 Inner
Clarity in Leadership (Part Two)
by Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters)
from Cities of Light: A Plan for this
Age, Copyright Hansa Trust
(continued from Part
One) Supportive leadership means cooperation. Its constant
aim, therefore, is to solicit cooperation, not unthinking
obedience, from others. People must be inspired as much as
possible to feel that the leadership is actually coming from
them — as, in fact, ideally it generally should be.
Leadership of this type, when possible,
is not a strain on anyone, but a mutually joyful interaction.
Such leadership, however, will only work as a joint effort.
The leader who tries to get others to lead before they are
ready to participate will find himself dealing with countless
warring factions.
The fact of human dynamics is that group
ventures rarely, if ever, get off the ground without the inspiration,
and the focused dedication, of one person. As Emerson put
it, “An institution is the lengthened shadow of one
man.” Creativity comes from inside. It can’t very
well result from a procedure that puts everything to a vote.
The better established a direction, however,
the more it needs to become a community direction, and to
be subject to community decisions. Thus, leadership should
strive ever more fully to involve others in the process of
leadership.
Fortunately, given any difficulty a leader
might experience in sharing his role, the very circumstances
attending an organization’s growth make his job an increasing
burden to him, unless he has the inner freedom to agree to
share his leadership with others. For with growth comes complexity,
and with complexity the necessity for making endless decisions
that are not even creative, but merely time-consuming.
Thus, Nature herself creates the circumstances
whereby a leader with clear inner guidance cannot but realize
the fitness of turning over the reins to others. One of his
principal jobs as a leader, then, is always to be on the lookout
for people who can truly lead others, and not merely drive
them.
An important point for promoting harmony
in the group dynamics of a business is the insistence that
people need to demonstrate the right to be heard. People who
set themselves up as “negative voices,” in other
words, should be asked to suggest positive solutions. Alternatively,
they might be appointed, if possible, to correct the situations
they have criticized.
By taking this positive approach to negativity,
the whole business is soon brought around to positive attitudes.
There is truth in everyone, for everyone
is a temple of God, though not always, as yet, conscious of
the fact. If well-meaning people are involved in an undertaking,
and if they work together sensitively, with a combination
of wisdom and love, there is no reason why the old belief
in people’s inability to live and work together harmoniously
need continue to hold true.
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