Course Materials For: “Being a Leader and the Effective Exercise of Leadership – an Ontological/Phenomenological Model”
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Comments Welcomed 1 May 10, 2011 Harvard Business School Negotiation, Organizations and Markets Research Papers HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL NOM UNIT WORKING PAPER NO. 09-038 SIMON SCHOOL OF BUSINESS WORKING PAPER NO. 08-03 BARBADOS GROUP WORKING PAPER NO. 08-02 Course Materials for: “Being A Leader And The Effective Exercise Of Leadership – An Ontological/Phenomenological Model” WERNER H. ERHARD Independent [email protected] MICHAEL C. JENSEN Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration Emeritus, Harvard Business School [email protected] STEVE ZAFFRON Senior Program Leader, Landmark Education LLC, and CEO, Vanto Group [email protected] KARI L. GRANGER Performance Consultant, Sunergos LLC Fellow, Center for Character and Leadership Development, United States Air Force Academy [email protected] May 10, 2011 This course was taught at Asia Plateau, Panchgani India under the auspices of the IC Centre for Governance and MW Corp, November 22 – 27, 2010 NOTE TO OUR READERS: Our apologies. These course materials are somewhat incomplete. There are places where material is missing or not fully developed. We are distributing this material to make it available to the course participants and to facilitate discussion in the academy. We will post future versions of this material on SSRN, so check back at this URL (given below) to get the latest edition. WHE, MCJ, SZ, KLG. Some of the material presented in this course/paper is based on or derived from the consulting and program material of the Vanto Group, and from material presented in the Landmark Forum and other programs offered by Landmark Education LLC. The ideas and the methodology created by Werner Erhard underlie much of the material. FAIR USE: You may redistribute this document freely, but please do not post the electronic file on the web. We welcome web links to this document at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1263835 We revise our papers regularly, and providing a link to the original at the above URL ensures that readers will receive the most recent version. Thank you, W. Erhard, M. Jensen, S. Zaffron, K. Granger. © Copyright 2008-2011. Werner Erhard, Michael Jensen, Landmark Education LLC. All Rights Reserved Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1263835 Comments Welcomed 2 May 10, 2011 Abstract This course is designed to leave students being leaders and exercising leadership effectively as their natural self-expression – rather than attempting to learn the characteristics, styles, and skills of noteworthy leaders, and then trying to remember and apply them where appropriate. The course is not designed to merely leave the students with knowledge (that is not designed to leave students “knowing” about leaders and leadership and able to cogently discuss the issues surrounding leader and leadership). Rather, the course is designed to give students actual access to being a leader and the effective exercise of leadership. Our promise to the students is that if they honor their word to fulfill the requests we make of them they will leave the course being leaders and exercising leadership effectively. The course material is based on our work over the last eight years in developing a course of the same title at the University of Rochester Simon School of Business from 2004 - 2008 (which course is now also taught at the US Air Force Academy since 2008), Erasmus Academie Rotterdam in June 2009 (a version of which is now being taught at the Erasmus University Law School), Texas A&M University Mays School of Business in June 2010, and in India under the auspices of the IC Centre for Governance and MW Corp in November 2010. The course will be taught by us in Dubai in February 2012 and at Dartmouth Medical School in June 2012. The course is still under development and will be for several more years. The research project that led to the creation of this course (and the papers and slides on leadership that are part of the course) originated from our interest in laying the foundations for a science of leadership. We agree with Warren Bennis (2002, p. 2) and Joseph Rost (1993, p. 8) who conclude respectively: "It is almost a cliché of the leadership literature that a single definition of leadership is lacking." and "The scholars do not know what it is they are studying, and the practitioners do not know what it is they are practicing." Taking on the question of what leadership is required us to get into what it is to be a leader and what it is to exercise leadership effectively as a lived experience, rather than as a description, explanation or a theory. Getting to the core of being a leader and the actions of effective leadership led naturally to tackling the task of actually creating leaders, and the natural laboratory for exploring that question was the classroom. Mark Zupan, Dean of the U. of Rochester Simon School of Business and his colleagues provided us the five-year laboratory to