Elevating Leadership: Moral Imagination as an Expression of Best Self Leadership

Crises are a crucible in which we as leaders are challenged to be our best self. Such crises call for moral imagination. We are living in a global crisis. There are many expressions of that crisis, most obvious and presently in the news being Covid-19 and Black Lives Matter. Depending on how you define crisis we can also include many other expressions, e.g. climate change, financial integrity, human trafficking, immigration, local and global governance.

How do we as individuals and communities respond to today’s crisis and its many expressions. One answer is quality leadership. There’s nothing new about the need for this answer. However, what can be new is a global commitment to increasing the number of us who see ourselves as leaders, especially best self leaders. Each one of us can start today impacting our circles of influence.

From the perspective of you as a best self leader, what is the crisis? Consider that it is fragmentation of the whole. It is failure to recognize the unity of the whole, the interconnectivity of life in all its manifestations, whether cultural, ecological, financial, social, or relational. If that is true, how should we address this crisis?

John Paul Lederach’s brilliant reflections on the power and necessity of moral imagination offers us a way forward. As he has written, moral imagination…

• …develops a capacity to perceive things beyond and at a deeper level than what initially meets the eye….
• …imagines something rooted in the challenges of the real world yet capable of giving birth to that which does not yet exist…
•  …changes our world and the way we see things, and
•  …has a quality of transcendence.[1]

Developing and using our moral imagination is needed in addressing this crisis and its particular expressions in our own circles of influence.

Perceive the deeper level of the crisis

How do we address this deeper level of crisis, the fragmentation of the whole? The answer is simple…but not always easy. Start with yourself. Begin by assuming that the crisis is not “out there” but “in here.” Beginning “in here,” with our own, internal world affects our moral imagination. Try the thought experiment of using this filter for viewing the world around you…everything I see in the external world is a mirror of my internal world.

Where you see that fragmentation in the external world, your task is to find out, “How and where is this deeper level of fragmentation true in me?” With courage, you will find the answer. It may not appear as you initially thought, but you can find it. This process is called identification. It is one of the most powerful growth mindset processes known. As you learn to integrate these fragmented parts of yourself, you will experience unity of the whole within yourself, perceive that unity in others, and be a transformational catalyst for the change you want to see in the world.

In today’s world, we see enormous fragmentation, often spoken of as polarization, division, and strife. When we focus on differences, we create an us and them mentality that reinforces our separation. Accessing our moral imagination as a leader frees us to see a solution for the deeper level of crisis. As Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving has written…

If I perceive in another person mainly the surface, I perceive mainly the differences, that which separates us. If I penetrate to the core, I perceive our identity, the fact of our brotherhood.[2]

Each one of us is a leader, capable of discovering and leading from our best self. As we do, we go to this core within ourself, and from there relate to the core of those we influence. Each one of us has the capacity to transform our circles of influence and together we can transform our cultures.

Give birth to generative solutions in the crisis

Our moral imagination operates in conditions of safety. It is significantly impaired when we are fearful, defending ourselves against real or perceived threats. While we think we are holding off the threat, we are most often curbing our creativity and with that our moral imagination. As best self leaders, it is our responsibility to create that safety for ourselves and others.

What to do? If I need to be safe, how do I find that safety? Again, simple but not always easy. This is where our internal work is so necessary to resolve self-imposed limitations. Attachment theory offers us singular insights into safety that releases our moral imagination. The key question this theory offers is, “Will you be there when I need you, when I experience crisis and need a safe haven and a secure base to return to?”

Where do I find safety in order to access my moral imagination and create generative solutions? And, how do I become a secure attachment figure as a leader? My own answer is a deep, personal relationship with God. Not everyone has this relationship. If you don’t, then the safety you create will be anchored in your relationship with trusted family, friends, and/or allies.

To function from your moral imagination requires this secure attachment relationship within yourself, knowing that there is a secure base and safe haven that supports you in times of crisis. When you have it within yourself, you then have it to offer others. In my experience, my ability to accept and receive such a trusting relationship is a function of the internal healing of my own life traumas.

Being a secure attachment figure as a leader has been essential to my success and will surely contribute to your own. To accept this identity has taken many, many years and a tenacious commitment to integrating my own fragmented self. Having come to a significant measure of wholeness myself, I’ve found that I can offer the short path of transformation to those I work with. Through my experience, I can truthfully say with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Every situation, every moment, [every person] is of infinite worth, for it is the representative of the whole.”[3]

When we recognize our interconnectedness and discover our own wholeness, we know such “infinite worth.” The paradox is that once we recognize the value of moral imagination, we can live from it ourselves even when it is not fully developed. And, through this pursuit, it becomes integral to how we show up in the world.

