Confronting Our Freedom: Leading a Culture of Chosen Accountability and Belonging

Description

Explore the nature of modern leadership In Confronting Our Freedom, a team of dedicated leadership coaches delivers an exciting and engaging new take on management and leadership. Drawing on recent events in the market and in the world, including the Great Resignation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and widespread digital transformation, the authors invite you to reimagine ideas of freedom and accountability in the context of work. You'll explore how freedom of action--for managers and employees--is what gives rise to true accountability, both in the community and in the workplace. In the book, you'll also find: Discussions of the power and structure of freedom, including its implications for our own choices and lives Ways to shift the focus of your leadership and management to accountability and freedom Strategies for shifting the illusion of clear roles and expectations to one compatible with fully human organizations A groundbreaking and incisive approach to managing and leading others in virtual, hybrid, and in-person settings, Confronting Our Freedom will be an eye opener for managers, executives, and other business leaders seeking to improve their ability to inspire others to their fullest potential. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Note to Readers Contents Preface Prologue: Then Was the Moment The past is not past What lies ahead Introduction: The Philosophic Insight Conversations on freedom and accountability The view from where we are The culture The individual Organizations and the evolving workplace Parenting is the origin story of management and leadership Shifting the historical context Philosophic insight in the world of organized effort Real world, really? Uncertain reality At work The existential understanding Chapter 1 The Power and Structure of Freedom Rewards Freedom, reality, choice, and will Accepting our freedom The fundamental insight Implications: The forms of freedom 1. Employees do not need to be motivated 2. Rewards do not explain and drive behavior 3. The organization does not have to develop “its” employees 4. Leadership is abundant, not rare Choice, reality, and will Choice and the nature of helplessness Every act is free The locus of freedom Accepting responsibility and accountability Chapter 2 The Potential of Anxiety The fruits of your patience Solving anxiety The promise of anxiety The language of freedom: It was an inside job Shifting the context to freedom and accountability Implications: Anxiety as an ally of accountability both central to performance in a time of permanent uncertainty A problem to be solved Lists and measures Our wish for certainty The permanent condition Being conscious Chapter 3 Speaking of Death and Evil Death is an option A storm in the shelter Facing reality. Taking charge of our life. A summary of usefulness of the reality of death The presence of evil Denying the reality of evil Do no harm Implications: Failure, fear, death, and evil Small deaths Time in a bottle Saying no and the value of dissent Social responsibility The leading edge of social responsibility Chapter 4 Fully Human Organizations Guilty as chosen and guilty as charged The sounds of freedom Reversing the illusion of clear roles and expectations Not enough Our expectations What are we to do? Real and chosen accountability? Fully human organizations Last time about guilt The opportunity of meaning The entrepreneurial act of creation Epilogue: Final Words from the Philosopher References and Background Reading Acknowledgments About the Authors Index EULA