In one of the communities I’m working with, we ran into a bit of a leadership crisis — there was no clear person who was taking accountability for establishing it.
The issue was resolved for now (the founder took clear onus once again), but it hinted at an interesting question. Can an org be built without a leader?
And what lessons can I take home regarding developing my own leadership as I’m looking to deepen focus on my primary work.
I’m a huge fan of flexible, alternative and emergent org systems, but it’s hard to get over the premise of needing a clear leader.
Maybe it is possible or could be possible eventually in some cases, but its hard to find examples — leadership is needed at least to get established.
Further, the person who launches an organization has to also be ready and willing to establish it, at least to get to a certain stage. I think starting anything on this planet comes with this unspoken contract.
I’ve reflected on 10 core qualities for a leader, which applies to today’s world as it does to earlier time periods:
- Cultivate the principle of love, goodwill, and respect/dignity for all parties. Do our best to be a good human being. First and foremost.
- Take full, final accountability for the direction of the organization.
- Embody the DNA of the org – its vision, mission, values, goals, and objectives.
- Finger on the pulse of the domain, subject matter and industry landscape.
- Finger on the pulse on each facet of the company.
- Ensure clear, consistent comms (sharing and listening) with internal parties, including staff, consultants, and volunteers, and prospective allies.
- Ensure clear, consistent comms (sharing and listening) with external entities, including customers, members, vendors, clients, and prospects.
- Balance new opportunities with nurturing current responsibilities.
- Be willing to be hands on as needed in any facet in the company.
- Provide resources, access to resources, or strategies to acquire resources, to deal with foreseeable and unforeseeable challenges.
Of course there are more… but these ten qualities ring to me as very clear and pertinent at this stage.
When starting an org, or reviewing an org we are looking to ally with, these qualities should be used to determine whether we are ripe or not to move forward.
Ranjeeth Thunga
Perspective Mapper
rkt@perspectivemapper.org
(Self-written – no AI or human assistance)