Cracking Great Leaders Manage Body, Head, Heart & Soul
This is an extract from Cracking Great Leaders, page 144, available at: https://lnkd.in/bPv6Swn
Cracking Great Leaders see people as energy fields: body (physical energy), head (intellectual energy), heart (emotional energy) and soul (spiritual energy). To build goose-bump-type differentiation they nourish the whole person. Although they focus on heart and soul; they also know the body and head must be nourished before people will give the extraordinary gifts of heart and soul.
Other managers spend most of their time focused at the body level; on the external, physical world, thinking about results, structure, technology and processes. But the physical world is just the manifestation of the internal world. By the time you see it, it’s too late to change it. Real external change happens because of changes in the internal world of thoughts, emotions, beliefs and dreams.
People have gifts to give in four areas. In reverse order of powerfulness, these are: Body, Head, Heart and Soul.
Body
This is physical energy including health, safety and security. Although body is the least important area, it is important because the body needs to be satisfied before people will give gifts from their head, heart or soul. Reach the body and you have helped the person become richer, safer and more secure. However, even at the physical level many organisations fail hopelessly. Their key business transaction: the exchange of time for money is a thin and mean incentive. Cracking Great Leaders teach their people how to renew their energy through relaxation, focus, exercise, breathing and eating.
Head
This is mental energy or brainpower. Reach the head and you have helped the person become wiser and more knowledgeable. Most organisations operate on a ‘needs to know’ basis and even when they provide information, they deliver it in only one way. Cracking Great Leaders know that people learn in different ways and want to know far more than most managers think. Also, when people are trusted with extra information it gives context and meaning to their work. It’s about understanding that people are like 'learning machines’. They love to explore. They love to play. They don’t like to be boxed in. So Cracking Great Leaders open the books and think seriously about how they structure work; knowing project teams are far more liberating than jobs.
Heart
This is emotional energy. It comes from belonging, esteem and knowing that you fit with the values and culture. Reach the heart and you have helped the person’s sense of belonging, connectedness, reputation, self worth and respect.
Soul
This is spiritual energy. It comes from knowing who you are, why you are here, and doing something bigger than yourself; something really worthwhile. It provides the spring in the foot and the gleam in the eye. It is the spark which if created can turn an average team into a great team capable of extraordinary feats. Reach the soul and you have helped the person leave a legacy and provide meaning to their life. In their report, “A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America”, Ian Mitroff, a professor at the University of Southern California, and Elizabeth A. Denton, an organizational consultant, write that employees hunger to bring their spiritual values, their whole person and not just their (left) brain to work. They also found that companies that acknowledged spiritual values and that aligned them with corporate ones, outperformed companies that didn’t.
In most organisations, soul is the biggest desert. Cracking Great Leaders work to help people understand who they are and why they exist, then they help people use this understanding to make the organisation stronger. They also help people to think about how the work they do adds value to the world. The key comes from constantly discussing the meaning of the work and tying it to a higher purpose. Nearly everybody wants to be part of something that is bigger than themselves. They want to make the world a better place. They want to leave a legacy. Talk in these terms and the Sun starts to flare. The following table shows where the inner resources of body, head, heart and soul come from...
This is an extract from Cracking Great Leaders, page 144. To see the contents and the first few pages, just click on the word 'Preview' below the image of the book at: https://lnkd.in/bPv6Swn
Cracking Great Leaders see people as energy fields: body (physical energy), head (intellectual energy), heart (emotional energy) and soul (spiritual energy). To build goose-bump-type differentiation they nourish the whole person. Although they focus on heart and soul; they also know the body and head must be nourished before people will give the extraordinary gifts of heart and soul.
Other managers spend most of their time focused at the body level; on the external, physical world, thinking about results, structure, technology and processes. But the physical world is just the manifestation of the internal world. By the time you see it, it’s too late to change it. Real external change happens because of changes in the internal world of thoughts, emotions, beliefs and dreams.
People have gifts to give in four areas. In reverse order of powerfulness, these are: Body, Head, Heart and Soul.
Body
This is physical energy including health, safety and security. Although body is the least important area, it is important because the body needs to be satisfied before people will give gifts from their head, heart or soul. Reach the body and you have helped the person become richer, safer and more secure. However, even at the physical level many organisations fail hopelessly. Their key business transaction: the exchange of time for money is a thin and mean incentive. Cracking Great Leaders teach their people how to renew their energy through relaxation, focus, exercise, breathing and eating.
Head
This is mental energy or brainpower. Reach the head and you have helped the person become wiser and more knowledgeable. Most organisations operate on a ‘needs to know’ basis and even when they provide information, they deliver it in only one way. Cracking Great Leaders know that people learn in different ways and want to know far more than most managers think. Also, when people are trusted with extra information it gives context and meaning to their work. It’s about understanding that people are like 'learning machines’. They love to explore. They love to play. They don’t like to be boxed in. So Cracking Great Leaders open the books and think seriously about how they structure work; knowing project teams are far more liberating than jobs.
Heart
This is emotional energy. It comes from belonging, esteem and knowing that you fit with the values and culture. Reach the heart and you have helped the person’s sense of belonging, connectedness, reputation, self worth and respect.
Soul
This is spiritual energy. It comes from knowing who you are, why you are here, and doing something bigger than yourself; something really worthwhile. It provides the spring in the foot and the gleam in the eye. It is the spark which if created can turn an average team into a great team capable of extraordinary feats. Reach the soul and you have helped the person leave a legacy and provide meaning to their life. In their report, “A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America”, Ian Mitroff, a professor at the University of Southern California, and Elizabeth A. Denton, an organizational consultant, write that employees hunger to bring their spiritual values, their whole person and not just their (left) brain to work. They also found that companies that acknowledged spiritual values and that aligned them with corporate ones, outperformed companies that didn’t.
In most organisations, soul is the biggest desert. Cracking Great Leaders work to help people understand who they are and why they exist, then they help people use this understanding to make the organisation stronger. They also help people to think about how the work they do adds value to the world. The key comes from constantly discussing the meaning of the work and tying it to a higher purpose. Nearly everybody wants to be part of something that is bigger than themselves. They want to make the world a better place. They want to leave a legacy. Talk in these terms and the Sun starts to flare. The following table shows where the inner resources of body, head, heart and soul come from...
This is an extract from Cracking Great Leaders, page 144. To see the contents and the first few pages, just click on the word 'Preview' below the image of the book at: https://lnkd.in/bPv6Swn