1: Not as much as we might think.
“Like an iceberg, salary and benefits are the visible part,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.
“But they comprise less than 15 percent of our motivation,” he notes.
The research shows that 85 percent of the reasons we are engaged at work lie below the surface.
“And that part,” Fred notes, “is composed of respect, care, integrity, a feeling of belonging, a sense of achievement, a noble purpose, and ethical principles.”
According to the acclaimed psychologist Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, “once we have satisfied our basic needs for survival and security, like food and shelter, our highest desire,” Fred writes, “is the feeling that our lives matter, that we can make a difference, that we can contribute to make the world a better place for those around us and those who will come after us.”
2: Fred believes creating meaningful work is the realm of the transcendent leader.
“The transcendent leader invites people to join a project that infuses their lives with meaning and significance,” he writes.
“Such a project promises to leave a mark in the world that will far transcend the lives of those who carried it through.”
As transcendent leaders, we acquire a new set of tools. “Something that takes us and our organizations where others can’t go,” writes Fred.
We are able to address the challenges of incentives and benefits in a much more powerful way than most leaders do right now.
“Transcendent leadership relies on the inspirational power of nonmaterial incentives—employees’ personal sense of meaning, achievement, and self-esteem, as well as shared values and ethics, and their desire to belong to a community,” he notes.
There are many business books telling leaders how to get things done: How to manage change, how to hire the right people, how to create a strategy and execute it, and so on.
“They all offer good advice,” Fred writes. “But they miss something fundamental about the human condition, making them more suitable for operational managers than for genuine leaders.
“The very question of ‘How do you…?’ is managerial.
“The greater leadership question is ‘Who are you?'”
3: When we become transcendent leaders, we start playing a brand-new game. Chess. Not checkers.
Yes, we are able to access a new way of leading. Of course. But more importantly, we are now able “to be a leader who inspires followers to find what is most precious in their lives and commit to manifesting it,” Fred writes.
That’s next level.
“Leadership emerges from our human need to make our lives meaningful,” Fred writes. “We all want to live, to love, and to leave a legacy. An engaging organization enables people to achieve all three. It is the ultimate club of happiness and enthusiasm.”
Deep down, many of us worry that our lives are being wasted. “We are afraid that our lives won’t matter, that we won’t matter, that we won’t have made a difference, that we will leave no trace of this world after we are gone,” Fred observes.
Which is why some people are drawn to work at non-profit organizations.
Fred believes there is an even better way: “While we can help others and alleviate suffering through volunteerism or non-profit work, I believe nothing holds a candle to economic development as a way to eradicate poverty and bring humanity to a higher level of prosperity, peace, and happiness.”
What is the key to unlocking the lock? Entrepreneurship.
“Entrepreneurs who behave ethically are the engines that propel the growth of humanity, creating value to all their stakeholders,” He writes. “That’s what conscious business, and transcendent leadership, are all about.”
All of this is possible because of the underlying laws of capitalism.
“Due to the voluntary nature of transactions,” Fred notes, “the free market allows each party to ‘opt-out’ unless he or she feels he or she is gaining value.
“The only way to profit is to make other people profit or do better. It transforms self-interest into service, and imperialism into trade,” he notes.
Which means that for-profit businesses “can become houses of meaning constructed on foundations of benevolence, service, and love,” Fred observes. “I believe this is the ultimate source of economic value.”
Indeed.
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Reflection: What do I make of Fred’s insights on transcendent leadership? Am I leading like a transcendent leader? Do I want to?
Action: Discuss with a colleague, peer, or family member.
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