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In this era of constant crisis, we need a different kind of leadership. The present pattern is: leaders rush in as heroes, make unreasonable promises, insulate themselves, treat people as victims, and disempower staff. Short-term solutions hastily put into place only create longer-term problems. As solutions fail, political maneuvering dominates, factions develop, conflicts escalate, leaders get blamed then fired, people become more cynical and dependent, and more crises result. And there is no capacity in the system to deal with the next crisis.
To end this disastrous cycle, we need leaders who know how to work intelligently with everyone's concerns and aspirations, who are knowledgeable about all of the dynamics and players within their system, and who can work with all these elements to achieve their aims. And we need leaders who courageously choose means to resolve conflicts and crises without adding to the fear and aggression so prevalent in the world today, who focus on healthy relationships, teams and communities as the best long-term solution for dealing with uncertainty and change.
This seminar takes a unique approach in combining the ancient wisdom of The Art of War with the present day, real-time experiences of a CEO from the Gulf Coast of the U.S., and the global perspective of a well-known leadership author and consultant.
Margaret Wheatley
Author of six books, global speaker and consultant on leadership that serves to create healthy and resilient organizations and communities. Meg has collaborated with both Angela and Jim in creating approaches to leadership in crisis that develop community, engage everyday people, reduce conflict and fear, and solve intractable problems.
Jim Gimian
Magazine publisher, coauthor of The Rules of Victory: How to Transform Chaos and Conflict--Strategies from "The Art of War." Jim has been studying and teaching Sun Tzu's Art of War for 25 years in classroom, boardroom, government and experiential education settings in North America and Europe.
Angela Blanchard, CEO of Neighborhood Centers Inc.
For more than 20 years, Angela's large agency has dealt with unending natural and manmade disasters along the Gulf Coast, while also successfully building healthy and resilient communities as the best defense against disasters.
Some key perspectives from The Art of War:
The Art of War offers an ancient worldview that provides invaluable practices and perspectives for this time of uncertainty and continuous change. Using its techniques, intractable problems can become workable, and responses to crises don't create further chaos and conflict.
In The Art of War, an effective leader is one who is able to discern all of the elements of any situation (stakeholders, patterns, dynamics, resources) and then skillfully arrange them so that their power becomes available to accomplish the leader's goals. Objectives are accomplished without using aggression or engendering further conflict.
Key Assumptions
Interconnectedness
the world is dynamic and interdependent, whole and ever-changing; this fact makes for possibilities
Conflict
is present whenever we engage the world; it is not the problem but rather the messenger of interdependence, of where we're connected
Taking whole
finding a response to conflict that acknowledges interdependence, leaves the aspirations of the other intact, and diminishes resistance, thus leading to enduring solutions
Knowing
discerning the elements and patterns in the system--using both intellect and intuition-reveals what's available and leads to skillful action
Victory
Victory is found, not made. We can achieve our goals without resorting to aggression or engendering further conflict
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