Courageous Leaders look for more than bottom-line performance and know that their people expect more too. My work on the connectivity between leadership, BrandCulture and vision has seen me observe waves of energetic movement in business. I have summarised this movement into three very distinct ‘breaks’. This is happening because people want organisations to “do the right thing” and want these three distinct ‘breaks’ to be incorporated into the way business is done. People want:
- Reconnection
- with a more meaningful and purpose-filled life
- with other people in their business and personal lives
- with projects and work that makes a holistic difference
- Responsibility at a personal, community and organisational ‘soul’ level; and
- Revelation of the truth – the whole truth and nothing but the truth!
People want to be able to trust in the leadership mastery of the existing leaders in business – especially their business mastery – used to make decisions and think strategically about the future direction of the business. More and more, people are challenging leaders to stay true to the soul of the business and ensure it is not just about chasing the mighty dollar. Business needs to be about so much more than shareholder value and growing the personal wealth of the top leaders. In the words of a great business leader, Henry Ford:
Business must be run at a profit, else it will die. But when anyone tries to run a business solely for profit… then also the business must die, for it no longer has a reason for existence.
The book titled “Body and Soul” written by Anita Roddick (founder and past CEO of The Body Shop) says:
A fundamental shortcoming in much of business today is that the leadership lacks vision and passion – the two most important ingredients to inspire and motivate.
I believe this is so true of many of our leaders today – they have got caught up in returns, KPIs and measurable bottom line results. There is a lot of rhetoric out there about values and culture – however it is not being translated deeply enough into these waves of energetic movement. The GFC has done nothing to assist leaders – in fact, it has forced many leaders back into fear and the need for security.
Courageous Leaders know that to integrate these ‘breaks’ into the way a business is lead and managed means a high performance culture is vital.
We need to engage our people in the journey and have them surfing the breaks with us! They need first hand experiences so they can believe in the future the existing leaders are creating. Anita Roddick was also known to say: ‘We need leaders of business to see themselves as incubators of the human spirit.’ This means leaders need courage – courage to have the conversations they fear most; courage to make decisions they would rather delay; courage to address the conflict they have been ignoring and courage to be true in all their actions – true to the leader they want to be and to the kind of organisation all stakeholders want them to build. This flows throughout the organisation. Courage creates a leadership team with a united message; who do what they say they will do; who live up to their promises; who support each other; who support and guide their staff and who put the welfare and sustainability of the business ahead of their own personal gain. This is the energetic movement people want to see and feel. We have so much untapped performance potential and human potential that is waiting to be unleashed. These energetic waves of movement are showing the way for leaders – incorporate the three distinct breaks into the experiences you create in the business and you unleash the most amazing exponential possibilities. I have always believed there has to be another way of leading people to untap their true potential and to create an abundant future for them, the stakeholders, the business and society. We need more people inspired to be courageous leaders and embrace these three distinct breaks in every experience they create in the business. It takes great courage to embrace this idea. Ride the breaks, tap into the energy and change the way we lead business.
