Sacred Leadership

My friend and colleague, Stu Gothold, gave me permission to share his reflection following the massacre in Newtown. The teachers and administrators all practiced Sacred Leadership that day. They understood the deep purpose of educating, nurturing and protecting their young charges and they served that purpose even though for many it meant giving their lives.

An Urgent Reflection

Please forgive me – I must speak out on the horrible events of Friday at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown…
I have been a teacher, now entering my 60th year. Over 33 of those years were in school administration, but I have never not been a teacher. My heart is broken over the loss of life of 20 beautiful children, and the 6 adults who cared for them. I teach my doctoral students the power of reflection, and urge them to attach actions to their reflections, to make sense of complex issues and events. I cannot but do the same regarding Newton.
Schools are places where young minds are nurtured and cared for, where individual expression is unleashed and celebrated. The courage and caring of Newtown’s teachers reached its apex Friday as teachers placed their own safety below that of the children in their care. They did everything they could to protect the sanctity and innocence of childhood. They are truly the saints of our profession, and I can’t stop thinking about them.
These tragic events has renewed the conversation about gun control. I plead that this conversation not be about what can be done to make schools fortresses against violence of any type. We are experiencing a societal problem, not a school problem. As citizens, we have a responsibility for protecting the psychological, as well as the physical well-being of our citizens, no matter what age. Years ago, the LA County Board of Supervisors considered a proposal to require schools to determine whether children (and their families) were here legally or illegally. I adamantly opposed this policy – it would have destroyed the delicate relationship between our neighborhood schools and the families who were seeking the best education for their children. To their credit, the Supervisors abandoned the issue.
However, these issues remain, and need attention. Our schools need protection…protection from forces which prevent them from accomplishing their primary mission – that of nurturing healthy, thinking and caring citizens who will lead productive lives.
Listen to what is being said about the teachers and children of Newtown…the children were bright, caring, creative and happy; their teachers were dedicated, courageous, generous with their time talent, and resources, and active in their community. No one mentioned that the children scored well on tests, or the school was “above average”…they were valued for their personal qualities, cultivated by enriched curriculum, creative lessons, the arts and concern for others.
These are the rights of children that must be protected from outsiders bent on destruction! Schools should not be asked to divert scarce resources to build walls, security systems and hire guards for physical protection. Communities have the same needs…schools need current resources, and more, to ensure that every child is noticed and attended to, especially the “quiet, under the radar” student who has not received the opportunity to join a community of positive learners, and who needs psychological protection. This is the power of a teacher – to inspire, to motivate and to lead…not to stand guard against the environment.
There – I’ve said it the best I can…God Didn’t Make No Junk…We all need to do a better job of supporting the most important and underappreciated profession in our society – God Bless our Teachers.
Stuart E. Gothold

As a citizen and leader, do you believe we can influence the conversation in the last few months of the presidential campaign, as well as in the political process at the state and local levels?

From my perspective, the entire political system is an anathema to a governance process that will move us forward.  The political rhetoric, besides focusing on purely partisan dogma, fails to put forth a thoughtful path to the future. The current debate (versus dialogue) focuses, at best, upon problem solving which usually results in recreating the problems of the past.

What is needed is possibility thinking. We must ask, as citizens and leaders:  What do we want?  What do we need?  Can and should government support those two things? If so, how should government be involved?

Can we agree to ask our political candidates (at all levels of government) four questions, all related to the four principles of Sacred Leadership:

1. What is your platform and how does your platform promote the “greatest good?” How will you promote what is good for the entire country versus what is good for you, your constituency or your donors? (At this point I won’t even ask what is good for the world.)

2. What are your core values?  Will you hold yourself and your campaign accountable to those values?  Will you step down if you do not honor the values you profess?

3. How will you enlist and engage us in the process of governing?  How will you sustain our engagement once elected?

4. How will you handle the issue of dealing with today’s problems while also considering and protecting the future our children and grandchildren will inherit?  This means considering the 2nd and 3rd order consequences of your actions.

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Do you believe that, acting together, we can begin to alter the politcal discussion and therefore the political system?

Which do you choose – victim or leader?

If you choose to lead, perhaps the best way to begin is to answer the above four questions  for yourself.

A second step is to share this post with your friends and encourage them to participate in the discussion?

Let me hear from you – join the conversation!

The tectonic political, cultural and technological shifts that are occurring in the world today are altering the landscape in which we lead. The United States Army War College describes it this way, “The Strategic Leadership environment is a dynamic brew of the political, military, ecological, economic, sociological and psychological aspects of this chaotic environment. The catalyst or spice in this brew is the Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity in which these factors operate.  The United States Army refers to this as VUCA.”[i]

For the first time in history, man has the ability to dramatically change the nature of civilization and the entire global environment.  Alan Kay, one of the great scientists and thinkers of our time has said that the “veneer of civilization is very thin and we are putting nuclear weapons in the hands of cavemen. The last time civilization got lost it wasn’t recovered for 1,000 years.” [ii]

We cannot afford to lose civilization for another 1,000 years! This new environment requires a new kind of leadership that has the wisdom to use our extraordinary power appropriately. This new kind of leadership understands this changing landscape and is so deeply rooted in mission and values that it holds the course in spite of the VUCA it encounters.  I call this Sacred Leadership.

Sacred Leadership is defined by missions that recognize and value what is sacred to humankind and that serve the greatest good.  Sacred Leadership focuses on an abiding purpose or mission, guided by values, in order to serve the greatest good with both a present and future view.  In other words, it is about the purpose or mission – not the person.  These principles describe a kind of leadership, not a kind of leader. 

