Author: Prafulla Acharya, PhD (c)
Image source: Pinots Palette
Arturo Cuenllas is a well-known professor, coach, consultant and speaker. His book, A Higher Purpose – Three Rules of Conscious Leadership, deals with how to overcome inertia (indifference) or a lack of ‘meaning and purpose’ at work, an issue afflicting individuals and organizations.
According to Cuenllas, leaders tend to prioritize 1) money and 2) their organization’s functioning smoothly and efficiently. These top priorities lead to employees, customers, and all other parties being treated as numbers and figures, thus reducing creativity and vision, and additionally compromising meaning and purpose in the work area.
When a leader intends to inspire a sense of higher purpose among his assistants and others under his direction and care, the following types of questions can be beneficial:
What do you believe in?
What impact do you want to make on the world?
How can our company make a difference?
Cuenllas suggests three rules that will guarantee to achieve a higher purpose:
- Enhance the power in others: This is about facilitating improvement in your employees and others. To accomplish this, a leader must possess values and demonstrate good character. By investing time and dedication, a leader can engender excellence by bringing out the best in people, especially by recognizing and appreciating their contributions.
- Enhance the power in yourself: This can be accomplished by updating one’s own internal operative system by, for example, taking the time to practice mediation and mindfulness, and here also, character building is essential.
- Enhance values among all stakeholders: Here Cuenllas particularly stresses the importance of the customer, societies (communities), and the environment. Exemplifying a higher vision of service, corporate social responsibility, and altruism are a conscious leader’s most crucial characteristics.
In summary, A Higher Purpose – Three Rules of Conscious Leadership details the characteristics a conscious leader must demonstrate to overcome individual and collective inertia
In summary, A Higher Purpose – Three Rules of Conscious Leadership details the characteristics a conscious leader must demonstrate to overcome individual and collective inertia brought on by leaders’ limited priorities of money and smooth organizational functioning. Cuenllas emphasizes that for kindling meaning and purpose in individuals and organizations, a conscious leader must prioritize the development of high values, good character, belief, impact focus, altruism, dedication, meditation, mindfulness, time investment, recognition, and appreciation.
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The views and opinions expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Alfred Ford School of Management.
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