I was watching the budget speech and the opposition's response the other night and became more and more disillusioned about our leaders and our leadership models. Both sides of parliament seemed to be more content on scoring points, tearing each other apart as if they were in a school playground. Naughty Swan wagged his finger at top boy Turnbull provoking leadership tensions in the opposition. Ice Hockey produced bottles of alcohol in a weak childish and meaningless visual gag to make a point about taxing alcohol and both house captains Rudd and Nelson accused each other of missing opportunities, whatever they were. A no time was there any politeness, any meaningful dialogue. It was basically school boy gibberish as was the meaningless statistics produced by both sides aired on the media immediately afterwards.
This got me thinking about the Summit, in particular the Creativity section. The only images or important missives I can recall from the creativity component of the Summit are photos of Cate Blanchett waltzing all over parliament, followed by a troop of male lap dogs eager to be photographed beside the Oscar Award winning celebrity. Cate is a very fine and skilled actress yet I can find no record of her as a creative leader or a leader that is creative. Needless to say, there seems to be no more further utterances from the playground at this stage about creativity!!
It was then I recalled a recent article I had read in strategy+business entitled "the Community Network Solution" subtitled "in reweaving the social fabric of a city or town relationships trump rank".
The article is optimistic. It offers a leadership model based on the actions of a person who is not in a position of leadership. It argues that recognized leaders have agendas themselves and they are often not the right person to go to. Indeed, the article suggests that the obvious leaders are not the real leaders.
The case study of an ambulance driver who had a genuine desire to change the ambulance system and who took his fellow workers along in changing the system operated from a position of authenticity and public service - not from a position of leadership, yet was the real leader. The methodology of identifying leaders operating from this context is a difficult one and this article offers some insightful ways to locate these hidden leaders.
In the case of the Sydney Theatre Company, where Cate is now Executive Director, the real leaders have been its General Managers, people such as Rob Brookman, Robert Love and Donald McDonald who went on to become Chairman of the ABC guiding it through a very difficult time whilst keeping his good fried John Howard away from it.
These are the unsung heroes who hold our world together and offer us authentic leadership models… not the perceived leaders!!