Wise Leadership & Effective Negotiation

Participants in this course will acquire the practical tools of wise leadership and effective negotiation.

The course will open with a brief review of some of the contending schools of thought: realists versus value-based leaders, exponents of "top down" versus participatory "empowered" change. By case studies we will look for the secrets of how the best of leaders:

1. conceived and
2. communicated their visions
3. inspired trust, and
4. translated their ideas into practical action.

A fundamental question throughout will be: is it really possible in this age of cost cutting, reengineering and downsizing, for leaders and their organizations to reach an intelligent and compassionate balance, between "heart" and "head," without torpedoing the bottom line?

We believe there is a way. By the end of the first meeting students will have the basics of a new model of leadership, predicated on the fundamental life principle of "integrity" - the sense of being connected, whole, coherent and adaptively alive. Yet knowledge without action may not be knowledge at all. We must learn to live these principles, for only then will we truly know them. The focus of the remaining two sessions, and the interim between seminars, will be on practical applications.

The model of leadership developed in the course is built on three pillars.

• The first is personal leadership. For if we cannot lead ourselves, how can we expect to lead anyone else?
• The second is "lateral leadership." The old ways of top-down, command and control leadership are proving dysfunctional and ill-adaptive around the world. A new paradigm is emerging that recognizes that anyone, at any level in an organization, can take the initiative of leadership.
• The third pillar is strategic alliances. The wise leader understands how to build strategic alliances on the inside and with other organizations.

We will build skill in several ways.

• First, each week participants will track their progress in the field.

• Second, they will receive ongoing coaching by a computer program known as The Artful Navigator.

• Third, each participant will choose a "mentor"- a person whose life and deeds personify the leadership skills each student most admires and aspires to acquire. The mentors can include the great figures of history, literature, politics, business, - Lincoln, Gandhi, Churchill, Elizabeth I, Nelson Mandela, Warren Buffett, for example - or perhaps less celebrated, but equally influential, people in the student's life. It doesn't really matter. (Ó Julian Gresser, February, 1997, All Rights Reserved). What is critical is to embody the mentor's wisdom in action. Using the program the participants will learn to "encode" the insights of the mentor , so they prove useful in any situation.

• Fourth, participants are asked to prepare a "wisdom audit" of their own company. A wisdom audit is an assessment of everything that is fine, generous, noble and truly effective, based on integrity analysis. As leaders, the participants will develop ways for their company to deploy this core know-how as a strategic human resource.

• Fifth, the class will continue its exploration and learning asynchronously via LogosNet, a special members discussion group on the Internet.

The course provides practical tools and a clear roadmap for participants to hone their skills on a continuing basis. These include Field Notes,Weekly, Discovery, and Action Logs.Throughout the course participants are asked to track their progress systematically and regularly with these tools. They are the keys to success.

In tracking and measuring, the fundamental life skill to be learned is to see the world as it truly is, objectively, and without distortion. This is an individual discipline and exploration , yet one that can be significantly enhanced by group discussion. The dialogue and inquiry begun in class thereafter will ripen by life experience.

Special Guests

The course will include special guests who will help broaden and deepen the perspective.

Course Requirements

1. Full attendance and participation in all class sessions
2. Weekly tracking and measuring of negotiations by Field Notes, Action and Discovery Logs. These must be submitted to the MST Admin. Office by the end of each week The Discovery Log is a record of key insights, creative flashes, and best ideas.
3. Selection, encoding , and practice with a "mentor." An initial analysis of insights from the mentor, tested in the field, is due by the second meeting of the course. A final analysis by the end of the course.
4. Preparation, submission, and class discussion of the corporate "wisdom audit." The wisdom audit is due by the end of the course.

Initial Assignments for 1st Class Meeting

Please read basic texts of the course: Julian Gresser, Piloting Through Chaos: Wise Leadership/Effective Negotiation for the 21st Century (Five Rings Press, 1997); James O'Toole, Leading Change (1995)

Registration

Wise Leadership & Effective Negotiation is sponsored by The Oregon Graduate Institute of Science & Technology. Please contact them for information on registering (http://www.ogi.edu).

To ask questions or order products, please contact us by sending E-Mail to Integrity@LogosNet.com