Dr Ginny Whitelaw is the author of the book Zen leadership; she is a leadership expert and a co founder of Focus Leadership. Moreover, she participated in numerous leadership programs including global 1000 leadership, Oliver Wyman, leadership Development and Columbia University (Whitelaw, 2012). The book Zen leader is an extremely influential book in the art of leadership and science. It is clear that Today's leaders face enormous and nearly impossible tasks. Leaders in key managerial positions encounter pressure to do more with far much less, innovate, inspire broadly and expand globally and finally balance work and family.
However, The Zen Leader does not promote or encourage an individual to be silent and just peaceful; neither does it suggest that one should work faster or harder. It is about utilizing the pressure to initiate flips in personal thoughts to create transformational leaders, those leaders who shape the future with enthusiasm and joy rather than controlling themselves and their people to exhaustion.
The book differentiates between two different minds of people. First is the small mind surrounded by egocentrism and responsible for thinking unconsciously in people minds and needs. Next is the leading mind that literally disappears into several situations and bonding and become one with the situation and thus using personality to serve other individuals. It is a fact that transformational leaders always know how to reclaim themselves and reorganize how they nature their business, grow their teams, create their world and inspire others at the same time.
In this piece of writing, I will extensively discuss the author’s immense contribution to the body of knowledge about leadership and this will include her purpose for writing the book, its weighty themes, principles and concepts, and how these principles and themes relate and apply to the ones that we did in the classroom.
Implications of the Authors Contribution
Leadership is a significant part of management that assists in maximizing efficiency and achieving organizational goals. The book comes a time when leadership methods dictate the practices toward initiating sound change and transformation in school or organization and among groups or individuals.
The author has motivated individuals to get involved in becoming sensitive and be able to choose and identify the attributes of a respectable and transformational leader; who has the capability and not greed to lead an organization. Moreover, we have been able to understand the underlying principles and concepts that guide any transformational leadership. A leader should not be controlled by his or her subordinates. Instead, seek advice and other people opinion regarding compromised issues before crucial decision making process.
The author identifies several roles of a typical leader in an organization; a leader does several tasks in an organization such as inspirational motivation, support and encouragement to his subordinates. From the author’s writings, we can deduce that leadership determines several aspects of people lives as witnessed in organization and educational environment where staff routines are dependent on the existing leadership style.
Furthermore, leadership is all about team building and communication in order for people to combine forces and work together. Thus, the importance of leadership is a vital component to successful organization and more coherent team that have the synergy to be always on top.
Purpose of the book
Zed Leadership significantly influence and inspire young and fully established managers in key positions or aspiring leaders in various organizations all over the world. Its content magnificently elaborated with sheer clarity and description that enable readers to grasp the knowledge in an easier way. First the author wanted people to know the four factors of leadership that people and even organizations can use in their quest for a formidable management structure.
Secondly, Dr Ginny wrote the book to enhance the concept of transformational leadership seen as the best alternative and solutions to organizations with leadership crises. Transformational leadership assists the development of leaders based on their capabilities, vision and drive in order to streamline them with organizational long term goals.
Moreover, Dr, Ginny takes this platform to define the attributes of exemplary leadership; those who define an organization's culture, work ethic and direction. It involves building trust and engages other people to work. Thus, becoming a leader one should create ample time to study; practice the skills and knowledge that are fundamental to all the leaders.
The book aims at providing direction to leaders and encouraging them to make timely decisions. This combined with the use of excellent problem solving skills, planning tools and organizational skills for effective leadership administration. These enable the leaders to know how to interact and communicate with an individual’s team, seniors and other non staff personnel.
Subsequently, the book promotes elements of strong leadership that focus on streamlining and achieving key organizational objective that will stimulate the growth of an organization. The goal is to have many organizations acquire a better understanding of their own organizational aims and goals. Thus, we are able to understand that even though, the main aim of a company is to yield profit they always have other goals provided through leadership that assist a company track back to its normal goals in the event that the business loses its direction.
The book is stead fast in mitigating any occurrence of conflict in organizational leadership. It removes the notion that leaders should focus on one goal and should cease to overlook other needs in the organization.
Major Concepts
In the book Dr, Whitelaw, enumerates ten flips as she calls them that help leaders break the monotony and flip to the next phase to complete the full transition. The concepts well organized from page 32-250 in the book. The main concept in topic one is about leadership transformation and how to cope. The main aspect is controlling, connecting with people and utilizing individuals’ strengths as a power to be creative and promote quality leadership.
These concepts are also reiterated in the classroom lessons. Leaders must have a complete understanding and knowledge of what they want to achieve and how they will be able to convince followers to their network. Secondly, communication ought to be two ways, how and what a leader communicates can harm the relationship between the employees and the leader. Another concept of leadership is the situation, since all situations are different skills required should be diverse, and a flexible to operate in various different environments.
Major themes
Leadership Transformation
It is clear that when leaders navigate or move to new levels of consciousness and competence they transform their position in their own environments. Transformation in leadership involves several aspects that include engaging leaders in creating innovative strategies and business channels for their ever changing world.
Moreover, there is the creation of trust, and team climates for all participants’ to share out and steer high performance. Transformational leadership enhances leadership agility, energy and resilience. From the lessons in class, it is clear that transformation leadership in an organization can be of immense benefit in a company's productivity and ensuring staff roles and ethical practices are all monitored and motivated in order to ensure that organizations meet their goals and objectives.
Empathy as a Powerful Leadership Tool
It is particularly true that the pull bringing people together is extraordinarily powerful than a push of control. Empathy attributes becoming the other person, and it significantly applies in several key business activities such as sales, negotiation, influence, communications, teaching and conflicts. In order to get the greatest understanding from other people then leaders should be able to learn how to be the other person in terms of their emotional state, views and propositions. Thus, believing in other people enhances trust in an organization and increases communication and problem solving methods.
