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Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership

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Synchronicity is one of the most inspiring books I know on leadership. The book is a fascinating and holistic blend of the personal and the professional. Jaworski is a name you may already be familiar with. He is the son of Watergate prosecutor, Leon Jaworski. His career is facinating. He began his professional life as a high-powered attorney in Houston. He chased after and won all of the trappings of external success. Then, suddently, his wife announced she was leaving him, and he was forced to confront himself, his values, and the meaning and purpose of his life. The rest seems to flow out of this pivotal experience. Jaworski left the practice of law and went on to become founder, chairman, and CEO of the American Leadership Forum. This organization continues to serve established local leaders and promotes collaborative problem-solving in communities and regions for the public good. In the early 90's, he joined Royal Dutch Shell in London as head of Global Scenario Planning. The initiative he led there is credited as instrumental in the peaceful transfer of power in South Africa which put an end to the government of apartheid. At the time the book was published, Jaworski was with MIT's Center for Organizational Learning which later closed in 1997. His role there was to work with leading corporations on building learning organizations, a topic which still receives considerable focus in leadership circles. It's a concept that appeals to many, and yet few have succeeded in implementing one. The old models die hard. Still, change is in the air.

The book speaks to topics that resonate with us at a deep level: integrity, commitment, responsibility, values, meaning, vulnerability, trust, collaboration, to name a few.

The book begins with a familiar story. A man seeking what we've been led to believe is success. Prestige as a high-powered attorney, a big income and a big home. Then his world falls apart when his wife leaves him, and his identity proceeds to fall apart. He rebuilds a life that is based on authenticity. He speaks of finding the flow in his life when he honors an inner call. He has a vision of what is possible. He sees his life and his choices as intimately connected with the world. He sees himself and his actions in relationship, not isolated and separate. He notes the the busyness of his earlier life as symptomatic of a larger of dis-ease in our culture. We spend too much of our time on activity and too little time on being present to what's really happening around us. We've forgotten the power we have as a witness. We fear having too much time to reflect, instinctively knowing that we're going to have to face ourselves and our lives at a deeper level than we're comfortable with. We're hooked on the notion that commitment and activity are inseparable. So we create a continual stream of activity, making sure that everybody sees us doing lots of things so they'll believe we're actually committed. If we stay busy enough, maybe we'll even convince ourselves that our lives had some meaning even though, deep down, we know they couldn't possibly have any meaning, because everything is hopeless and we're hopeless, and we couldn't possibly affect anything anyhow. Often, it takes a crisis to cause us to question the value of our lives and our activity.

He speaks of proper timing -- that situations unfold at an organic pace that is impossible to rush. All of our pushing and forcing serves mainly to exhaust us. There is a natural flow to our individual lives and to the times in which we live. Nothing of real substance can be pushed or forced to fruition. The purpose of life and our individual lives is revealed at a mysterious pace that the rational mind cannot grasp. There are things that want to happen. We can either fight or embrace the natural flow of our life, thus being an integral part of that larger flow of life. We won't find more riches anywhere else than in our own experience. Jaworski also speaks to an intriguing notion he calls economy of means. Change one small thing and the repercussions can be enormous. How is is possible to see which thread of a situation or a challenge needs to be pulled in order for everything to fall into place without the space for reflection? Economy of means. It's the notion that with perspective and awareness, we can see opportunities we couldn't see before. And seeing these opportunities, we can sense when the moment is right to act, and we will know exactly what needs to be done.

We begin to see that with very small movements, at just the right time and place, all sorts of consequent actions are brought into being. We develop what artists refer to as an "economy of means," where, rather than getting things done through effort and brute force, we start to operate very subtly. A flow of meaning begins to operate around us, as if we were part of a larger conversation. This is the ancient meaning
of dialogue: (dia .logos) "flow of meaning." We start to notice that things suddenly are just attracted to us in ways that are very puzzling. A structure of underlying causes, a set of forces, begins to operate, as if we were surrounded by a magnetic field with magnets being aligned spontaneously in this field. But this alignment is not spontaneous at all -- it's just that the magnets are responding to a more subtle level of
causality.

