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The Joy of Leadership – Part IIRisk-taking, trust, and serendipity are key ingredients of joy. Without risk, nothing new ever happens. Without trust, fear creeps in. Without serendipity, there are no surprises.
I recently came across this quote, the words of Rita Golden Gelman, a Canadian
author, who describes herself as a nomad and adventurer. I noted it down, because I had never thought of putting these three elements together as elements of joy. Having written in this column earlier this year about “The Joy of Leadership” (January 2008), I have been wondering how this thought could be applied to leading joyfully.
Risk-taking, of course, is a quality that is frequently included in various academic and corporate leadership competency models. Usually the qualifier “prudent” is placed before it; because no one wants or expects our leaders to take injudicious risks. But I wonder if the idea of “prudent risk-taking” actually expresses some of our culture’s deep ambivalence about risk. You only have to look as far as last year’s sub-prime lending
fiasco to see evidence for that. Lending inherently entails some risk, but in the aftermath of the sub-prime market crash, lenders seem inclined to take virtually none.
Leaders, and the people they lead, can get caught in that same cycle: one case of failure (or unexpected harsh consequences) and everybody seems to learn the wrong lesson – don’t take any more risks. But a leadership culture that discourages
risk-taking, or one that over-stresses prudence, will likely miss opportunities for the organization to develop and grow, relegating change to incremental improvements. To bring about something really new, though, always carries with it the risk of failure. The real question for leaders, then, is this one: Which is the greater risk, doing nothing and staying the same, or making something new happen?
The element of trust in leadership is directly connected to the first element, in that with risk, there often comes fear. It’s fear that can keep leaders from taking necessary risks, and fear that makes new ideas and new moves seem risky. You could say that when fear pervades an organization, nothing new ever happens. The antidote to fear is indeed trust, but it isn’t something that can be conjured up and administered if there is
no foundation for it. So trust could be seen as a necessary precondition for something new to happen, and trust-building is a necessary partner to risk-taking by any leader.
Serendipity – the element of surprise – is another way of something new happening. It’s the capacity for a leader to see that new thing, or that new state of being, in occurrences, or in trends observed over time. It’s the presence of trust in the
organization, and the capacity for taking risks, that enables him or her to act at the right moment when serendipity strikes and opportunity for real change – possibly transformation -- arrives.
Leadership, like joy in life, entails orchestrating all three elements – risk-taking, trust, and serendipity – so that there is synergy among them, the energy of each element feeding the others. Like the conductor of a symphony orchestra, any leader who wants
to evoke brilliance from his players will approach the endeavor joyfully, and will certainly find more joy in the new thing he brings about through them. Leading with joy means leading from a place of being fully alive to both the possibilities and the risks of all that may be offered, including the surprises that life invariably has in store for us all. Coaching can help you bring joy to your work and your life, and help you encourage the
practice of joyfulness in your organization. Let’s talk. Call (410)626-6008, or email info@bloomfieldassociates.com. 
Reflect on the places where joy shows up in your life, and in your work. Here are some questions to get you started: - What brings you joy?
- When do you feel most alive? What happens for you then?
- When have you taken a risk that really felt big for you? What happened?
- Remember a time when you took a risk, and things did not turn out as you may have wanted. What did you learn from that experience?
- What engenders trust in you? How do you inspire trust in others?
- What role does serendipity – surprise – play in your life?
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According to one recent survey, most employees who report to work when sick say they do so out of a sense of obligation to their co-workers. Nearly 30% are so motivated
because of a strong belief that other people depend on them.
The obesity epidemic costs U.S. private employers an estimated $45 billion a year in medical expenditures and worker absenteeism, according to a report by the Conference Board. Obesity now leads smoking and alcoholism as a key factor in increasing health-care costs.
Most executives would rather vote for the late Ronald Reagan as president than any of
the candidates being offered by either Democrats or Republicans in the 2008 election, according to one recent online survey. 
Greenwashing It seems like every company these days wants to be eco-friendly, and lots of new products purporting to be “green” are popping up on store shelves. Consumers today, though, are pretty savvy about reading labels and asking questions, so if you’re going to claim to be green, you’d better be sure you really are. Some eco-conscious folks are pointing to companies whose products are questionable and accusing them of
“greenwashing” – and until there are more universally accepted standards for greenness, we won’t always know for sure. 
 A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, by Eckhart Tolle. What I like about it: Thanks to Oprah and her popular book club, you’ll find this book at the front counter of every bookstore, and it is well worth picking it up and dipping into it. Tolle distills the
essence of the great spiritual traditions, both Eastern and Western, and integrates his understanding of it with the big questions of our own particular time and place in human history. He guides us on a very personal and individualized journey through some immense territory, and does so in a way that is both deep and accessible at the same time. I also recommend the series of conversations between Oprah and Tolle that are keyed to
each chapter of the book, available for download in both video and audio formats on Oprah’s website.
Beth Bloomfield
Executive Coach, Strategy Consultant
Principal, Bloomfield Associates Share what you’re into —
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Announcing the forthcoming publication, in July, of On Becoming a Leadership Coach: A Holistic Approach to Coaching Excellence, edited by Chris Wahl, Clarice Scriber, and Beth Bloomfield! Contributors include faculty members of the Georgetown Leadership Coaching certificate program, and a portion of the proceeds will go to charitable causes. You can pre-order the book on Amazon.com now and get a 5% discount off the price. A Different Optic has joined the blogosphere! Beth Bloomfield has started her own blog, dedicated to exploring what makes for good leadership, how to help leaders
develop their skills and capacities, and how to create organizations that nurture and support good leadership. As always, the aim is to provoke her readers to look at things a little differently than they normally would. You’re invited to take a look, and join in the conversation by adding your own thoughts and comments. Subscribe to the blog feed and get notified by email whenever there’s a new post. Click here to get started. | | |
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