Is This True?
I had a conversation with my friend Jim this morning. He was talking about a colleague in the law firm of Fulbright and Jaworski in Austin. Leon Jaworski of Watergate fame was the founder of that firm. I was reminded of the book written by Leon Jaworski's son, Joseph Jaworski, entitled Synchronicity. I pulled the book off the shelf and leafed through it. I was struck by this passage:
"... we begin to see that the future is not fixed, that we live in a world of possibilities. And yet all of us carry around a deep sense of resignation. We're resigned to believing we can't have any influence in the world, at least not on a scale that matters."
If this is true - and to at least some degree it FEELS true - it is antithethical to the responsibility of the leader. Perhaps the fundamental role of the leader is to rally the collective passion of the organization toward a better future. Great leaders envision a HUGELY better future. Great leaders seem to defeat this deep sense of resignation. It seems to me that leaders must acknowledge the reality of the resignation that lurks within AND be commited to dreaming. Or as Goethe said:
"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
More posts on: Joseph Jaworski, Synchronicity
