Leadership
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The following very useful and informative article is published by kind permission of the author, Gerrie Dresser – Enjoy! NEW PARADIGMS IN LEADERSHIP “What’s the Link between Walt Disney Article by Gerrie Dresser of Success Associates When I first heard the term, ‘transcendent leadership’, it piqued my curiosity. I’ve heard about transformational leadership, and wondered how it differed from transcendent leadership. According to one expert, transcendent leaders connect today with tomorrow. They set a vision and focus on how an organization can move beyond ‘just meeting its goals’. Just as Caroline described about the value of visioning, to ‘transcend’ your goals, you need to connect with a bigger vision. It’s actually your mindset and aligns with Andrea’s explanation about how to retrain your ‘executive’ brain for peak performance. Transcendent leadership is emerging as a new framework for leadership in our global economy with communication happening at lightening speed. When asked to identify a transcendent leader, one who I highly respected, someone who was well regarded and trusted by others at all levels, and had many ‘fans’, one immediately came to mind. Let’s call him John. John was known for his bold vision, collaborative style, authenticity, strong and active network that reached through all levels in the organization. His ideas were always about how to improve the organization, create more challenging opportunities, and advance changes that would benefit others. Since people had an emotional connection with him, they were compelled to go the extra mile, consistently, and delivered on his vision. According to Lee Meadows, Ph.D, Management Professor and Consultant, Walt Disney was a transcendent leader who was ahead of his time! His vision of the Magic Kingdom reflected the mindset of a transcendent leader. He was able to formulate a vision that clearly aligned with his mission, “to make people happy”, and think way beyond the bottom line. He had competing factors in advancing his vision of the company because many people thought he was foolish and ‘unrealistic’. However, he had a circle of trusted advisors and advocates that believed in his vision. Again, he had a “passion around a vision that created a compelling reason to follow.” (Pam Boney, founder of Tilt360, a parallel solution model based on transcendent leadership.) Before I began my research about transcendent leadership, I played with the question about character traits and behaviors that I attributed to people who stood out IN a crowd with an authentic brand … people who lived their Unique Genius. Just for fun, I decided to capture my brainstorming exercise on a chart and recently compared these results with my research about the character traits and behaviors of transcendent leaders. The similarities are amazing! A few of the personal attributes and character traits that the two have in common include:
Let’s take a look at your leadership style … Your Coaching Challenge this month . . . How does your style align with transcendent leadership? How would you rate yourself on the characteristics below? 1. If there is a change in my company / organization, I am prepared for the impacts and am well connected both internally and externally. Opportunities typically find me. Your Personal Rating: 2. I mapped out a professional development plan that plays to my strengths and provides some ‘stretch’ so that I am continually becoming more ‘expert’ in my chosen career path. Your Personal Rating: 3. I’ve identified what’s most important to me, and am already noticing internal shifts that need to occur to continually align my career with what’s most important to me. Your Personal Rating: Tune into future editions ofSuccess Matters and identify what you can do to discover more secrets to sustainable success! copyright 2005 – 2010. All Rights Reserved. |