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Synchronicity

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Synchronicity

The Inner Path of Leadership

Berrett-Koehler,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

The philosophy of servant-leadership drew Joseph Jaworski from his law practice to a more spiritual pursuit: teaching leadership based on connection, flow and the unfolding of the universe. If you want the new age take on leadership, come on in.

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Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Joseph Jaworski was a practicing litigator when he learned about the concept of the "servant leader." Inspired, he left his legal practice and created the American Leadership Forum (ALF), which trains corporate leaders in using the servant-leader model. Synchronicty , which recounts Jaworski’s journey, aspires to novelistic drama, and in fact, Jaworski describes the tale in terms of the traditional literary hero’s quest. While not exactly the labors of Hercules, anecdotes in which Jaworski talks his way out of a mugging and meets his wife by passing her in an airport are entertaining, but less informative than the author might hope. The book contains a lot of New-Age jargon and collective-consciousness sermonizing. Nevertheless, for managers who want to be something more - leaders -getAbstract.com recommends Synchronicity not as a useful how-to, but rather as a business leader’s inspirational biography.

Summary

Discovering the Inner Path of Leadership

Discovering the inner path of leadership is much like going on the four-part journey described by Joseph Campbell in The Hero with a Thousand Faces. This hero’s quest is an "archetype of the change process" that humans go through; organizations can also progress through a similar process. You embark on this journey when you want to discover your own destiny. The voyage includes the passages you will encounter as you learn how to create the future.

Once you are truly committed to following this dream, a powerful force that exists beyond you and your consciousness will help you. This force assists in moving you forward and in nurturing you as you move ahead and transform yourself along the path.

Author Robert K. Greenleaf’s model of "servant leadership" is a key inspiration for becoming a true leader. If you follow this approach, the hierarchical power that separates you from those you lead won’t corrupt you, since you will be dedicated to doing what is best for them.

However, true leadership goes even further if you make a commitment to "serve life" and to view leadership as learning how you can shape the future. ...

About the Author

Joseph Jaworski began his professional career as an attorney with the Houston-based firm Bracewell & Paterson. In 1980, he founded the American Leadership Forum, and has since served as head of Global Scenario Planning for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of Companies in London. In 1994, he joined the MIT Center for Organizational Learning, where he works with a consortium of corporations to build learning organizations. He is also a founder and chairman of the Center for Generative Leadership.

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