Deepak Chopra will be speaking at the CIPD annual conference and exhibition in Harrogate this year. Known worldwide as the author of over 31 books, including, “The Deeper Wound” “Grow Younger, Live Longer: 10 Steps to Reversing Aging” “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” and “How to Know God: The Soul’s Journey into the Mystery of Mysteries”, he has developed new perspectives on the connections between mind, body, spirit and healing. He is the Founder/CEO of the Chopra Center at La Costa in Carlsbad, California.
Deepak Chopra is speaking at the masterclass session "Maximising leadership potential" on Thursday 24th October. Here he introduces his subject.
Leadership is a mysterious and elusive concept. What we read as history is really the creation of myths. From an ordinary person, society creates a Napoleon, or Gandhi, a Martin Luther King or Joan of Arc, someone who acquires mythic status as a shaper of destiny. We know the first steps of how this transformation occurs. Every group naturally gives rise to leaders who guide their followers to a shared goal. Yet some leaders fail while others succeed. Some are destroyed by a flawed strategy or by the overwhelming stress of their role. And when crisis arises, calling for great leaders, there is a constant threat that such a figure will not appear, leaving the infamous ‘leadership vacuum’ that has become a chronic problem in modern society. Are we too suspicious of leaders to make great ones anymore? The answer lies in the understanding of human consciousness.
How do leaders emerge from ordinary lives? In the deeper reality, a family in disarray, a company without vision, or a nation struggling toward a new level of freedom need to respond to hidden spiritual drives. Once this is understood, leaders can be made who rise to the highest levels of greatness. Any person can begin on the same road, not by being born a leader but by looking inward.
This address will look at how effective leaders identify the needs of the group and form responses accordingly. Great leaders know how to respond to the higher as well as the more basic needs. The conference speech will also examine the interaction between leader and group, and the ways in which they develop each other, as well as the principal qualities that make up up a leader's inner template.
