Heal to Lead

7What Is High-Conscious Leadership?

CAN WE AGREE that there are limitations to leadership as we have historically defined it?

Leaders are either elected from a small set of people; promoted to positions of power within organizations, groups, or systems; or we create chief executive roles for ourselves via entrepreneurial pursuit. Perhaps the person at the helm of a corporation or organization—or state, province, or country for that matter—should no longer be automatically ascribed the title of leader. After all, none of these contexts centers on the healthy, influential characteristics that would make others want to follow someone.

Why have we done this—assigned this designation to anyone who commands a group, organization, or region? We've all come to see or experience in our lives that the act of commanding, being authoritative, or dominating is quite the opposite of cogent leadership.

What role does character and ethics play? What about the level of emotional intelligence and ability to convene spaces where people feel safe to be themselves? How about impact on communities, the environment, or systemic issues for which we can facilitate betterment? It seems to me like a new definition or set of criteria might be required at this point. Michael Gelb and Raj Sisodia pose this question in their book The Healing Organization: Awakening the Conscience of Business to Help Save the World: “As business leaders and human beings, how can we turn a blind eye to that suffering when ...