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Consciousness and ledership: a new paradigm for the twenty-first century
The importance of leadership is demonstrated by the ever-growing proliferation of books and articles on the subject for both practitioners and scholars. The need to develop leadership is acute today since the shift from simple manual work to sophisticated knowledge work demands more widespread self-management and e6Eectiveness lavidow and Malone, 1993; Harung, 1994; Haiung and Heaton, 1993; Manz and Sims, 1993). Indeed, Carnevale's (1990) description of skills for the new economy - such as taking responsibility for the whole organization, setting goals, and influencing other people - in effect calls for the development of leadership in every member of an organization.
Despite this growing need and interest, leaders continue to be in short supply (Drucker, 1967; Hoare, 1993). Prominent writers (e.g. Bass, 1985; Drucker, 1967) do not accept that we must rely on the historically short supply of "born leaders". They argue, instead, that leadership is a set of behavioural skills which can be learned. Yet experience shows that conventional leadership training strategies are not enough to transform individuals into leaders. Chakraborty (1995) argues for the reinstatement of "character" in leadership development, instead of just "behaviour". He quotes Kaplan (1990): "Behavioural change certainly has its place in management development. But for senior managers to significantly change the way they lead their organizations, behavioural change is often not enough. Instead, some type of change of character or identity is required". Similarly, Warren Bennis has observed, "Leadership courses can only teach skills. They can't teach character or vision and indeed they don't even try" (quoted in Chakraborty, 1995,p. 155).
Figure 1 introduces a new paradigm of leadership development from the deepest inner aspect of life rather than the surface level of behaviour. A consideration of the different levels of Figure 1 outlines this new leadership theory:
*Level 4. This level represents the most expressed level of leadership behaviours, such as: formulate strategic plans, inspire team effort towards a common goal; and build collaborate relationships. Intervening on level 4, i.e. by training in such behavioural skills as planning and negotiation, has given some benefits. Yet level 4 is not sufficient in itself to explain what makes one individual a more effective leader than another when both receive the...