LAST year, I read a book by Lee Bolman and Terrance Deal                                                                                              
called Leading with Soul. It tells the story of a chief                                                                                               
executive who had been highly successful for many years:                                                                                              
growing companies, making deals and feeling a real sense of                                                                                           
achievement.                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
Suddenly, he feels the fun has gone out of what he has been                                                                                           
doing, and even senses that he might not continue to succeed                                                                                          
as he had done so in the past.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
He is encouraged to meet with a woman, who proves to be a kind                                                                                        
of spiritual mentor. Through a series of visits, she helps him                                                                                        
redefine how he sees himself, what matters to him, and how he                                                                                         
should act as a leader.                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
He learns about ideas that we do not usually associate with                                                                                           
leader ship: authorship, love, and significance - as well as                                                                                          
rethinking the concept of power.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
By the end of the book, he has become a new kind of leader,                                                                                           
and even moves on to become a spiritual mentor himself. His                                                                                           
spiritual journey is moving, and provides a compelling account                                                                                        
of some issues that contemporary leaders face.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                                      
When I read Leading with Soul, I was reminded of another                                                                                              
powerful American book, also built around the idea of a                                                                                               
journey, Robert Pirsig's Zen and the art of motorcycle                                                                                                
maintenance.                                                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                                      
Like Leading with Soul, it keeps you gripped to the very last                                                                                         
page, with an emotional power that clearly touches some deep                                                                                          
psychological issues.                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
What is it about these two books that makes us read them so                                                                                           
avidly?  Leading with Soul manages to capture concerns that                                                                                           
are central to today's agenda. Here, I would like to- explore                                                                                         
some of these, and in particular three related and important                                                                                          
questions:                                                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                                      
* Why is it that we are searching for a new approach to                                                                                               
leadership?                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
* What might a "new leadership" comprise?                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
* Is there an Asian approach to both these questions that we                                                                                          
can consider?                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
As we approach the end of the 20th century, more and more                                                                                             
commentators are happy to advise us that there are some                                                                                               
significant changes taking place.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Well, it does seem that there are a number of factors pressing                                                                                        
on our world. First, in the past 25 years there has been an                                                                                           
enormous increase in information, so much so that it appears                                                                                          
we double the total amount of information every 25 years.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
While it is arguable as to whether or not knowledge has been                                                                                          
increasing at the same rate, there is little doubt that                                                                                               
information leads to products, services and new activities.                                                                                           
Around the world the rate of innovation is also increasing                                                                                            
dramatically, reducing the confidence that companies have                                                                                             
about continuing to hold their current markets and customers.                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
This change is tied to another which is the increasing                                                                                                
globalisation of activity, itself greatly accelerated by the                                                                                          
collapse of the major alternative to market capitalism (the                                                                                           
demise of centralised command economies).                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
Globalisation means that time and distance have almost                                                                                                
disappeared, and the protection they offered to us (much                                                                                              
greater in many ways than tariffs and trade relations) has all                                                                                        
been whittled away.                                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                                      
Finally, consumers are themselves more demanding, fuelled by                                                                                          
the enterprises' enthusiasm for total customer service and                                                                                            
other market nostrums. We have been told we can have what we                                                                                          
want - so now we want it!                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
Underpinning all this has been another more subtle change, one                                                                                        
that began in the early part of this century with developments                                                                                        
in theoretical physics and cosmology.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
First Einstein, and then more importantly, Heisenberg, started                                                                                        
to unpick the carefully constructed model of knowledge that                                                                                           
has been so influential since the Greek and Chinese                                                                                                   
philosophers started debating epistemology some 2,500 years                                                                                           
ago, and especially influential during the coursed the                                                                                                
industrial revolution.                                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                                      
We are moving from an assumption of predictability and                                                                                                
certainty to realising that our models and theories of the                                                                                            
world are always provisional. Science has transformed the                                                                                             
world, but scientific theories are always under review.                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
While there are many interesting issues to be debated that                                                                                            
result from these four factors, I want to comment on them                                                                                             
briefly, at two levels.                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                      
First, at the level of organisational practice, in a world of                                                                                         
increasingly rapid change and uncertainty about the future,                                                                                           
the dominant managerial and organisational models are not                                                                                             
working well.                                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                                      
Through most of this century, we have perfected the                                                                                                   
hierarchical "command and control" organisation, where tasks                                                                                
are specified in great detail (the division of labour) and a                                                                                          
complex pyramid looks after the operation and control of these                                                                                        
tasks to ensure effective delivery of goods and services.                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
It has produced telephones in every home, jumbo jets and an                                                                                           
unparalleled increase in the standard of living for the                                                                                               
developed and much of the developing world. It is advocated as                                                                                        
the solution for the rest of the world to boost standards of                                                                                          
living and increase global wealth.                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
Alas, such a model does not work so well when change is rapid,                                                                                        
and uncertainty rife. We need models of organisation and                                                                                              
approaches to management that are flexible responsive adaptive                                                                                        
and allow those that deliver services to change what they do                                                                                          
as circumstances require.                                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
As some commentators like to put it, we need to turn the                                                                                              
pyramid on its head. Instead of talking about command and                                                                                             
control we talk about "servant leadership"; instead of setting                                                                              
the five-year plan, we are now concerned with adaptation and                                                                                          
values-based leadership.                                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                      
At the level of management practice, the demands are equally                                                                                          
dramatic. Managers are expected to be consultants coaches and                                                                                         
facilitators, "enabling" staff, rather than directing them.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
We are witnessing a great deal of rhetoric about "empowering"                                                                               
staff (the rhetoric does exceed the real change, I should                                                                                             
add), and managers are expected to become team leaders or even                                                                                        
just team members.                                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                                      
Of course, when Kuhn talked about paradigm change, he                                                                                                 
suggested this occurred when the current view of the world                                                                                            
(the hierarchical model) no longer seems to work everywhere                                                                                           
and when new ways of thinking are explored and tested                                                                                                 
(networked organization, doughnut systems, etc).                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
I suggest that is exactly where we are today. The dominant                                                                                            
practice is still hierarchical and controlling, but many                                                                                              
organisations and individuals are experimenting with new                                                                                              
approaches and ideas.                                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                                      
A "new paradigm for leadership" is, I would argue, a long way                                                                               
off yet; it will only appear when there is a new orthodoxy,                                                                                           
which reviews the nature of organizational practice and                                                                                               
operations.                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                                      
I suspect such an orthodoxy both awaits the intellectual                                                                                              
development of a better way to run things in a changing                                                                                               
environment (and we haven't found that yet), and the                                                                                                  
disappearance (that means "dying off") of those of us deeply                                                                                
committed to the current (older) paradigm.