Sunday, March 31, 2013

Three “N”s in Nature Leaders

“If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right”               –Henry Ford


From one generation to the next, the substance of leadership does not change, it's about future and change; influence and innovation; direction and dedication. However, the trends and styles have to be continually adjusted in order to lead effectively. More fundamentally, is leadership nature or nurtured? Such debates are always thought-provoking, surely there are many key leadership ingredients which can be nurtured, such as empathy, humility, influence, however, there are raw (nature) leadership ingredients which come from nature, grow upon nature, here are three “N”s in nature leaders. 

1.    Novelty


Nature leaders are fresh and open, bring up such leadership novelty -as a key ingredient in innovative leadership. Innovation is light every forward-looking organization is pursuing now, and innovation is not only about new product/services, leadership innovation is strategic imperative at the digital era, as innovative leadership will catalyze the culture of innovation, and further enforce communication innovation.

  • Open Nature: Nature leaders have such open nature, like sponge, indefatigably absorb the fresh knowledge and diversified viewpoint; like river, flow through and keep moving; like wood, sprout out and grow up, blossom with innovation, inspiration, and influence, nature leaders are both wild and wise, as nature is his/her coach, to lead via nature, not via brute force.
  • Nature Valley: Nature leaders are both shapeable & shapeless, their thoughts are deep as nature valley, their vision are also curvilinear;  they are out of box thinker, as nature is out of box, to dig through insight, like nature, such leadership embraces the thickness of nature colors and theme of nature diversity, they touch both heart and mind, spirit and beings.   

 2. Navigation



Nature leaders seem to be nice and even naïve, compete by not competing, voice by not talking; blend in by not following blindly, perceive by nature curiosity. 
  •     Nature Path: Nature leaders follow both heart and mind, as nature is their navigator, to connect dot in nature life path; they respect human nature, confident but not arrogant, they experience ups and downs, but they won’t lose their character; they don’t take short-cut or linear route, and they don’t mind throw their life a curve, as nature encompasses them for the leadership purpose, so they may not always follow other’s footstep, they are not stereotypical leadership image, as nature is unique, energetic and bright. 
  • Nature Impulse: Nature has its speed and rhyming, from four seasons to time frame, from wax & wane of moonlight to ebb and flow of sea; nature leaders are also dynamic, speed up and down, set back or bounce up, push & pull; true, there is no better navigation system than bad experiences in life so that we can recalculate the lives through better choices to reach potentials and intended destination. So nature leaders can lead with understanding, cognizance, empathy and maturity.
 “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”  ― Douglas AdamsThe Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

3. Nimbleness



In nature, everything is connected with something else; but they also have such nature distance to keep all things in harmony; nature is grand but also nimble, nature leaders follow the spirit of nature to lead through:

  • Nature Synergy: Nature leaders create team synergy & organizational nimbleness via empathy and wisdom, at today’s agile business environment, business nimbleness means adaptability, elasticity, flexibility, resilience, and transparency. 
  • Nature Balance: Nature is full of balance, all beings support Yin and embrace Yang, the balance of light and darkness; the hardness and softness; tangible and intangible; nature leaders are masterful in balancing the strength of talent, balancing the multitude of perspectives, and balancing leadership and management. 
The strength of nature leaders come from nature, grow upon nature, and serve nature with natural energy. “His Natural Leadership skills as a point guard stands out more than anything.” Jeff Smith.


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