Leadership is One Indivisible Whole

^{Leaders and Leadership in the Future}

Leadership for the future requires a different mindset and a redefinition of who are leaders and what is leadership. Gandhi said once that “life is one indivisible sum”.

Today, the subject of leadership is a hot commodity, in academia as well as commercial institutions, in profit and also not for profit organisations, the sports & leisure industry, it is also gaining a strong foot hold in community based social clubs.

There are 10,000 of thousands of articles and/or research paper written on leadership theories or new strands in leadership thinking i.e. Spiritual leadership, tri dimensional leadership etc.).

Nowadays, everyone from the CEO to the baby sitter is seeking to know how to acquire and horn their leadership skills.

I am not against anyone aspiring to or looking to enhance their employability, career success, progression or social standing. Yet! I do feel that the time has come for us to readdress our strategic approach to leadership skill training; because segmented leadership development does not lead to all-round success in life.

Leadership ought to be seen as, and is, one indivisible whole, in other words, leadership should cut cross all the boundaries of our life; when you put on the mantle of leadership, you ought to wear it not just at work, it should transcend into your community life, family life, as well as your social life.

In the world that we live in today, the news is awash with individuals that society, and/or the business sector has honored as good leaders with exceptional leadership skills, abilities and capabilities, yet in their communities or at home this exceptional skill is not being manifested, and even to an extent they exhibit behaviors that constitute as leadership detailer.

For example we’ve all heard of political leaders who’ve acted without integrity, e.g the ministers expenses claims comes to mind.

On the other hand, there are parents, community youth workers, baby sitters etc that are doing a great jobs of bringing up children and young people, instilling in them virtues that would put them in good stead, in righteousness and uprightness as responsible and contributory adult in their future walks of life; however this home grown leadership skills is not being transferred into their working environment, why? Because of the definition that is held for the term “leadership and who is, a leader”.

Furthermore, this authentic, value based leadership philosophy is not valued in some institutions, for fear that such uprightness of thought and action might hamper profit.

So what do we do?

Leadership is a sexy topic to talk about, to write articles on, to train and teach, to research; the abyss of articles, research papers, films, training courses, leadership coaches, all attest to this truth; yet in practicality, true leadership is gritty and grimy; it’s about protecting and providing for your people, it’s about shouldering the responsibility for what has happened or has not happened and it’s about showing the right way to act by being an example.

The challenge with segmented leadership skill training and development is thus, it makes the assumption that those qualities for leadership rightness and uprightness, qualities such as, integrity, righteousness, credibility, honorableness, and purity of motives, are intrinsic in competency skills and as such can be thought via leadership competency type workshops, this assumption is wrong.

Indivisible Leadership Training

Leadership development through Leadership Experiencing & Leadership Imagination is a way forward. Training and development that bring to bear the reflection and evaluation of motives and action, that encourages the leader to delve into their creative imagination and extract principles, ethos, concepts that can inform their skill, style, and school of leadership; leadership training and development that aids in purifying their conscious.

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