perspectives

Reconsidering LEADERSHIP from Gandhi's Perspective

In recent years, with our 24-hour news cycle and the advances in social media, all of us have witnessed disappointing leadership behavior on many fronts. For some, lives have been deeply impacted by it. It does seem we are overdue for an overhaul of the standard of conduct for leaders at all levels of business, government, and society. The twenty-first century brought with it a reality that has changed the whole landscape of leadership --- regardless of our position or status, we all have opportunities to lead every day by our example. Technology has also made it possible for leadership to be as local as our cell phones and as far-reaching as technology will take us around the world. With all the issues needing our attention, opting out really isn't a responsible option, is it? To create a better world, it is clear we all own our part of it. 

So, how do we begin to renew, revitalize, and recommit ourselves to standards of conduct as leaders in our own right --- so we are ready to respond to the needs and challenges of this new time --- as well as to the people within our spans of influence in the marketplaces, workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities where we live and work?

In considering this question, I immediately thought about Gandhi as a great study and role model. He believed in self-examination and analysis of one's behavior and actions. He did it often. In a cherished book, A Higher Standard of Leadership: Lessons from the Life of Gandhi (Berrett-Koehler 1997), the author Keshavan Nair writes about Gandhi:

"Gandhi demonstrated that personal reflection was a practical endeavor... He analyzed his actions in the weeklies he edited...and in his correspondence with colleagues. None of these time-consuming activities diminished the amount of work he put in; indeed, they sustained him. It is not necessary for us to emulate Gandhi's level of reflection, but we can benefit from the direction he set for himself. ...Disciplined reflection does not take time away from work; it sustains the spirit and increases the intensity and quality of work."

Ongoing Self-REFLECTION IDEA:
We all have to find our own ways to renew ourselves. I share one of mine with you...

In several places in my home, I have small framed signs with one of Gandhi's messages strategically placed to catch my eye during the day, "My life is my message." It is interesting how those five words have shaped so many days --- so many actions --- so many decisions. They place the question of rightness to every action and decision. It is humbling on many days to realize that my humanness has kept me from living up to this proclamation in the way I wished I had.

The Story Behind GANDHI's Words
The story goes like this...
Gandhi remained silent one day a week. He was traveling on a train on the one day a week when he did not speak. When the train made a stop, a journalist rushed up to his window, screaming out to him, "Do you have a message for me to take back to my people." Gandhi scrawled a few words on a piece of paper and put them up in the window... "My life is my message."

 

Over the years I've thought about the commitment this self-imposed standard demands. I've imagined each of us measuring our behavior by it every day with a new kind of consciousness about all we do --- we could change the world in short order, don't you think? How many things would be different throughout the world? Think about it.

In my book, Putting Our Differences to Work, I recount Gandhi's warning to us about the traits that are the most perilous to humanity. We could reverse the realities he warned us about with a collective change in how we think, behave, and operate and by measuring our behavior and actions against the higher standard of leadership he established. Think of it...below I've restated Gandhi's warnings in the affirmative as QUALITIES. Imagine the impact of each of us living up to these QUALITIES:

• Wealth with Work
• Pleasure with Conscience
• Science with Humanity
• Knowledge with Character
• Politics with Principle
• Commerce with Morality
• Worship with Sacrifice

How does your life contribute to fulfilling these virtues?
I leave you as I reconsider this question myself.

Warm regards...

Debbe
 

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
author, Putting Our Differences to Work

Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance
** 2010 Axiom Business Book Award Winner  **
Bronze for HR/Employee Training

ORDER a copy at AMAZON.COM

 

Learning from Gandhi

In several places in my home, I have small framed signs with one of Gandhi's messages strategically placed to catch my eye during the day, "My life is my message." It is interesting how those five words have shaped so many days --- so many actions --- so many decisions. They place the question of rightness to every action and decision. It is humbling on many days to realize that my humanness has kept me from living up to this proclamation in the way I wished I had.

GANDHI's Message
The story goes like this:
Gandhi remained silent one day a week. He was traveling on a train on the one day a week when he did not speak. A journalist came up to his window, screaming out to him, "Do you have a message for me to take back to my people." Gandhi scrawled a few words on a piece of paper and put them up in the window... "My life is my message."

