Zombie vs Holistic Leadership

When considering leadership as a behavior manifestation and influence, we are starting to depict the multiple facades of leading. Leadership has been defined and redefined numerous times, but certain traits and some dead ideas refuse to leave the overall perception of leadership. In a recent article published by The Leadership Quarterly journal entitled Zombie Leadership: Dead Ideas that Still Walk Among Us, the authors remind us of some stinging truths about old, embedded beliefs about leadership. Zombie Leadership points out the unseen robust set of ideas that remove masses from running a society, encouraging an indisputable hierarchy and justifying leaders' superiority.

Leadership as a force of movement and action cannot exist in an abstract form; it is a concept based on relationships between leaders and those they influence. A few of the leadership axioms (constraints) mentioned in the research stood out for me. There are specific things all great leaders do. This concept involves behavior, namely consideration and the initiation of structure. Consideration can be very subjective because what appears to be fair for one person is not fair for another. Some sources claim that structure and stability are part of managerial behavior and are often dismissed. However, it is not only the leader who acts as the agent of change but also the people who serve him/her, the economy that sustains the business, and clients who invest in the industry who facilitate the leader's flourishing.

All leadership is the same. This axiom takes leadership out of context and makes it a one-size-fits-all. Leaders are leaders in some aspect and not in an abstract fashion. They are tied to time and space and specific to a particular group/industry/society. And my favorite, Leadership is a special skill limited to special people. A skill practiced by elite individuals with god-like attributes. This only widens the gap and inequality between the leaders and followers. This concept also allows a grandiosity to be attributed to the leaders, which creates a sense of psychological distance between the tops of organizations and employees/followers.

Zombie leadership shows that society currently believes and reinforces ideas that might no longer apply to our time. This can be contextualized by looking at the world through a distorted lens, creating an unequal world, a top and bottom layer of human capital, where the lower is a passive and dependent responder. To avoid these axioms and their traps, we must understand that we can defeat them by recognizing their presence and cost to our business and exploring better alternatives to leadership.

This brings me to the newer concept of leadership, which is grounded in the interconnectedness between leaders, others, and the world. This is Holistic Leadership. Holistic leaders adapt and guide and are facilitators of transformative change. The rising model considers all the nuances of leadership, starting from the base premise that the leadership approach should start from the heart. This is not a hypothetical proposition but rather a crucial shift from the analytical mind to the empathic heart. It is said that a leader is the brain of an organization. Our mind runs on beliefs, thoughts, and interpretive perceptions and is constrictive. Our heart operates on feelings, the frequency of love, compassion, care for self and others, and is expansive. In our physical body, the brain links all the systems in the body, including the heart and gut. As Dr. Tara Swart puts it, "The leader is the master controller in the organization."  That is to say, a leader embodies both mind and heart qualities, and it is recognized as such in a holistic leadership approach.

Holistic leadership proposes a new way of modeling ideas. Who said that we have to feel a split between work and home? Sure, there is a comfort level at home and a professional conduit at work, but how about feeling? We should feel safe, heard, and respected in both environments governing our world. Someone "up there" must recognize the importance of human naivete and encourage others to work passionately. In contrast to Zombie leadership, there are specific things all great leaders do; Holistic leadership considers what great leaders feel. 

By crafting meaningful relationships, teams operate smoothly, blurring the lines between leader-follower duality and enhancing new ideas. Understanding the complexity of every individual is crucial because every single task can impact their perception of organizational culture. Holistically, leadership is different everywhere. Leadership is adaptive, extensive, observative, and ever-learning. I admire Dr. David Hawkins' saying, "The only way to enhance one's power in the world is by increasing one's integrity, understanding, and capacity for compassion."

There is nothing special in any of us, and there is something special in all of us. Here is the fascinating breadth of understanding oneself. You don't necessarily need a lifetime of experience to be a good leader, as much as you don't need to be a lousy leader with little experience. Because of this, Holistic leadership acknowledges the vastness of being a human and honors emotions by fostering healthy practices and integrated business habits. Leaders must bring their whole being into the leadership role, body (behavior), mind (critical thinking), and heart (empathy). And, of course, staying curious always enfolds more extraordinary visions.  

References:

S. Alexander Haslam, Mats Alvesson, Stephen D. Reicher, Zombie leadership: Dead ideas that still walk among us, The Leadership Quarterly, Volume 35, Issue 3,2024,101770, ISSN 1048-9843,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2023.101770.

Hawkins PHD. MD, David. Power vs Force, The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior. Veritas Publishing, 1995.

Swart, Tara, Kitty Chisholm, and Paul Brown. Neuroscience for Leadership: Harnessing the Brain Gain Advantage. UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.