May 2002

Innovation Tips

…ideas for thriving on collaborative innovation

=========================================

Compassion—The Heart of Leadership

What quality ensures peoples’ loyalty to a leader? The leader’s intelligence, wit, talent, bravado, and knowledge may certainly all contribute, but one attribute must also be present for that loyalty to be compelling: compassion. It has been said that people don’t really care how much you know; they want to know how much you care. The dispassionate leader—however bold, talented, intelligent, or witty—may gain the admiration of others but will fail to gain compelling loyalty. Perhaps only compassion holds that power.

Compassion has been the centerpiece of the world’s most profound religious thinkers for millennia. From the Hebrew prophets to Buddha to Jesus, compassion is at the heart of the way of life commended by the great teachers.

Yet compassion at work often takes a back seat to egotism, prestige, and pride. Leaders may become more intent on developing a commanding persona than on developing an authentic interest in others.

The word “compassion” comes from the Greek roots meaning to come alongside another’s feelings or suffering. It requires seeing life from another’s perspective—to understand, respond and honor another’s history and viewpoint.

Those leaders who have the empathy to really understand others and to take a keen interest in them establish a rapport that engenders good will, relaxed communication, and creative dialogue. Few people ever let their guards down around people who judge them.

Judgment of others is perhaps the most frequent obstacle to a compassionate life. We all judge, every day; judgment is an automatic faculty built into us, like breathing. Attaining compassion is often a matter of being bigger than the judgment—of being kind rather than right.

Criticism, self-righteousness, and judgment are easy—just as destroying a great work of art is much easier than creating it; just as cutting down a fruit-bearing tree is easier than growing it.

Cultivating and developing compassion and nonjudgmental acceptance are difficult, but they are worth the effort. They bear the fruit of an artful and graceful way of life. For leaders, they bear the added fruit of generating a resilient bond of loyalty. People who work with a compassionate leader know that they are accepted and valued—and that makes all the difference.

The compassionate leader, in learning to value others, takes a quantum leap into a mode of leadership that engenders uncommon commitment. Those leaders who are most effective at developing collaborative genius, like the ancient religious teachers, absorb judgment with compassion. They are big enough to be kind rather than right.

(This is the fifth in a series of articles on leadership and collaborative genius.)

__________________________________________

INNOVATION TIPS is a monthly letter provided by

PARTNERS for INNOVATION, INC.

To subscribe, please register at our web site: http://www.partnersfi.com.

To unsubscribe, please reply with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject box.

We can be reached by e-mail at: info@partnersfi.com or by phone at 1.419.872.7140

Copyright (c) 2002, Partners for Innovation. Permission

is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute INNOVATION

TIPS provided that this copyright notice and full

information about contacting the authors are attached.