I’ve been on a learning spurt in the past few months around the most effective ways to influence people, to lead, and to have my life proceed according to my highest desires. And what I’m learning is a way of operating that is much more effective than the conventional wisdom.
Fitting perfectly into that learning, I happened upon a very inspiring book called Synchronicity, the Inner Path of Leadership, by Joseph Jaworski.
by Joseph Jaworski.The book affirms that leadership is about collectively creating the future and that the most effective way to lead is to use synchronicity, meaning to create the conditions for “predictable miracles”.
I’m sure you can think of a time when a happy accident led you to progress in an unexpected way. A common example is a coincidental meeting with someone who can forward your goals. Another example is when your eyes catch sight of a book that perfectly meets your needs (just as happened for me with this book!) For me, some of the most influential connections I’ve made in the past few years have happened purely by accident.
The book is both a personal story and an attempt to describe how to lead using synchronicity. Here are my notes.
- The most important choice a leader makes is to serve. Without choosing to serve your followers and/or society, your capacity to lead is profoundly limited.
- Want the result for its own sake. That means you must avoid egoic attachments to the results such as wanting to prove yourself as a leader, wanting to beat the competition etc. For the example above, you would want the profit simply for the benefits that will accrue to the company and your team.
- Be committed; believe it is possible; use willingness not will. You must simultaneously be committed to success while being open to allowing the process to unfold in the easiest possible way. This reminds me of Deepak Chopra’s 4th Law of Success: The Law of Least Effort. Lao Tzu has said that “An integral being…accomplishes without doing.”
- Attract what and who you want through authentic presence and love. When you generate an internal feeling of unconditional love, others are influenced by it, whether they know it or not.
- The ability to create the conditions for synchronicity is not special. It’s available to everyone.
If I’ve really learned these lessons this time, my life should begin flowing with great ease. And yours too. So, let’s see!
Will look out for the book, and thank you for the summary in the meantime.As we started to explore, there is a lot of Asian/Chinese philosophy suggesting this approach to leadership. I am therefore not surprised to see the reference to Lao Tzu. Since Chinese philosophies were often written by and for government leaders/rulers, they tended to advocate holistic approaches and “economical+political environmentally-conscious” approaches because they had to look after peoples’ lives/generations & the entire country.It will be interesting to see this cross-over into business leadership which has some common ground (on people) though not totally-overlapping goals (on enterprise).
Very interesting distinction that Lao Tzu wrote for government leaders, not businesses. I believe the trend is for even more cross-over into business leadership since as society evolves, entreprises will realize their greater ability to profit through a triple bottom line: people, planet, profit, and a more holistic focus.