Leadership – Shaun Coffey

November 17, 2024November 17, 2024

Why Am I Here? Gaining Clarity of Mind, Purpose, and Direction for a Leader

Clarity of mind, purpose, and direction begins with asking ourselves the fundamental question, “Why am I here?” states Tan Yong Soon in his 2025 book, Public Service Leadership. How does asking the question help us be successful leaders:

• Foundation for Self-Discovery: Asking “Why am I here?” initiates a journey to understand our values, motivations, and core identity.

• Aligns Actions with Purpose: When we know our purpose, our daily actions gain meaning, driving us toward fulfilling outcomes.

• Creates a Clear Direction: Purpose defines where we are headed, giving structure to our goals and the steps to reach them.

• Encourages Integrity: A purpose-driven life aligns thoughts and actions, fostering a sense of consistency and honesty.

• Connects Us to the Bigger Picture: Considering our purpose often broadens our focus, encouraging contributions to society or the environment.

• Allows Flexibility: Purpose is dynamic; it evolves as we grow and change, adapting to new circumstances and insights.

• Grounds Us in Uncertainty: A clear purpose serves as an anchor, helping us navigate life’s challenges with confidence and resilience.

Reflecting on “Why am I here?” provides direction and motivation, empowering us to live with intention and integrity. It sets the scene for a better question, which is “What do I want my leadership to do?”

March 14, 2022

Leadership is an improvisational social accomplishment

Leadership and management are improvisational practices that take place in groups in a particular context at a particular time.

Witness Zelensky in Ukraine.

Many have expressed surprise at his performance because he does not have the traits of the hero-leader stereotype that has mythologized our understanding of leadership.

Leading is the practice or process of inspiring others to help achieve group goals (or common purpose).

Leadership is performed in the present – what you do as a leader is a response to the circumstances that you face at the time. It is not a pre-programmed activity. It is an improvisational response to the problem or context you face at a specific time.

And to motivate the group a leader must be “seen as one of us”. A leader without followers is just a person taking a stroll in the park. Followers must identify a leader as a fellow member of their group.

As an improvisational practice, leading requires a good understanding of many processes such as motivation, people and group behavior, communication, and strategy and tactics. It is a complex role, and a social achievement. It is the poster child of the mantra that there is no one right way. Having the “traits of a leader” is not enough – you must understand how is happens in practice.

Now, back to Zelensky

The comic turned president has truly become a leader for his people (the group) to protect the Ukraine (the purpose) in wartime (context and time). He is doing things he has never done before, and probably never thought about doing. His leadership is an improvisational practice.

Have you prepared sufficiently that you can improvise? Do you understand the process?

I acknowledge the contribution of two books to my thinking – Haslam et.al. (2020) The New Psychology of Leadership. Identity, influence, and power. (Routledge) and Fowler (2022) Complexity: A key idea for business and society (Routledge)

June 7, 2020

Do we take our organisations too seriously? A Company as a Carnival – vintage Tom Peters

Today I was wandering through an old note book reflecting on business post-Covid. I “found”this 1992. I have always found it delightful and fun to try and think in metaphorn and this from Tom Peter – well it’s vintage Peters – fun and vibrant! And was probably before it’s time!! Or perhaps still ahead. Enjoy

Add up fickle and fashion, the need for bonkers “organisations,” lots of tries and the matchless power of markets, and what do you have? Among other things, a clarion call for a new imagery.

In short, today’s organisational images stink. Not just those that derive from the military (“Kick ass and take names”) and “pyramids” (heavy, steep, immobile), but even the new “network,” “spiderweb,” “Calder mobile.” These modern notions are a mighty step forward, but they still miss the core idea of tomorrow’s surviving corporation: dynamism.