The LEAP Leadership Journey #2
Mon 30 May 2011
, Renata Harper, Renata Harper
Interview with Erica van Ooyen (Part 2)
In March 2010, the LEAP community embarked on a journey – a journey that saw deep dialogue and collaboration on issues surrounding new ideals of leadership. Over a year later, we take a moment to look back on how far we’ve come – and where we’re heading to next…New Values, the theme of our event on June 6.
Riding the wave
The LEAP Leadership Journey is all about learning – learning about ourselves, about each other, about our organisations, our societies. If today is a brand-new day, then the opportunities for growth are immense. Indeed, growth is at the core of the leadership journey, says Erica. “Being in unprecedented times means we have no examples. Therefore we need to be examples to each other.”
In phase 1, LEAP explored the idea of new leadership. Erica captures it like this: “This was all about making conscious the factors creating societal change and what opportunities this offered. We explored sustainability and finding the courage to face and interrogate reality, as well as human-centred management, passion and compassion.” The LEAP Leadership Journey was created on the harvest of the Leadership Café: it reflects directly what present and future leaders who attended thought what was needed for new leadership.
Phase 2 – new self-leadership – was the first thing that jumped out. This stage took a more personal dimension; the asking of questions like ‘Who am I?’, ‘What are my qualities?’ and ‘Where do I want to contribute?’ “This phase was about taking ownership of self,” Erica explains, “about being your own best version. This takes time. It involves investing in the development of your emotional intelligence. It demands self-reflection and brutal honesty. Courage was an oft-mentioned word that day.”
The next phase, new systems, dealt with the new context in which we function, offering us community, communication, and collaboration – and with that the potential that online technology provides to, as Erica puts it, “tap into people”. “Technology creates a situation that allows leaders to communicate, collaborate, inspire,” she says, “but also to share and serve. We live in times of great complexity. Knowledge is no longer in an individual. It’s in the crowd…” This has a huge impact on leadership, as the accompanying research we performed with Executive Learning Partnership and The Wall Street Journal shows.
The next phase: New values
On 6 June we move onto values. As in March 2010, we will be looking at the whole picture.
Erica describes her core values as “choice (and with that freedom), connection, transparency and trust, abundance, and authenticity”. Being true to her values is key to Erica’s identity. She’s excited about the upcoming event… “I’m curious to know what values are alive in people; how conscious everyone is. Once we know our personal values, we’re able to decide how to operate in alignment with those values, which allows us to be more authentic. We will also look at our organisations’ values. Are they geared towards the New Future?”
“The goal is for each of us to contribute and to learn from our present leaders (in the panel and at the table) and from each other, and so to move from unconscious to conscious. Through dialogue, these leaders will showcase how they ride the wave…”
If the journey so far has been about exploring outer dimensions impacting individuals and organisations, 6 June is all about one level deeper: “values and making them conscious”. For Erica, the event will be a success if people walk away feeling inspired to contribute “and to contribute according to a desire to be more authentic and based on their values”.
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