Roughly defined, Ubuntu means "I am who I am because of who we all are". Thus, if I do something harmful to you, I not only hurt you, but I hurt myself and all those in both of our spheres. Of course, the same is true if you do something positive. Leadership anchored in values is something we have also discussed in this blog regarding Bob McDonald of P&G and also Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton and Former President Clinton.
For years now we have advocated that values based on the Humanistic Philosophy of Ubunty would make a great starting place for leadership of all levels! We have actually designed a theoretical model and operationalized it as well so that we could "test" the application of Ubuntu concepts with organizations. So far, the results are positive.
What a service Obama would be doing to the world if he pubicly spoke about his position on Ubuntu!!!
Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.
ann@ThePersonalLeadershipInstitute.com
www.UbuntuLeadershipInstitute.com
www.ThePersonalLeadershipInstitute.com
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For those of you who are familiar with the Personal Leadership Institute, you will find his words consistent with our beliefs, assumptions, and actions. In fact, we believe he could have written a large part of our website and supporting materials, and we could have written his speech (although not delivered it as eloquently as he did!).
At the end of his speech, Bob, also mentioned the importance of social responsibility. It is so refreshing to hear a CEO of a major organization speaking about values-driven leadership AND social responsibility.
Rock on, Bob!
Ann
Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.
The Personal Leadership Institute
ann@ThePersonalLeadershipInstitute.com
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Although Chris meant those words as a compliment there has been quite a bit of backlash as a result.
So, let's dissect this statement. First of all what does it mean to be post-racial? There is an implied positive connotation in that term, and yet it also has components of privilege. Post-racial sounds to me like it means post-black. After all, it is really not post-white. Therefore, the term implies that when we reach a place that race does not matter, we will all be indviduals of privilege. Right now, in this society, that means we are individuals who have privileges accorded to whites and specifically white males.
I am not going to put words in Chris Matthew's mouth nor attempt to be inside of his head, but if in fact, he was trying to say that President Obama is a leader- Period - a leader; and is not being described or viewed as a black leader, then I understand what he was trying to say. In this country, with a history of slavery, not only have we elected a president who is a person of color, but now we have gone beyond defining him by his color and we are defining him by his leadership.
And yet, we still need to be very much aware of race and racial tensions even with a president who is a person of color. In fact, I have heard more overt racial comments since President Obama threw his hat in the race for president, than I have in all of my 49 years. I am not sure we can jump to the conclusion that race relations are healed or even different because a person of color was elected President of the United States.
In fact, President Obama's election has really brought to the surface many racial feelings that were buried for so many years. I maintain that we will not ever be able to successfully deal with racial issues (or gender or sexual orientation or any other similar type of situation) until we deal first with privilege. In this society, white males have more privilege than any other group. Let me be quick to point out that they did not necessarily ask for this privilege. Hence, this is a very sensitive issue among white men and with good reason. Nonetheless, privileges in every domain of their lives are afforded to them and privilege being the quiet, invisible entity that it is; is not recognized by most people.
I also do not want to single out white men when speaking of privilege. We have sub-groups within under-privileged groups that have more privilege than others. This will continue until we all recognize our own privilege AND are willing to give up our privilege for the greater good of humanity. If you believe we are all created equal, then that equality ends there in this society. We have the ability to understand our privilege, and we have the ability to act in a more non-privileged way if we choose. We can lead our lives by recognizing our own privilege and our own humanity. We can order our lives around the concept of Ubuntu: I am who I am because of who we all are. We can commit to equality - true equality.
Electing a person of color as the President of the United States is not to be negated. But we cannot make assumptions beyond that fact to race relations or to privilege relations in this country.
Collectively, we all have a lot of work to do before we achieve equality for all.
It sounds to me as if Chris Matthews may hold that vision. Electing a person of color as the leader of the United States is a component of that vision. It is not the end all and be all. It is up to us to each do our part.
Peggy McIntosh wrote a wonderful piece of work on the Invisible Knapsack of Privilege. In that article, she asked a number of questions that one could answer to ascertain their level of privilege. Here is a sampling of them:
"I am never asked to speak for all of the people of my racial group"
"I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the person in charge, I will be facing a person of my race"
"I can choose bandages in "flesh" colour that more or less match my skin"
Others have written about male privilege, heterosexual privilege, and socio-economic privilege. These works are absolutely eye-opening! Unfortunately, they are eye-opening because most people have the privilege of not ever having to think about these things.
That is where are work lies. Let us begin.
Ann
Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.
ann@ThePersonalLeadershipInstitute.com
www.ThePersonalLeadershipInstitute.com
]]>I had no idea when I wrote the last post all that would transpire to affirm that we are truly on the "eve of the dawn" in terms of leadership, but something happened that is hard to ignore. As background, many of you know that I have written about ubuntu (the concept that states essentially that "I am because of who we are"). The concept was introduced globally during the Truth and Reconcillation sessions in South Africa calling upon the need for forgiveness. I myself, have been talking about it since 2002 and have owned several ubuntu leadership dot com names while I waited for the right time to work with it.
Well,
on New Year's Day,...
in a bowling ally,....
in Cincinnati OH;....
