Time to Reflect

Sally Aurisch is a freelance writer, and a longtime supporter of the New Leaders Forum initiative.

Our pet rat died today. I had, over five years, developed a genuine affection for the grey and white rodent we called Touille (pronounced Toohey). A devious pet shop owner talked us into buying two toddlers—males thankfully. He said rats only lived for two or three years and wouldn't grow much bigger. We believed him. Five years later we are digging a grave for a rat the size of a chipmunk. We named Touille's brother Rat-rat-a-touille, you see, and that brings me to the subject of leadership.

Rat considered himself "the leader" and acted like a schoolyard bully. He pushed his brother around, took the best and biggest portions of food and generally made a mess. Touille on the other hand moved quietly, considered his actions, tidied up, set aside food "for a rainy day", built cosy nests for both and was calm in the face of Rat's bluster. Rat was two years old when he died of cancer three years ago.

When you consider great leaders, what names spring to mind? Men of vision like Mandela or conquerors like Atilla? Both have reflected needs of the time and each was forced to reflect and overcome in adversity. Both were political prisoners. As I recall the story, Atilla was the son of a Hun clan chief. The Roman army took him along with other boys, all tribal heirs, back to Rome. The strategy was to train these boys in Roman ways while maintaining a hold over their hostile fathers. They returned them to their homes only when they were considered exemplary Romans capable of influencing their people in Roman ways. It was a mastery plan and it worked until Atilla came along. Atilla tried to escape. When they recaptured him for the third time, he changed tracts. He decided to stay put until he had learnt everything he needed to know to challenge Rome and he secretly studied the Roman army when they trained. When he returned to his land, he used what he'd seen and heard. Atilla trained his people, united all the tribes and went on to lead a nation.

Leaders like Mandela row to their destiny on muffled oars while Atilla rode with the clash of steel and others often dance to media fanfares. Strong leaders endure onto the pages of history books but great leaders remain in our hearts. Each, it seems, has one thing in common—reflection. The ability to listen—really listen and absorb—and only then, galvanise thought and vision into action. This is what Gordon Jackson has done. Some years ago, he travelled around Australia as a highly successful industrial relations consultant. It was part of his job to listen carefully to what countless business and industry leaders said. They confirmed what he had been feeling—that Australia, despite the pollsters, had not created great leaders and lacked long term vision. His answer was the New Leaders Foundation.

Greatness and leadership are rarely born in a committee. You need your own time for reflection to know passion and vision driven commitment. Only one artist, alone, can paint a Mona Lisa. A committee could spend the whole time debating what frame to use without reaching a decision.

Listen to your body. That's the most honest critic you will ever have in this life. When you just "know" something is right, do you feel it in the pit of your stomach? That "gut feeling" has been around a long time. Some yell "Eureka!" When that "special something" rings true for me, I often get goose bumps. If you are asked to do something you may not believe is "right", what do you feel and where?

It is essential to stay in touch and recognise what your body is telling you. A friend of mine calls it "feeling the flow of the river". We all have individual call signs and need to remind ourselves occasionally to stay tuned to "true north".

Vision driven leadership can only be reached by maintaining "true north". It is going to become more difficult to stay on course as we head towards the year 2000 and onwards.

There is little personal space and time left for reflection. Faxes and e-mail often demand immediate attention. An instant response is not always the best call. We are bombarded by hundreds of messages designed to influence—from news reports to billboards every day. Television mesmerises. Radio can clutter. I turned mine off for a year once—with pleasantly surprising results.

Then there are the "new age" gurus with simplistic and highly profitable messages. Most seem to say that we all need a constant diet of fulfilment and happiness. Every truly great leader has endured a period of restraint and reflection. Holy men head for the desert. Mandela sat in a dingy jail for two score years, while Buddha (Guatama Siddhartha) meditated for years under a tree. I'm not saying that you need to "get thee to a convent". What I am saying is that rising to a great place is usually by way of a spiral stair, often without a safety rail. You need to stop on the way up to catch your breath. Distractions and false steps are all part of the journey. It is going to be dead easy to be influenced away from your "true north". However, as poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen sang: "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in".

Tonight we are going to hold a candlelight funeral service for the rat. Touille spent his life imprisoned in a glass cage. Sadly, he knew no other way. Even when he had the chance to escape and head north, he was too conditioned to recall why he should.