He writes at some length about his experience at Shell with scenario planning. It's a tool for strategic planning at a level most of us are not yet used to working at. Its objective is to create the future with greater awareness of the consequences of our choices through collaboration and dialogue. The approach was designed to uncover and directly impact the mental models used individually and collectively to make choices large and small. Our mental model is the totality of the opinions, judgements, and beliefs that act as a filter, preventing us from seeing a situation clearly as it is without bias. The work led by Royal Dutch Shell included a diverse team of international experts. The team developed two scenarios known as "New Frontiers" and "Barricades" and two sets of wide-ranging implications on the international community, the environment, energy, economics, politics, business, and people.

Writing "Barricades" was a sobering experience for the entire team. We had been as realistic and conservative as we could in the development of this scenario, yet we had drawn a chilling picture of an increasingly divided world with anarchy enveloping society within our children's lifetime.

New Frontiers is a world where the center of gravity of the world economy shifts from the rich to the poor.... It's a story of new demands, new opportunity, turbulence, and vast change, resulting in governments and businesses being challenged beyond what they thought possible.

Jaworski calls dialogue the power of collective thinking. It's the idea that there is a collective consciousness at the level of the family, the community, the nation, and the world at large. There is a collective consciousness implicit in the times in which we live. These two scenarios were widely presented in 2- and 3-day workshops. Presentations were made to government officials, the business community, black community groups and leaders in exile. The initiative was successful in getting a critical mass of key individuals to focus their attention on choices and their consequences, about the unsustainability of the system and the consequences that each scenario might have on the international community, the environment, the opportuntity for other choices. And power was transferred peacefully in South Africa.

Jaworski describes three fundamental shifts of mind necessary for the creative leadership that will solve some of the world's tougher dilemmas:

1) A shift from resignation to a sense of possibility that comes from seeing the universe as a magical dance, full of living qualities rather than a linear, logical, and predictable view of what's really going on.

2) A shift from seeing ourselves as separate and isolated from everything else that we see "out there" to seeing the world holistically as a web of relationships. Change one small thing and everything else is subtly different.

3) A shift in the nature of our commitment from a highly disciplined proposition in which you "seize fate by the throat and do whatever it takes to suceed" to a deeper level of commitment that comes from an willing spirit. This sense of willingness opens us up to connect with our inner guidance systems and wisdom. To hear the call, to recognize an innate sense of purpose and to accept and honor that.

As these shifts occur, we will notice that synchronicity comes into our life, both the personal and the professional. Synchronity, is defined by Carl Jung as "a meaningful coincidence of two or more events, where something other than the probability of change is involved." When synchronicity comes into our life, it's an indication that we are on the path. There is a sense of ease and excitement, a sense of true belonging to ourself, to one another, to the times in which we live, and to life.

Many books about leadership view the subject as being akin to mechanical engineering. How do you get all those people (like cogs in a machine) to act in just the ways you want them to? Mostly written by leaders to describe their own experiences or by writers to explain what leaders told them, these books are unsatisfying in the extreme. Take a look at Flawed Advice and the Management Trap by Chris Argyris to get a further perspective on this problem. This book is totally different, and quite appealing.

Jaworski (son of Leon Jaworski, the famous special prosecutor of the Watergate scandal) tells of his personal journey from being a successful corporate lawyer to becoming someone who works on making leadership better for all of us. Like most personal journeys, this one has low points (his wife falling in love with another man and telling Jaworski to move out that day, his father not telling him that he loved him, and the deaths of a child of each of his two sisters) and some high points (breakthrough meetings with great thinkers and stimulating helpful change). You could read the book for this, and you would have the rewards of a nicely done biography of someone who is working towards living an exemplary life.

