Life appears to be busy enough or words insufficient enough that participation has dwindled substantially over the last few weeks. Thanks to everyone who joined in our conversation once again. Until further notice, however, this blog will be on holiday.
All the best,
Christopher
As was brought out in our previous conversation, (Genius Wakes Up and Yawns), what we need now, perhaps more than at any time in our recent past, is strong, wise, intelligent leadership.
"The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature."
"The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer, is: Do those served grow as persons? Do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society? Will they benefit or at least not be further deprived?"
What are your thoughts about such an approach to leadership?
Have you personally experienced such leaders in your life (personally or in business)?
What could you do, regardless of your roles in life, to exhibit such leadership?
It will naturally be tempting to point at our national and international challenges and bemoan the fact that our leaders are not acting in our best interest (that's a natural point of debate). More interesting, though, is to apply the principles of servant leadership to ourselves and our lives (the world which we interact with and impact each day). How might we be servant leaders? What ripple effect could such leadership generate?
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After a long sabbatical, I've been pondering a bit. Probably a little too much actually. But I really found myself blessed by everyone who participated previously. You made me think and you challenged me to take action.
With that in mind, I'm asking myself, what is it I can do in this current state of global and economic affairs that will make a meaningful contribution. You see what haunts me, ever so slightly (and a lot when I'm dreaming) is that everything we discussed and ruminated about on this blog previously, has played out on the world scene now. It's almost eerie, if I allow it to be.
So what does this mean? That we were quasi-prophets? Or that all of our talk did nothing to head-off our current conditions? Or that our current state of affairs (whatever it may be) is never what life is really all about?
If that be the case, then what is life all about? For you?
I'll toss some ideas out -- vague ones like it's about love, and grace, and working to find and express our wholeness together. But those may just be concepts, unless we are living it out in this very moment.
Bottom line: If you're up for it, I'm most interested in your thoughts. Maybe it will create a spark that might ignite a fire, that might in turn set the world ablaze (or at least set our own minds ablaze) with something productive.
If it's helpful, scan through some of our previous blog conversations (the widget to the left of the page has the full index available for your convenience). Otherwise, just jump in from here and let your genius loose.
Sincerely,
Christopher
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Views of those commenting have not been checked for accuracy and do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog publisher or his associates.
In our previous conversation, Genius Gets Real -- The Workshop of Life, we covered a wide array of related topics -- from brain chemistry, to transformation, to the formation of economies, to personal ethics, and beyond.
As what I hope to be a natural evolution of this conversation, I want to invite us to have a more focused conversation about how systems evolve in our world -- in particular how the economy has evolved from our underlying values systems (i.e. how our view of the world influences the way we sell, trade, or buy products and services amongst ourselves -- and what we believe should be sold vs. what we feel should be given; what should be profit-generating vs. what we feel should be "non-profit" and why).
I'm sure anyone who's been tracking this blog for long will realize it is at this intersection that we've regularly hit the wall, so to speak (i.e. simply reflect on our healthcare conversations). But it is at this very juncture that I think we can potentially experience the greatest breakthrough in our thinking.
So, let's begin by addressing this question: What underlying values do you believe have driven the creation of our economy? What values or beliefs do you think might keep us from exploring new options that might enable us to adapt our systems into a more sustainable model (or do you believe our system is already sustainable)?
From there we can certainly let it go where it will, but I'd like to stay within this general topic-region. I'm hoping that what we find here will generate both multiple a-has that we gain from each other, but that it might also lead us toward different actions.
P.S. As always remember that to see the comments in a separate window, click on the "Comments" link. To see the comments in the body of the topic, click "Links to this Post"
Views of those commenting have not been checked for accuracy and do not necessarily reflect the views of this blog publisher or his associates.
