Manila, 11 April 2024 — How leaders always find the way.

Story

I happened this week. I was listening to three highly accomplished researchers discussing how to best embrace reality with what we know about developing human consciousness. One of the books they referred to was Integral Psychology, in which philosopher Ken Wilber reviewed more than 100 models of human development spanning East and West. A treasure trove.

The three researchers, all from the Boomer generation, had what they termed a paradigm-rattling conversation to discover better solutions for the challenges we are facing in our world today. Their conclusion? That there is no alternative to investing in deep transformation, by which they meant human, vertical, and interior development. I agreed—and we call that leadership development.

In the same week, I had the pleasure of working with over a hundred Gen Z and Gen Y sustainability leaders from 24 Asia-Pacific countries. The challenge was to develop transformational leadership and we explored the core essentials to get started. The stark difference I noted in this group was how they teamed up to collaborate on the task right away. For sure, different generations use different approaches.

Challenge

Last century, Albert Einstein was quoted as saying that “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.” That has been my professional experience too. The three researchers agreed.

One of them, John Dupuy, shared a perspective that the only way out of our global problems was Up. We humans needed to transform ourselves first in order to generate better solutions and results in our societies. A similar message—to Look Up— was shared in Six Keys to Leading Positive Change, a well-known TED talk by Prof. Rosabeth Kanter.

Importantly, the Six Keys also included another key, to Team Up. And teaming up was what the Gen Z and Gen Y leaders started to do right away in our leadership development sessions, which are a part of the One Million Leaders Asia (OMLAS) Fellowship program. 

Question

The OMLAS program was founded in 2022 by Rashmi and Harshana Shrestha, two women leaders from Nepal whom I had the pleasure of coaching in the international Grow3Leaders Community. They are now modeling the way in transformational leadership and I am proud of them for the impact they are generating.

This month in Grow3Leaders, we are practicing the effective leadership behavior of taking multiple perspectives in any situation we find ourselves in. Looking Up and Teaming Up are two of the essential perspectives that leaders will work on to master.

What we have realized in our international community is that collaborative leadership development is a necessity for solving our world’s problems at speed and scale, and with more fun. My question for you this week is: When will you join us in Grow3Leaders?

P.S. As you join, invite three colleagues to come with you to form a crossgenerational Collab and take on a leadership challenge together to create a positive change in your workplace(s). It is a transformational leadership experience you don’t want to miss.