“Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticise?” Marcus Aurelius
Arguably one of the most influential and best leaders of the past 2000 years is Marcus Aurelius, known as the last of the Five Good Emperors of Rome.
Under Marcus Aurelius, the Roman empire was guided by virtue and wisdom. His journal “Meditations” is a landmark work of Stoic philosophy that has guided both powerful and common men and women for thousands of years.
Aside from character traits such humility, courage, discipline, kindness and rationality that shine through, Marcus shows his vulnerability in his writings as he counsels himself through his difficult times.
The key thread running through his writings – A reflection on what it means to be a human being and how to become a better person.
Why is this important?
Because the world is changing. Global consciousness is awakening and the work and business environment is changing a lot. Particularly in a post pandemic world, people are seeking meaning and connection.
People have a greater understanding now of the things that are important to them and they are looking for people who understand this and who demonstrate the qualities that will help them to get the best out of talents, find joy in their work and support them on their journey for meaning and connection.
Traditional models of leadership are not the answer in this new era of rapid change and human evolution.
So what’s wrong with traditional leadership models?
New technology and education systems are changing the way people relate to each other and more than anything people want to be led by people who they can follow through example, not authority.
Traditional leadership is about control, rules, regulations and boundaries in a time where people are seeking freedom of thought, room for creativity, connection, individuality and a focus on the value of the outcome, not the process.
More than anything people want to be led by people who they can follow through example, not authority.
Traditional models rely on established hierarchical structures.
Before the industrial revolution leadership models were inherently patriarchal, with positions of power given to men of high social status. Even after the advent of the industrial revolution, companies were being run by men who ruled over their companies like kings. The higher up they were, the more authority they had and the more they could do what they wanted. These traditional models were founded on linear thinking with complicated chains of command and rigid top down controls. This thinking was born out of Newtonian physics.
What is known as the Newtonian paradigm was the central paradigm in the nineteenth century, which started with the inception and rapid rise of large hierarchical business organisations after the great depression of the 1870s.
Newton’s mechanical systems are entirely deterministic which suggested that the future can be predicted accurately from analysing the past. In other words, organisations or market places can be viewed as a machine, provided we understand how the parts are interrelated and then assume we can predict how the machine will work in the future.
It also suggested that the world could be more or less predictable and controllable.
However, people are not machines, and organisations are made up of people.
Quantum Science demonstrates that systems are dynamic, evolving, self organising and indeterminate and as such, this new age requires us to look at leadership in a dynamic and evolving way, not with linear, mechanistic thinking and rigid top down controls.
This linear, mechanistic thinking placed the focus on systems, procedures, results and an over obsession with efficiency, which is fine for machines, but which ignores human agency, values, creativity and evolution.
Another challenge with hierarchical structures is that typically, people are placed into positions of leadership, not based on qualities, intelligence, characteristics or capabilities, but based on how long they have been with the organisation or in their career.
Leadership has become more about tags and titles and less about the qualities of leadership that will truly drive business and personal growth.
What worked then, doesn’t work now, but somehow people and organisations are still caught in a world of decision making, power, authority and assuming that each level of the organisation is subordinate to the level to which it reports.
This leads to complicated chains of command through which the power to make meaningful decisions is diminished the further down the organisational structure that you go. This doesn’t recognise that every employee is a leader in some capacity and has wisdom to share.
Leadership has become more about tags and titles and less about the qualities of leadership that will truly drive business and personal growth.
The need for flexibility and faster decisions in today’s agile work environment requires that employees communicate directly with all levels of the organisation and that waiting several days for the boss to be available is not acceptable if a customer’s need goes unserved or an employee’s work is slowed down.
The focus of the traditional leader has been to improve the business position or company or the organisation IN the market. Not improve the market by being a company that leads from the front.
When you shift the focus from the company to its people (the parts that make up the whole) you are more likely to produce skilled, talented, knowledgeable and motivated people.
In a time when hierarchical structures were well established in the social order, Marcus Aurelius managed to remain humble and recognised the best thing he could do as a leader, was to work on self mastery and self awareness, remind himself of the limitations and power of human perception and ego and lead by example not by authority.
It’s time we recognised that there is no template. Every organisation is a dynamic evolving system requiring that individual employees are turned into responsible leaders, free to organise themselves and their work and make decisions.
And the way to do this is not through outdated models of leadership.