The Status Quo
In 2023, we are faced with challenges at every scale of human existence – from the loss of trust and purpose within organizations and institutions, to the suffocating paradigms of scarcity and competition that govern our civilizations.
The Global Challenge
Change, uncertainty, and volatility are the new normal. Rising inequality, geopolitical tensions, and ongoing technological disruption are but three of many contributing factors.
Aspects of our life such as our civic society, relationships, and the environment appear to be in increasing states of decay.
“Mechanical” ways of thinking that place profit, competition, and achievement above all are no longer sufficient to solve our problems, and may in fact be the primary cause of our current crises.
The Organizational Challenge
Generational shifts in attitudes toward work, hybrid work, and increased demand for talent means how we lead and build teams must evolve.
Traditionally led organizations that fail to prioritize the human element of business are at a disadvantage against those that do. The traditional mix of organizational politics, a competitive culture that suffocates authenticity, and top-down management practices that ignore the voices of employees produces the perfect result:
A less competitive organization that will increasingly struggle to meet shareholder, people, and societal obligations.
In this age, a lack of trust and purpose leads to worse business outcomes including lower retention, lower engagement (discretionary effort and innovation), and increased difficulty of change management programs.
The Individual Challenge
A sense of a lack of purpose and impact plagues individuals across industries, professions, and levels of seniority.
Identifying problems in systems and organizations that we engage with, but not knowing how to change, leads to a loss of trust and security.
Finding and connecting with like-minded people to lead transformations at both a small and large scale requires courage and expanded thinking – beyond the activity and operational level.
„Der Zweck der Wirtschaft geht jetzt über die Aktionäre hinaus. Wir brauchen ein neu erfundenes System, das sich auf Mitarbeitenden, Kund:innen, Gemeinschaften und den Planeten konzentriert.“
The time has come for a new form of leadership. The leaders who are able to, at any time of their choosing, create for themselves and others a coherent space for trust and purpose that others can align with and live for. Everything transactional is then built on this as its foundation.
The organizations that understand this new paradigm and build a culture of conscious leadership will be the beacons of innovation and impact.
And with them, society progresses as a whole.
Why Conventional Solutions Aren’t Working
To meet the global, organizational, and individual challenges laid out above, there is a need to overhaul our current leadership paradigm.
Conscious Leadership
Leadership transformations must go beyond the surface level focus of increasing cognitive IQ: skills, knowledge, and processes. Instead, it must transcend to also include EQ (empathy, trust, purpose) and CQ (greater collective consciousness). These additional states of leadership and consciousness are essential to meet the multi-layered challenges of today.
Once this new state of conscious leadership is earned, the natural outcome is a transformation of culture among those you are leading.
Trust and purpose are placed at the center of the organization, and the needs of all stakeholders (shareholders, people, and society) are accounted for.
The issue, however, is that conventional leadership transformations often come up short:
- Too much focus is placed on increasing leadership IQ, as opposed to EQ and CQ. This can also be described as focus toward “vertical” vs “horizontal” development. Although IQ is important, it needs to be viewed as an important stepping stone as part of a complete whole.
- They are often short term, some for as little as a weekend. This isn’t enough time, experience, or facilitation to undergo a complete leadership transformation.
- Skills and knowledge are learned, but there is no accountability or methods for practical implementation. Practically leading with IQ, EQ, and CQ to confront multiple challenges requires ongoing support and the means to monitor progress.
- Focus is solely placed on individual leaders, as opposed to including leadership teams as a whole. For the best results, both the individual leader and leadership culture at large needs to change in order to create a high-performing culture.
So What’s The Solution?
In response to this, The Argonauts were founded – with the vision to nurture a global shift from the transactional, scarcity-based mindset to a transformational, abundance-of-life driven paradigm of life. Our Trust Circle Journey nurtures trust and purpose in organizations by creating a new “conscious leadership” operating system. Have the conversations that truly matter, solve real world problems, and build a high-performing culture to fulfill shareholder, people, and societal needs.
I am looking forward to discussing this new paradigm with you at this year’s HR Summit in Vienna. Let’s democratize conscious leadership together.
About the author
Stefan is a „from-Idea-to-Vision-to-Strategy-to-Execution Guy“, structured and placed over US$1bn investments, founded 20+ companies, raised 3 kids, and produced 3 global media classics.
His essence is to inspire the human spirit in innovators, entrepreneurs and executives worldwide. He supports leaders to empower others and be empowered by finding their own meaning outside of the story we are all born into – to challenge the status quo and belief systems we were told to hold sacred and absolute.
Stefan founded “The Argonauts” with the vision to nurture a global shift from the transactional, scarcity-based mindset to a transformational, abundance-of-life driven paradigm of life, creating a new planetary resonance – one conversation at a time.
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