The Alchemy of Authentic Leadership

by Steven Mundahl

Overview

Why do powerful leaders get outed—people like Weiner, Schwarzenegger, Petraeus, Woods, and Clinton? Why do leaders risk it all to cheat, and—even closer to home—why might you?

Know thyself! To do this, the leader is taken on a journey of their inner rooms to explore the impact of family dysfunction and beliefs. Only when you commit to becoming the leader of your own life do you possess the alchemical formula for authentic leadership. If not, beware the “BeOUTEDtudes!” Those are the attitudes that could land you a messy divorce, a headline on the front page, or worse.

Journey with the author through his own challenges and triumphs in building a strong leadership platform. Learn how to heal into wholeness using evidence-based therapies as well as holistic and intuitive tools. Transform negative corporate cultures using innovative ideas, and, finally, learn the author’s alchemical principles, called the Seven Tenets of Leadership.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452576305
Publisher:	Balboa Press
Publication date:	07/08/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	313 KB

Read an Excerpt

THE ALCHEMY OF AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP

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By STEVEN MUNDAHL

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2013 Steven Mundahl
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4525-7631-2

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CHAPTER 1

The Personal Journey of Leadership

Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Once you live a deeply authentic life, leadership will find you rather than you having to wait for it. Others will clearly identify the leader in you, and the trail you blaze will become a beacon to others.

When I thought I was ready to lead a nonprofit agency as a chief executive, I interviewed in three different cities and with three different boards of directors. In the first two interviews, I was so busy presenting my experience and knowledge that I did not give myself the chance to introduce my authentic, more human self for them to get to know. In the third interview, I presented myself very differently. I listened. When asked, I spoke not so much of my experiences in business and leadership but of my experiences in life—the long journey of supporting a wife who battled cancer, my dream to own my own company, and the resulting stress of actually building it. I shared the life changes that had brought me to the doors of failure and the mistakes that made me drop to my knees in humility and surrender. I told of the lessons I had learned as a father of two daughters and of the beauty of the deeply spiritual life I had come to know as I grew older.

I also listened to the board members. I heard that they were looking for someone who was ethical, down-to-earth, and a defender of people with disabilities. They wanted a leader who had been through difficult life experiences and could lead their agency through difficult experiences of its own. I was interviewed three times by two panels of board members and also by management employees of the company. In short, I was offered the presidency of this agency not because I was the strongest fiscal manager or the most educated or even the most experienced, but because I was the most "human" candidate they had interviewed. Many shared that piece of information with me much later. They offered me the keys to the front door of their agency because I had learned some emotionally human principles and could be the ethical leader they sought. Above all, these volunteer community leaders wanted an ethical, caring leader.

Speaking honestly during those interviews allowed me to demonstrate vulnerability and compassion for myself. They saw humanness and authenticity because I chose to share it. They also saw a man who had come to like himself (pretty much) through trial and error. Having a troubled agency, they needed an ethical builder.

Leadership is less about leading others and more about the journey of how we lead ourselves. The task offered to us closely mirrors where we are on our own personal journeys. Life somehow gives us the lessons we need most when it is our best time to learn them. The job isn't so much "out there" as it is "in here." The journey involves finding our truth, our voice, and our passion and then aligning ourselves to them every day. If we can live from this freshness, others will pick up the trail quite effortlessly.

Over the years, my personal statement of leadership has evolved. The main goal I practice now is to live an ethical life and be an honest leader by practicing spiritual principles without necessarily promoting any religion or brand of spirituality. I attempt to treat others with respect and kindness because of who I see them to be and how I'd like them to see me. My leadership journey helped me realize that I never needed to "go" anywhere on my journey. Leadership found me when I found the leader within myself. I hadn't needed to trek from job to job, progress through layers of middle management, watch scores of years pass me by, learn countless leadership concepts, or even wait for the executive position I desired.

I became my own leader when I started to clean up the negative beliefs about myself that others triggered. I learned to move from a simple overreaction rooted in anger, shame, guilt, or hurt to a healthier pattern. I looked for what triggered me, recognized it, and approached the same situation with clarity and a more positive self. I began by becoming the leader of my own life. It must be an odd statement to read—becoming the leader of your own life—but I believe it really begins there for all of us. As I look back on my journey, I realize that I went through a spiritual evolution as much as a physical or mental one. I felt a fundamental transformation from the man I was to the man I have become. Leadership became the journey, not the destination, and it remains so to this day.

