Dr. Christian Duperouzel, lecturer at Curtin University's Business and Law School, talks through the wider findings of his Phd. study into Conscious Leadership and how that impacts our surrounding cultures.
In this conversation you will gain a great sense of the flow of the dynamics at play that shape culture and the importance of connection to the human spirit to safeguard against building toxic culture.
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My key learning nuggets from the conversation:
Our calling, or vocation, comes from connecting to the human spirit, it is only from here do we find our true purpose – otherwise we are adrift in the world
By connecting at this level, we can facilitate wholeness both in the internal and external world
By living in this way, in alignment, we exhibit true leadership behaviour and tap into our intrinsic gifts to the world
If we don’t connect at this level, we follow other peoples purpose and therefore cannot exhibit true leadership
Connected people live from a place of integrity, wholeness, and from this true growth occurs in the world
More disconnected, ego centric, people do not operate from a place of wholeness and therefore are fragmented
Connection is something we are all capable of – it is always there but may become very weak over time. It relates to connecting to something that you already have, not externally given, and therefore the process is to uncover it within yourself
In the process you connect to, and live by, your own intrinsic virtues
This is unique to each individual
You can only exercise responsibility in presence, focused on what is occurring inside and outside and how they are interacting, if you are not in presence, ego-centric, you are reacting (not optimal)
To be clear we can flip between these two positions as we travel through life
Culture is a way of individuals being in a space and how that then manifests into behaviour
Our state of being is what drives our behaviour which is tangible in the world, therefore the state of being is paramount
While everyone contributes to a culture, leaders have a large power to influence culture through their responses or reactions – therefore, as a leader, are you exercising presence or not?
Ego centric leaders play zero sum games creating fragmented cultures and disharmony
Integrated present leaders play non-zero sum games, holding space for all to flourish and grow within the organisation and hold longer term time perspective
Chief barrier to live a calling is the ego-self importance – this then ‘litters’ the cultural commons
The more we live from a deeper connection to human spirit, the further we can sense into the world and the cultures surrounding us and therefore influence them in a life affirming direction
The more we disconnect and live in a more ego centred manner, the less we can sense into the world and the cultures surrounding us.
Yet we are active players in culture all of the time, we can’t help but impact it anyway (my feet are there even if I don’t place my consciousness on them all the time) and therefore by being less connected there’s a greater probability that we are influencing the surrounding culture in a destructive direction
The more we are connected and the more we live by human virtues – in particular openness, goodness and presence
From this, in turn, we can sense the connections that surround us and therefore sit with the complexity of the world we live in
The difference between charisma and charm/cunning:
Charisma is from a place of connection to the human spirit
Charm/Cunning is from an ego-centric place
The challenge is that if you yourself are not connected to the human spirit within yourself, you will have difficulty discerning the difference between the two
This is how leaders like Donald Trump progress in the world
When you are aligned to the human spirit, you have authority to lead and affect a purpose
When you are not, the ego is directing your actions and therefore you do not have the authority to lead
Inspiration comes from the embodiment of the human spirit hence the entomology of the word inspiration, in-spirit
The COVID break from work and busyness may well have provided a greater space to reconnect to the human spirit and sit at the heart of the great resignation
While there is a physical world, there is also a non-physical world and going forwards leaders need to balance the two
Listen to the whispers of spirit so you don’t have to hear the screams – it’s always there for you
Conscious Leadership & Culture - Dr. Christian Duperouzel