Change our world and our shared perception of that world

As leaders, we face many demands on our time, attention, and energy. The exhortation to develop access to our best selves, face our shadow self, and develop our moral imagination may seem too much to ask. I agree. Where do we start. I have a simple suggestion. Find a role model, someone who demonstrates these characteristics that John Paul has laid out for us. It saves time and effort and accelerates our intention to be the kind of person and leader we are capable of being.

One of my many special role models is Molly Barker, a friend, colleague, and exemplar. Her story is inspiring in itself…a recovered alcoholic and addict, co-founder of two amazing non-profits Girls on the Run and The Red Boot Way, speaker and author. I met her through our common work in Leaders’ Quest. On a Quest team, we had our first heart-opening, life-giving conversation. Let me share a small sample of the kind of conversation she has with anyone who will sit still long enough to have it, the kind of conversation we had. She writes,

Let’s talk about the things that really matter, like heartache, our children, the pain and joys of being parents, people, the curious, the empaths, and the compassionate. Let’s talk about what it feels like to be left out, to be exiled, and to be bullied and shamed for just being ourselves. Let’s talk about love and fear, anger and sorrow, hope and expectation. Let’s talk about our dreams and desires for the future.[4]  

Molly is a leader who’s knows her best self and shares that self relentlessly. When you find someone like her, make them a vital part of your life. With heart and soul animated, you’ll find your moral imagination activated, your compassion energized, your impact magnified. If you don’t know such a person yet, read Molly’s book, The Wisdom Stories: Finding Wisdom in the Ordinary. You’ll have a road map to the heart of your own moral imagination and that of every person you dare to truly encounter. And as a result, you will elevate your leadership.

Transcend the crisis

The crisis we face today, both general and specific, is the prelude to transformation or destruction. Our call as leaders is to deliver on the former and remove the latter. What is required is that we each be the leaders we are capable of being. Jacqueline Novogratz is one who has shown a way to live with moral imagination, which she defines as “…the ability to see the world as it is and to imagine it as it could be.”

Acumen, the impact investment venture capital fund she founded in 2001, funds “entrepreneurs bringing sustainable solutions to big problems of poverty.” As she has said in her Leaders Link interview with Lindsay Levin of Leaders’ Quest,

…having brought services to 300 million people and moved one billion dollars gives me a lot more confidence to at least be certain about the things I know to be true, and that is that in this moment of history…we have to redesign our systems to put the poor and vulnerable at the center, and the earth, and that we have the skills and the tools and the technologies to make that happen for a world all of us can live in.

Later in that interview, she speaks to the point I would make as well, fragmentation is made whole through healing. She says,

There is great truth as Bryan Stevenson says, that we heal ourselves by healing others. I’ve also found that there is great truth in healing ourselves so that we can heal others…We have to be whole. This is about wholeness. And, this crisis is about wholeness…in service of forgiving others, in service of seeing others for their possibilities not just their faults. This is a moment for that.

She elaborates on Acumen’s work and her own views in her recent book, Manifesto for a Moral Revolution. The revolution she writes of elevates not just our actions as leaders, but also our hearts and minds. Her vision is one that all of us who commit to elevating our leadership can champion.

Conclusion

Moral imagination begins with self—accessing the deeper level of our best self, including our shadow self. As a result of truly seeing and knowing our best self, we are able to see the other in our common humanity. This perception of other as self births awareness of the true unity we share, even in our diversity. In seeing the other as self, we transcend our ego that wants to categorize and box others in, allowing for the full flourishing of our human capacity where our fragmented selves, communities, and nations can be made whole. To systematically change our world requires vision and the courage to act on it. Our best self, activating our moral imagination, generates such vision and elevates our leadership. Where is your moral imagination directing your attention?

Gene Early is senior partner in his firm, Early Leadership Solutions LLC, and a partner in Leaders' Quest (https://leadersquest.org/).

Podcast: Elevating Leadership in Crisis

Previous articles in this series

#1 Elevating Leadership: A Model for Leading from Your Best Self

#2 Elevating Leadership: What Does It Mean to Lead From Our Best Self

#3 Elevating Leadership: Know Yourself First

#4 Elevating Leadership: Leading with Intense Humility

#5 Elevating Leadership: Leadership Lessons from Lincoln in a Time of Crisis

Footnotes

[1] John Paul Lederach. (2010). Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace. New York: Oxford University Press, p.26-27.

[2] Erich Fromm. (2006). The Art of Loving. New York: Harper. p.44.

[3] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. (1850). Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret. Translated by John Oxenford, Vol. I, Miami, FL. Hardpress.p 87.

[4] Molly Barker. (2018). The Wisdom Stories: Finding Wisdom in the Ordinary. p.79.