William Shakespeare’s Macbeth said, “It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." This describes to me the state of leadership thought today. There are over 60,000 books on leadership available for sale on Amazon.com. Yet, there is a great divide between what we think leadership is and how organizational leaders conduct themselves as leaders.
Let me say it more bluntly. Every one of us who claims to be a leadership expert, all of us who write books, give speeches, do podcasts, consult with businesses, and coach leaders need to be able to state the case why their leadership work matters, but how it matters. I’ve been at this work for 38 years and I’m embarrassed by my lack of impact.
Not only that, but how did we find ourselves in the third decade of the 21st century where authoritarian leadership has become the default way that leaders operate in their nations and organizations?
There are a host of reasons for this.
One reason is that the structure of organizations remains very much machine-like.
A second reason is conceptual as leaders are viewed as machine operators and leadership is a role and title.
A third reason is the effect that globalization has promoted the idea of centralized planning in spite of its constant failure to sustain progress, peace, and prosperity.
My friend Anthony Howard has a perspective called “human-centered leadership” that is part of the antidote to the crisis of leadership in the world. My own leadership model, Circle of Impact, is a human-centered based leadership approach. I like very much what Anthony has to say.
Late last year, we chatted about his work. If there is a hope that leaders can change, it will be because perspectives like Anthony’s have begun to take root in corporate C-Suites around the world. Links to Anthony’s work can be found below.
Find Anthony Howard online at these places.
Anthony Howard – “the CEO whisperer”
Human-centered Leadership - http://www.humancentredleadership.com/
The Confidere Group - https://confideregroup.com/
The Socratic Leader Academy - https://socraticleader.academy/
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Great to talk to you Ed. You truly are an inspiration. Just as each generation needs to learn what it means to be human (an insight borrowed from Kierkegaard) so too each generation needs to learn what it means to lead, and be led by, other humans. All of us carry wounds and gaps in the heart. Great leaders seem to be able to call us to greatness while respecting our fragility.
wonderful hour thank you Anthony and Ed Some excellent questions like What's Your Story? and What are your responsible for? I like human centred. I must say I like human being centred more which is the focus of my work.