Imagine a room with glass walls. You are standing on the outside looking in through one of the walls. What do you see? You see whatever is inside the room, of course. However, you only see it from your current perspective, and this is not the only possible one. Move around and look through another [...]
‘Leadership’ has become a holy grail of the last decade or two. Scores of books, journal articles and research papers have been dedicated to the task of trying to understand what great leadership is and how it might be replicated. There are countless ‘shopping lists’ of outstanding leadership characteristics, with the implication that all one [...]
What does it feel like to be open – truly open – to the ideas and opinions of someone else? What does it feel like to listen – truly listen – without judging or criticising (even internally) what is being said? What does it feel like to enjoy – truly enjoy – what you are hearing as a new way, a new approach, a real alternative? For many of us these feelings are less than frequent. It is so easy to become ‘stuck in our ways’ of thinking that we are no longer able to be open, or to listen without judgement. We cling to what we hold dear, to what we believe to be true, to a lifetime’s supply of preconceptions. Unfortunately, this holds us back, closing off a world of possibility.
I recently had the privilege of seeing two living legends of Australasian music, Paul Kelly and Neil Finn, performing together in Melbourne. They have been travelling across Australia in a hugely successful tour that I am sure will inspire further collaborations in future. And if seeing them on stage wasn’t enough, their final concert was streamed live from Sydney on YouTube, so I was able to watch the whole thing all over again. Two very talented musicians coming together and offering new perspectives on each other’s music would be a good reason to write something about collaboration, but the connection these concerts really made for me was around the role of music in the building and strengthening of emotional health.
In my first post explaining the background of Global Leadership Foundation, I mentioned in passing the role of QuantumThink®. The importance of this concept and the processes behind it can’t be overstated in its influence on the way Global Leadership Foundation started, and continues to operate today.
As I indicated in my previous blog, a major contribution to the creation of Global Leadership came from my experience as an Earthwatch volunteer at Arid Recovery in the remote South Australian desert. I have long felt an affinity for this country, having spent my early childhood not far away in Woomera and wandered with my sister on the gibber plains and clay pans near our home. Today, whenever I think of this land I experience a calm and reflective feeling.
Global Leadership Foundation celebrates 10 years on April 30th 2013. This is a significant milestone for us as it shows that our intent of raising emotional health levels across the globe is in action. We are often asked how Global Leadership Foundation came about and we thought it was both timely and relevant to share this with you in our first blog for the year. The story has many facets and a history that predates its commencement.
The leadership experiences we have participated in during 2012 with the Tetepare Descendants Association, and with Frank Ansell and Sue Gregory in Central Australia, have been strong reminders of the role ‘social sustainability’ has played, and continues to play, in indigenous cultures. Social sustainability can be defined in various ways but the way we look at it is: a commitment to the generations that follow us that they will have a better life on this planet. A better life not in a material sense but in terms of their access to and benefit from the wisdom, insights and knowledge of those who have come before them.
It’s already that time in the year when we start looking back at how 2012 has gone and what it has brought. This year, many people have said to me, “What a year you have had”. On reflection, it has definitely been more than the year I had imagined. I have truly experienced depths of emotion like never before. Yet I have also received so many gifts and opportunities in the same moments.
With local government elections imminent across Victoria, I recall some work we did a few years ago with a council in another state. It was a lesson in the way some leaders see themselves in relation to the rest of their organisation. This recollection has caused me to ponder electoral choice. There is an important distinction to be made between a candidate, their policies, and their approach to the body to which they hope to be elected.
