An amazing summer invites us to meet ourselves and other people with an open mood and curiosity. This has been the commonplace every summer of my life, strengthened since I live in Ibiza.
These social states of self help us meet, bond and cooperate because we share a celebration texture. And this is what I most like about the season. In these states we are leading with our hearts.
For the last years I have been teaching in my classes, events, social writing and talks about contemporary leadership, from my perspectives and experiences. My definition of leadership is: "Inspiring others with our passion, purpose, commitment and compassion, promoting trust and connection". It includes many layers like hard work, good heart, cooperation, ethics and a sense of transcendence.
I love this subject, but I would have never written a book on it.
But someone did!
Around three years ago I met in Ibiza Chris and Gina, two university professors from the UK. We had an instant connection and decided to promote our bonding. After some common passions were revealed I shared with Chris the Manifesto Samyama that I wrote in 2017 (original version here).
To make a long story short, Chris Dalton PhD from Henley Business School, has recently published an amazing and refined book that can change how you see and experience leadership in your business career, and beyond. This book is based on the statements adapted from the original manifesto I wrote. The depth and narratives that make the statements reveal all their power come from the author´s more than 25 years of experience as a facilitator in post-experience management education. All the books written by Chris have gained a very good reputation in his field. I highly recommend that you get the book and meet Chris Dalton´s talent through his work and passion. The visibility he has given to my manifesto and his educational expertise through his dedication, effort and talent makes me feel extremely grateful and excited that these visions can reach and inspire others.
"The Integrated Leader is a contemporary search for the questions to which 'leader' or 'leadership' is an answer. Taking a thoughtful approach to management education and learning, this book explores and explains ideas not usually found in books written for managers. Its purpose is to provoke the kind of reflection and thinking that experience (and most leadership training) tends not to reach.
The book will get leaders and managers to stop and think. This may not sound like much, but it is very important and significant. It represents a shift in gears in personal leadership thinking and is written for anyone who wants to ask better questions of themselves. The Integrated Leader is practical and also philosophical. It is easy to read and will reward multiple readings. Informed by the experience of practicing managers who re-enter education, it does not simply regurgitate tired old leadership theory. It neither talks down to the reader nor dumbs down any of the complex concepts needed to sustain organisational and personal health and well-being. The book includes between-chapter reflections on the Integrated Leader's Manifesto, an eleven-point declaration for leading self in various contexts.
The Integrated Leader is a must-read for anyone sincere in their need for sustainable personal development."