do this and the course was created. For the full introductory paper to the course (the 6th of six pre-course readings): “Introductory Reading for Being A Leader and the Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological Model” see: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1392406 A directory to all six of the pre-course readings can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1588288 © Copyright 2008-2011. Werner Erhard, Michael Jensen, Landmark Education LLC. All Rights Reserved Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1263835 Comments Welcomed 3 May 10, 2011 INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE The course is founded on what we term an ontological model of leader and leadership. The ontological approach is uniquely effective in providing actionable access to being a leader and exercising leadership effectively. A Few Words On Ontology While ontology as a general subject is concerned with the being of anything, here we are concerned with the ontology of human beings (the nature and function of being for human beings). Specifically we are concerned with the ontology of leader and leadership (the nature and function of being for a leader and the actions of effective leadership). Who one is being when being a leader shapes one’s perceptions, emotions, creative imagination, thinking, planning, and consequently one’s actions in the exercise of leadership. One can explore the nature and function of human beings from various perspectives – for example, from the perspectives of psychology, evolutionary theory, economics or neuroscience. A psychological perspective examines human nature from the perspective of the function of the mind, an evolutionary perspective examines human nature from the evolutionary drive for survival and sex, a neuroscience perspective examines human nature from the function of the brain, and an economic perspective examines human nature through production and exchange, and so on. Ontology is simply another perspective from which to examine human nature. While informed by the other perspectives, ontology examines the nature of being for human beings. When exploring leader and leadership from an ontological perspective one is concerned with the ways of being that constitute being a leader and that result in an effective exercise of leadership. While the formal term for the study of being is ontology, the as-lived or as-experienced inquiry (contrasted with a theoretical inquiry) of being and action for human beings is termed phenomenology. We employ the phenomenological methodology to provide actionable access to what has been revealed (opened up) by the ontological model. Being a leader and the effective exercise of leadership as one’s natural self-expression does not come from learning and trying to emulate the characteristics or styles of noteworthy leaders, or learning what leaders do and trying to emulate that (and certainly not from merely being in a leadership position, or position of authority). An epistemological mastery of a subject leaves you knowing. An ontological mastery of a subject leaves you being. Gaining access to being a leader and the effective exercise of leadership as one’s natural self- expression also requires dealing with those factors present in all human beings that constrain each person’s freedom to be and act – and constrain and shape one’s perceptions, emotions, creative imagination, thinking, and planning. When one is not constrained or shaped by these factors – what we term “ontological constraints” – one’s way of being and acting results © Copyright 2008-2011. Werner Erhard, Michael Jensen, Landmark Education LLC. All Rights Reserved Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1263835 Comments Welcomed 4 May 10, 2011 naturally in one’s personal best in any leadership situation. We work with the students so that they accomplish this for themselves. The Underlying Theory of the Course: Part I The Three Foundational Elements of Leadership: Integrity (in our model a positive phenomenon): o Being whole and complete – achieved by “honoring one’s word” (creates workability, develops trust). Authenticity o Being and acting consistent with who you hold yourself out to be for others, and who you hold yourself to be for yourself. When leading, being authentic leaves you grounded, and able to be straight without using force. Being Committed to Something Bigger than Oneself: o Source of the serene passion (charisma) required to lead and to develop others as leaders, and the source of persistence (joy in the labor of) when the path gets tough. The Underlying Theory of the Course: Part II Distinguishing Leader and Leadership: Our Contextual Framework Employing our Contextual Framework for leader and leadership, we work with the students to create for themselves what it is to be a leader, and what it is to exercise leadership effectively as a context that uses them. By “a context that uses them”, we mean a context that has the power to leave students in any leadership situation being a leader and exercising leadership effectively as their natural self-expression.