Innovating Leadership:
Co-Creating Our Future

Cynthia: that intro. It’s actually quite interesting in terms of, as a planning team, we started to talk about where we are presently in society and there were so many different incidents and events that were occurring.

Really there is no other theme than to talk about leadership in turbulent times, and Brussels is an interesting place in the sense that it is not just. The global home for the eu, but it is a global home where so many different factions, [00:01:00] if it’s business, politics, other NGOs who come together in Brussels.

And so it is really like standing in the front yard of a global home. You see all the joys, the problems, the challenges, the opportunities that are in front of us, and it’s exhilarating and it’s exciting and it’s also very terrifying. Brussels offers us this insider’s view of the importance of leadership in turbulent times.

’cause every day in this world of ours, we are seeing the changing political realities that are unfolding in countries around the globe. And we really struggle to ensure that the abnormal does not become normal to us. And the violence that we are seeing and the terrorism that continues to fester and grow, it challenges us not to become numb to the relentless violence that gets placed in front of us.

So we do indeed [00:02:00] live in turbulent times, and it’s also a time of third contrast and accelerated evolution. I think there are individuals who just wanna hold onto the familiar and even return to the past. But really what’s needed in leadership in turbulent times is a fundamental change of how we go forward together in this increasingly interdependent global world of ours.

There is no going back. So we are navigating uncertain waters of migration and mobility, for example, or the global trends in finance and big data or technology, technology, job loss and job growth, and this huge decline in respect and trust for our government. But they’re all intertwined together. You know, the political, the social, the environmental, the technological and the economic.

It’s really like this huge ball of string. And when you start to pull at it, it unraveled very quickly. As we think about [00:03:00] this time and we think about, I. Turbulent times. There’s this sense of what we need to do and what we are witnessing in this time for politics, for our governments, for business. And one of the things I think we are witnessing is a new role for governments, A way of thinking about globalization differently, and really to think about leadership today differently.

Maureen: That’s the thing that struck me most and also gives me hope. The theme seemed perfect for everything I read. Almost every article I see now talks about turbulent times. I. Yet I walk away often with, okay, we all agree it’s turbulent, but I don’t see necessarily a what can I do or what solutions or even what are just some steps even in the midst of what can feel chaotic.

There are things that we as leaders can do that are concrete actions that can make the world better.

Cynthia: One of [00:04:00] the interesting things that we discover is when we bring together in this space of the ILA right now, fortuitously, we are right in the heart of Europe, in Brussels, and the number of individuals from different countries in different cultures, in different disciplines and different sectors all coming together to talk about what we can do.

Not only what we can do, but what it means, right? What we mean by leadership in turbulent times is as important for us to do as it is to talk about what we are doing about it and what are the steps that we can take. I think all three of those important, we have to grapple with the concepts and what’s happening and put it in the context of leadership from many different perspectives and also then explore what that means and how we can do our part if it’s on a small scale or if it’s on a larger [00:05:00] scale.

Now, I, I talk about the ILA being this global association and we are. There are over a thousand of our members who are here from 53 different countries and everybody brings a different perspective. The ILA members themselves, we discovered where 54% of them work in two or more countries. But what we also hear is.

A person who says, I work with a program, a small program that is focused on leadership development in my local community, right. It’s a grassroots leadership development program where I work with students in our university on student development. So I don’t work on a global level, right? They’ll say, so I don’t need to have this global perspective.

But today, that is simply not true in this hyperconnected world, no matter where you live or no matter what you do, you really need to think about things from a global perspective. It helps us to [00:06:00]see and make the connections and how an individual in the community connects to the organization and really how organizations connect with other organizations.

So we really do have to think about scalability. There were many, many sessions. One that I saw that was so intriguing was talking about how do you make change in a community that can have broad implications? One individual who had the idea through his business of bringing energy, solar energy to a community that did not have any type of electricity.

