The Flow of Discernment and Listening Leadership

    When I began authoring this philosophy statement, I selected water as an adaptable visual metaphor that could shoulder numerous, even paradoxical, leadership concepts coherently. Without becoming strained or absurd, water is the best solution and medium to convey my approach to leadership.
     No less an authority on the state of human affairs than the revered Chinese thinker, Laozi, saw the best human qualities reflected in properties of water (Lee, Han, Byron, and Fan. 2008). In the Dao De Jing, Laozi wrote:

The highest value (or the best) is like water,
The value in water benefits All Things
And yet it does not contend,
It stays in places that others despise,
And therefore is close to Dao." (Laozi, Chapter 8)

 “Why is the best like water? In his writings, Laozi used water as a metaphor many times to explain the leadership style of a sage. More specifically, water is altruistic and always serves others; water is modest, flexible, clear, soft, yet powerful (or persistent) (Lee, 2003, 2004).” (Chen, 2008). Furthermore, in the early chapters of Margaret Wheatley’s Leadership and the New Science, I found confirmation of this impulse to explore water as metaphor for leadership. Wheatley hints, too, at the call that animates an effective leader’s decision-making:

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 [The] stream has an impressive ability to adapt, to change to conditions, to let the power shift, to create new structures. But behind this adaptability, making it all happen, I think, is the water’s need to flow. Water answers to gravity, to downhill, to the call of the ocean.” (pp. 17)

    If gravity alone were responsible for one’s course, the listening servant leader could be pulled by conscience or necessity into innumerable weighty opportunities to serve. That work, however worthy, may not be the right work for us. Parker Palmer notes:

When I follow the ‘oughts’, I may find myself doing work that is ethically laudable but not mine to do. A vocation that is not mine, no matter how externally valued, does violence to the self – in the precise sense that it violates my identity and integrity on behalf of some abstract norm.” (pg. 31).

That is to say, we may suffer dislocation and exhaustion if we choose to pour ourselves into a thirsty basin. The practice of Ignatian discernment, however, gives proper direction to our decision making. Solomon’s collected wisdom tells us:

The king’s [or a good leader’s] heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He pleases.” (NASB, 1971/2020, Prov. 21:1)

Our choices, guided by humble practice of Ignatian discernment, bring our actions in line with that flow by which God’s will is manifested in our lives. The leader’s course gains energy through its obedience to the Sea.

I conclude that water and lessons derived from observing its behavior, nature, and effects are a legitimate course for distilling and describing a coherent philosophy of good leadership. The “wateristic” leader embodies and exhibits the best affective elements and behaviors of adaptive, authentic, servant, and transformational leadership approaches, (Northouse, Chapters 8-11) and of exemplary followers (Northouse, Ch. 12).

     * Water nurtures and lifts up. Life relies on water for growth and sustenance, for which water gains nothing. So, too, organizational life looks to altruistic and compassionate leadership for those qualities that foster individual and organizational development, growth, and well-being. Being compassionate, the leader is attentive to the needs of, and sensitive to the plight of others; the leader builds relationships that engender a sense of confidence, engagement, and commitment.
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    * Water is soft, yet persistent; the good leader likewise is modest and humble, and yet can exert great influence through persuasion.

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Why is the sea king of a hundred streams?
Because it lies below them.
Therefore it is the king of a hundred streams.
If the sage would guide the people, he must serve with humility.
If he would lead them, he must follow behind.
In this way when the sage rules, the people will not feel oppressed;
When he stands before them, they will not be harmed.
The whole world will support him and will not tire of him.
Because he does not compete,
He does not meet competition.” (Laozi, Chapter 66)

Exhibiting a servant’s heart, the good leader puts the well-being of followers first, empowering them to reach their full potential.

… leaders who humble themselves before people draw people towards them and gain their trust. This does not belittle leaders but strengthens them instead. […] When they place themselves below people and praise them for their abilities, leaders will boost the self-esteem and confidence of the people, who will in turn be more eager to carry out tasks to their full potentials.” (Chen, 2008)

* Water is clear and transparent, as well as reflective. An authentic leader is honest and open, exhibiting relational transparency and engendering trust. In mirrorlike fashion, a good leader also reflects expressed group values, commitment to purpose and leads by consistent example. The leader reflects inwardly on their own processes with self-awareness and understanding for the effect they have on others.
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* Water is receptive, whether we consider the sea which accepts each river’s flow, or a heavy torrent accumulating silt and debris. When still, the laden river deposits its load to create new landscapes and structures.

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Leaders dedicated to making extraordinary things happen are open to receiving ideas from anyone and anywhere. They are adept at using their outsight to survey the landscape of technology, politics, economics, demographics, art, religion, and society in search of new ideas. Moreover, because they are proactive, they don’t just ride the waves of change, they make the wave that others ride.” (Kouzes and Posner, pg. 167) 

* Water is flexible and adaptable; it can flow around obstacles and conform to any container or environment. Likewise, a good leader must be able to adapt, if not actually anticipate and prepare for, changes in the environment that will affect their organization.
* Perhaps most importantly, water is obedient to the pull of the King of Streams.

     The leader who takes their cue from the many beneficial and noble qualities of life-giving water is an asset to their organization and community. I will endeavor to emulate the adaptive flow, gentle persuasion, inexorable strength, clarity, nurturing care, and receptivity that the idea of water-as-metaphor for good leadership embodies.

References:
Wheatley, M.J. (2006). Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World (3rd Edition). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.
Chen, C and Lee, Y. (2008). Leadership and Management in China: Philosophies, Theories, and Practices. Kindle Edition. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press
Palmer, P.J. (2007). The Courage to Teach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
The Holy Bible. New American Standard version [NASB]. (1971/2020). La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation
Kouzes, J and Posner, B. (2017) The Leadership Challenge (6th Edition). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Tzu, Lao; Legge, James. (1891/1989) Tao Te Ching. New York: Harper Collins
Northouse, P.G. (2019) Leadership: Theory and Practice (8th Edition). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage ​