Leadership in today's globally connected economy requires moving beyond the authoritarian leadership styles of the past to one that requires more attention to sustainability, ethical cultures, and caring behaviors, while still being geared to enhancing performance.
In LEADING BEYOND THE EGO by John Knights, Danielle Grant, and Greg Young show how intellectual, emotional, and spiritual intelligence can be combined to create "transpersonal leadership." Transpersonal leaders operate beyond their egos. They are radical, ethical, and authentic, while emotionally intelligent and caring.
"To become a transpersonal leader we must bring our values, beliefs and purpose to full consciousness and act on them," says Knights. "To become this kind of leader, an individual needs to be emotionally intelligent in order to have sufficient inner self confidence, awareness and empathy to be able to take this advanced journey."
Transpersonal leaders are able to:
- Embed authentic, ethical, and emotionally intelligent behaviors into the DNA of the organization
- Build strong, empathetic, and collaborative relationships within the organization and with all stakeholders
- Create a performance enhancing culture that is ethical, caring, and sustainable
Transpersonal leadership involves dealing with the conflict between instincts and conscious behavior. Leaders need to raise their level of consciousness to understand that they do have choices and that to be an excellent leader they need to operate beyond the ego.
Source: Leading Beyond the Ego: How to Become a Transpersonal Leader