The inner journey I ask you to take is an important step to becoming an authentic leader for two reasons. First, we need to earn and keep the trust extended to us. According to dictionary.com, authenticity is defined as being "entitled to belief because of agreement with known facts ... to be reliable and trustworthy." In other words, we are entitled to others' trust that we can lead successfully when we begin to live our personal lives with integrity—no acting, no hiding, no running, no denial, no blaming others. Authenticity begins with self-acceptance and matures when we accept our vulnerabilities and the vulnerabilities of those around us.

Secondly, if we are in alignment with our own inner truth, we can acquire a powerful voice to help transform others and our businesses. Our energy becomes focused, clear, and a powerful magnet for good. When we cannot find happiness within, our moral compass goes awry, and we begin to hear the alluring voice of unethical choices.

The following exercise is a way for you to assess yourself. Careful examination of your personal life is similar to analyzing the different inner components or departments of your company. This exercise is similar to the Wheel of Life that many personal and business coaches use with their clients. Find a quiet time to do this exercise and assess the different aspects, or rooms, in your life.

A Visit to Your "Inner House"

This leadership journey begins with an assessment of six major life areas. An evaluation of our inner attitudes, values, and habits will help us understand the success or disappointment we feel in these areas of our lives. Ultimately our evaluation will lead us to where we would ideally like our lives to be.

Begin with imagining your ideal home. In your mind, picture where it is. Maybe it is on a beach or a mountaintop. It may be in a foreign country, at the end of a long tree-lined road, or on a tropical white sand beach. Look at its design and color. Is it made of brick, stone, or wood? How many windows face the front, and what size and shape are they? Now imagine walking up to the front door and opening it. As it opens, you are greeted by the owner of this home—you! Your host gives you a warm embrace as though you have just completed a long journey. He or she is delighted to see you. You stand at the doorway just as you are now, looking at yourself as the successful, beloved leader you will become. Each room of this ideal home is filled with the accomplishments of your efforts, a culmination of a life of commitment and service. The leader you see as yourself has an accepting, loving, and confident presence.

Within this home, you find a holographic image that shifts between two interchangeable houses. From one angle, you can see that one of the houses is somewhat less complete than the other. That is the home you currently occupy. From another angle, the home is wonderfully complete. It is finished in every detail, with rooms filled to potential and overflowing with abundance. It holds everything that would make you feel that your life has been lived with great fulfillment.

The Inner Rooms

These are the rooms of your life. There are no walls that separate them, for they flow naturally together. For our purposes, we will discuss them as separate rooms, although you will see how one affects the other and how easily these rooms can overlap. For our exercise, there are six rooms in all:

1. Money and finances

2. Leisure, creativity, and fun

3. Spirituality and philosophy

4. Career and education

5. Family and relationships

6. Physical and emotional health

Together, we will enter each room and take notice of its current contents and the condition in which it appears to you today. You will also have the opportunity to describe how you would like the room to look in your finished house. As you compare the current look of the room to the potential of what it could be, I will ask you to make note of the differences. You will then simply grade the room from one to five, with five being the highest level of personal satisfaction.

Within these rooms are habits, practices, and values you use every day. If you find a room lacking in use or potential, ask yourself why that is. Conversely, you may find a room already overflowing with activity and abundance. Take note of why. Later we will examine principles that might change the capacity, energy, and potential of each room.

Your tour guide is your wise, successful, accepting self—that authentic leader you have become. This tour is purely personal. Relax and take your time. Remember, no self-judgment is allowed. We begin with the room of money and finances, but we don't begin here because it is the most important. The rooms used in this model have no hierarchy other than the level of importance and satisfaction you place upon them at any given time.

Money and Finances

As you stand at the closed door of this room, how do you feel about opening it to honestly reveal its condition? Make a note of this feeling and then proceed to open the door. Now, within this room make some mental notes on all you see or don't see.

• Are you making enough?

• Do you live paycheck to paycheck?

• Do you feel you have too much debt?

• Do you live on a cash-on-hand basis or have a habit of charging on credit cards?

• Do you have a savings plan?

• What value and importance do you place on money and finances?

• Do you experience any secret shame when it comes to money?

• Do you have difficulty living within your budget while others seem to have all the "extras"?

• Do you even feel that you are entitled to be wealthy?

We live in a society that is extremely focused on money. It is a widely, though not necessarily wisely, used standard to determine success and a life of completion. Our economic and social culture in business today can promote greed and self-indulgence in leadership, although it is certainly not always so. I recently heard that 90 percent of the world's wealth is concentrated in the hands of 1 percent of the population, and the gulf between rich and poor grows wider each year. Most of the wealth lies in the hands of leaders. Much of the outrage of the Wall Street and other financial protests in recent years has been at the greed and imbalance of the wealth at the top.

Take a few moments and record both the condition of your financial house and some of the attitudes and values you currently hold. Remember not to offer judgment of yourself. You are far from alone.