But there is more. Jaworski has accumulated some important insights into leadership that are well worth knowing. He makes an appealing case for servant leadership (the leader looks out for the group, rather than his self-interest). He also tells a fascinating tale of running the scenario development work at Royal Dutch Shell for 4 years. From this, he develops what seemed to me to be a profound insight: Scenarios can be used both to prepare for the future by helping us think through it in advance, and to create the future. That last thought provided me with a nice epiphany. Although I was very familiar with the Shell planning technique from the business literature and from talking to Arie de Geus about it, this implication had never dawned on me. I deeply appreciate learning this.

Beyond that, the book is a living testament to the importance of finding your true self and listening to the wee small voice of intuition that can steer you in the right direction. Jaworski to his credit has been quite willing to do both, and it has made all the difference.

Many books on leadership talk about the role as a state of being. That usually leaves me confused. Jaworski makes the same point, but through his personal history I was able to understand what he meant.

At another level, I found the book to be quite astonishing because it paralleled my own personal journal. I started out as a lawyer, heeded my inner voice to become a management consultant, and then heeded my inner voice again to become an author to spread important ideas about how people can become more effective in working with one another. He was fascinated by how to use scenarios to help the political transition in South Africa. I founded a company in the early 80s to find ethical ways for companies to leave South Africa while strenthening the position of nonwhite employees. I have read the works of everyone Jaworski cites in the book. At first, this seemed like a big coincidence. Then I realized that Arie de Geus is someone we both know, and he probably suggested more then a few of the authors to both of us. In fact, Arie de Geus played a pivotal role in the development of our new book, The Irresistible Growth Enterprise. Six degrees of separation is occuring all over again!

If you read this book, and read the works of those who Jaworski cites, you will have given yourself a valuable trip towards becoming the kind of signficant leader you have the potential to be. With the help of you wee, small inner voice, this should be an irresitible call to action!

Many books on leadership are written for managers or those unique individuals who will save the world. This book, "Synchronicity," sheds some light on that community. More important to me, it shed a light into some of the far, dusty corners of my personal life.

I'm newly 48 years old with many different jobs in the past and new challenges staring me in my face. Mr. Jaworski's scenarios and suggestions did a good job with two areas: (1) it rattled me into reviewing the path that I have been working on and (2) it bolstered me up in realizing that following "gut feelings" is not just magic, it's hard work. So? Well, it's my path, my life but now I have a different way to look positively at the past. At the same time Mr. Jaworski has given me new ways of looking ahead, sharpened my survival senses.

Thanks to "Synchronicity," I may not change the world you know but, I am changing the world immediately around me... for the better.
----Geo.Brett (not the baseball player)

In his book, Joe Jaworsky marvels at the string of circumstances that put him in touch with just the right people at just the right time. Isn't it amazing how they all take his calls, how they all agree with him and encourage him, some of them even give him seed money and put him in touch with other like-minded individuals? Joe, that isn't synchronicity, that's the Old Boy Network. You have never been excluded from it so you don't see it for what it is.

On the other hand, there are some interesting ideas here. I liked the last two chapters a lot. They describe two plausible scenarios for the first few decades of the 21st century. I like the idea of shaping your future by imagining it, as oppossed to simply reacting to the present. I also resonate with the concept of Synchronicity, just not most of the examples Joe cites.

This is a mixed bag but it was worth my time, though only marginally.

While I was intrigued by the concepts presented in this book, I was so turned off by the author that I could barely get through it. Here's a guy who seems to have hit his mid-life crisis, while trying all his life to win his dad's affection AND escape his dad's shadow. Here's a guy who has lived such an egotististcal, materialistic, shallow, self-absorbed lifestyle that seeing an ermine doing its usual thing in a natural setting blows him away. Or having a conversation with a woman when he's not working on getting the 'physcial angle' is actually rewarding and enjoyable (see what can happen when you stop looking at women as objects??). Who views his wife leaving him 'suddenly' as a crisis, when his entire lifestyle seems to have forgotten her and left her to sustain their marriage and family while he was out carousing with The Boys. Joe, how many names can you drop in one paragraph? How many 'large new homes' can you buy when you're experiencing synchronicity? Was there anything else besides how gorgeous your new wife was that attracted you to her in the airport while you were experiencing the conciousness of mankind?

