The world has experienced many significant events in the last 200 years, and palpably so in the last 25 years. As John Mackey states in his book Conscious Capitalism, “These factors have dramatically changed society and created a transformed landscape for business.” He goes on to say, “All of these changes and challenges offer great business opportunities, but they cannot be effectively addressed if we use the same mental models we have operated with in the past.”
World of work
There is a substantial amount of evidence illuminating the fact that leaders and, subsequently, leadership and business may not be evolving with the changing world. Recent data from global surveys indicate an alarmingly low rate of trust, loyalty, hope, and optimism about the future among workers.
These feelings (along with other dimensions measured) about paid work continue to push the critical metric of associate engagement down to levels in the 23 percent to 30 percent range in 2012 assessments. At this rate, it is estimated that some $500 billion annually is being lost in productivity alone among US companies.
Employee frustration is also considered the major cause of some 19 million employees, or 13 percent of the US workforce, that are planning to leave their jobs in 2013 with an estimated cost of $2 trillion over the next few years to recruit and retrain new workers. John Mackey sums it up best in saying that “most companies are still doing business using mind-sets and practices that were appropriate for a very different world. It is now time to change that.”
The good news is with all the changes that have occurred in the world over the last 25 years, our understanding of people, leaders, leadership, and organizations has also changed. From academics to thought leaders, scientists and practitioners our collective views of the workplace and workforce have evolved dramatically.
Enter values based leadership
Our belief in the unlimited potential of human beings is stronger than it has ever been, and there is renewed energy in cultivating this extraordinary potential that currently lives largely untapped. The data about leaders and leadership as a force multiplier, that when activated ignites the potential in individuals and organizations, is clear and consistent.
More important, the understanding that in order to transform organizations leaders must first transform themselves is the new normal. At Luck Companies, we call this “values based leadership,” which is defined as “living, working, and leading in alignment with your core values, principles, beliefs, and purpose to in turn, ignite the extraordinary potential in those around you.”
Also referred to as “authentic leadership” or “leading from the inside out,” this philosophy and practice is becoming widely accepted as the type of leadership required in this age of consciousness, an age that is moving us away from the old command and control style of leadership to one that Steve Denning of Forbes best describes as “stewardship of the living.”
Consider what Umair Haque writes in Betterness:
“Organizations all around the world are being challenged to think about why they exist, the meaning they want to make, their mission and purpose. And much like those organizations, leaders (us) need to be thoughtful and eventually intentional about our own personal reason for being, the extraordinary potential we were born with commonly known as our purpose. And when our purpose aligns with our values and is evident in our behaviors, we are the best version of ourselves, living our life on purpose, living a life that matters as Values Based Leaders.
Companies today are beginning to be judged against a whole new set of criteria by customers, governments, employees and investors. They are already saying, so you made a profit. Yawn.
Did you actually have an impact? Did what you do have a positive, lasting consequence that was meaningful in human terms? If so, you’d have an organization tuned not just to make stuff, but enhance lives, to push the boundaries of elevating human potential. To operate in ways that matter, count, last, endure, inspire, amaze and delight—and to do all of the above habitually, consistently and repeatedly.”