But he did it through bringing together the community leaders and finding out what their need was, and then connecting them with the right source. Through the empowerment of their own leadership within the community to be able to actualize that work. So that’s a concrete example of something that happens from somebody outside of the community, but working in [00:07:00] partnership with the community’s leadership.

To create something that benefits that community and beyond.

Maureen: Yeah, working with an organization. Now it’s an international affairs group and they talk about their mission being improving, whatever the thing is. But in our local communities, in our broader communities, nationally and in our world. So improving leadership, it seems like happens at all of those levels.

And even if a listener or a participant in the ILA is working in a small community, it doesn’t mean that the processes they’re using haven’t been pulled from and tested globally. Especially being interconnected on the internet, I can be working from my home and interacting with people from around the world.

Cynthia: Exactly. I even look at the ILA staff. They’re of course not all in the central office. Some of them work from home offices. They all connect with each other, but they spend the [00:08:00] majority of their day interacting with individual members around the globe. It is a different way of working than what we did even 10 years ago.

It truly is a different world through our hyperconnectivity, and that hyperconnectivity also creates this increased evolution. It seems like time is going by faster and faster, quicker, and I, I’ve used the description in the past where you used to be able to see a storm coming in over a lake. Now it’s this continual change that you can’t even truly prepare anymore in between, right?

It’s not this thoughtful, methodical, but it’s reacting to what’s in front of us. But that makes it all the more important in our leadership to find ways to step back and reflect. In this very turbulent world of ours in times of turbulent, you also need to find those times to reflect. And [00:09:00] instead of dealing with the individual incident all the time in leadership to look at the patterns that are emerging, and how do you then go from looking at patterns and integration and then operation and

Maureen: follow up.

One of the comments Margaret Heffernan made talking about the role of executives, I think she may have even used the term patterns, but identifying those disruptors that are coming from everywhere. And so right now our role as, as especially senior leaders, is to be continually looking for those patterns and helping position ourselves and our organizations.

And I agree that takes a lot of reflection time just to make meaning of what am I seeing? That’s exactly

Cynthia: right Maureen, and you brought up another very important capacity in today’s turbulent world, and that’s around meaning making. How do we make meaning out of the patterns that are emerging and how do we create [00:10:00] meaning that we can all collectively move forward on?

Which is another interesting piece that came out of all the conversations and that’s around that sense of purpose and being very purposeful as an organization and also being purpose driven as an individual. It was another I. Interesting conversation and some of the research that’s being done in that area was talked about throughout the uh, conference, which is really quite intriguing.

’cause I’m not sure that was there many years ago, but it truly was one of those areas of conversation that’s surfaced continually in different ways.

Maureen: It seemed like almost everyone talked in some way or another about being clear about who you are as an individual and organizational purpose.

Cynthia: One of the other things that I think is emerging, we are now in this state of turbulence, right?

It’s not going away. How do we really work in a time that is [00:11:00] going to be complex? How are we going to look at leadership in turbulent times? Because it’s not going away. The 20th century, we have, for example, increasingly complicated problems, but today we have increasingly complex systems. Global systems that really amplify problems.

Leading is exponentially more difficult and more challenging than leading was in the past. And so what really what we’re doing is how do we, through the scholarship, through the practice, through the teaching, find ways of understanding leadership and its meaning for the 21st century and moving forward.

So we’re probably at one of those interesting points in time, a fulcrum point in history where everything that was is tripping over everything that is, and how do we in turn make sense of it, the meaning making that we need to do, but also how do we collectively come together and through our collective thinking, [00:12:00] our collective debate, our collective critical thinking, come up with.

The evidence-based research and the evidence-based best practices that really help us moving forward. And I use the term best practice reluctantly because I think, hmm, whatever we talk about a best practice, we are basically putting ourselves in the past. So we have to keep thinking of how we look at moving forward in the ways that help us to.

Survive in these complex turbulent times, but to thrive and to adapt and to influence. Those are some of the interesting themes that came out of some of the sessions that circus as well, or that were talked about and presented at the conference.

