Written by: Zana Goic Petricevic, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
For so much of our history, leadership has meant power. A kind of power taken for granted that puts one person or one group above others both in status and control. This kind of power, often destructive, has brought us where we are today. An unbalanced world where groups of privileged people with power have lost touch with the true meaning of living in harmony with others and the planet we call home. Personal gain and ego fuel the old leadership paradigm, but to create a better future for our children, we need leadership in power with, instead of power over.
Destructive leadership does not only exist at high levels. It’s in relationships, communities and organisations. We can’t blame ourselves, though. This is how we’ve learned to lead so far. Leaders on top and others below them. Even on social media platforms, we thrive on “getting followers” instead of inviting “members” or “contributors”.
We’re wired to avoid being less than others, concentrating all of our efforts on being better than others. And we’re risking everything precious in this world along the way. Bold, game-changing leadership is what we need to overcome the biggest current world crisis, from pandemics to climate change and war. A leadership based on connection and cooperation, a soul-based leadership.
A new paradigm
How do we shift the old paradigm of leadership you ask? It starts with individuals at every level, no matter their status or job title. The first step is to understand where our current leadership pushed us apart and find the courage to do our own self-work to develop the emotional intelligence and self-awareness to grow ourselves. One cannot grow their leadership without looking inwards. The blueprint for starting this journey is to willingly get curious about our own biases, understanding our assumptions and our impact. To become game-changers, we must open our souls and our hearts.
What I call game-changing leadership is a kind of leadership that grows both who we are and what we’re creating in tandem. The growing experiences that game-changers go through bring a new sense of openness and possibility. They open a window of compassion to the world and allow leaders to discover where they might be called to lead outside of their personal goals and aspirations. Personal goals become community goals and success turns into service.
Not business as usual
Shifting our collective leadership will take more than a monthly workshop at work or a self-help book. It will require us to commit to an entire journey of self-development both as a learner and a leader, becoming an example of what is possible as we go through our own journey. We need to be on a mission to be both learners and teachers, giving back as much as we take in. You can think of game-changing leadership as a potluck dinner, where everyone contributes what they can to the mix. In work environments, game-changing leadership means creating a workplace where people come first and where development is part of the culture of the organisation. It could mean decentralising power in various departments, switching to horizontal leadership structures, giving employees more trust to make decisions, teaching coaching and other soft skills, creating a change management task force and so on.
Action is louder than words
The route you take to a game-changing leadership needs to be rooted in action. Training, mentoring and coaching alone won’t create real change if there is no concrete venture where you can practise new skills. Leadership development needs an applied component, an incubator to play with and practice failing forward. If you have already taken a step towards leadership development for your organisation, consider consciously weaving in ways to merge knowledge and practice. Involve your employees in a project they might want to take on as their sandbox. A place where they can practice their leadership in a safe way but with real responsibility and impact.
Expand your field of awareness
As leaders grow through their personal development journey and take action to practise their game-changing leadership, they must also expand their field of awareness. Conscious leaders are aware of what is happening around them and see what is needed outside of what they might experience or want. As an organisation, it could mean doing an audit of your social and environmental impact by asking for feedback from clients and employees for example. In the same way market research looks at what is needed and where brands can position themselves, leaders must work on being present to what is happening around them and be flexible to pivot to where they might be of service.
What do you want your legacy to be?
If you have understood the discussion so far about game changers as a call to your own bold action, I’ve made my point. If you haven’t, I’m making my invitation to you right now.
Start. Now.
Have your mind, heart and gut awakened to what your corner of the world looks like and how it operates? What’s happening in the pillars of society that your world consists of: in the business world, education system, politics, justice and health system? What concerns you in terms of how these pillars contribute to the current and future image of your world? I know you have an opinion. You know that having an opinion is not enough. And so, what will you do? Because game-changers take their opinions further and turn them into actions. What’s the point of not agreeing with the direction in which we swim, if we still continue to go with the current? The potential of such an attitude is nothing but the creation of a complaining and blaming culture, rather than the culture of bold leadership.
The truth is that we all have something to complain about something that we experience in our organisations and our institutions that goes against our integrity-based vision. In the context of game-changers, this is how we look at it: the urge to complain is the urge for change.
Use your leadership to support the emerging change, the reality in the making. You’ll often hear that visionary leaders have a dream, a vision, even a quest. Game changers clearly know they have work to do. In fact, they look for it and they know the best time for it is now. What about you?
Zana Goic Petricevic, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Zana brings to her work a blend of more than 15 years of experience as a corporate manager, entrepreneur, executive leadership coach, leadership development consultant, keynote speaker, coaching trainer and mentor with a great passion for writing, teaching and public speaking.
Zana believes in the transformative power of bigger, bolder conversations, which is why these conversations are the essence of her work today with executives and C-suite leaders. She says that bold leaders have a sixth sense of speech and are responsible for opening bolder conversations in their organisations in service of change.
Zana has worked as a coach, consultant, author and speaker, with clients across the globe based in EU, UK, US, and APJC region helping them to take their personal and organisational leadership to the next, bolder level."
She is the author of Bold Reinvented: Next Level Leading with Courage, Consciousness and Conviction which reached Amazon's 1 bestseller and 1 new release in 5 categories: Business Mentoring & Coaching, Leadership, Strategic Management, Business Leadership and Business Management.
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