The Spirit of a Leader

Heads Speak for Themselves: July 2012 guest post by Gary R. Gruber

As I began my 76th year this week, I took some time to reflect on so much that has sustained me over the years in various leadership capacities and positions.   In addition to many wonderful people - colleagues, friends and family - one of the nurturing experiences has been what I call Spirit and not simply my own, insufficient unto itself.  The wordspirit comes from the Latin word, spiritus, which means breath, and breath is like air or wind.  You cannot see it, yet you can see and feel the effects of it.  We cannot even see our own breath, except under certain weather conditions, but we depend on it every minute that we are alive.  Conscious breathing has become an important exercise in my own routine not only for relaxation but for a greater awareness and sensitivity to what is all around me.  Perhaps this is because I no longer take breathing for granted, as an automatic, unconscious response.

The Japanese separate the word spirit from air as did the Greeks who had different words for spirit and air or breath.  The Greek word for breath, is pneuma while the Greek word for spirit is psyche, translated literally as soul.  Psyche is often mis-translated as mind, possibly from the popular definition of psychology.  It is certainly recognizable when leaders have some soul as well as a sound mind and body, thus having a healthy spirit – positive, constructive, connected, contagious and generous – has really been one of my sustaining characteristics.

Too much wind can be destructive but without air, we would not survive.  So, make of all of this what you will. Suffice to say in this context that without spirit or soul, a leader is rather dull and uninteresting and incapable of inspiring others. To inspire is to “breathe into” and giving vitality to others and to an organization is one of the primary responsibilities of a leader. There are leaders who are often like the wind.   They blow hot and cold, they blow in and out, some are steady and predictable, some are strong, and propel things forward; some are weak and can’t fill a balloon.  Like the wolf, they huff and puff but don’t have enough strength to get the job done and thus they have not been able to sustain themselves, out of touch with their own soul and the sources which nurture them as leaders. 

The Lakota word for Spirit suggests that there is a power above everything and everyone else.  It is this Spirit that gives life and breath to all that we know and yet the source is itself unknowable.  Wakan Tanka is this great spirit in the Native American tradition.  In other traditions there are other words but no less powerful and sustaining and there are hundreds of words from indigenous peoples, Asian and European cultures and hundreds within the tribal clans of Africa as well.  It is not the name but the experience of the still small voice that Elijah heard and to which he responded.  On a personal level, this story challenges our false expectations of a Spirit intervening in a spectacular new start and thinking that we must relive the experiences of others.

It is, instead, a call to go to work, doing what we have been called to do, relying on a Great Spirit; trusting that the work is not simply ours to define and achieve.  So, dear friends, let’s continue the good work which we have begun, not for ourselves but for the communities and people whom we serve.

Gary can be reached at grg@garygruber.com