Leadership Strategy/ Vision
Another important theme in Zed Leadership is strategic leadership. It is about constructing what a person want and not what someone knows. The most crucial element in organization leadership is practicing total quality management. As a leader, company’s goals and objectives should presents what all the stakeholders want for the company in terms of performance and projections of the company concerned. Executing a strategic vision one will need to build on what he or she wants. Leadership without strategy execution will never mobilize employees for a terrific course and enhance performance.
A well executed strategy and vision enable a leader in an organization mitigate the risks associated with the important features of the strategy. This enables an organization to cushion itself against loses, and poor implementation plans before conducting proper monitoring and evaluation. The strategic context is not only about talking on the goals, action plans and objectives but also it involves creating and describing a clear detail of what is the final destination and end point.
Energy Management
As a Zen leader, life and leadership require some substantive amount of energy. Energy management assists leaders and managers on how to achieve energy burn, and use its power in aligning energy towards an organization’s vision. She describes it as a foundational flip arising from tension to extension depicting how leadership posture to the world impacts the environment we form. Moreover, and more significant how leaders flip themselves to the world we want to form and shape.
This energy management relates to the fundamental qualities of a leader that states that true leaders should move from playing their strengths to strengthening their whole play. This brings vital personality and leadership qualities that help leaders to emerge wholly effective throughout their execution of their tasks in an organization.
Major Principles
Volatility and Tension
This principle argues that volatility spreads tension in an organizational environment. Any signal of danger and fear coming from a leader raises doubts on his or her capability and strengths. In addition, leaders under stress pay the price of tension and this sabotage their efficiency and in the long term derail their careers. These kinds of leaders always look for faults and cast blames. They worry a lot and agonize over numerous decisions they are arrogant and always right and seek perfectionist and determined to control the reality. This principle relates to the classroom lessons in which temperamental leadership never succeeds in any organization. This is because it lacks a well constructed and realistic vision, and in case of any failures the leaders blame his subordinates.
Becoming One with Everything
Dr Ginny talks about connecting with everything not only human beings alone but also ideas and other things, as well as a leader. Thus, a true leader should become one with his or her vision for an organization. The sense of connectedness with everything brings out the bigger visionary of a leader. This matches the concept in class of a visionary leader who always gives an organization of the insight of the future. This enhances the overall goals and targets of an organization where this leadership is present.
Local Self to Whole Self
Zed leadership gives an insight on the development of a true leader from graduating from an individual with self satisfaction to a leader who takes the drive for the majority people. It supports the leaders who do not concentrate on their personal gains, but one who delivers to the people who he or she leads. This attribute removes individuality amongst leaders in their quest to bringing change. Furthermore, it embraces the whole new perspective about serving people in the leadership position within an organization.
A true leader takes into consideration other people views and comments about different issues in an organization hence, assist in bringing enormous contribution within an organization. This is an element of people focus and is effective in creating loyalty. It also results in the achievement of goals and objectives of an organization and brings out the importance of working together towards a common vision.
Performance and Charisma
It is true that when a leader has charisma a number of people would want to identify with the leader. A leader should show convictions, take crucial stands on issues and appeal to other staff and employees on an emotional level. Dr, Ginny outlines the importance of performance in leadership as it amongst the vital component of the evaluation (Whitelaw, 2012).
Here, we see a leader who has a clear set of values and demonstrating all the aspects in every action he undertakes within an organization thereby providing a role model for other people. Thereby genuine trust must be between followers and leaders based on a solid ethical and moral foundation. High morals are one of key elements or attributes of transformational leadership emphasizing its importance in organizational leadership.
More energy for Better Alignment
Dr, Ginny on top of having the drive to lead, it is essential for leaders to develop programs and coaching classes that will assist leaders to connect with the other leaders regarding the best practices that will in turn create a build up energy for the vision (Whitelaw, 2012). This is because strategy, vision and purpose are significant for aligning and inspiring followership.
Thus, when vision or purpose arises from what leaders find energizing, they tend to gather more energy as they continue focusing on their work. This translates to personal drive that leaders should have when they know their vision for an organization. This enables them to develop complex solutions for future difficulties in the organization’s quest for success.
Control
We always regard control to be desirable, self control, span of control and self control are key attributes of leadership. Therefore, leaders can control their quality of work and thus monitor all the organization’s practices and goals in the business world. It further naturally promotes growth and achievements of a leader. Furthermore, through self control a leader fulfils other people needs for self worth, self fulfillment and self actualization.
The absence of leadership has severe consequences in an organization. Organizations without proper leadership tend to move exceedingly slowly, stagnate and eventually lose their way (Whitelaw, 2012). Leadership is a key function of management that assists in achieving various organizational goals. It is essential in coordination through the synchronization of both organizational goals and personal interest. Leadership is about commitment, power, people, persuasion and feelings.
Leadership must be guided by appropriate ethics revealing the reason why ethics are so significant in organizational leadership. These enable individuals to choose their leaders based on the inner ethical compass.
Conclusion
Whitelaw has succeeded in providing an indispensable platform that will help aspiring leaders to finish the transformation from barely managing an organization to continuously leading fearlessly. It is notable to say that Dr Whitelaw’s Zen leadership is a continuous process rather than a specific final destination. This book has immense contribution to organizational leadership and provides a basic framework for developing significant attributes of leaders.
Leadership is a fundamental aspect for an organization to surpass and meet its targets. Dr. Ginny Whitelaw book offers the best opportunity to integrate the best leadership practices in an organization setting. Its relevance can be seen through the various leadership training sessions and workshops all over the world that tend to borrow most aspects from the book.
