Raw: being in or nearly in the natural state; not processed.
We contend that macro leadership principles broken down into their most “unprocessed” and raw form are the most natural and beneficial in creating a sustainable whole and healthy leader. Athletes, Musicians, and Scholars all benefit from reviewing their performances – frame by frame, measure by measure – to gain awareness and enhance performance. Leaders should have the same advantage! But the tendency is to lean toward the complicated. Best-seller-of-the-day acronyms, inflated egos, complex leadership theories, convoluted execution processes, and can’t-let-’em-see-me-sweat leadership styles…which all get in the way of the real stuff, the simple stuff. The core of leadership.
Yes, we get down to basics. Simple. Elemental. Without a strong foundation of principles like trust, transparency, doing the right thing, treating people with respect, and credibility, nothing else can grow. Raw Leadership is about leveraging basic concepts to make the foundation strong.
When we peel back the layers, we find some pretty great leaders inside! Leadership essence often gets masked by a number of factors. Stress. Not seeing immediate results. Redirection “suggestions” from the board. Doubt. Past experience. Focus on short-term wins. Conflict. Employee disengagement. Old paradigms.
The Raw Leadership™ process focuses on the core – finding and expanding the core through leveraging raw concepts and components. Leaders get stronger, and intentional, and deliberate…and effective! The process unfolds organically – no two programs are the same. By taking a systems view or macro approach, we can customize the intervention to fit the client, the circumstance, and the situation. We get raw and vulnerable and create personal learning moments for our clients. We dig into root causes and apply courses of action that address underlying issues. We create programs that leverage leadership!
The developmental approach we call Raw Leadership™ is about simple concepts, key ingredients, all full of potential, that when combined with finesse, create incredibly rich, complex, and delicious leadership profiles!
Personal side note: My mom, has always had a thriving, beautiful, bountiful garden. She shares it with us in the most loving way. We are so fortunate to benefit from her generosity and hard work, and I do mean hard work! We reap the rewards and health benefits of her commitment, focus, time, and energy – I think of it as her “garden leadership”. We often take her efforts for granted because she makes it look so easy and effortless. Great leadership, generously shared, looks similarly effortless.
