CHAPTER 7The First Function of Leadership
Evoking Spirit with Vision
Leadership is not a matter of command and control. It is the evocation and alignment of Spirit. Spirit cannot be commanded, but it may be invited. Spirit cannot be coerced, but it may be channeled. Spirit rarely, if ever, responds to answers; rather, it responds to questions, which create the nurturant Open Space in which it may flow. Vision poses the question that creates the space into which Spirit flows and becomes powerful.
It has become popular for organizations to engage in “visioning,” the end product of which is a vision statement. The advent of visioning as a legitimate corporate practice is certainly to be applauded, for it recognizes precisely the realities we ...
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