In the first part of this article, we touched on the four critical characteristics of transcendental leaders.  In this concluding article, we will cover the remaining characteristics.

5. Seeing The Invisible

Transcendental leaders are those who have mastered the art of seeing things invisible.  They can see into the future.  They can do this by creating a shared vision of a dynamic and attractive future for their organisations.  Developing a powerful vision is an art of creation.  Transcendental leaders know that all achievements begin with imagination.  George Bernard Shaw put it more succinctly when he said: “Imagination is the beginning of creation.  You imagine what you desire, you will get what you imagine, and at last you create what you will.”

A transcendental leader is able to communicate his vision in such a compelling manner as to win over the will of others to achieve it.  When leaders have no vision, an organization’s prospects are bleak and people are demoralized.

Transcendental leaders inspire a shared vision for their organisations.  They encourage their followers to hold fast to this vision, for they know that if this vision perishes, the organizational life will be like a broken-winged eagle that cannot fly.  A shared vision helps increase job satisfaction and organizational commitment among employees.

6. Listening To Silence

Perhaps the most powerful lesson about listening to silence comes from Helen Keller, Keller was born blind, deaf and mute.  She learnt Braille to help communicate with others and most importantly, she developed a great internal perception to listen to silence with her heart, mind and soul.

In the corporate world, there are two important situations in which people are often silent in front of their leaders.  When over-whelmed by crisis or great challenges, the first reaction is denial and avoiding the truth.  It is no surprise that many people in organisations do not bring up the actual organizational issues to their leaders at the top, they are quite different.  Leaders at the top who receive filtered views will not address them effectively as they are.  Many of these issues go through a filtering process and by the time they reach the leaders at the top, they are quite different.  Leaders at the top who receive filtered views will not address them effectively as these are not the real issues.

There are two reasons why humans deviate from the truth.  One is a lack of authenticity – an attempt to conceal the truth to serve one’s interest.  The other is ignorance.  People will only tell their leaders what they know and what they know may not be the truth.  Thus, people’s ignorance has become an obstruction in the path of truth.  To overcome this, leaders must learn to listen to the silent truth.  Transcendental leaders do this by developing a keen observation of things and people.  Often, it is not what is said but what that is left unsaid that is critical. 

Transcendental leaders develop great perception through their analysis and observation which enables them to seek the truth.  And if I many paraphrase Plato, “An unexamined view is not worth viewing”.  Transcendental leaders listen to their inner voice of justice and authenticity before they act.  And such is the real ability to listen to the silence.

7. Smelling The Scentless

One of the great ills in organisations is that people are reactive.  We notice many organisations only start to react when they smell smoke.  They look for clear signs to act.  Thus a banking institution will only start tightening its credit management system once it is besieged with huge non-performing loans.

A sales organization will only start to address its sales strategies and products when it experiences a significant drop in the market share.

A property and construction firm will only start to examine the impact of its gearing ratio when there is a downturn in sales.  And all organisations will only strengthen their fundamentals when the economy faces a crisis.

Transcendental leaders are those who can act before the signs are there.  They base their actions on sound fundamentals.  Thus organisations that are led by transcendental leadership do not over-gear themselves.  They do not over-diversify.  They do not expose their organisations to too high a risk.. they have reserves and contingency plans to deal with crises.

When a transcendental leader goes into a jungle he does not need to smell the presence of a tiger to start arming himself.  Transcendental leaders are proactive and they act well ahead of any crisis because they can smell the scentless.

8. Understanding Unarticulated Needs

Some of the most successful information technology companies today have transcendental leaders who understand the unarticulated needs of customers.  In the book, Competing For The Future, Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad pointed out that future industry leaders need to go beyond "Customer-led”.  They argued that customers are notoriously lacking in foresight.  Customers have unarticulated needs.  Fifteen years ago, how many of us were asking for cellular telephones, fax machines and copiers at home, 24-hour discount brokerage accounts, multi-valve automobile engines, video dial tone, compact disc players, cars with onboard navigation systems, MTV or the Internet?

What makes future opportunities difficult is not that the future cannot be created but that leaders in organisations are bound by only current and articulated needs of customers.  Transcendental leaders possess foresight of industry opportunities because they do not become restricted by current possibilities only.

Transcendental leaders explore the unarticulated needs of customers by asking three questions.  First, what new types of customer benefits should we seek to provide in five, 10 or 15 years?  Second, what new competencies will we need to build or acquire to offer those benefits to customers?  And third, how will we need to reconfigure the customer interface over the next several years?

9. Surfacing Courage From Fear

Jawaharlal Nehru, a well-respected historical leader and the first Prime Minister of India, said: “There is perhaps nothing so bad and so dangerous in life as fear.”  Fear is an emotion so strong that it robs a man’s power of acting and reasoning.  Courage is not the absence of fear.  In fact, courage is advancement, despite fear.  The reality is that all men are afraid in battle.  The difference is that brave men overcome fear with a strong sense of belief and duty.

Leaders in crisis need to surface people’s courage from fear to move on.  They need to draw the courage to reform and strengthen the fundamentals of their organisations and march on despite criticism and predictions of gloom.  As an old German proverb advises, “Wealth lost – something lost; Honour lost – much lost; Courage lost – all lost.”

10. Creating A Positive Future From Despair

Oprah Winfrey, on of the most popular personalities in the world, can now command a US$250 million or RM950 million contract as a talk show host.  Her painful past of poverty and broken family was more of despair than hope.  Yet Winfrey was able to create a positive future from despair.  She said: “When I look at the future, it is so bright, it burns my eyes.”  According to a Chinese proverb, if a man plants melons, he will reap melons; if he sows beans, he will reap beans. If leaders want to change their future output, they should begin by changing their current input.

And Asian leaders during these tough times should change their perspective from despair, to a positive future.

The creation of a positive future begins with looking at opportunities that the crisis presents us.  This is the crucial time to increase productivity and the quality of products and services.

Leaders should take charge and turn the economy and their respective organizations around.  In these tough times, the only way to lead people is to create a dynamic and positive future.  Leaders need to wake up from denial and blame and take charge of the future of their organisations.

As Peter Drucker once said: “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”  Transcendental leaders often wake up in the morning and find that they do not like their current circumstances, so they go all out and create a future that they and others can be excited about.

Victor S.L. Tan is an international consultant and authority on change management.  He is the author of 4 books and the CEO of KL Strategic Change Consulting Group. He can be contacted at 603-90741129 / 90742219 or email: victorsltan@klscc.com