One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership

I have been reading One: The Art and Practice of Conscious Leadership, by Lance Secretan. I must state that I have only read 2/3-rd's of this book. I made a commitment to review this book for our March Love Affair with Books and this was as far as I could get. I developed a detailed index of my observations of this book (inside of the cover of my book). So, today I want to write my impressions of this book to date.

The premise of the book is One, or oneness and that we are all seeking connection or oneness. So far, The strongest part of the book for me were chapters One, Two and Four.

Imperative of Oneness

Chapter one does a good job of framing what Secretan calls The New Imperative of Oneness. The most compelling part of Chapter one is found on page 22, "...the fear-based, egocentric leadership model - the leader as hero or charismatic personality -  is ineffective. The results it produces are inconsistent."

As Secretan points out, these leaders are trying to control and win versus connecting and cooperating. In the end of this first chapter Secretan hints at one of the six principles outlined in the book, authenticity when he asserts that "...were looking at each other and asking, Who are you really? What do you stand for and what values do you represent?"

Oneness Lost

Chapter Two, is titled "Oneness Lost" where the opening line is "Oneness may be the ideal, but separateness is the habit. And habits are hard to break." On page 27 Lance advocates "...a renewed acceptance of the mysteries of the universe..." He quotes Albert Einstein who said, "There are two ways to live your life: one is as though nothing is a miracle; the other is as though everything is a miracle."

The other gem of this chapter is found on page 29 he says that "We can trace the roots of how we interpret and think about life to the early Greek theorists, especially the pre-Socratic philosophers." Which was not news to me as I have studied this topic back in 1998/99.

The important point he illustrates is how these philosophers were the first to reject traditional mythological explanations. They began to utilize reason and observation as to reveal the true nature of the world. I sometimes wonder if they were the early attorney, lawyers, and scientists.

Myth, Mystery, Magic

Growing a successful business requires moving beyond the numbers as Lance explains on page 39, "... we can grow our successes by consciously leading organizations with a greater awareness of the importance of myth, mystery, and magic."

He also states that great leaders have a "... holistic approach to life and work, one that encompasses both science and the ability to measure things on the one hand and willingness to appreciate myth, mystery, and magic, and the values they hold for us, on the other.

The Castle Principles

This review would not be complete if I did not introduce the six Castle principles from chapter four:

1. Courage
2. Authenticity
3. Service
4. Truthfulness
5. Love
6. Effectiveness.

There is no doubt that Lance Secretan has much life and business experience as the former CEO of Manpower. I found the rest of his book is full of powerful and meaningful insights that I could identify with, but felt like I was left hanging, to sort that out for myself.

Perhaps this is a book that I will have to pick up again at a later time to finish. Maybe then I will have sorted out those powerful and meaningful insights I identified.

This book is worth investing the time to read and have in your library, especially if you enjoy a more cerebral read.

Comments

[Steve Sherlock]

Greg, well done. You wrote enough about Lance's ideas for this book to be added to the growing list of reading just from this months review. So many good ones.

I especially like the six CASTLE principles. With an individual working those six aspects of themselves, they should be a good one to work with or for.

[Jodee Bock]

Greg: Thank you for your wonderful insights and for sharing the review about ONE. I'd love to start doing more ONE seminars (I'm part of Lance's ONE Community and have all the tools to present anything from a one-hour to a two-day event). Please let me know if you have any ideas about getting that word out to the world. The CASTLE principles are so effective because they are intuitive - it's not like we have to learn a whole new language to understand what it takes to be a conscious leader. Thanks, too, for everything you ARE in the world!

[Greg Balanko-Dickson]

Steve: There is not doubt that what we need is more leaders that 'get it' and are willing to let go of the confrontational, traditional approach to management and leadership and apply the CASTLE principles. What I did not say was that this book is for leaders to work on themselves.

Jodee: I forgot to mention that it was Jodee Bock who gave me a copy of Lance's book. I would be very interested to learn more about the tools available.

[Lance Secretan]

Greg, thanks for your generous comments - I am glad that you enjoyed the book. Please be sure to visit our "ONE" website at http://www.secretan.com/one where you will find many additonal resources to support the journey to oneness and inspirational leadership that is addressed in "ONE".

Thanks also to Jodee Bock for being inspired enough by the book to send a copy to you. She, and you, are doing beautiful work. Namaste.

[Greg Balanko-Dickson]

Lance, I found your book both an opening and a beginning. The journey to One is unique for each. In a world searching for simplistic, easy, and formulaic answers - the journey is oft overlooked.

I am grateful to be a traveler. Namaste.