Conscious Leadership
Think you might want to read this book?
If Simon Sinek, Carol Dweck, and Brene Brown participated in a weekend book writing blitz, they may well have produced this book. A variety of themes filtered through the lens of business (particularly Whole Foods) gives us an intentional path to Conscious Leadership. Emphasizing concepts such as win-win-win thinking, triple bottom line, and adjacent possible are all part of the elevated and intentional leadership John Mackey would like us to consider. Reading this book will help all educational leaders set new and socially responsible goals for sure.
What Would Socrates Ask?
Is your purpose clear to those who you lead?
What if part of teacher training included shadowing a student for a full day?
How do we ensure that all new hires operate with integrity?
What if the organizational chart were voted on each year?
How can you embed “adjacent possible” into professional development for teachers?
How do you make “adjacent possible” the foundation of student learning experiences?
What if student happiness was a metric consistently measured?
What if teacher happiness was a metric consistently measured?
Research
...we can expect to be operating at our peak for about three intensive work cycles in a day (roughly ninety-minutes each). That’s around four and a half hours where we are functioning at our highest level of overall energy.
Concepts
LOHAS- Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability
Conscious Leadership- an inner journey of character development and personal transformation, informed by a powerful understanding of human nature and human culture.
Triple Bottom Line- elevates environmental and social impact metrics to the same status as financial results in the accounting of a company’s success.
Win-Win-Win Thinking- seeking to find strategies and solutions that benefit us, the parties we are directly interacting with, and the larger communities that we exist within. It’s a triple victory-good for me, good for you, good for all of us.
Adjacent Possible- a space of possible futures that are “adjacent” to the current reality.
Quotes from the author
“...leadership is an ongoing journey of service, not a static position of power.”
“Great leaders and enduring enterprises are built on higher purpose as surely as great buildings are built on solid, sturdy foundations.”
“The first and foremost job of every conscious leaders… is to connect people to purpose.
“Conscious leaders should dedicate themselves to becoming experts at navigating complex scenarios and finding win-win-win solutions across stakeholders groups, and to do that we need a sophisticated understanding of how systems work….”
“We need an organization that is designed to give people the freedom to innovate and flourish creatively while also offering a structure within which they can effectively collaborate to institutionalize and operationalize those ideas.”
“A humble person wants to get it right more than they personally want to be right.”
“Truth and good ideas come in many packages, some loud and strong, some quiet and unassuming. A conscious leader is always listening for the best approaches, most sensible arguments, and creative ideas.”
“The higher you go on the corporate ladder - in fact, in any ladder or power structure- the more you have to take responsibility for not living in an affirmation bubble.”
Quotes from others
“Don’t ask kids what they want to do when they grow up. Ask them what they love to do.” - Roy Spence, founder of the Purpose Institute
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men and women to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.” - Antoine de Saint Exupéry
“The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower
“People don’t do what they believe in, they just do what’s most convenient, then they repent.” - classic song “Brownsville Girl,” Bob Dylan
“If you’re interested in building a business to make money, forget it. You won’t. If you’re interested in building a business to make a contribution to society, then let’s talk.” - legendary venture capitalist Arthur Rock
“What gets us into trouble is not what we don’t know. It’s what we know for sure that just ain’t so.” - Mark Twain
The humility required for good judgment is not self-doubt--the sense that you are untalented, unintelligent, or unworthy. It is intellectual humility. It is a recognition that reality is profoundly complex, that seeing things clearly is a constant struggle, when it can be done at all, and that human judgment must therefore be riddled with mistakes.”- Philip Tetlock
“The problem is never how to get new, innovative thoughts into your mind, but how to get old ones out. Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it.” co-founder of Visa, Dee Hock
“The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” -Albert Schweitzer
Organizations/schools working on answers
Gateways to further learning
Referenced books with the potential to impact leading and learning in education
The applicability of this book to education is ….
Resources
