The Leadership of Possibility
“….If we unify our mind and body, become one with the universe, and practice its principles, others will follow us gladly….”
~Koichi Tohei, Ki saying #10
“But we will not boast of authority we do not have. Our goal is to measure up to God’s plan for us, and this plan includes our working there with you.”
~2 Corinthians 10:13
“Leadership has less to do with position than it does with disposition.”
~author unknown
There are two common threads intertwined as one that weaves through and connects the above quotations (“others will follow us gladly…..this plan includes our working with you….leadership has less to do with position than it does with disposition.”) The two intertwined threads are “relationship” and “disposition”. One cannot exist without the other. They are joined at the hip. A happy disposition, a happy relationship = a leader of possibilities. A selfish disposition, an unhappy relationship = a leadership that’s doomed to crash.
Leadership is a possibility to grow and live into. It all begins with gratitude which expands to being humble versus being boastful. Humility expands to being compassionate which in turn expands to being understanding, which expands to being respectful, which expands to being willing to get off of one’s position and stand in another’s place and perform with confidence. This is leadership at its highest level.
Earlier I alluded to the disposition of being boastful—a disposition driven by a need to hold on to one’s position to survive. The need to look good or not to look bad is a need driven by fear. Fear will destroy all possibilities. Fear will destroy a leader. The need to survive adds to the momentum of a downward spiral of one’s leadership.
Love is the driving force that propels a leader from the grips of survival to upward mobility to the realm of possibilities. Love restores! A restored leader realizes out of his own evaluated experience that fear and scarcity promotes dissention between people. A restored leader calls upon people’s passions rather their fears. A restored leader empowers people to step out of their confining jackets of survival and grow into an expanding jacket of what’s possible: a life of security, success, and significance.
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“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.”
~Albert Einstein