The Happy Orca

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“We think that leaders need to provide answers… actually leaders need to deal with questions… and the questions that are powerful invite responses in which people participate together.”

“Leadership sounds wonderful but the truth is leadership and being a leader can be very risky business. Leaders are people willing to look out there into the future, create something for themselves and invite others to create it with them or for themselves, and often times you are out there and you look around and there’s nobody out there with you. You know the vision you’ve got, the possibility you’ve got the intention you see, which goes beyond the current circumstances – often times other people can’t see it – they are dealing with the current circumstances. They are trying to survive or deal with what’s happening. And leaders need to understand that its perfectly natural – its fine – the risk of being out there can be exhilarating… and then the question is how can I bring people over here where I am. And that lives in conversations… conversations I am willing to have with people. And it begins with listening – its really not talking to people, its talking with people… finding out what’s their future, what’s their default future, what’s not working for them, what is that they would want to create and in those conversations new possibilities naturally arise, which is the hallmark of leadership. Leaders create collaboration and the co-authoring of new futures.”

“Leadership requires no authority. Most of the confusion around leadership is that its based on authority. So if I am the COO then I am the leader, or if I am the head of this department then I am the leader. Our new model of leadership really says you don’t need any position of authority in an organisation or in any situation for you to have a conversation for what’s possible. Anybody can provide leadership.”