Leadership Agility and the post-heroic leader

I was talking to my good friend Stephen Josephs yesterday about the metaphor of host as leader and leader as host.  Stephen is one of the most experienced leadership coaches I know, and has a huge amount of accumulated wisdom in many traditions.  His book (with Bill Joiner) ‘Leadership Agility: Five levels of mastery for anticipating and initiating (http://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Agility-Anticipating-Initiating-non-Franchise/dp/0787979139) sets out a great agenda for post-heroic leadership. 

The power of inviting – getting an authentic Yes

One of the key aspects of Leader as Host is the power of invitations. Whereas Hero leaders might instruct, and others might request, a Host leader will use the power of a compelling invitation to engage people. I have been thinking for a while about what makes a great invitation. Of course we need to know what we’re being invited to – both at the conceptual and practical level.