It is the month for celebrating Christmas. For me, a time to think of those who contribute to my existence, and give my thanks. This conversation is my thanks to each and every one of my human beings. And especially those with whom my speaking finds a listening. Let’s begin.
What Is The Access To And The Source Of Mastery In The Exercise Of Human Centred Leadership?
What is the material that a carpenter works with? Wood. What is the material a painter works with? Paint. What is the material that a farmer works with? The land that is farmed. What is the material that a leader works with? Human beings.
What makes a carpenter a great carpenter? Mastery? Yes, I say it takes a mastery of wood (in its many forms) and the tools+techniques that are used to work with-on the wood. Love? I ask you, can a carpenter became a great carpenter without a love of working with-on wood? It occurs to me that the answer is NO!
You may be asking yourself, what has this got to do with human-centred leadership? Everything. I say that a human-centred leader has to love working with-on human beings. I say that a human-centred leader has to attain a mastery over his own being (that which shapes how s/he shows up and travels in life) and the human-condition. What am I getting at? I invite you to listen, really listen, to the following words of profound wisdom into the human-condition (bolding is my work):
“Optimism gives a hopeful attitude to life, while with pessimism one sees darkness on one’s path. No doubt sometimes pessimism shows conscientiousness and cleverness, and it may also show experience. But conscientiousness alone will never be enough to overcome the difficulties one meets in one’s life, it is trust that solves life problems.…
The psychological effect of optimism is such that it helps to bring success, for it is by the spirit of optimism that God has created the world. Optimism comes from God, and pessimism is born from the heart of man. By what little experience of life he has, man learns, “This will not succeed, that will not do, this will not come right.” For the one who is optimistic it does not matter if it does not come right in the end, he will take his chance. For what is life? Life is an opportunity, and to the optimistic person this opportunity is a promise, while for the pessimistic person this opportunity is lost….
Man’s life depends on the object of his concentration, so if he concentrates upon misery, he must be miserable. A person who has a certain habit of which he does not approve often thinks he is helpless before is as it is his nature. But nothing is man’s nature except what he makes of himself. As the whole of nature is is made by God, so the nature of each individual is made by himself; and as the Almighty has the power to change His nature, so the individual is capable of changing his nature. Among all the creatures of this world, man has the most right to be optimistic, for man represents God on earth, God as Judge, God as Creator ….
A man with optimism will help another who is drowning in the sea of fear and disappointment; while on the contrary, if someone who is ill or downhearted comes to a pessimistic person, the pessimist will pull him down and make him sink to the depths along with himself. On the side of the one is life; on the side of the other is death……. It is no exaggeration to say that the very spirit of God comes to man’s rescue in the form of the optimistic sprit.…..
It does not matter how hard a situation in life may be: however great the difficulties, they can all be surmounted…… the greatest greatest reward there can be in life is the spirit of optimism, while the greatest punishment that can be given to man for his worst sin is pessimism. Verily, the one who is hopeful in life will succeed.
There are two attitudes that divide people into two sections. The one is an ever-complaining attitude and the other an ever-smiling attitude. Life is the same: call it good, call it bad, call it right, call it wrong, it is what it is; it cannot be otherwise…. The person with the right attitude of mind tries to make even wrong right, but the one with the wrong attitude of mind will turn even right into wrong. Besides, magnetism is the the need of every soul; the lack of it makes life burdensome. The tendency of seeing wrong in everything robs one to a great extent of that magnetism which is needed very much in life….. the world is place you cannot enter with a pass of admission, and that pass of admission is magnetism; the one who does not possess it will be refused everywhere.
The attitude of looking at everything with a smile is the sign of the saintly soul. A smile given to a friend or even to an enemy will win him over in the end; for this is the key to the heart of man. As the sunshine from without lights the whole world, so the sunshine from within, it it were raised up, would illuminate the whole life, in spite of all the seeming wrongs and in spite of all limitations…. looking at life with a hopeful attitude of mind, with an optimistic view, it is this that will give one power of turning wrong into right and bringing light into the place where all is darkness. Cheerfulness is life; sulkiness is death. Life attracts, death repulses. The sunshine that comes from the soul, rises through the heart, and manifests itself in man’s smile is indeed the light from the heavens. In that light many flowers grow and many fruits become ripe.”
– Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Art Of Being And Becoming
Summing Up
I say the very being of a human-centred leader is is that of possibility (hope), enthusiasm borne of a deep connection with this possibility (of a better world), and optimism no matter what the circumstance. What kind of optimism matters most in a leader? The optimism in mankind and in particular the optimism in the human-beings s/he is involved with, counting on, responsible, and leading.
I leave you with the following thoughts:
– The price of admission to effective human-centred leadership is magnetism – enrolling people in the possibility of a better world awaiting to be ‘birthed-caused-created’;
– The source of this magnetism is deep seated love of and faith in one’s fellow human beings; and
– This optimism cannot be faked – the seeds of it must lie in your very being, and if they are there then this optimism can be cultivated until it blossoms to a fully grown tree.
Want to get a better handle on what it is that I am getting at? I invite you to watch this 5 minute clip of Viktor Frankl:
I invite you to consider that if any human being has attained a profound lived grasp-understanding of human nature it is Viktor Frankl. Why? He is a Jew. He lost everyone during WWII. He found himself in the worst concentration camps. He experienced that which few of us will ever experience. He did not merely survive the concentration camp existence. He came out with a profound optimism in mankind. His book Man’s Search For Meaning, written shortly after his liberation from the concentration camp, is one that I invite you read if you wish to show up and travel as a human-centred leader. Thank you for listening, I wish you an optimistic existence!