_____________________________________________________________________

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Your Ideal Money and Finances Room

Take a moment now and shift your vision to the holographic view of what this area of your life ideally looks like in your completed home.

• What does it look like to have your financial house in order?

• In this ideal fiscal room of your house, what are your highest financial priorities?

• How does it feel to have a date in mind for your debt to be paid off or to actually have it all paid off?

• What kind of a savings plan have you either started or increased?

• Is there any kind of training or advancement plan you have begun that will lead to even greater financial security?

• What kind of inner peace do you now have from greater security?

• If you could turn on a faucet of abundance in your life, how much money would take you to the place called "success?" Would you spend freely, invest it, or give it away as it flowed to you?

Take a moment and briefly describe your results.

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

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On a scale of one to five, with five being quite satisfied, rate the condition of this room in your life right now: ____________.

Take a moment and record a few priorities to address in this room.

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

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Leisure, Creativity, and Enjoyment

In this room are your hobbies, creative interests, talents, and desire to invent, produce, and create. Here also is where you enjoy yourself the most. In this room you can laugh and play like a kid. This is where you create, write, paint, play music, travel, and read your favorite novels. This room is where you get in touch with your uniqueness, that which excites and inspires you. This is where you tap into your unique tastes, talents, and preferences. As you stand at the closed door of this room, how do you feel about opening it to honestly reveal its condition? Make a note of this and then proceed to open the door. As you step into this room, how would you describe how much time you spend on enjoyable activities here?

• Do you have regular classes or time devoted to leisure or creative endeavors?

• Are there paintings here, poems you have written, musical instruments you have practiced?

• Are there songs you have written or perhaps a novel you have started?

• Has life become too busy for this room, or are you satisfied with the energy and time you spend here?

• Are you a bit of a workaholic and emphasize getting everything done over and above pure enjoyment of life's pleasures?

• Do you have peer relationships in which you pursue mutual hobbies or sports?

• Do you have time to simply enjoy the beauty of nature, music, art, and exercise apart from work?

• Do you have any yearly memberships that enforce getting out and being active in enjoying the arts, exercise, or worthwhile causes?

When American viewers saw President Bill Clinton playing the saxophone and laughing on late-night television, they were amazed. How could such an important leader spend time being so frivolous? It begs the question, should leaders have fun in the workplace? Should they allow employees and constituents to have fun as well? Millennial companies such as Google and Yahoo are filled with young workers in their twenties and early thirties and have demonstrated that fun needs to be an important part of the business day. How much fun and creativity are you allowed in your workplace, if any? How much fun and creative expression do you allow in your day?

A European friend of mine recently told me that European workers, on average, take almost twice the number of vacation days as American workers, all while American workers are believed to be working longer hours in 2012 than in any other decade of our history, often foregoing vacations completely. Personal job satisfaction ranks at its lowest level in decades. One in four American adults is taking antidepressants, and more than half of the population of the country is overweight. Are we happier for the excess work hours? Are we living more fulfilling lives than our parents or grandparents?

Take a moment and make some notes about how you feel about the fun and creativity you are having in your life and the amount of time you are giving to leisure or creative endeavors.

Your Ideal Leisure, Creativity, and Fun Room

Take a moment now to shift your vision to the fulfilled holographic vision of this room. How does this room look filled with fun, leisure activities, and creative endeavors you have long sought to accomplish? Perhaps you have written a novel and are signing books to long lines of readers. Perhaps you are becoming known for your music, poetry, acting, or sculpting. Or perhaps you are simply able to make homemade gifts for people or teach a class on your hobby.

In this room of your house, picture your staff enjoying hearing about your latest hobbies and interests and feeling encouraged to have more fun and balance in their own lives. Imagine the pride you feel in being a well-rounded, versatile leader. Feel the bounce in your step and the anticipation you feel looking forward to certain activities. Make some notes.
(Continues...)

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Excerpted from THE ALCHEMY OF AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP by STEVEN MUNDAHL. Copyright © 2013 Steven Mundahl. Excerpted by permission of Balboa Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction....................     ix     

Chapter 1: The Personal Journey of Leadership....................     1     

Chapter 2: Leadership Begins at Home....................     25     

Chapter 3: The Path to Healing....................     47     

Chapter 4: Meeting Your Leader on the Road....................     62     

Chapter 5: Healing into Wholeness....................     83     

Chapter 6: Leadership Visualization Tools....................     108     

Chapter 7: The Alchemy of Pure Intuition....................     127     

Chapter 8: Changing Negative Corporate Culture....................     142     

Chapter 9: The Tenets of Authentic Leadership....................     166     

References....................     193