Leadership Distinction #47: Disclosure
We come across the word Disclosure when we deal in legalities. From the legal world Disclosureconveys an act of no longer concealing. From the less familiar world of ontological philosophy the word conveys a way of reasoning a future. In our world of leadership we blend these two meanings together and we get a way of revealing hidden future possibilities.
When we speak about journeys the emphasis is on the journeyer – what you and I experience, how we are changing, where we are going. When this is applied to leading it can lead us to the wrong reasons for leading. If we consider our selves to be the work in progress, for our place in the world as the reason for leading in the first place, for how we might be perceived by others, we’ve got the wrong idea.
The world in general offers a multitude of future possibilities – but these are concealed. They remain forever concealed from being realities — if not for those with the imagination to expose them, and bring them forth by their action.
Within the circular path of leading there is a virtual triangle. The three end points of the triangle connect vision with the appeal to followers, and with the end result of the conjoined effort. The connection of these reference points frame what we may call a leader’s possibility disclosing horizon.
The creative strokes of a leader’s change agency begin to paint the canvas of a newly disclosed world. This image counters what otherwise will befall, if not for the leader’s imagination and will. And the creation only comes about in full by and with the followers who join.
No one can predict what will be. Your only chance to influence what will be is to lead – to lead from a vision, a Disclosure of the future that strikes followers not only as a well-reasoned possibility but one that inspires a commitment.
