Inspiring Your Authentic Week

Posted: 21 Feb 2011 12:11 AM PST

In business and politics we tend to refer to the people at the "top" of the organisation or government as "leaders", whether they are or not, whether what they do is leadership or not and regardless of whether or not they have any followers.

The simplest definition of leadership is: someone others choose to follow.

If we look at the extraordinary turmoil currently in the Middle East, we can see that the nominal heads of state are not leaders at all. They may have their hands on the levers of power and they may have sufficient self serving cronies to keep them there, but what they are seeking to exercise is control, not leadership.

We can see analogous situations in businesses where a hierarchy becomes more focussed on protecting it's hegemony than in leading the organisation forwards.

Protest is just a form of feedback. The feedback comes in the form of protest precisely because authoritarian regimes dislike critics. And many authoritarian regimes dislike critics because they are insecure in their roles and as individuals.

True leaders have the inner confidence to make positive use of critics to help form strategies and communication.

'If two people agree on everything, one of them is unnecessary.' ~ Winston Churchill

Leaders are individuals prepared to stand up for what they believe in, sometimes with incredible courage. Leaders use their courage to inspire and empower others to step forward and have their say.

If we do not believe in the direction our company or country is going, in many cases we have a choice. We can leave or we can transform it. Transformation
means engaging others in identifying a better alternative and a strategy for making it happen.

The moment we decide on transformation and engage others in our project, we become a transformational leader.

If we want to transcend the mundane, we have to make the choice to stand up for what we believe in, to stay and to lead the transformation at some point in our life.

Transformational leadership is also a team sport. Transformation is only sustained when it includes empowering others to be their best and creating the space for them to step up and lead in their moment and in their talents.

Transformational leadership requires finding the solutions and the language to unite, the courage speak and to act, the will to persist in the face of disappointment and challenge and authenticity even under extreme pressure.

Both political and business transformation seem to be becoming more popular. So I am working on offering a range of options for transformational leadership and teamwork courses here in Mallorca this year. Offering varying mixes of physical, intellectual and emotional challenge to suit the preferences of the group.

The courses will use the wonderfully diverse and spectacular geography and facilities in Mallorca to challenge individuals to find the limits of their leadership, their courage, their persistence and their authenticity.

The physical, emotional and intellectual experiences will be unpacked and discussed to extract the maximum learning against the framework of authentic leadership.

More information will be available next week and if you are interested we can have a chat about what would work best for your team.

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With love

nx

Neil Crofts
Neil Crofts
authentic business

+34 646391384
neil@neilcrofts.com
www.neilcrofts.com
Skype - neilcrofts

Magic Monday

Tuesday, February 22, 2011