Tipping the Scales Toward Leadership by Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Leadership Solutions, Inc.?

“We continue to make the same mistakes,” Mr. Stamper said.”We’ll be doing this time and time again in the years ahead, unless we are ready for a hard assessment.” Article ‘Reports hammer Police Responses to 2020 Protests,’ New York Times, March 2021, by Kim Barker, Mike Baker and Ali Watkins.

Norm Stamper was the former police chief in Seattle, who shared that he’d made similar mistakes back in 1999 during World Trade Organization demonstrations. How much of his regretful viewpoint is in line with the experience of other leaders associated with differing sectors of today’s economy – be that commercial, non-profit, sporting, academia, institutions and government? Are we all somewhat guilty of sticking with what we know and feeling comfortable with it rather than change our approach or viewpoint?

Is this consistent with the need to change our prevailing mindset about addressing today’s organization management and leadership approach? Despite enormous changes impacting our organizational world – namely computer technology, transportation, financial markets, environmental issues, upcoming generations and the pandemic – we seem to be sticking stoically to our conventional management systems and processes. Furthermore, once those systems and processes are in place, the only thing required is to defend and keep fine-tuning them. Does this build a mindset of feeling secure and comfortable?

Despite the changes indicated above, we continue to believe that what we did yesterday will continue to work today and tomorrow. Perhaps that’s why society is going through tremendous turmoil right now, quite apart from the pandemic? The pressures created by our unwillingness to change and take a fresh look eventually explode into societal upheaval – rather like an erupting volcano – from time to time, so that we’re forced to rethink our current situation. Does that sound familiar?

In this writer’s sincere view, we have to shift from our dependency on conventional management, with its reliance on predictable systems and process, and move toward enlightened leadership with its focus on people and progress. By focusing on these latter key elements, we will be much better able to keep pace with increasing change. This writer’s pain is probably a little akin to that of Galileo’s, where he was jailed for the remaining fifteen years of his life. He dared to challenge the religious and political establishment at the time about their belief that the sun and planets orbited around the earth rather than the other way around.

It would appear that we have fallen too much in love with “system’s thinking,” where it divines that we have rational answers based upon logic and science. And yet there is so much in the world that we don’t understand – like how the universe was formed – and we are required to make reasonable assumptions about those factors in order to make progress. It’s much in line with the notion: “That much of what we can count doesn’t really count, and what really does count cannot always be counted.” 

Enlightened leaders are so often more successful than conventional managers in many situations owing to their focus on tomorrow just as much as today: whereas managers are too often fixated on ordering today’s issues at the expense of addressing those of tomorrow. Maybe that’s because managers find today’s issues so much more tangible, whereas tomorrow’s challenges are much more intangible. Police depart-ments – going back to our opener – are highly managed entities, which doesn’t enable many leader talents to come to the fore.

This writer has come across many ex-police executives who retired early because they weren’t allowed to lead. Leaders don’t have the same reservations about relating to tomorrow, as they are more than comfortable with their reasonable assumptions regarding how to move many situations forward.

That comfort with their assumptions is possibly drawn from their greater interest in tomorrow’s trends that encourages them to extrapolate available indicators; whereas managers are much more comfortable with today’s factors being based upon proof and solid data. Both sides have their advantages, although it then comes down to which side holds greater sway. Right now it definitely appears to be tilted in the managers’ favor, although, with our current societal tidal-wave pushing for change, will it allow that to continue?

Will our managers’ appetite for projecting desired numbers, planning for those numbers, organizing to achieve those numbers, directing headcount to accomplish those numbers, and controlling everything to prevail over those numbers, be allowed to continue? Do we require a better balance in today’s fast moving environment – where we make reasonable assumptions about tomorrow and people, in order to keep pace with today’s pace of change – hence giving us a better than even chance of coming out ahead?

If that’s doable, then we can grasp some fresh potential leadership tools and concepts in order to take advantage of our possibilities. Smart leaders think in terms of inter-linking the five complementary phases that enable them to gravitate toward a continuous cycle of growth events, namely: envision our future purpose and intentions; position ourselves and resources to meet those intentions; engage the necessary talented people to pursue those intentions, collaborate with others to assist with those intentions; and then orchestrate the whole venture to surpass those intentions.

Please don’t make the “assumption” with any conventional management hat on that you have these exclusive leadership domains nicely covered. Because, until you’ve actually explored these five phases of enlightened leadership, with their unique and novel tools and principles, it’s unlikely you will be well positioned to make that “assumption.”  They can greatly complement a manager’s desire to project, plan, organize, direct and control – as mentioned earlier – by offering many more possibilities and favorable outcomes.  

If you therefore have the interest and opportunity to explore these five alternatives, which are totally interdependent upon each other, then you will likely discover why enlightened leadership – with an appropriate degree of conventional management – is better positioned to bring you out ahead in handling today and tomorrow’s explosive societal and organizational environment. That tomorrow-view encourages continuous fresh thinking; whereas our conventional step-by-step management approach induces making the same mistakes that we made years ago.   __________________________________________________________________________

Author, Peter A. Arthur-Smith, Founding Principal with Leadership Solutions, Inc., is based in New York, and is author of Smart Decisions: Goodbye Problems, Hello Options. He has drafted a potential new publication, Constructive Leader Disruption: People-Leadership for Our Post-Pandemic World! which offers a slew of fresh leadership concepts and practical modes. Feel free to share your views at: [email protected].

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