Mindful friend and contemplative community builder Jeff Walker gets big ups on his book The Generosity Network in the New York Times this week from op-ed columnist and thought leader David Brooks. Brooks lauds Walker’s work in collaborative leadership, which he’s used in his behind the scenes work with the Contemplative Sciences Center at the University of Virginia, Bridge Builders Collaborative investments in some of the field’s leading mind training companies, and numerous other field-building ventures.
In his article, Brooks talks about the need for leaders skilled in the art of collaboration in light of the escalating conflicts between President Obama and the Republicans in Congress. Brooks suggests that a truly collaborative leader needs to be an “honest broker” between individual parties in order to rally interested parties behind a unified effort. He writes:
In an essay posted on LinkedIn, Walker argues that collaborative organizations usually need a person at the top who “is widely trusted and capable of rallying the interested parties behind the unified effort.” To be an honest broker, a collaborative president would have to repress some of her own ideas in order to serve as referee, guide and nudge for the people she gathered.
On a broader level, Walker’s tireless efforts encourage organizations to see how they might work together to leverage synergies and to further the mission and goal of each organization.
[Photograph by Marcus Spiske/flickr.com]
