February 2003

Innovation Tips

…ideas for thriving on collaborative innovation

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Bringing the Soul to Life: The Leader’s Role

(This is the second in a series of articles on “Bringing the Soul to Life.”)

In organizations where the soul is alive and well, the leadership is different. Leaders in these organizations engender compassion, listening, and collaboration.

Leaders who listen, who respect the value of individuals, who encourage dialogue and collaboration, who keep the common good uppermost, bring the entire organization to life.

They engender a livelier, more organic and responsive order. They create the context for people to take risks, to push the envelope of opportunity and to evoke enthusiasm for the work.

Imagination, energy, enthusiasm, fun, passion, dialogue . . . these are all qualities of soul. The leader intent on delivering these qualities attends to the well-being of the people in the organization and becomes more focused on serving than on being served.

Authoritarian leaders, by contrast, are bent on control and on protecting their position as the top dog. Their style promotes a competitive culture—a “zero sum game”—where one person’s gain is another person’s loss. Their autocratic style suppresses collaboration: Instead of collaborative dialogue, people become increasingly focused on protecting their turf, on looking good for the boss, or on vying for positions of influence.

Autocratic leaders make trouble for the whole organization by confusing control with order. Their control produces an immature, primitive, rigid organizational structure that disables the richer, more complex and fluid order of people freely collaborating toward a common purpose.

Control-oriented leaders stifle the collective soul. They are too often self-important and motivated by self-interest. Their work is less about the success of the people in the organization and more about their own power, prestige, or potential for advancement. They tend to be self-serving, rather than serving the common good of the organization and the people in it.

Humility, compassion, respect . . . these are the qualities of leaders who liberate organizational enthusiasm, energy and imagination. They are qualities too infrequently acknowledged, admired, advocated or attained. But when they are attained, the soul of an organization comes to life.

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