Effective Leaders Need Wisdom and Woo Woo
Now, more than ever Leaders need to lean into their inner woo woo in order to navigate these unprecedented times
Source | thriveglobal.com | Nicole Gallucci
In these unprecedented times, even the wisest and the best leaders among us are challenged. Nothing, no amount of training, could have prepared us for the magnitude of all that we are facing.
As leaders we are accustomed to uncharted territory, but this pandemic and its immediate and longer term impact is bigger than all of us.
It is summoning every ounce of patience, courage, intestinal fortitude and grace that we can muster…and in my humble opinion, it is also unleashing our inner “woo woo”.
I can feel the slight uneasiness as you read the words woo woo. I have yet to read woo woo on the pages of any business or management book or article.
Wisdom on the other hand, is the foundation for every leadership principle. We all understand and accept wisdom as a required leadership trait.
We all expect that our leaders have either gathered sufficient knowledge and expertise (aka wisdom) themselves and/or surrounded themselves with others who can fill their knowledge and/or experience gaps to lead, and provide counsel and direction. That is why leaders are leaders. And this is why people follow them.
On the other hand, woo woo is not an easy requirement to discuss or even propose and it certainly has never shown up on a performance review. Imagine parameters that allow for the self and/or peer evaluation of self-awareness, enlightenment, spirituality.
Nor do any of these characteristics make the list when you google “top leadership traits”. And yet, it’s there. Woo woo is implicit in empathy, self-awareness, gratitude – the traits that require leaders to listen, to be vulnerable and to be authentic.
