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June 20, 2004

Synchronicity - the inner path to leadership

This is a deeply moving, thought provoking, and challenging book which goes to the very heart of what it is to be a leader and even further intow what it means to be human.

Peter Senge's Introduction beautifully sets the stage for this book:

For many years I have told people that although there are a lot of books on leadership, there is only one that serious studens have to read - Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf. Most recent books on leadership have been about what leaders do and how they operate, why the world makes this difficult for them, and what organisations must do in order to better develop their leaders. These books are penetrated with seemingly practical advice about what individuals and organizations should do differently.

...This to is a book that anyone who is serious about leadership will have to read. Synchronicity builds directly on Greenleaf's thinking and takes it further, expecially illuminating the nature of the choice to lead and the deep understanding or world view out of which such a choice might arise.

Jaworski commences his story by recounting his father's work as special prosecutor in the Watergate case. Without stating it he shows how his father's leadership in this position was driven by a deep sense of purpose and commitment to the rule of law. A president's man deeply conflicted by the emerging details of Watergate, Jaworski senior took the case on on the condition "that he would be able to pursue the investigation with complete independence, and that he would have the right to take the President to court if necessary." Jaworski does not go into depth on the details of his father's role in this case except to give an indication of the toll it took and a series of conversations between father and son over the Christmas before Nixon resigned. "I looked at [my father] and I could see that his soul was aching like mine," Jaworski reccounts.

This sets the scence for the type of leadership discussed in this book. It is a leadership that is soaked in purpose. A leadership that comes from the soul. A leadership that through personal conflict and heart ache, makes a difference.

Jaworski didn't learn this immediately. Initially he set off on a career path dedicated to personal gain with the philosophy 'whoever dies with the most money wins.' And for quite some time he was very successful at it. Coming crashing down to earth with the experience of coming home from a successful and high living business trip to find that his marriage was over and he had lost the family he thought he treasured so much, he set off on a journey which is described in the remainder of the book.

The central them of Synchronicity is what is most challenging. Describing events that most of us would name 'amazing coincidences' he argues that these are not coincidences but rather cases of Carl Jung's Synchronicity where by being prepared as individuals and allowing ourselves to be prepared, we meet others who act as guides and lead us on the path of discovery. This can be quite challenging stuff if you're not used to it. But it is important to understand. Even if you do find it confronting, let yourself be open to it and find your own meaning for it.

Synchronicity is a journey and the events Jaworski describes are like important places. Some things are related to places he visited and some to people he met.

One of the people that Jaworski met on his journey was the physicist, David Bohm. Bohm's work in modern physics, studying the nature of matter itself - and the amazing way that matter behaves when we look at either very small particles or very large objects like galaxies - led him to consider that nature of thought itself.

The more I read of this the book the more I felt I was discovering my place in the word.

I highly recommend Synchronicity. I believe if you read this book with a determination to examine yourself and your approach to leadership, you will be changed by it.

Posted by chriscurnow at June 20, 2004 2:43 PM