In reality, human potential can’t be stopped. Humanity is undergoing the growing pains of the evolution of consciousness as our understanding of the world around us, how we interact with one another and the planet, evolves beyond current limitations.
To date, the majority of human thought and resultant social systems have been ordered by a single idea — the belief that we are separate from each other. We are presently awakening to a new idea, one that says we are interconnected and interdependent.
Social media has allowed us to “connect” with one another regardless of economic and social status, and geography. After the initial narcissism, our world and our point of view has grown much larger than just ourselves. We now have technology that enables more than just the Apollo astronauts to see that we really are one extraordinary human race.
For a growing number, individualism is transcending egoic self-service for service of the common good, making possible a new kind of leadership — horizontal collectivism. Self-empowerment and equality are the bedrocks of horizontal collectivism that naturally bring out the leader within. Personal fulfillment and social responsibility become inseparable, as activism becomes the new normal, rather than someone else’s responsibility.
The activism in the wake of Ferguson, Missouri, and the burgeoning #blacklivesmatter movement is a collective and collaborative self-correction that not only do all lives matter, all lives are equally imbued with purpose, each individual is endowed with an important role in making our world a better place to live.
Though inequality is under scrutiny, so too is the response by those seeking to right the wrong. In January, Oprah Winfrey called for a face of leadership in Ferguson, to step forward and demand specific changes to be made. Activists criticized Winfrey for not seeing the grassroots effort that was speaking, as the collective, rather than the persona-based protests of the ‘60s. Who was right?
Both Winfrey and activists were correct. Behind us are the days of waiting for a singular face in the crowd to do the heavy lifting and to take the blows. Look in the rear-view mirror to see your own face staring back at you.
The new leadership paradigm invites each one of us to step into our highest potential expressed through our strengths. Leadership is about being the change you wish to see in the world, making you a beacon of light for others to emulate.
Decentralized leadership still requires structure as an integral part of organization so that new policy and legislation can be enacted. The message must be followed up with a strategic plan of redirection — not resistance — so forward movement preserves its momentum.
Keeping the message front and center, rather than personalities, we drive a stealthier and much more powerful leadership paradigm containing the power to transform the world in what took multiple generations centuries to accomplish under the old paradigm.
Coming together to do what we can’t do alone, good trickles up. We saw this recently as thousands walked hand in hand in a unity chain across the Ravenal Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina, in a show of solidarity and support for Mother Emanuel Church’s lost congregants. In the new leadership paradigm, no one is left behind.
Christine Horner is a 2014 Dayton Literary Peace Prize nominated author, humanitarian and co-founder of the What Would Love Do Foundation. Her latest book is “Awakening Leadership: Embracing Mindfulness, Your Life’s Purpose, the Leader You Were Born to Be.” www.ChristineHorner.com
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