Centered Leadership

In the past years there has been a noticeable surge towards finding what is called "centered leadership" - focusing on yourself and your own strengths to discover the internal resources and capabilities to lead, motivate and manage people. In the light of the recent economically pitiful events this proves to be as important as never, and one of the freshest McKinsey studies concluded:

The best leadership model: Yourself

They have identified five core capabilities that lie at the core of centered leadership:

•  finding meaning in work, 
• converting emotions such as fear or stress into opportunity, 
• leveraging connections and community, 
• acting in the face of risk, and 
• sustaining the energy that is the life force of change.

As always, this is a beautiful model, but commitment and determination must come first. Leadership is never the destination, it is always a journey. As an old Indian saying goes, in order to know another person, you need to walk a thousand miles in his moccasins. Practice proves that most of us are not ready to undertake that trip yet.