Confidence
The world is changing. The old solutions are no longer appropriate or acceptable.
War and competition are no longer adequate or acceptable ways to allocate resources. We are learning that ultimately the cost of simply taking resources from people is too high.
We are learning that in a globalised world the cost of failing to understand people and cultures is too high. We are beginning to see that much of what has been considered “normal” social, business and political practices amount to little more than bullying and intimidation.
We are learning that the cost of bullying by individuals, businesses and governments is too high, economically, environmentally and socially.
But where does bullying come from?
Bullying is a symptom of insecurity and fear and it only creates further insecurity and fear.
There is a growing movement of cultural innovation that is about building the self confidence of business people, public servants and the next generation. With a population confident in their own worth and their own abilities, bullying at all levels would end.
Self confidence does not lead to arrogance. Arrogance is just another symptom of insecurity. The truly confident feel no need to prove themselves, the truly confident only want to help others to grow.
There is a cycle (Identified by Norman F Dixon in his seminal work “On the Psychology of military incompetence”) where people in responsible roles, who are themselves insecure, see little personal benefit in building the confidence of those they are responsible for. In fact many consider it to be a threat.
It is now vital to break this cycle and to start to focus education and training on real leadership. Leadership that has the courage to tackle the real issues and the wisdom and humility to engage people where they are.
One of the great misunderstandings of leadership is that it is possible to appoint a leader. Leadership is emergent by definition, leaders cannot be appointed.
I meet so many people these days whose “talent” (see my FREE life purpose e-book) is leadership and yet they are reluctant to admit it, because they believe that they need someone to appoint them to leadership.
This is not true.
Leadership is not appointed, nor can it be hierarchical. Leadership is assumed by people who believe strongly enough in something to do something about it.
We need to re-design our businesses and our public organisations to encourage people to lead on the things that they believe in. By doing this we release a tidal wave of motivation, creativity and commitment that will transform the productivity and relevance of our organisations.
The only thing that holds us back is the insecurity of those holding the levers of power.
Do you have the courage to unleash the full potential of those you are responsible for?
Do you have the courage to unleash your own full potential?
Authentic Leadership is one of the key strands of work that we do with Authenticis . We can help to unleash the full potential of your organisation through it’s people, lets have a chat and I can explain how it works.
Take a look at my new Motivational Coaching web site at www.neilcrofts.com
With love
nx
Neil Crofts
Inspirer
authenticis
inspiration innovation motivation
+44 (0)7775 658534
Last 5 posts by Neil Crofts
- The Upside of Recession - December 8th, 2008
- I Love Business - December 1st, 2008
- May The Force be with you - November 24th, 2008
- The big boom is over - now what? - November 17th, 2008
- The Path to Peace - November 10th, 2008