This changing leadership landscape requires leadership that is wise and that has moved beyond short-term personal self-interest to a long-term view with global human interests at its heart. We need leadership that transcends the “common good” and recognizes that there is a “greatest good” that serves humanity defined by our interconnectedness.

Sacred Leadership is almost alchemical in nature.  The old stories of the magical alchemists focused on their mixing of lead, fire and other forces of chaos to form gold or other precious metals. In all traditions, alchemy is about making something less into something more. 

This is also true for leaders who practice Sacred Leadership. As they lead in this new world defined by VUCA, they bring shape, form and understanding to the complexity and chaos they encounter. Sacred Leadership transforms this world into something more, something that is meaningful and that serves the greatest good.

1.  How has/is VUCA impacting your leadership landscape?
2.  How are you using this VUCA to transform yourself or your organization into something more?

 [i] Interviews with Major General Robert Ivany, Commandant and Colonel Jeffry McCausland, Dean of Academics, United States Army War College, 2000.

I am pleased to announce that my first book. Sacred Leadership: Leading for the Greatest Good is now available at our own eStore or on Amazon.com.

This is a time of extraordinary urgency that calls for leaders who care about something greater than themselves. It is time to reconnect with our sacred purpose as human beings.

Sacred Leadership provides a pathway through a world in which Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity (VUCA) reign. It connects both the hard analytical side of leadership with the spiritual core that lies within the heart of every leader. Sacred Leadership weaves the power of sacred mission, shared and enduring values, and foresight into a leadership paradigm that is powerful, inclusive, sustainable and actionable in any organization.

Sacred Leadership is not about religion but rather about connecting to deep purpose in our work and in our lives. It is that deeper purpose that is sacred and that will sustain us in this increasingly chaotic world.

Sacred Leadership is the result of a long personal journey that began in a small town in Ohio, continued into the inner city of Los Angeles and led to the board rooms of non-profit and for-profit companies.

Share your reactions as you read the book.

Join the journey and leave with a blueprint for your own leadership practice.

I am pleased to announce that my book Sacred Leadership: Leading for the Greatest Good is scheduled to be published in June of 2012. I want to thank members of my Editorial Board for their thoughtful comments and suggestions.  I also want to thank the several hundred other readers who downloaded the draft of the book for preview. The book will be published as a paperback as well as in ebook format.

Please leave your comments below.  We want to hear from you.

K-12 education is at a turning point.The law of diminishing returns states that all systems have an inherent capacity for performance. The currrent American system has reasched its capacity  to meet the learning needs of 21st century learners.  No matter how much we try to reform, reingineer, tweak or change the current system, it cannot meet the current and future needs of our society.  This is a time for creative destruction.  We must destroy the old system and create or reimagine new systems and structures for our youth.  This gap between the old and new grows during the change. We know that the old system isn’t working but we understand it.  At the same time we are unsure about the new system.  We don’t know if it will work.  This time requires leaders to step up and lead their organizations through the gap before they reach a crises state.  The time has come.

The Los Angeles Times (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-detainees8-2008oct08,0,6181295.story) reported today that two American citizens were held in military jails inside the United States.  The men were interrogated by the CIA and Defense Intellignece Agency, repeatedly denied access to attorneys and mail and allowed no contact with anyone other than guards and their interrogators.  These two citizens were held for YEARS, deprived of natural light for months and forbidden even minor distractions such as a soccer ball or a dictionary. One of them was nearly driven insance.

Have our politicians and the military personnel who carried out their orders lost all sense of their sacred mission to protect the constitution and the citizens of the United States?  Have we a lost all sense of our sacred duty, as citizens of this great democracy, to hold our leaders accountable?  Or have we just become one of the “muddled masses” no longer yearning to be free?

How does a story like this end up on page nine?  Where is the outrage? Where is our nation? Where is the sacred?

I was shocked, but not surprised, to read the following headline in the Wall Street Journal today (February 9, 2008) “CIA Likely Let Contractors Perform Waterboarding”.  Over the past several weeks we have heard the U.S. Attorney General testify that, if done to him, he would consider waterboarding toture but he wasn’t sure if it was really torture when done to our enemies.  Then the Director of the CIA testifies, at least truthfully, that yes indeed our agents used waterboarding on “high priority targets” in the past and felt that they needed the flexibility to continue the practice.  He did say that the CIA would play within the boundaries of whatever box Congress built for them.

Waterboarding is considered torture by all civilized nations and the United States has prosecuted those who have used the technique on our solders. There is no question that it is torture and there is no moral rationale for its use.  In fact, its use puts our country and our soldiers at greater risk in the world.

The boundary the CIA Director is talking about is actually a fundamental cornerstone of democracy called “the rule of law”.  It is not by accident the “the rule of law” is one of the underlying principles of Sacred Leadership. I included this principle because of the danger of leaders overstepping the bounds of moral behavior in pursuit of a sacred mission.  Remembef, the mission loses its sacred nature when we ignore any of these fundamental principles. You can read more about the fundamental principles underlying Sacred Leadership at http://sacredleadership.org/principles.htm.

As I have said in previous posts, we must stop living in fear and see our role in the greater global system called humankind.  We are not victims of this system, we are an integral part of it.  Our actions impact the system so let’s be sure they are moral and represent the legacy we want to leave future generations.

What do you think?

I can’t believe our “leaders” have agreed on the this economic stimulus package.  It is just a transfer of money from those making under $95,000 to those making less.  What do we as taxpayers and a society get for our money. NOTHING!  A few people will pay their bills, some will save but most will just buy more junk they don’t need and can’t afford.  It just encourages more irresponsible behavior on the part of our citizenry.  Think what this $150,000 billion would buy if it went to renewing our aging infrastructure, increasing medical research etc.  Jobs would be created, materials and equipment would be purchased and society would have something to show for the investment.