Over the years as I've thought alot about the commitment this message takes, I realize that if each of measured our behavior by it every day with a new kind of consciousness about all we do, we could change the world in short order, don't you think? How many things would be different throughout the world? Think of it.

In my book, Putting Our Differences to Work, recount Gandhi's warning to us about the personal traits that are the most perilous to humanity. Imagine how we could change the realities today by changing and measuring our behavior and actions. I also introduce Five Distinctive Qualities of Leadership and propose each of us add them to our portfolio. The one that seems to embrace all the others is "make mutualism the final arbiter" for all actions and decisions (e.g., behavior, products, services, profit-making) measured by just six powerful words:

Everyone benefits; no one is harmed.

With this conscious shift in our thinking and actions, we could reverse those personal traits that caused Gandhi worry. Think of it...

• Wealth with Work
• Pleasure with Conscience
• Science with Humanity
• Knowledge with Character
• Politics with Principle
• Commerce with Morality
• Worship with Sacrifice

How does your life stack up and contribute to these virtues?
I leave you as I ponder this question myself.

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
author, Putting Our Differences to Work

new book!
Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance
by Debbe Kennedy ▪ Berrett-Koehler ▪ 2008 – Hardcover
ORDER a copy at AMAZON.COM

Putting Our Differences to Work was selected as as among
"the very top business books" for review in August, 2008.
Read it!

Also available in DIGITAL DOWNLOAD at Berrett-Koehler

Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING's Wisdom for TIME OF WAR

IN COMMEMORATION of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Legacy
Young Martin
Original Oil Painting by Bay Area artist, Sally K. Green
www.sallykgreen.com, see leaders with a lasting impression

At this moment in our history, we have experienced a week where the realities of an escalating war are suddenly confronting our consciousness. Its truth is coming at us directly from governmental actions, in what appears an abuse of power, most likely covert plans and rumors of a deeper level of war, killing and destruction. It is as if Dr. Martin Luther King is speaking to us across time. He seems to be tapping us on the shoulder to remember for reasons that may be more important now than ever before in our lifetime.

Take in his wisdom...challenge yourself to step up to be part of creating that tipping point where all of us change our misdirected course, demanding that our country live up to its values. Peace doesn't come from war. War begets war. Hatred and violence multiplies hatred and violence. We must ask...
How can MORE KILLING hold the answers we seek?

CONSIDER DR. KING's WISDOM...

OUR ROLE IN PEACE
"When evil men plot, good men must plan. When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind. When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love. Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice."

LESSONS FROM WAR
"...The only change came from America, as we increased our troops commitments in support of governments which were singularly corrupt, inept, and without popular support. All the while, the people read our leaflets and received regular promises of peace and democracy and land reform.  Now they languish under our bombs and consider us...not the real enemy. They move sadly and apathetically as we herd them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know that they must move or be destroyed by our bombs, and they go, primarily women and children and the aged. They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops, and they wander into the hospitals with at least twenty casualties from American fire power to one ["enemy-inflicted"] injury. They wander into the towns and see thousands of children homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers."

ISN'T WINNING MORE ABOUT RULE OF LOVE not War?
"The past is prophetic in that it asserts loudly that wars are poor chisels for carving out peaceful tomorrows. One day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means. How much longer must we play at deadly war games before we need the plaintive pleas of the unnumbered dead and maimed of past wars?''

"Our freedom was not won a century ago, it is not won today; but some small part of it is in our hands... If we assume that life is worth living and that man has a right to survival, then we must find an alternative to war. In a day when vehicles hurtle through outer space and guided ballistic missiles carve highways of death through the stratosphere, no nation can claim victory in war."

BOOK REFERENCES and ARCHIVAL VIDEO of Dr. King's Wisdom
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Words of Martin Luther King Jr. and The Trumpet of Conscience
Selected by Coretta Scott King

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Visit to Grace Cathedral in 1965
Story and video of his message

What difference will you make to move us to the rule of love?
How will history record our response?

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
author and founder, President and CEO
Global Dialogue Center and Leadership Solutions Companies

New Book! Putting Our Differences to Work (June 2008)
Learn more: www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com