This book seems to be a repetitive aggregation of everyone else's meaningful work on the topic --dialogue for the pure enjoyment of it. As Joe mentioned himself, it happens a lot when people get together, get to know and respect each other, and work towards a goal that is mutually meaningful. I could have gotten through the book it had been focused more on the leadership concepts rather than Joe.

I would have given this book a rating of ZERO stars if that was an option. If this is all it takes to write a book, well, I'm going to get writing. Read Bohm's or Greenleaf's works instead.

I thought that I had read enough of the "journey to enlightenment" genre with the newly enlightened, predictably charged to bring the ragged rest of us into the light.Instead I found Jaworski's story poignant and provocative. He's on to something that he doesn't quite understand and, mysteriously, he finds the people that propell him on to profound insight. Here's a story of the son of a famous father coming to terms with the father's legacy(good or bad)who, while walking through his trail of tragedy and triumph, discovers not only himself but tantalizing glimpses of a richer reality constructed of language and relationship that both creates and allows for change. I found his very human struggle to make sense of his, "world come alive," enriched by his non guruesque touch . The book affected me on many levels. I will read it again.

Joseph Jaworski has written "the" book on leadership for the 1990's. Not unlike Robert Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Jaworski's Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership serves up a tale of personal discovery of such magnitude as to speak to the very heart and soul of the reader. Drawing heavily from Robert Greenleaf's Servant Leadership, Jaworski describes in compelling form the essential character of leadership founded on servant as leader. Reading Jaworski is like reading a modern-day Paul: his message that we can control our future by allowing life to unfold through us -- not despite us -- is comforting in this era when we all seem to be cascading toward a destiny over which we have little or no control. Read this book. Accept its invitation to initiate your own journey of self-discovery and enlightenment.

Joseph Jaworski's book reads like a made-for-TV movie...a typically trite made-for-TV movie. It's got all of the ingredients: Our hero, Mr. Jaworski, is an affluent, well- connected success -- but alas, there is emptiness inside. In an effort to seek meaning in his angst-ridden life, our star ditches his wife and kid and spends seven weeks in Paris contemplating his aloneness and reading. One book speaks to him: the Velveteen Rabbit -- no I'm mistaken, The Little Prince -- wait, I'm wrong again...it was Jonathan Livingston Seagull. A kernal of truth takes up residences in his empty shell. And after a series of other reflective retreats and a chance, love-at-first-sight meeting at O'Hare Airport where he trips over his son to chase down the woman who will become his next wife (hmmm, I see another Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan casting opportunity), our hero settles down to his discovered life role: to save the world by assembling the best minds available to create the definitive petri dish for breeding authentic leaders.

As you can tell, I was less than impressed with Mr. Jaworski's book. His primary readings which guided him on his own journey -- Carl Jung, Eric Fromm, Lao-Tzxu, Martin Buber, Abraham Maslow, Joseph Campbell and, yes, even Jonathan Livingston Seagull -- would be a better starting point for those interested in cultivating the leader within.

Joseph Jaworski was a practicing litigator when he learned about the concept of the "servant leader." Inspired, he left his legal practice and created the American Leadership Forum (ALF), which trains corporate leaders in using the servant-leader model. Synchronicty, which recounts Jaworski's journey, aspires to novelistic drama, and in fact, Jaworski describes the tale in terms of the traditional literary hero's quest. While not exactly the labors of Hercules, anecdotes in which Jaworski talks his way out of a mugging and meets his wife by passing her in an airport are entertaining, but less informative than the author might hope. The book contains a lot of New-Age jargon and collective-consciousness sermonizing. Nevertheless, for managers who want to be something more - leaders - we [...] recommend Synchronicity not as a useful how-to, but rather as a business leader's inspirational biography.

This book was recommended to me by my mentee who is in business school. I had high hopes which remained just that... high hopes unfulfilled. There seems to be great potential in the beginning, but the author gets bogged down in retelling his own story (which he seems rather proud of despite accounts to the contrary in the introduction), and never truly gets his arms around 'the flow'. Just goes to show that some things you have to do, not read...