The Zen Leader: A book review by Bob Morris

The Zen Leader: 10 Ways to Go from Barely Managing to Leading Fearlessly
Ginny Whitelaw
The Career Press (2012)

Rather than give up or give in, how to break free from self-inflicted limits and “flip to the next stage”

Two months before Ernest Becker’s Denial of Death was published in 1974, he died of cancer at age 49. The core concept in his book is that no one can deny physical death. Only the suicide can control when. However, there is another form of death than can be denied: That which occurs when we become wholly preoccupied with fulfilling others’ expectations of us.

I thought of that as I read Ginny Whitelaw’s Introduction to The Zen Leader in which she urges her reader — under intense and severe pressure by others to perform “leaner, smarter, faster, cheaper” — not give up or give in. Use the pressure rather than be used by it to “propel breakthrough development and leaps to new consciousness, to “give way” to a “radical” reframing and inversion — a “flip that takes many forms.” For example, transitions such as these: from coping with constant pressure from outside-in to “diving right in and transforming situations from inside-out”; from exhausting oneself and others from the relentless drive for results to “attracting the future and people who help create it; and from being one’s personality to [begin italics] seeing [end italics] one’s personality “and applying the right kind of energy to any situation.”

Whitelaw provides ten “Zen Leader Flip” mini-tutorials to help her reader to “break free and flip to the next stage” of personal development. More specifically, to complete transitions from…

1. Coping to Transforming (Pages 32-35)
2. Tension to Extension (47-51)
3. Or to And (72-75)
4. “Out here” to “In Here” (91-97)
5. Playing to Your Strengths to Strengthening Your Play (125-129)
6. Controlling to Connecting (141-146)
7. From Driving Results to Attracting the Future (171-179)
8. “It’s All About Me” to “I’m All About It”
9. Local Self to Whole Self (228-232)
10. Delusion to Awakening (250-253)

Following each of the ten “Zen Leader Flip” min-tutorials, Whitelaw thoughtfully provides a “Takeaways” section listing key points and five tips for converting problems to opportunities. This material will facilitate, indeed expedite frequent review of essentials later.

Make no mistake about how immensely complicated and deeply profound this process is. That is why Whitelaw provides a wealth of information, insights, and wisdom that, she fervently hopes, will help leaders and those aspiring to leaders to complete a transformation from “barely managing” to “leading fearlessly.” Here are a few of the dozens of passages that caught my eye:

o  The challenges of transformation (Pages 29-32)
o  Why tension produces movement — until it doesn’t (41-43)
o  The Zen Leader/Core Practices: “Centering Mini-Break” (54-55), “Sitting Meditation” (101-102), “Invitation to Samadhi” (153-157), and “All Patterns at Once” (183-184)
o  Why “healthy tension” is the point (65-68)
o  “A World of Our Making” (81-84)
o  “The Illusion of Control” (136-138)
o  “It’s Always About Fear” (242-243)

No brief commentary such as this one could possibly do full justice to the scope and depth of material that Ginny Whitelaw provides in abundance. It remains for each reader to read the book with care and consideration. Also, it would be a fool’s errand to attempt to apply immediately everything learned while reading the book. Rather, “give way” to whatever touches the heart as well as stimulates the mind. Meanwhile, keep in mind that development of Zen leadership is an on-going process rather than a specific destination. Finally, when considering or now embarked on that journey of personal development, keep in mind Oscar Wilde’s suggestion: “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.”