Human Soup

Last weekend I drove from Chicago to New York and back to attend the wedding of one of the designers on my team. I didn’t go because I like weddings (I don’t), or because I’m great a socializing (so not), or because I wanted to spend 30 hours in the car in one weekend (does anybody?). I went because I was honored to be invited into the real life of a young woman I work with every day, and I wanted to be sure to accept that invitation. 

Reading the different leadership perspectives felt like watching the changing landscape through the window. In Illinois, the practical Terese Amabile and Mukti Khaire. Through Indiana for Puccio, Mance, and Murdock – there’s something good in there, but it’s hard to see it through the smog. And then into Pennsylvania, deep into the rolling hills of Scharmer, the quiet strength of Ella Baker, and the hospitality of Margaret Wheatley and Debbie Frieze. And then into Jersey for no-nonsense Carol Sanford and onto the banks of long island for morality and aesthetics where frankly, I got lost and had to pull over. 

The visions were similar, but the approaches are like New York and Chicago-style pizza. (Which is to say, all pizza… but also very different). 

But I keep coming back to Jaqueline Novogratz. Everything that resonates with me is interconnected with her definition of Moral Imagination as “the humility to see the world as it is and the audacity to imagine what it could be.”

Humility is acting as a host instead of a hero (Margaret Wheatley). It is being a Fundi like Ella Baker, who “does not seek credit or fame” (Preskill). It is being “more interested in developing leadership in others than in getting recognition for their individual achievements” (Preskill). It requires “listening, affirming, questioning, and only rarely, asserting” (Preskill).

Seeing the world as it is requires listening deeply, and observing. It is being open to thoughts, ideas, and feelings that come from somewhere deep within yourself and the world around you. This is“generative listening” according to Otto Sharmer, “a deep attention and awareness” and opening our will to “connect to the highest future possibility that can emerge.” 

Audacity means getting radical like Ella Baker, by “facing a system that does not lend itself to your needs and devising means by which you change that system.” 

Imagining the world as it could be is visualizing a future that doesn’t exist yet and that doesn’t even have words to describe it.  It means laying the path and walking it, as Iain Kerr and Jason Frasca outline in Innovating Emergent Futures. It requires curiosity, and creativity. This is where we ask questions, have meaningful conversations, immerse ourselves and listen some more. Where is here? What is in the middle?

A leader’s job is to use their humility, listening, audacity, and imagination to create change.  It is also to cultivate humility, observation, audacity, and imagination in others through creating a safe environment for others to have ideas, learn from mistakes and develop as leaders themselves. 

It was a long drive, but it was worth it. After the ceremony and dinner, the music shifted to a low resounding thump, and people started to dance. 

The world needs audacious people with the courage to get out on the dance floor, even when it’s too loud, even when the music sucks, even when they have no idea how to dance and no control over the playlist.

We need curious, deep listeners who connect so profoundly to the beat that they are already dancing to the next song before it starts.

We need imaginative people who will create radical new dance moves on the fly – the kind that inspires others not to copy them but to create their own.  

We need humble, genuine leaders that will get in the middle of it all as they are, hair wild, shoes off, eyeliner smudged, and scream the words together.

Let’s dance.