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Leadership by Soul
Regular reflections for leaders who want to make a lasting difference.
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"Jonathan nimbly blends philosophical insight with practical solutions." -
rich content
"He built his talk to such a powerful crescendo, with such quiet and graceful ease"
Jonathan's Speaking -
remarkable story
"Not many great speakers on leadership can draw on their experiences living in the centers of conflict in Africa and growing up in tribal New Guinea. The audience was mesmerized ... and fundamentally changed by the experience."
The Story
What do you care about most?
What are you doing about it?
Leadership begins with vision. Vision arises out of the collision between what you know matters most, and what’s not right with the world around you — whether what’s not right is structural, technical, methodological, procedural or ethical.
Leadership ends with legacy. Between vision and legacy is unrelenting action — acting on your vision, again and again, day after day, with resolute focus, with dogged determination, relentlessly, for years. All great achievements — the building of value-creating companies, the abolition of the slave trade, the ending of Apartheid — were the result of what the philosopher Nietzsche called “a long obedience in the same direction”.
Action that builds legacy is shaped by purpose, discipline and trust. What drives it is soul — that clear-eyed understanding of what the leader knows is utterly important, and what he or she is uniquely qualified to do about it.
Leadership by Soul™ is where I explore, with you — through blogging, videos and public speaking — how we can make the difference that lasts.
Thank you for coming here. Welcome to the journey!
Your Vision
Your vision is the articulation of a future condition that does not presently exist. But if your vision has to do with self-aggrandizement, you’ve missed the point entirely. You will never be the biggest this, or the leading that, or the greatest whatever, unless you serve your customer well and change their life for the better. But when you describe how things will have changed in the future for your customer because of your contribution, then you have captured your vision, and the adventurous journey towards it can begin.
Clear-Eyed and Calm: Leadership in a Time of Crisis
Issue 5.12 | May 2020 In this Article: how to make good leadership decisions within the confusion of a crisis. [ … ]
Read MoreIn Search of Stable Ground: Leadership in a Time of Crisis
Issue 5.11 | April 2020 In this Article: How to provide stable leadership when everything around you is unstable and [ … ]
Read MoreLeadership in a Time of Crisis
Dear Readers, It is a season of fear, but it doesn’t need to be. A measure of fear is [ … ]
Read More