An example from the program...

The following section of Leadership Reinvention distinguishes the term, "paradigm", for the participants and has them determine the current paradigm for leadership, following and power. They then examine the limitations this paradigm places on leadership and performance in their organization.

The Distinction Paradigm:

Our thinking is shaped by paradigms. A paradigm is a pattern of behavior that stems from a particular way of viewing the world.

Some definitions of paradigms are:

Powers of the Mind, Adam Smith: A shared set of assumptions. The paradigm is the way we perceive the world; like air to the bird and water to the fish. The paradigm explains the world to us and helps us to predict its behavior. When we are in the middle of the paradigm, it is hard to imagine any other paradigm.

Discovering the Future, the Business of Paradigms, Joel Barker: A paradigm is a set of rules and regulations that: 1) describe boundaries; and 2) tells you what to do to be successful within those boundaries. A paradigm tells you that there is a game, what the game is, and how to play it successfully.

The sense of game is a very appropriate metaphor for paradigms because it reflects the need for borders and directions on how to perform in order to "do it right". A paradigm tells you how to play the game according to the rules. With that definition, you can't help but conclude that there are many paradigms in our everyday life.

A paradigm shift, then, is a change to a new game, a new set of rules.

Changes in paradigms are what have been triggering much of society's turbulence for the last twenty years. We had sets of rules we knew well, then someone changed the rules. We understood the old boundaries, then we had to learn new boundaries. And those challenges dramatically upset our world.

What is the paradigm to get ahead in most organizations?

Do what you're told, don't take risks, keep control at the top, numbers are all important.

A paradigm is invisible, it gives what is thought or believed.

A paradigm actually uses you -- it shapes and motivates your actions. It allows for and eliminates certain possibilities.

Paradigms act as physiological filters -- we see the world quite literally through our paradigms.

A paradigm acts as an information filter, and what we actually perceive is determined by our paradigms. What may be perfectly visible, perfectly obvious, to persons with one paradigm may be quite literally invisible to persons with a different paradigm. And this is the paradigm effect.

What is the paradigm for leadership, following and power?

In Leadership Reinvention we work our way backwards in dealing with both societal and individual paradigms until we get to ground zero. It is from there that a new possibility for leadership, following and power is invented.

Current Paradigm for Leadership, Following and Power: