By: Dan

Dan — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 23:34:38 +0000

It's an important point that you make, Rosa, about needing to clean up misconceptions first. I very much agree with you. From one standpoint that means the messenger needs to come across with such genuineness, good intent, and willingness to address any negative perceptions that the receiver is able to let down his/her personal guard and trust. But in the story I've shared, I would say it played a little differently, and I hope you won't hear this as just semantics. I think the "intervention" was not so much about telling the truth to one another as simply working to find it together. I think we assumed that we didn't fully know what that truth was, and that in itself was essential. In his book, Leadership: The Inner Side of Greatness, Peter Koestenbaum tells a story about some engineers who discovered that they needed to move from the notion that every problem has a solution to a new paradigm that acknowledges that people experience pain, and that pain could move them to dialogue, and in turn to personal and collective growth. I believe that underlying shift was also a part of the intervention story I shared.

By: Rosa Say

Rosa Say — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 22:11:29 +0000

Exceptional writing as usual Dan. This is a post I will return to over the days to come, for each of those bullet points you listed is quite provocative, and I want to sit with your list-topper for a while – truth telling. Though we know we should err on the side of the truth it still requires so much bravery in many workplaces: We often must set the stage by cleaning up misconceptions so others do not feel the real truth is clouded by hidden motives. Thus I like how you have coupled truth telling with compassion, but bravery is still required when tough love is part of the mix – and it often is, just as with the story you shared.

Comments on: Re-Visioning Visionary Leaders

By: Dan

By: Rosa Say