Emerging Sage Leaders: Changes in Their Leadership Style

Reasons for the Shift

What gets emerging leaders thinking in new ways about their leadership styles? For many emerging sages, these shifts are not just tied to growing older. They often resulted from life-changing experiences—for example, several women sages point to divorce as an event that catapulted them into a whole new way of thinking. Some emerging sages had international experiences during their early adulthood that helped to unfreeze them, while many had major challenges early in their careers. And some emerging sages didn’t have clarifying and expanding life experiences to forge their identity as responsible adults and leaders until later in life.

Many emerging sages have had positive experiences and achievements that helped them to build self-confidence as a leader. Some aren’t as demanding in their relations with other persons because their “inner critic” is no longer so strident; they have become more compassionate, patient, and forgiving of themselves and others. They also have come to realize that their colleagues sometimes can’t follow through with commitments because things come up in their lives that pull them in other directions. And these emerging sages no longer feel they have to be the only voice at the table because they are no longer threatened by the strength of other voices. In short, they have now assumed a more confident and participatory leadership style.

We might speculate about the young men and women who have yet to make the transition to a more collaborative and patient form of leadership. Are these potential sage leaders frozen in time, still depending on leadership styles that are strident and self-referential? Are they still trying to achieve everything on their own? Are they resisting life experiences that can teach them about alternative styles and perspectives? If they are stuck, do they even know this? And do they know how to get unstuck? Does it take some galvanizing experience to set young men and women on a path to civic engagement that can shape their becoming collaborative and compassionate emerging sage leaders?