I saw a man wearing a baseball hat and on the back it said "I am who I am because of who we all are". I immediately identified the saying as ubuntu but couldn't believe it! So, I tried to get in front of him (no small feat because I am only 5' tall and he was actually bowling so in order to get a view I would need to stand actually in a lane). Eventually I just asked him and then said - do you mean the operating system? And he said "no, my wife and I lived in South Africa in 2001-2002" and love the concept of ubuntu. I am sure I was speechless as I too had been in South Africa during that time period. Nonetheless, I took it as a sign.. a major sign! As I indicated earlier in blog posts, I try and reassess direction at the beginning of each year and I was struggling a bit with all the subtypes of leadership that I am working on (culturally adaptive leadership...) but then I realized that the time is NOW. The world needs to learn about ubuntu as a concept and as it applies to leadership! So, this is a call to action! I see it as my umbrella concept for my work - my stake in the ground so to speak and yet I also see the need to be more directive about delivering ubuntu leadership.
Please let me know if you are interested in learning more about ubuntu and also about ubuntu in terms of leadership. I cannot wait to see what bubbles up for all of us! Clearly this was a sign meant not only for 2010 but for the entire decade. "The eve of the dawn" ..... Yes we are!!! Let's step up together for all of humanity!
With much love and light,
Ubuntu,
Ann
Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.
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My purpose in writing this blog was to challenge you to create a reassessment process for yourself. What is working and what is not. Drill down to the nuances! For example, I was feeling frustrated that I had not achieved one of my financial goals only to discover that I had greatly over-achieved regarding another financial goal and I was really ok with that! So, I encourage you to look at the big picture, and feel free to look at page one of this website for the personal and professional wheels if you want to get an idea of some categories of life that you can use to assess yourself and your progress. Once you are clear about who you are and how you want to show up in 2010, please allow me to encourage you to devise a step by step plan with an accountability component (not just "due dates" but some mechanism to make sure you take the steps you say you will). And may I also encourage you to be gentle enough with yourself to revise, revise, revise!!!! That is exactly what happened with my financial goals and I couldn't be happier!
And, please feel free to post any ideas that you have here that may help others to become their biggest, best possible selves and to LEAD, not just live their lives this coming year! It doesn't just take a village any longer, it takes the world to step up and lead ourselves!!!!
Happy New Year
Ubuntu!
Ann
Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.
www.ThePersonalLeadershipInstitute
ann@ThePersonalLeadershipInstitute.com
]]>personal finance
relationship dynamics
life work balance
career issues
health/wellness
parenting
cultural adaptability
Many programs and organizations encourage folks to just jump into one of these areas and strengthen the chosen one. At the Personal Leadership Institute, we advocate a holistic approach whereby we deconstruct who you are and what your life is like and then build it to your specifications with your existing strengths and passions. Usually what emerges from this process are areas where individuals want to build more capacity and thus from that organic process we are able to do very targeted, SUSTAINABLE work! I put the word sustainable in caps because we feel this is the missing element to personal growth work and leadership development work. How often have you attended a great training, workshop or even more extensive learning situation and yet within days, months or years, you have not retained what seemed so important at the time. We find that happens all too often. Yet, if you build your personal capacity and you have a plan that is tailored to your guiding values and passions, then it is ingrained in you. And, in fact, we advocate that you have a plan for constantly revising and revisiting your personal leadership plan.
It's your life. Are you going to just live it, or LEAD it?!!
Thoughts?
Ann
Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.
The Personal Leadership Institute
]]>I have heard that this term now has a negative meaning such that it is equated with personal responsibility. Furthermore, I understand that some organizations are using the term personal responsibility like it is a large, heavy bat and they are metaphorically hitting their employees over the head with it.
What's out there that you know about either in terms of your personal experience, or what you have heard about with regard to using personal leadership in a negative way?
Thank you!
Ann
Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.
The Personal Leadership Institute
]]>Ubuntu!
Ann
Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.
The Personal Leadership Institute
]]>The overarching concept is to recognize the humanity in others so that one can recognize the humanity in oneself (Ubuntu) and from that place one can examine their own culture (including privilege) and the culture of others (culturally adaptive leadership) all under the lens of personal leadership. And personal leadership may include both followship and leadership OR we may all be leading. And that the problems arise when do not lead around a common stake. This is what happens when there is a breakdown in a culture, whether it is a company's culture or a family's or a community's.
And, we can all be committed to doing the work of leadership; but first we must experience forgiveness and compassion in others - their humanity - and then we can begin the other work. So, on this eve of Thanksgiving, it seems suitable that we should think about forgiveness and compassion in our own personal leadership work!
Peace,
Ann
Ann Dinan, Ph.D., M.S.S.A., C.P.C.C.
The Personal Leadership Institute
]]>I was chatting today with a friend who is unemployed and she was mentioning how when she attends all these groups for folks who don't currently have jobs, that there is a sense that people don't just want any old job. This time around, they want to make sure that they can embrace the job. In fact, many are even considering career changes indicating that they never even wanted the career or job that they previoiusly held! This is what we are referring to as the silver lining. We couldn't be more pleased that folks are truly taking stock of who they are and what they want and then aligning their job searches accordingly! We certainly hope that this type of thinking is truly the wave of the present and future when if comes to leading one's own life - ie personal leadershp.
We would love to hear stories from some of you who have had such an experience (what was your old job/career, what did you not like about it, what are you doing now, and what is it about the new situation that you love?). Looking forward to your posts!
Ann
Ann Dinan
The Personal Leadership Institute
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