My new book, ‘The Humble Leader’ launches today. Through nine chapters it forms an exploration of what humility means, how it is judged, what it gives us, and what is the cost.
It’s not a book of theory or models, but rather a guide reflection: the book is made up of personal reflection, a series of questions, and a lot of space to explore.
My encouragement is to use that space to add notes or questions of your own, to challenge what is written, and to find new conversations with others.
The book can be used individually, or as the foundation for work within a group who have a shared interest in how to evolve their leadership in practice.
In ‘Quiet Leadership’, published earlier this year, i introduced the notion of the Organisation as Ecosystem, and the idea that each of us casts a shadow in the landscape. Not just bad people, but all people: we all operate in the light, but that light leaves a shadow behind us.
Building out of that work, ‘The Humble Leader’ is illustrated with a series of leaves, drawn in pen and ink, representing the trees in the landscape, and the ways that we shed our leaves, or our certainty, as part of change.
Exploring humility in our leadership is to explore that shadow: not our intention, not our action, but the impact we have.
I try out a few definitions of humility: as a judgement on our actions, or a story written upon us. Ultimately i hope that people reading this book will find a way to understand it for themselves.
The First Edition is being published through a crowd funding platform, Kickstarter: i’ve opted for this approach as i’ve had a lot of interest in the work, and it’s the easiest way to get the book produced, to the quality desired, at speed.
You can find out more here.
The campaign will run until early June, and i will provide updates as we go.
julianstodd
Julian Stodd's Learning Blog 