Author: michel

10 Jan 2021

Seduction

Seduction. How seductive that sounds.

On the one hand to be seduced and on the other hand to seduce others. Surrender of power and presumption of power – or giving up responsibility or cold calculation.

I don’t want to write about that today. Or just so much:

We didn’t want to admit it for a long time. Not only will there be no “back to normal”, but also that “more of the same”, i.e. more control, more functional hierarchy, more efficiency, will not show us a way out of the current situation. Even if some of them wish so much to be able to hand over responsibility upwards or elsewhere.

No. It cannot go on like this. Not even through meso-esoteric encounter in denial of reality and facts.

None of this supports us as individuals to accept the new challenges:

  • Shifting space and time by the mixture of analog and digital work: how do we lead our employees towards social, economic and self-reflective behavior? Which structures are needed for this, which daily routines, technologies and meeting or co-working places. Much is already given to us by futurologists. The truth is: we don’t know and idea or assumption are just paths.
  • Creativity and innovation need new, interdisciplinary approaches. This includes courage not to (yet) know and nevertheless trust in the capabilities of the partner. How do we create a culture of trust where hierarchies of strong power and control predominate? Which of these structures will continue to be useful.
  • What or who gives safety and securness? When will artificial intelligence take over which tasks – even in terms of design – and what tasks will then remain for us as leader?
  • How can competences and new skills in order to deal with new framework conditions be acquired, if we have not yet understood the old systems and effective forces?

What does this have to do with seduction? And what does it have to do with leadership?

Entice yourself with clear thoughts and knowledge of responsibility to ourselves and then to those we lead. How it works?

Let us use the first few days of the new year and let us practice clarity. Clarity about the inner force driving us every day. No, this does not mean the earning of every day`s living, but what we are willing and deciding to contribute to the improvement of this world of ours. Let us find an orientation: no, not an answer to orders, but inner lighthouses that help us to continue every day with our goal in mind.

I know that right now is a demanding challenge. Every day we meet people who behave as if there was no new time, no other human beings to be considered, no fear of change.

Let’s try it anyway (and not only because the literature from Viktor Frankl to hypno-systemists like Steve de Shazer or spiritual NLPers like Robert B. Dilts, Steven Gilligan and many others set an example). The change of time, for example, can also be clearly read in the “old men”: what remains and what ages. Countless literature and recently remote training of the latter two prove: The concept of meditative orientation no longer fits into fast-moving times – it fits perfectly into fast-moving times.

A rapidly changing environment calls for an “as well as”.

Smart thinking and quick, agile adaptation. The abandonment of ancient knowledge and the appreciation of wisdom. A few days ago I asked a small group of highly esteemed, scientifically oriented colleagues: “How much value has wisdom?” Pause, reflect and try to find an answer: “Wisdom knows what it takes for now and what needs to be let go.”

It is important to let go the endlessly “bathe” in one’s knowledge. Instead we have to expand our ability to listen “differently”, to allow optimistic solutions in a future-oriented and open to interdisciplinary knowledge. Letting go means a consistent reflection on the existing and innovatively merging with new influences. Seducing yourself and others towards solutions means free learning, associating, inventing and implementing, means happiness.

So what is our personal contribution to the success of a better world?

The neurologist Gerald Hüther knows: “What is really contagious is the happiness radiated by people who have taken responsibility for themselves. These are people who have established a bond with themselves and the world that makes them happy. These people lead a life that we can only wish for everyone in this world. ”

What is your personal contribution to the success of a better world – despite VUCA, despite Covid-19?

My vision of my contribution for many years has been “seduction”. Namely the seduction of as many people as possible to accept and take on conscious responsibility and self-determination.

Admittedly, this is not a “hit” in times of fear, control and distancing. Scientific studies show social withdrawal and abandonment to a few.

The necessary transformation and positioning in an unpredictable, insecure and highly agile world with rapidly changing framework conditions can only succeed if we first define a future for ourselves in which responsibility, humanity and responsibility have a place.

What skills do we have to develop in order to be able to help shape our ideas for the future?

  • Everyone is talking about the basic understanding of contemporary technologies, how to deal with digitization and the idea of ​​possibilities from artificial intelligence
  • The conversion to hybrid systems of analog and digital communication has almost been successful. We are slowly catching up with our children, who use existing technologies as a matter of course.
  • The reflection of social skills, such as leading at a distance, is in development and needs your, all of us, support: because it begins with leading ourselves, seducing us into an optimistic-realistic future. And according to modern brain research, the future is created in our heads. Through an appreciative exchange with like-minded people, it comes into reality (compare Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus logico-philosophicus 😉
  • Trust in ourselves to cope with the unknown. My favorite “wise man” Nassrudin Hodscha (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasreddin) gives instructions when he says: “From the bud of confusion the flower of amazement blossoms” – only when we allow uncertainty we may enter new territories and learnings, develop solutions and experience happiness.

What is our contribution to the success of a future world?

  • Drafting your own, authentic and livable future
  • The acquisition of the necessary skills and knowledge:

– Reflected self-confidence allows us to trust others as well – sometimes with the necessary courage – and to set off, to question what we have achieved and to plan and implement the next steps / phases

– Consider complex topics on a meta level without immediately diving into micromanagement

– Bringing courage and joy into our heads and hearts for a common, appropriate future amid changes.

  • The visible, comprehensible example and demonstration, the seduction of others to take measurements, to reflect and ourselves: Only when we have given ourselves meaning and direction, we manage to develop passion orientation and community orientation together.

Let us seduce ourselves and our co- creators to be more courageous for personal responsibility and curiosity about the new life. Let us seduce ourselves into learning and surprising solutions. The more we have sustainable, thinking, reflective people in our teams, the easier organizations will fit into future, to shape the future together, courageously, flexibly and with multiple skills.

With this in mind, we wish you a wonderful new year 2021 and look forward to your feedback, suggestions and helpful ideas. We are there for you!

Barbara & Michel

PS: Our digital advantage: if you want to read or hear more of the smart “old people” mentioned – the Internet provides multiply information 😉