Leadership in a Complex System Presentation copyright © 2000 by Barry Brownstein

Is Leadership an Option? l “Throughout history, the great majority of people have never had to ask the question, What should I contribute? They were told what to contribute…Knowledge workers in particular have to learn to ask a different question that has not been asked before: What should my contribution be?” Peter Drucker l “Leaders have invested in development time, others have not.”- Michael McMaster l ‘The existential choice we all face at many times in our lives is either to be authentic and become a leader, or to suppress what we believe in and go along.”- Michael McMaster

The End of Materialism l “Consciousness precedes being.”- Vaclav Havel l “Material realities..are not the fundamental factor in the movement of history. Consciousness is. Human awareness is. Thought is. Spirit is.”- Parker Palmer l “There is no longer anything solid or physically determined by the prevailing theory of the atom…Wealth now comes not to the rulers of slave labor but to the liberators of human creativity, not to the conquerors of land but to the emancipators of the mind.”- George Glider

What Are The Qualities of A Good Leader? l “A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live and move and have their being, conditions that can be as illuminating as heaven or as shadowy as hell. A leader must take special responsibility for what’s going on inside his or her own self, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership do more harm than good.”- Parker Palmer

What Are The Qualities of A Good Leader?- II l “ I have looked at some training programs for leaders, and I am discouraged by how often they focus on the development of skills to manipulate the external world rather than the skills necessary to go within and make the spiritual journey. I find that discouraging because it feeds a dangerous syndrome among leaders who already tend to deny their inner world.”- Parker Palmer

What Are The Qualities of A Good Leader?- III l “Be not afraid. They do not say you cannot have fears; we all have fears and leaders have fears in abundance. But the spiritual traditions say you do not have to be your fears; you do not have to lead from fear and thus engender a world in which fear dominates the lives of far too many people.”- Parker Palmer

What Are The Qualities of A Good Leader?- IV l “Leaders come from anywhere and occur in action as “showing the way by going first.”” l “Leadership is an emergent response and not a matter of personality or style.” l “At the moment that leadership occurs, it appears as though the individual is leading and that this action is the result of that person’s leadership qualities. We see leadership embodied in a single individual. But if we look beyond the surface, we will see that this phenomenon has emerged…it is..an interaction.”- Michael McMaster

What Are The Qualities of A Good Leader?- V l “Transformation does not occur from the top down or the bottom up. It is from the inside out.” l “Organizational transformation is a process of learning and development rather than a process of intervention. It is process of dialogue and experimentation not one of decision and decree. It is an inclusive process rather than one of directed expert design.” l “The source of pain and suffering is an…unwillingness to alter our perceptions, interpretations, and responses…”

What Are The Qualities of A Good Leader?- VI l “Self-expression without attachment to identity.” l “Authentic leadership is present when there is a connection to the whole, coupled with the willingness to be responsible for one’s part in it, without sacrificing one’s creative expression.” l “They trust the results of dialogue, encourage dialogue in special ways and practice it regularly.” l “Leadership by “going first” is not the same as leadership “completing the process alone.”