nuanced thinking.
The solution involves a simple division of labor, you might say, but history has proven otherwise. Shrewd, charismatic managers and entrepreneurs have been known to prey upon brilliant yet socially awkward artists and inventors, whose ideas get diluted in the process. This kind of relationship, at its most benign, becomes codependent as the visionary loses touch with worldly concerns while his business partners neglect to further develop their own creative capacities. And both sides of this human equation are susceptible to the Sacrifice Syndrome as ambitious ideas face innumerable hurdles along the way, demanding visionaries and more practical leaders alike to break through the pressures, prejudices, and habits of the status quo on their way to creating lasting, meaningful change.
Finally, thereâs the ultimate, arguably supernatural challenge: ensuring that the vision remains healthy after your poor worn-out bones are buried in the ground. GaudÃâs cathedral currently faces a threat more insidious than Catholichating communists: public transportation. One proposal involves construction of a subway nearby, which architects fear would damage the basilica over time. Another plan would turn the church into a train station. Apparently, it wasnât enough to hit Gaudà with a tram. The assault of mass transit continues unabated nearly a century after his death.
These possible compromises to Sagrada Familiaâs integrity illuminate one crucial aspect of managing individual and group needs over the long term. Not only do leaders have to convince colleagues, investors, and employees to buy into significant ideas, but at some point these innovators must also inspire a much larger public to support the vision as well. Whether in business, politics, art, or religion, initiating significant change is a lot like trying to overhaul an entire railway system while runaway trains continue to speed through it. No matter how defective the current model, people en masse resist the inconvenience and uncertainties of innovation with the hostility youâd expect them to reserve for immediate threats to their survival. Heated debates over public health care in the United States provide a glaring example. The average working man or woman isnât trained or even encouraged to engage in cathedral thinking. And really, why should people be willing to sacrifice their own hard-earnedcomfort without an injection of the same 220-volt shot of inspiration that got the original innovator going? Acting as both lightning rod and transformer is part of the skill and thrill â and inevitable burnout â visionary leaders must learn to manage if they plan to achieve anything consequential.
Sacrifice and Renewal
As Mother Teresa once inscribed on the wall of her childrenâs home in Calcutta, âIf you are successful, you win false friends and true enemies; Succeed anywayâ¦. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.â Pull this off, and you hit the PhD level of leadership development. Or maybe weâre talking sainthood here. Yet even those of us still working on the necessary prerequisites for great leadership â inspiration, innovation, communication, and emotional and social intelligence â need to understand how to navigate what Boyatzis and McKee call âthe Cycle of Sacrifice and Renewalâ if we plan to align our God-given talents and hard-won knowledge with long-term goals.
In the old pyramid-building days, slave labor ensured that generations would be conditioned through dominance and demoralization to act as drones for an agenda they were forced to support. This system, active in the United States less than two hundred years ago, âevolvedâ into the assaults on mind, body, and spirit that factory workers endured regardless of the lip service paid to their status as free men and women. Labor laws and unions protecting workers