Maureen: Can you share the definition of adaptive leadership and why that is so prescient for this specific topic?

Cynthia: One of the things that. I heard coming through from [00:13:00] the conference was this whole importance of having a global mindset that really helps you to see and make the connection, because in today’s leadership, one of the things that we’ve learned. Is that it really requires an understanding of multiple and diverse cultures and engaging and influencing those difference from ourselves and searching out diverse perspectives.

That’s one of the things that Ronnie Heitz talked about too, with what the problems, right? And Richard Bolden talks about this as well, and Mansura Yan does. But as they say, we may be more connected, but that does not mean we are well versed in the diversity of the world. Tom Freeman would say the world may be flat in terms of technology and interconnectivity, but it’s still quite bumpy.

Yeah, I like that. It’s bumpy. Bumpy in the sense that people in different organizations, I. In different areas of the world, work in very [00:14:00] different ways. So some of the work that’s being done out there is we need to continue to find ways to learn, right? We all know and we hear the concept of continual learning, but as we think about leadership, how do we expand?

Our understanding of others and also influence individuals and organizations that are unlike ourselves, that are different from ourselves. That sounds easy, but it’s really difficult to do, and it’s also very uncomfortable. I think we also look at with discomfort often comes a new awareness and new learnings, right?

New ways of thinking, new ways of doing, and new ways of being. Who we are

Maureen: and that Cynthia is what I was trying to point to. And I don’t know that I have the definition of adaptive leadership, right? But with these difficult problems, I need to actually change who I am. I mean, I’m still gonna be Maureen, [00:15:00] but the way I think about things and the way I relate to things should be stretching in response to the challenges I’m dealing with so that I can.

Be more competent at addressing them.

Cynthia: So true, and I, I think of our importance of being uncomfortable at times, and it makes me think of Robert Quinn’s book around Deep Change. He has a wonderful quote in there that is walking naked into the land of uncertainty.

Maureen: Boy, there were times on our trip that I felt naked.

Cynthia: Free many, many times.

Maureen: You know, the closing mishaps I had and the leaving stuff on trains and just out of our comfort zones, our brains are trying to navigate so many moving pieces. I think we don’t recognize how complicated it is.

Cynthia: We get out of our neural mind ruts when we get into areas that we’re uncomfortable.

We are more aware of difference. Aware of the unknown and aware of [00:16:00] our being in the unknown, and that it’s probably a personal description of what it’s like to live in this time of uncertainty, and yet it’s so important for all of us to put ourselves into those uncomfortable places so that we can really learn from each other and learn more about ourselves.

Often with leadership there is that sense of who we are and how do we relate and interrelate. With our others and our context, how do we influence change, which is part of what as we’re looking at in times of turbulent, how do we influence change individuals in areas that we are an unknown or that are very different than who we are.

There’s a great sense of being tuned to self and in tune to the other.

Maureen: We are actually changing our brains when we’re [00:17:00] interacting and that ability to be present to everything that’s going on in me, including my. Total discomfort in some situations, and to be present with the other person and their fears and concerns and hopes and dreams, that takes a lot of energy.

Mm-hmm. It’s really a different way of walking through the world than just get it done and tell me when.

Cynthia: Right. Well, and I think one of the themes that you saw Adeptly pulled out Marine was this sense of our own individual purpose and self-awareness. So that we really need to have a good sense of self and continually understand who we are as we work on this important work of, of leadership.

And that came through in the number of the conversations. I think Joran talked about this in his work with Shell in this sense of self-awareness. I think Margaret. [00:18:00] Talked about this and the importance of being centered and knowing who you are, and it came up in a number of other conversations that were taking place in the conference.

So it was, it was an interesting piece, George Papa, about the importance of this in making those difficult decisions. Um, talk about somebody who reflected the work of Ronnie Heifetz. As Ronnie talked about wicked problems and really George having to make some really difficult decisions. What I would describe as, um, almost selfless leadership where he had to make.

