Five Nature Views of Thought Leadership

Thought Leadership is the art of visionary leadership, more authentic than charismatic;  more influential than controlling,  more thinking than talking; perceiving, not just seeing, here are five nature views thought leaders can bring to the board:

1. Sunny View

As sunshine, leadership with sunny view is full of energy, bright with full spectrum of colors, visible but intangible, shining the spotlight on others and your surroundings:

• Positive View: Leaders with positive views will make positive influence, see bright side of solution, see the talent niche from staff, see the harmony of nature, and see the possible from impossible. The postive leadership will not only shine through the organization, but also brighten our society.

• Colorful View: Leaders has colorful view is to see the characters and essentials deeper than the skin level,  like sunshine, embrace the spectrum of colors, consider using Edward de Bono’s ‘Six Thinking Hats’ techniques, encourage the team to put on each of the following hats to analyze the situation:

           *White hat – Fact driven,  gather as much data as possible.

           *Yellow hat – look at the positivies, value and opportunities.

           *Black hat – look at the negativites, difficulties and dangers.

           *Red hat – Express emotions such as feelings, hunches and intuition.

           *Green hat – Creative approaches to consider new concepts and alternatives.

           *Blue hat – Oversee the brainstorming process, and review the ideas

    2. . Mountain View

“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.”  ― Jeffrey Rasley, Bringing Progress to Paradise

• Blueprint View: See bigger picture, how to create abstract view and future state of business, perception and sight is an important strategy to see distant things as if they were close and to take a distanced view of close things

• Humble View: “If I have seen further,  it is by standing on th shoulders of Giants.”    Isaac Newton, when we stand on the mountain, on one side, we are proud and thrilled to overview the city, or even the world, on the other side, mountain makes us feel humble, such a humillity will make others to stand on our shoulder, and such a humble view will make human’s progress. like all wildernesses,  mountain view also challenges our complacent conviction 

 3.    Valley View

“One sees great things from the valley; only small things from the peak.”   G. K. Chesterton 

For those of us live in the valley, we know valley is not about empty space, it’s the eco-system and the dynamic life chain, there’re hidden hill and running river, there’re rainforest and blue bay, there’s competition but also the peace of mind.

Valley view is about deep, deep thinking and the in-depth understanding, not only see the tree, but also the forest:

• “Root” View: It's what's under the ground creates and nuture what's above the ground. It's what's invisible that shape what's visible. It means that if you want to change the plant, you will first have to change the roots. If you want to change the visible business result, you must first change the invisible culture. That’s the Law of Nature, also the Law of Talent Management

•  Forest View: In such a inter-connect and hyper-complex world, we need see both “the trees” and “the forest”.  We must be able to resolve the problem of  complexity via both breaking down into branch alternative, but also synthetize into the forest, it means, priority matters, it’s critical to know what is important and what is not so important, what to focus on and which to pay less attention to, leadership is about leverage.

 4.    Ocean View

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”  Mahatma Gandhi

• Change View:  Ocean is all about the changes, the flows and ebbs, the turbulence of waves and tiny drop of water. Business is just like ocean, change is the only constant now, ocean view will help us broaden the horizon, recognize the pattens, and catch the tide, adapt to the changes.  

• Historic View: In the ocean, the next wave is always pushing over, ocean like time, alway move forward tirelessly, however, ocean views help us learn historic lessons, forward-looking the future, ocean view makes us tolerant and appreciate the difference, calm down when things changes.

5. Mirror View

“A loving person lives in a loving world. A hostile person lives in a hostile world. Everyone you meet is your mirror. -Ken Keys

• Leadership Reflection: Leaders are mirrors for the entire organization and our society, you also serve as the mirror for others, seek commonalities among people, respect differences and celebrate uniqueness.

• . Self-Reflection: As leaders, you are also humans, with strength and weakness,  presenting optimism, confidence and brightness, but also reflecting the humility and vunerability.  

Leadership is all about influence, through the breath and depth of such five nature views, may authentic leadership be shining like sun, open as mountain, deep like valley, broad as ocean and clear like a mirror.