Leon C. Megginson was a U.S.-born (Alabama) Ph.D. and business school professor. He offered his interpretation of the central ideas contained in Darwin’s On the Origin of Species back in 1963. Megginson’s remarks are frequently attributed to Charles Darwin. However, after an exhaustive search of Darwin’s writings, they were never found there.[1]
Megginson wrote, “Yes, change is the basic law of nature. But the changes wrought by the passage of time affect individuals and institutions in different ways. In speaking about Darwin’s Origin of Species, Megginson said, “It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is best able to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”
Applying this theory’s ethical concept to civilization as a whole, Megginson wrote, “…the civilization that is able to survive is the one that is able to adapt to the changing physical, social, political, moral, and spiritual environment in which it finds itself.”[2] This describes the context (‘bigger picture’) within which all leadership is applied today.
It is insufficient for leaders to just be smart or strong. A leader’s, a) continuous awareness of the always fluid context, and b) navigational skills, and c) team (selected and cultivated with care), provide what is needed to adapt to an environment that will change–each day–faster than at any time in all of history.
It is evident that the organizations able to survive (which comes with the bonus of an opportunity for prosperity) will be the ones whose leaders prioritize resilience and adaptability in themselves and their teams. And train for it!
Given the speed and velocity of change, effective leadership requires more attentiveness and mentoring at the one-to-one level. Human-to-human. Not title-to-title, or pay band ‘x’–to pay band ‘y,’ apprentice to master, boss to not boss. The latter are conceptual boundaries and limiters to success.
Effective leaders today are seeking to improve their one-to-one coaching skills, including active listening, because this is where the human connection lives and where adaptation is created.
~Will Keiper – The Leader and The Coach
#leadership #leadershipcoaching #businesscoach #coachingleaders #leadershipdevelopment #executivecoaching #leaderascoach #awareness #consciousleadership
[1] https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/people/about-darwin/six-things-darwin-never-said
[2]Leon C. Megginson, Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, Volume 44
