Archetyping, a new form of leadership comes to Sri Lanka
The Leadership Archetyping forum was launched at a breakfast meeting in Colombo with the attendance of business owners, CEO’s and political leaders including the Conservative Member of the European Parliament for South East England Niranjan Deva Aditya, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake, Child Affairs Minister Rosy Senanayake and Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka while several business leaders participated at the forum.
Mr. Aditya said although Asia today holds about half of the population it was difficult to think of one (standout) Asian global brand except for local tea brands and Singapore Airlines.
Michel Nugawela with distinguished guests.
He pointed out to western brands which have become global brands and posed the question as to what made Steve Jobs so inspiring and Jack Welsh so interesting.
He said archetypical leaders enable ‘us’ to understand and draw innovation. What are these archetypical types, he asked. There are 12 fundamental archetypes including the innocent, the orphan, the warrior, the caregiver, the explorer, the lover, the destroyer, the creator, the ruler, the sage, the magician and the jester.
Referring to global brands, he said some brands have even cut across national identities and cultures. “Global brands shape the preferences of the consumer and politicians too are brands including myself,” he said.
Chairman, Ceylon Chamber of Commerce Suresh Shah said effective leadership paves the way for children to grow strong and healthy and become productive adults. Without leadership, organizations will move slowly, stagnate and lose their way. Investors also recognize the importance of good business leadership. A good leader can transform a weak business plan into a successful one.
Success of leadership was crucial in implementing decisions successfully. Once a decision is made a organization faces the task of implementing it. “We now live in a global village where access to information is almost universal with improved technology,” he said. Referring to branding specialist Michel Nugawela, he said he specializes in corporate and brand creation and has worked for several leading companies and banks in Sri Lanka and abroad in countries like Indonesia.
Mr. Nugawela, introducing the concept of Leadership Archetyping, said it was Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka who introduced a new strategy and intuition to defeat the LTTE a few years back that had fought a ruthless war for more than 30 years.
His strategy was based on opening up several fronts during the war that spilt the LTTE to their disbelief. Of the two warriors, one won and the other lost and how did this happen, he asked. It happened because one changed his perspective while the other stuck to it, he said. General Fonseka always maintained his military initiative to win the war. He said the Presidential election this year revealed many events to reinvent several democratic institutions and to revive them after 10 years of stagnation and corruption.
He said many of ‘us’ have different archetype faces such as the innocent, orphan, warrior, caregiver, explorer, lover, destroyer, creator, ruler, magician, sage and jester types. Each of these archetypes has a human face. He said each reflects the various roles that leaders can play in organizations by putting a human face to the attitudes, interactions and behavioural patterns that are correlated with success and thereby influence their effectiveness.
The 12 archetypes are further divided into three sets of four, namely ego, soul and self with the archetypes in each set sharing a common psychological driving source and storyline that influence how leaders see, act or experience the life patterns, opportunities and challenges that they face in their executive role.
Taken together these archetypes provide a holistic view of individual and organizational transformation.
The election in January brought Maithripala Sirisena, a ruler –caregiver and Ranil Wikremesinghe, a ruler –sage into power. It remains to be seen if both these leaders can be the magicians who transform the country for the better, he said.