WHY INTERCONNECTED LEADERSHIP? Interconnectedness between people, businesses, and countries is increasing rapidly, very rapidly. Just think about the sub-prime mess. The most important task of a leader has become to see to it that his organization survives and thrives in this new environment. The idea of an organization as being independent is dying, may be already dead.

WHAT IS INTERCONNECTED leadership? The interconnected leader sees himself or herself as the generator of impulses into an interconnected system to realize the purpose of the organization. Impulse has a Latin origin meaning “a push”. Here it means a bust of energy in the form of talking, letters, e-mails, memos, presentation, plans, policies and decisions. When such an impulse reaches another individual, it triggers a thought. If the listener or receiver thinks the impulse makes sense, and appeals to him emotionally, it triggers new impulses with additional energy to other persons The leader is at the centre of this pulsating network. The organization becomes energized when he or she issues the right and effective impulses.

AN ORGANISATION LIKE a person has a mind. This mind functions by receiving and responding to impulses. The leader must know what the spirit is in the organization. Do the members think the organization is heading in the right direction, are they confident the goals can be realized? What are their concerns and hopes? And if the spirit weakens the leader has to reinvigorate it with new impulses. This capability is especially important if the company experiences a decline and survival becomes an issue. The leader has to be aware not only of spirit of the employees but also the clients, the market, the financial community, competitors and in global companies covering several countries.

THE LEADER FACES a daunting task of leading his own mind and the mind of his organization. Many people think that they act rationally. Buddha realized that emotions are just as important in determining how people act as rational thinking. The leader has to understand the real power of emotions. When he sends an impulse he must make sure that logic and emotion strengthen each other. The leader has to recognize when negative emotions like, frustration, impatience, anger, lack of self-confidence, jealousy, greed start to influence his thought processes. These negative thoughts and emotions not only can lead to wrong decisions but also waste mind energy.

TRAINING THE MIND is necessary to master negative thoughts. Another important skill is to learn to be calm and concentrated under all circumstances. The ability to “exchange self for others” allows predicting how people will react rationally and emotionally to a planned decision is yet another skill. This skill is a part of the  “Multiple Perspective Principle”. Every important decision should be evaluated from many different perspectives, involving a diverse group of people. Acquiring these skills requires training the mind.

CONCLUSION. LEADERS CAN meet the necessity of interconnected leadership when they hold themselves responsible for directing the mind of themselves and of the organization. Every leader can succeed better with this task by training his or her mind.