.....(extract...from Huffington Post) by Brian Whetten
I read this with some interest as it relates to addiction. We often see it as a "sickness" and state of helplessness. This is rather refreshing and thank you Brian for putting it so well
True leadership means moving beyond the desire to win at all costs. It means holding on to the desire to win, but making that secondary to a new desire: the joy that comes from making a positive difference. It means finding a higher purpose -- a greater reason for why we get up and go to work each day -- something more than just increasing our piles of possessions and power.
Your higher purpose could be to improve the lives of your customers, to turn the challenges of leadership into opportunities for personal growth, or to develop a culture that brings out the best in your people. It could be to give back to your community, to create something the world's never seen before, or to mentor up and coming leaders. There are many choices. What's yours?
When we see an executive featured in a corporate scandal, it's usually because they became addicted to success. They fell into the trap of defining their self worth by how much money, fame and power they possessed. And sooner or later, this addiction consumed them.
In contrast, authentic leaders have developed a healthy respect for their addictions. They recognize just how seductive success can be.
They know just how easy it is to become corrupted by power. They understand just how difficult it is to walk the line between true self confidence and arrogance. And because of this, they choose to surround themselves with people who can help them deal with these challenges instead of exacerbating them.
The problem is that it's a rare executive who's able to slow down long enough to really deal with this question consciously. Instead, in the face of the never ending pressure to compete harder, change faster and soar higher, many executives just give in to the demands of the moment. Their higher priorities keep getting put off until tomorrow, while the urgent demands of success keep getting honored today.
I doubt that Jeffrey Skilling woke up one day and decided that he wanted to defraud an entire industry. And I doubt that Rupert Murdoch woke up one day and decided that he wanted to build an empire based on replacing honest journalism with "gossip, sensationalism and manufactured controversy."
There's a reason why we say that the path to hell is paved with good intentions. Authentic leadership doesn't just happen. It requires discipline, courage, self-awareness, and external support. It requires shifting from thinking that leadership is about having all the right answers, to realizing that it's more about asking the right questions. And it requires discovering that above all else, it's our blind spots we need to watch out for.
Because when an executive gets brought down by a big scandal, they usually don't have any idea what hit them -- until it's too late.
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