Thought Leadership in Action Series: Asking the Right Questions

True thought leadership requires original thinking. It is apractice that can be learned, or rather rediscovered, reclaimed,with a certain amount of attention and surrender.

As with any creative endeavor, originality in thinking, inbeing, requires a heightened state of alertness, a bridging ofthe poles, a show of fearlessness and willingness to forfeit theknown for the unknown, the learned for the experienced.

It requires a trust deeper than the sea, for what it asks for isa letting go, an unmooring from the safe harbor of certainty fora journey into the mists of mystery and possibility.

When I was in elementary school, I learned to attach importanceto things based on ones willingness to die for them. The wholeidea of heroes usually involved a sacrifice of someones life.Being willing to die for your country was the essence ofpatriotism.

And as a young Catholic child, the chance to be a martyr for myfaith was something I could only hope and pray for. We havelearned to associate courage with risk, and with the question"what are you willing to die for?"

But what if we ask "What are you willing to live for?"

If we determine for ourselves exactly what we choose to give ourlives to, where we will direct our energy, what crises wellwork to ameliorate or prevent, then we set ourselves on atrajectory that takes a mountainous courage to sustain. We needto refuel constantly to stay the course, to avoid obstacles, toovercome resistance from ourselves and others.

As thought leaders, it is our business to be asking questionsofourselves as well as othersthat help us all redefine what weare living for and why.

The generation that is stepping up to leadership is a generationlooking for curriculum and challenges that have an impact, thatengage the whole of their fertile imaginations in bridging thegaps we have failed to bridge thus far in our shaping of aculture.

What we're in need of is thought leadership that leads people intwo directions: first, into their own deep recesses where theycan access their feelings, their desires, their most basic humaninstincts, and identify what it is they are truly called to.

This is a leadership of creativity and imagination that freespeople from their social conditioning, familial expectations,religious and cultural programming long enough to enable theirunique originality to surface.

It is a process of self-definition, a washing away of all thatis not authentic, a clarifying of ones essence.

The questions are personal: What activities bring you joy andpeace? To what do you aspire? What do you perceive as obstaclesto your success? What inspires you?

If you could imagine yourself capable of fixing one brokenthing, or creating one thing that doesn't yet exist, what wouldit be? When you were a child, what did you want to be when yougrew up? What did you imagine that profession would give you?What would have to happen for you to have that now?

The next step is to move toward fulfillment. Any deep inquiryinto the self will lead to a heightened sense of ourinterconnectedness and interdependence on each other. Who weare, in essence, is revealed to us through our interactions.What we value is revealed to us through our relationships withothers. What gifts we have, what talents and abilities wepossess, only become real when they are enacted in community.

The very meaning of our lives only becomes apparent to us in ourservice to others.

Given this, our next questions are directed outwardly. Theypertain to the ways we manifest the gifts we discovered in ourself-inquiry. They are questions that help us determine what tomake of our talents.

As an individual, how can I do what I love while being of use toothers? As an organizational leader, how can I create a forumthat calls forth the ingenuity of individuals and assists themin applying that toward communal solutions? As a businessleader, how can I deliver profits to the shareholders whilerewarding fairly all those who made those profits possible? Asan educator, how can I make learning relevant and engage thestudents in real-life problem-solving?

In a radio interview the other day, the host asked me, "How doyou help people know what they want?" (I once thought that was asilly question, but have since realized that most of us needhelp clarifying our deepest desires).

Since our education was more a matter of *what to think* than*how to think*, many of us never learned the process of innerinquiry.

By default, we end up being perfect consumers, going into debtfor what advertisers tell us we need and want when what we'dreally like is to work less and have a little cabin on amountain lakewhich would be absolutely do-able if we werentpaying for all those other things we really didn't want.

So a crucial part of original thinking is the clear-cutting ofall thoughts that are not our own, and the answering of our owndeep questions.

If you aspire to lead, then you will need to do this foryourself first, then find ways to help others engage in the sameprocess. The more self-awareness each individual has, thegreater the potential of the group to succeed.

When everyone comes to the table from a place of total freedom,with an unadulterated willingness to serve, with full access totheir feelings and inner resources, and an awareness of thegroups mission and power to fulfill it, then that circle ofindividuals will be capable of achieving whatever they canimagine.

Excerpted and adapted from the forthcoming book The Art ofOriginal Thinking: The Making of a Thought Leader, 9th ElementPress 2006 Jan Phillips

JAN PHILLIPS is a principal with 9th Element group and a master communicator, thought leader, keynote speaker and award-winning author . Her forthcoming title The Art of Original Thinking: The Making of a Thought Leader, 9th Element Press, describes the steps to becoming a Thought Leader and discusses the impact of Thought Leaders in their workplaces, communities and organizations. For more info:http://www.9thelementgroup.com/original_think.php?id=67

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