generative processes of nature.
Lolly Daskal: Is being a heart-based leader good for business?
Joseph Jaworski : Absolutely! Today, business is faced with an environment of accelerating complexity, uncertainty and change. Heart-based leadership requires a continuous process of personal development: deepening personal awareness and renewal; releasing limiting belief systems; scanning the business environment; identifying the driving forces at work and the resulting change of cause and effect; accessing insights beyond the mind's previous reach; and acting in the moment. Using these principles, a team charged with maintaining the overall strategic direction of the firm can learn to formulate and implement strategy in parallel rather than sequentially, creating a continuous cycle of learning and action -- "laying a path in walking."
Joseph Jaworski has devoted much of his life to exploring the deeper dimensions of transformational leadership. As founder and chairman of both Generon International and the Global Leadership Initiative as well as the American Leadership Forum, Joseph collaborates with leaders who are committed to developing the capacities for innovation and transformation that result in fundamental change both in themselves and in their organizations. http://www.generoninternational.com/
Lolly Daskal is the president and founder of Lead From Within a coaching and consultant firm that manages large scale corporate coaching and custom made leadership programs. Connect with Lolly Daskal
Lolly Daskal's Book: Thoughts Spoken From The Heart: Over 500 Thoughts that Bring Meaning to your life.
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