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Bound Up

July 31, 2013 | No Comments »

By Paul Callan

I had dinner the other night with a business acquaintance I had just come to know. When I mentioned I was a retired US Marine, he asked “What is it that makes Marines feel such fidelity to the Corps and to each other?” Not wanting to seem overly philosophical, I said “Oh, it’s a spirit thing,” to which he nodded politely and we moved on to discussing the night’s business.

This weekend, I revisited that question and decided to take a crack at a more thoughtful answer. Why? Because I think it is important for all leaders to understand how to create true faithfulness, genuine companionship, within our groups. So let me start by explaining how the Marine Corps achieves this effect and then we can apply those lessons to our own situations.

The reason why Marines feel such fidelity to the Corps, and to one another, is because the Marine Corps creates a genuine feeling amongst its members of being “bound up” in something that is elevating, and yes—even mystical. Marines feel bound up to noble purposes; bound up to honorable aspirations; bound up to right action; bound up to a mission greater than self; and bound up to traditions that richly animate its culture.

Take my own journey, for an example. As a typical selfish, me-centered twenty-something back in the early 1980’s, what inspired me to willingly leave behind my self-interest to join the deep communal wellspring of the US Marine Corps was not money or material reward. Instead, it was a feeling of being part of a greater pattern, being immersed in a collective memory, and being awash in deep perennial knowledge that, like a tree’s underground root system, nurtured all who fed from this enlivening source. This feeling of being bound up was the alchemy that converted me from self-centered to other-centered.

So, how can leaders today create this same feeling of being bound up to something that is equally elevating for the groups we lead? How can we create the same level of faithfulness and elevation in our vocations? I offer four ideas:

Create Meaning. Our minds are drawn to reason, but our souls are drawn to meaning. Enduring excellence—true championship performance—comes from the soul, not the mind. It is a leader’s obligation to create meaning for the group, and we can do so by founding our lives, our leadership, and our missions on noble purposes and honorable aspirations. By doing so, we will create meaning and an elevated sense of purpose. And when we create meaning, we release inner motivation that needs no carrot or stick to entice.
Instill Ethos. Ethos, an ancient Greek word that essentially means “the character of a group,” is THE essential requirement for long-term organizational excellence. A healthy ethos answers for its members these three crucial questions: Who are we? Why do we exist? What do we do? It is the leader’s foremost obligation to create a thriving ethos to bind generation-to-generation. Think of ethos as mortar that binds the individual bricks into a strong wall, and that mortar is made of élan, esprit, the love of companions, and camaraderie.
Celebrate Tradition. US Marines create a bound-up feeling by retaining a healthy respect for, and exercise of, tradition. As a Marine, I was taught with excruciating detail all aspects of the Corps’ customs, courtesies, and traditions. These were taught not as history, but as living, vibrant touchstones of what it meant to be a Marine. Look around your organization today and see if, and where, you are celebrating your traditions. And here’s why this is vitally important: healthy traditions, rituals, and rites get us out of our heads and into our hearts—where all true greatness resides and where all bonds of community and companionship are built.
Teach Greater Patterns. Today, we are increasingly enmeshed in episodic living. We have lost sight of the greater patterns. Today’s leaders can provide a bulwark against this tendency by returning to simplicity….by regaining a still point on the ever-spinning wheel to see the greater pattern of wisdom that is always there in plain sight if we can just pause to see, and hear, correctly. What heroic leaders have always done in the past, and we need to do now—is to re-connect with the larger patterns and to the deeper wisdom. For example, I do this in my teaching through stories, parables, and heroic tales. It helps me see, and show to my students, that others have walked this path before us. It helps us see that the way is known, we just have to move forward with confidence.

Leaders must create these conditions of fidelity and companionship. This is soul work, not head work. This is cultivation, not engineering. This is hard, intentional, deeply personal work. But when leaders do this well, magic happens. People will abandon self-interest and undergo a conversion allowing submission to something greater than self. People’s focus will shift from my feelings to our common good. When leaders create this vibrant ethos enabling people to feel bound-up in elevating and grand purposes, well–that is the stuff of champions. This is the alchemy of a thriving team.

Paul Callan Talks Heroic Leadership on Dose of Leadership Podcast

July 12, 2013 | No Comments »

Paul was honored to be invited back to the Dose of Leadership Podcast for a two-part interview. Paul has previously been interviewed by Richard Rierson and was excited to participate once again.

For this podcast, Richard wanted to talk to Paul about Heroic Leadership. Some of things discussed during the podcast included:

Paul’s definition of Heroic Leadership
Understanding how Heroic Leadership plays a role in our society and workplaces
Appreciating “wise elders” as sherpas to help guide the way
How to create a culture of Heroic Leadership in your organization

The podcast finished up with a brief discussion about the millennial generation, leading into the second podcast topic.

You can catch this whole podcast on the Dose of Leadership website here.

And stay tuned for the second in the series where Paul will talk specifically about leadership within the millennial generation!