Decisions for the long term that he knew were going to be painful in the short term

Maureen: For a lot of people.

Cynthia: Yeah, for country of Greece. And he knew he himself would lose out. Again, it was what’s [00:19:00] the right thing to do with the information you have at hand for the future? You have to be centered to make those type of difficult decisions.

Maureen: One of the other things that came up, this idea of experimentation, I think Margaret talked about it along with self-awareness. If I am aware of who I am and my principles, I am also aware that I am making decisions on a regular basis with insufficient information. And it all feels like I am more of a scientist than command and control or what we would’ve thought.

Traditionally, as a leader, I’m doing the best with what I have. That at some point you don’t have the dial calibrated exactly right, and you have to look for feedback and readjust as you go along.

Cynthia: It is that readjustment and continuing to make the decisions with what you know. And I think one of the other things that came up is interesting was also acknowledging that what we know and what we don’t know and that we’re [00:20:00] not going to know at all.

And then with that comes some humility of understanding that you yourself cannot know at all. And so the individual leader really needs to rely on the broader context of others, and that in turn encompasses. Leadership. Mm-hmm. It’s that multiple leaders, the followers, the context, but it’s looking at it holistically, not individualistically.

Maureen: That’s a really important point. You know, we talk about humility, we talk about we don’t have the answers, and yet many of our followers really want to think we have the answers. They want to trust us, and they need to trust us. Kind of the whole polarity thing that on one end of the poll is, I dunno what I’m doing.

The other end of the poll is I can tell you exactly what it is with a hundred percent confidence and we’re doing the dance in the middle of making the best decisions we can. Instilling confidence in people that we know what we’re doing, and [00:21:00] yet pedaling as fast as we can often to build coalitions and learn from the smartest people we know and make meaning of what’s happening and gather data and course correct.

That’s what leadership is evolving into.

Cynthia: Here’s some of the paradoxes of leadership, right? In times of uncertainty and in times of crisis, we really want to rely on that one person and we want to believe that there is one person who can lead us through this. And in times of crisis, you do need a little more of that top down.

But there is this paradox as even in today’s society and even in governments and not just government business, we look to that person who is supposedly sitting at the top of the triangle or at the top of the organization as the person who knows all. And in today’s world, you can’t know all. You have to rely on so many others.

But it is one of the paradoxes. We still want to believe in it. We still want to romanticize [00:22:00]leaders. We want to have leaders. We still some, although we know this is not true, there’s a part of us that still wants to have the leader who knows all, and the leader who has no character flaws, and that’s just not

Maureen: true.

Do you have a few words of wrap up, including how people can learn more about the ILA for listeners who are interested in joining?

Cynthia: Of course. I think one of the things, as we talked about the ILA in this conference, when I opened the global conference with the theme of leadership and turbulent time, I also framed the conference in the hopes that everybody at the conference would listen to each other, that they would step into the uncomfortable that they would learn from each other.

That they would listen to their own deep song, which was referring to Michael Jones’ music, which was composed at the ILA and in where [00:23:00] he had talked about music makes us rich and full, and in times of turbulence. And sudden change. We need to listen to our own deep song, which goes back to that self-reflection that you and I were talking about, Maureen, and then I framed my final statement at to become profoundly more resilient in our leadership.

As leaders in these present and future turbulent times. So that framed their conference. So in terms of the ILA, if you are anybody who is involved in thinking about leadership, teaching, leadership, researching leadership, studying leadership, the International Leadership Association is a home for you to do this work and to learn and be with others who are doing like work and work that.

It’s different that could expand your own thinking and practice around leadership. And I welcome any questions or feedback or thoughts from anybody [00:24:00] who is interested in continuing this very, very important work of leadership.

Maureen: Cynthia, thank you for all you do to make this possible for the entire organization and for allowing me to be involved so that we can share this wonderful thinking with listeners well beyond the ILA. So thank you for making this possible.

Cynthia: And thank you for your work in expanding the message and getting it out to so many people.