Over the past year the team at The Holos Group (the organisation and social change consulting studio I founded) have been working on an emergent approach to leadership for our increasingly complex times. An approach to leadership based on the following definition of leadership: A leader is anyone willing to step up and help transform a vision for a better future into reality (from my post How are you being a leader?). The catalyst for this action research project was a conversation with a client organisation about the need to identify and develop a new breed of leaders within the organisation so as to ensure its ongoing viability into an increasingly emergent – and online – business environment. These new ways of leading included:

1. understanding, embracing and embodying new paradigms of leadership – paradigms that invite the organisation’s leaders to lead from their ‘core’ rather than simply follow a script;
2. being positive agitators for change and transformation within the organisation;
3. proactively harnessing the collective knowledge, wisdom and power of others in service of the organisation’s purpose and organisational goals;
4. being more adaptive in navigating increasing organisational complexity and ambiguity and invite others to do the same; and
5. embracing and encouraging greater innovation and ‘intrapreneurship’ across the organisation, and within the organisation’s broader eco-system.

We were invited to undertake this action research project based upon PhD-level research I had previously previously completed. The focus of this PhD research was the exploration of three inter-related questions:

1. What is spirituality
2. What is a spiritual life?
3. What are the benefits of living a spiritual life?

This earlier research identified four enabling factors of more expansive and integrated ways of thinking and being – in essence, factors that facilitate the expansion of one’s consciousness. For additional details and a summary of the key findings of this study read my earlier blog (In search of a common spirituality). Of particular note is the key finding of the importance of having a sense of meaning and purpose in life.

The findings of this earlier research study were important to the present action research project as the expansion of one’s consciousness – the evolving to latter stages of self-authorship – is important to the adoption of a ‘whole-system view’ of a leader’s internal and external experience. This inner and outer ‘whole-system’ view is critical to a leader’s capacity to making sense of and navigating ambiguous, complex and emergent situations in life and work.

The outcome of this action research project is an approach to leading that I am presently calling Purposeful Leadership.

What is Purposeful Leadership?

Purposeful Leadership calls upon leaders to ‘lead from the inside out’ in traversing the complexity of social systems in service of the profound and transformative change needed for humanity. It is an approach to leadership deeply grounded in conscious and intentional ways of leading self and others.

Purposeful Leadership is not dependent upon a person’s title or status within a social system. Rather it focuses on developing a leader’s deep sense of personal resonance, and fostering their commitment to lead from this place regardless of context. It is an approach to leadership that is highly adaptive and invites leaders to take-up an approach to leading that encourages inter-dependence whilst also honouring each leader’s unique approach to leadership.

Purposeful Leadership is an approach to leadership where the leader knows from deep within that ‘they are enough’.

Three guiding assumptions of Purposeful Leadership

Guiding assumptions underpinning Purposeful Leadership:

• We believe that the leader and the person are one.
• We believe that leading from one’s core purpose is the most powerful way to lead.
• We believe that Purposeful Leadership invites the experience of a full and meaningful life, and this is available in each moment.

From these initial findings the Group have been exploring the key fields of inner inquiry and development for more Purposeful Leadership, as well as a set of foundational practices for leading with purpose. More on these fields of development and foundational practices in future blogs.