Joe Gerstandt | keynote speaker, freedom fighter, freak-flag flier

Kind of stuck on the theme of leadership and love this week and wanted to share a couple more thoughts…

I think that the absence of relevant leadership may be the defining issue of our time.  A lot of people are and have been greatly concerned about our current economic situation in this country.  A lot of people are and have been greatly concerned about issues related to healthcare and insurance in this country.  A lot of people are and have been greatly concerned about the state of and the future of education in this country.  There are any number of other issues that people are worried about and I believe that they are all at their root about the absence of leadership that works.

I am not saying that the there is anything inherently wrong with the individuals currently in the leadership roles of government, business, education, etc., I am saying that our way of leadership is wrong.  Our definition of leadership, our understanding of leadership, our expectations of leadership and our relationship with leadership are all from another time.  The need for leadership as we understand it today is dead…it expired about 50 years ago.  We have simply ignored the expiration date.

The way we continue to embrace and support an irrelevant approach to leadership is truly pathological.  The sicker we get, the more desperately we look to poison for our salvation.  If we converted all of our automobiles to electricity, but did not explain this to the drivers; their persistence at pumping gasoline into various parts of their automobile would only make things worse…and that is the kind of sea change that has taken place all around the institution of leadership, while leadership has remained basically the same.

Leadership of yesterday is simply not relevant today…in fact it is making things worse, it is actually a big part of every challenge we face.

A couple of significant things have changed that leadership has not kept up with.

1. How we creat value has changed. Success today is much more dependent upon our ability to steward, utilize and benefit from intangible assets than tangible assets.  We still have a way of leadership that views intangible assets as unnecessary distractions, not important and not work related, so it works to minimize or completely ignore the presence of intangibles.  Few organizations (and few communities) are able to thrive and stand out today without worshipping their intangible assets.
2. We live in an increasingly complex world.  A way of leadership that excelled at solving complicated problems is horribly inadequate and inefficient in the face of complex problems.  The more we lose traction against complexity the more poison we demand…lead faster! lead stronger! Blah. Blah. Blah.

Leading with and caring for intangible assets (the kind with infinite possibility), such as trust, curiosity, relationships and diversity requires love.  Living with increasing complexity requires love.   The kind of leadership we need today is about the diffusion of power, rather than the concentration of it…that takes love.

Want to solve healthcare?  Change the way we do leadership.  Want to change government, business, education or anything else on this planet we share?  Change the concept of leadership. 

We can each start with ourselves.

Be good to each other.