Conscious Leadership as a Bamboo

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Recently I’ve come across the fascinating comparison of conscious leadership to the qualities of bamboo.  It started with a series of fantastic videos by Barrett Brown talking about the findings from his doctoral thesis on conscious leadership (see the clip on ‘bamboo leadership’).  It’s worth watching the entire series of clips on Vimeo relating to his work on conscious leadership, post-conventional leadership, integral thinking and sustainability.  He somehow makes a complex field easy to understand!

The Bamboo Leader post by Wendy Appel (http://www.wendyappel.com/the-bamboo-leader/) is another fascinating find and the link here takes you to her post in its entirety.  She has a great way of considering the qualities of the bamboo plant and how these are enacted by the conscious leader.

Bamboo is firmly rooted (in purpose), yet flexible (unattached to being right resulting from the ego), is empty inside (has space to receive new information), yet the centre of the bamboo is considered its heart.  Bamboo is resilient to environmental onslaughts in the way conscious leaders have equanimity.  It replicates quickly (shares information rather than hanging on to it).  It can bend towards where it is needed (listening, leaning and engaging).

Conscious leadership concepts can sometimes be difficult to convey.  Using metaphor that points to the principles is sometimes more effective than trying to explain concepts alone.  (Even Brown has a point of view on this).  Conscious Leadership as a Bamboo makes a great analogy.

 

 

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