Yesterday, Vishen Lakhiani spoke at an online “I Am The Change” event hosted by Lisa Nichols, my former coach. Vishen is responsible for birthing Epic Careering’s newest offer, the Corporate Consciousness Ripple Blueprint.
When I saw him speak in San Diego in August of 2017, he opened up the event by challenging everyone in the room to only have or work for a humanity+ business. He showed a video of Tom Chi, Google X Co-Founder, answering a futuristic question, the answer to which I don’t think most of humanity was ready to hear: if consciousness doesn’t outpace innovation, we will destroy ourselves.
We need good people at the top, making decisions and leading future leaders toward a better world – right now! I wrote about this even before COVID, even before George Floyd, even before Beirut.
More than ever, we need people RIGHT NOW to wake up, speak up, stand up, step up, and lead us all to rise up, as Lisa Nichols laid out in her 5-day virtual event.
Vishen quoted MLK yesterday, in perfect context for what is happening right now in our world:
“Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic. Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” ― Martin Luther King Jr.
The old models of leadership have failed, and are making way for new breeds of leadership. It might feel confusing, overwhelming, or trite, but don’t let it make you apathetic.
“Apathy is the enemy of democracy.” In other words, by being indifferent, you could end up giving all your power to whoever sees fit to use it.
Here’s a little cheat sheet of three of the leadership styles emerging to disrupt the oligarchy:
- Situational Leader – Adapts leadership style to individuals
- Servant Leader – Hires the best talent, gets out of their way, and makes sure that they have what they need to do what they do best
- Conscious Leader – Answers the question, “What is for the highest good for all?” with acute self-awareness
All of these leadership styles require emotional intelligence, compassion, and ego-checking. They can also all be applied simultaneously; it’s not a “this or that” thing.
However, when applying situational leadership, watch out for people feeling as if you might be favoring one person over another with extra time.
With servant leadership, you have to balance taking full accountability for the performance of your team and setting strong accountability expectations so that you prepare your team members to become leaders who can step into your place.
With conscious leadership, you have to deal with your baggage. It’s hard work. You have to be committed to continually increasing your awareness of how your beliefs, insecurities, fears, and biases influence your impact and performance, how you are perceived, the decisions that you make, and the state of mind that you’re in.
“What is for the highest good?” seems like such a simple question, but when leaders are not all of the above, they may justify unconscious decisions. They may choose glory over good, or self-preservation over the preservation of company values.
In order to be conscious, leaders of today need better tools for leveraging data while integrating intuition into decision-making, managing conflict with compassion, and inspiring over convincing. They need to develop personally just as much, if not more, as they develop professionally.
If you feel there is much more you can contribute through your career if only you knew how to influence change…
If you are concerned enough about the future to take action…
If you want to be able to tell your kids and grandkids you did all you could to preserve a better world for them…
Karen Huller is the creator of the Corporate Consciousness Ripple Blueprint and author of Laser-sharp Career Focus: Pinpoint your Purpose and Passion in 30 Days. She founded Epic Careering, a leadership and career development firm specializing in executive branding and conscious culture, in 2006.
While the bulk of her 20 years of professional experience has been within the recruiting and employment industry, her publications, presentations, and coaching also draw from experience in personal development, performance, broadcasting, marketing, and sales. Her solutions incorporate breakthroughs in neuroscience, human performance optimization, bioenergetics, and psychology to help leaders accelerate rapport, expand influence, and elevate engagement and productivity while also looking out for the sustainability of the business and the planet.
Mrs. Huller was one of the first LinkedIn trainers and is known widely for her ability to identify and develop new trends. She is a Certified Professional Résumé Writer, Certified Career Transition Consultant, and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist with a Bachelor of Art in Communication Studies and Theater from Ursinus College and a minor in Creative Writing. Her blog was recognized as a top 100 career blog worldwide by Feedspot.
She was an Adjunct Professor in Cabrini University’s Communications Department and an Adjunct Professor of Career Management and Professional Development at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business She is an Instructor for the Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA) where some of her students won the 2018 national YEA competition, were named Ernst & Young’s America’s Next Top Young Entrepreneurs, and won the 2019 People’s Choice Award.
She is board secretary for the Upper Merion Community Center and just finished serving as Vice President of the Gulph Elementary PTC, for which she received recognition as a Public Education Partner and Promoter from the Upper Merion Area Education Association. She lives in King of Prussia with her husband, two daughters, and many pets, furry, feathered, and scaly.