Asian Transformations in Action - Api-fellowships.org

COLLAGES OF BETTERMENT 199with others in such a way that leaders and followersraise one another to higher levels of motivation andmorality. Leaders and followers may be inseparable infunction, but they are not the same. The leader takes theinitiative in making the leader-led connection; it is theleader who creates the links that allow communicationand exchanges to take place (Burns 1979). Peter Senge’sdefinition of leadership can evoke a powerful image ofthe transformative leadership that we want to cultivate.Senge’s notion of leadership is the capacity of a humancommunity—people living and working together—tobring forth new realities. Leadership breathes life intothe enterprise, without which nothing truly emerges.Put another way, leadership is about tapping the energyto create—especially to create something that mattersdeeply (Senge 2002).Therefore, the cultivation of transformative leadershipstarts with our mind shift by changing our worldviewand paradigms. We must change the dominantworldview of the modern culture—the world as amachine. The Newtonian/Cartesian view sees theworld as comprised of separate things, particles, andof the relationship between them. Cause is separatefrom effect. Subject is separate from object, fact fromvalue. Relationships among things are linear, theybegin and they end (Wheatley 2006). The leaders mustcommit to a journey toward lifelong learning, meaningand exploring. Joseph Jaworski, founder of GeneronConsulting and author of the book, Synchronicity: TheInner Path of Leadership, has eloquently emphasized thepower of mind shift:“In this process of continuous learning, growth,and development, we undergo three fundamentalshifts of mind that set the stage for our becomingmore capable of participating in our unfoldingfuture. The first is a shift in the way we thinkabout the world. Instead of seeing the universeas mechanistic, fixed, and determined, we beginto see it as open, dynamic, and alive. The secondshift occurs when we come to understand thateverything else and that relationship is theorganizing principle of the universe. The third shiftoccurs in our understanding of commitment. It’snot, as I once thought, doing what ever it takes tomake things happen. It is rather, a willingness tolisten, yield, and respond to the inner voice thatguides us toward our destiny.When we follow our purpose and experiencethese fundamental shifts of mind, a sense of flowdevelops and we find ourselves in a coherent fieldof others who share our sense of purpose. We beginto see that with very small movements, at just theright time and place, all sorts of consequent actionsare brought into being. We start to notice that thepeople who come to us are the very ones we needin relationship to our commitment and the doorseems to open for us in ways that we could hardlyimagine” (Jaworski 1998).Some models of leadership buildingCharles Handy, a renowned business guru, was askedabout his experience in working with outstandingleaders from various organizations. What did he seeas the key attributes that make them successful? Heanswered, “The effective leaders that I have met are astrange combination of passionate human beings whocan communicate that passion to others and who at thesame time forcefully take risks.” This answer means thatleaders are born, not made. Handy argued that those areskills which cannot be learned from others and cannotbe taught, but are often the matter of finding oneselfin the right place (Handy 1997). I also share some partof his thoughts that extraordinary, great leaders suchas Gandhi, Martin Luther King or Nelson Mandelaare born, but ordinary, good leaders can be taught.However, in this paradoxical and complex world,one extraordinary, great leader would not succeedif s/he was the only heroic one to solve the world’swicked problems. S/he also needs a community oftransformative leaders that support and work with him/her. I must emphasize again that leadership cultivationinvolves both individuals and collectives.Despite crises and challenges in our societies, we cannotsimply wait for “born” leaders to appear. I believe thateffective leadership can be taught. There are manyexamples of leadership cultivation that we can studyand apply to our contexts in Southeast Asia.Across more than two decades, Ronald Heifetz andhis colleagues at Harvard University have pioneereda distinct, bold approach to learning and teachingleadership, created and practiced in a manner that isresponsive to the hunger for a new story about whatleadership means and the ways of learning it. Othertheorists and practitioners have explored a newunderstanding of leadership that more adequatelyhonors an interdependent, systemic awareness and theneed for significant shifts in perspective and practice(Parks 2005). The Center for Public Leadership hasoffered degree programs and executive programs. Itsexecutive programs are designed from one week toseveral weeks long.Asian Transformations in ActionThe Work of the 2006/2007 API Fellows