Benevolence

And John Blakey.

I was talking with someone the other week about John Blakey’s “The Trusted Executive” which looks at leadership through nine practices that deliver against the three lenses of results, reputation and relationships.

As our discussion meandered, we talked about the facets of leadership ability, integrity and benevolence. We tried to define benevolence and went round a bit in circles with things like…

• acceptance and inclusion

• wiling to be vulnerable before others

• giving back to others as a leader

• emotional intelligence

• caring about the greater good

• prioritising others over self

• caring, seeking to understand

• kindness as a leadership strength

• commitment to the wellbeing of the organisation and its people

• something about authenticity

Until, as classicists, we returned to the etymological roots of the word. It’s Latin, innit. That A-Level is finally useful! “Bene” and “Volo” - effectively - a wish to do good. So at it’s heart, benevolence is an act of positive intent.

So this week I’ve been trying to focus more on this, more on trying to understand my motivations and intent in any interaction. When I’ve wanted to say something, give a view, send that email, offer some feedback, I have been checking myself first with the question “What’s my intent here?”. And if the answer is anything other than positive, I’ve kept quiet. Which for me, as you know, is a very big challenge.

Anyway, I wandered off into a bit more research about Blakey. Like Lencioni, he puts TRUST at the heart of great leadership, and his nine habits of trust model is a thought-provoking and powerful one that I shall be exploring more.

I need to dive deeper, but even at first glance, it looks a useful model for self-leadership, for teams, and for coaching, so I will be adding it to the toolkit.

Blakey’s work on trust also goes deeper than Lencioni (whose model and approach I have always loved and found helpful) so I think could augment any leader or organisation pondering what this looks like. Blakey - Trust

And despite their decidedly underwhelming covers (paging 1986, paging 1986…) all three of Blakey’s books look fascinating, and get rave reviews - proving of course that you should never judge a book by its cover. Any excuse to expand my library, I’m off to have a nose…

If you’ve not yet discovered the work of John Blakey, find out more here. Thrive as a Purpose Driven CEO

If you have, I’d love to hear what you find helpful about his work, and how you’ve used it in your leadership or coaching practice.

#InspirationIsAContactSport