Confronting Our Freedom : Leading a Culture of Chosen Accountability and Belonging

Explore the nature of modern leadership In Confronting Our Freedom , a team of dedicated leadership coaches delivers an exciting and engaging new take on management and leadership. Drawing on recent events in the market and in the world, including the Great Resignation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and widespread digital transformation, the authors invite you to reimagine ideas of freedom and accountability in the context of work. You'll explore how freedom of action—for managers and employees—is what gives rise to true accountability, both in the community and in the workplace. In the book, you'll also find: Discussions of the power and structure of freedom, including its implications for our own choices and lives Ways to shift the focus of your leadership and management to accountability and freedom Strategies for shifting the illusion of clear roles and expectations to one compatible with fully human organizations A groundbreaking and incisive approach to managing and leading others in virtual, hybrid, and in-person settings, Confronting Our Freedom will be an eye opener for managers, executives, and other business leaders seeking to improve their ability to inspire others to their fullest potential. Cover 1 Title Page 9 Copyright Page 10 Note to Readers 12 Contents 13 Preface 17 Prologue: Then Was the Moment 21 The past is not past 22 What lies ahead 24 Introduction: The Philosophic Insight 29 Conversations on freedom and accountability 32 The view from where we are 35 The culture 35 The individual 37 Organizations and the evolving workplace 40 Parenting is the origin story of management and leadership 42 Shifting the historical context 45 Philosophic insight in the world of organized effort 48 Real world, really? 49 Uncertain reality 51 At work 52 The existential understanding 56 Chapter 1 The Power and Structure of Freedom 59 Rewards 63 Freedom, reality, choice, and will 63 Accepting our freedom 65 The fundamental insight 67 Implications: The forms of freedom 70 1. Employees do not need to be motivated 71 2. Rewards do not explain and drive behavior 73 3. The organization does not have to develop “its” employees 75 4. Leadership is abundant, not rare 80 Choice, reality, and will 83 Choice and the nature of helplessness 83 Every act is free 84 The locus of freedom 85 Accepting responsibility and accountability 86 Chapter 2 The Potential of Anxiety 87 The fruits of your patience 90 Solving anxiety 92 The promise of anxiety 94 The language of freedom: It was an inside job 96 Shifting the context to freedom and accountability 99 Implications: Anxiety as an ally of accountability both central to performance in a time of permanent uncertainty 100 A problem to be solved 102 Lists and measures 103 Our wish for certainty 106 The permanent condition 108 Being conscious 110 Chapter 3 Speaking of Death and Evil 113 Death is an option 117 A storm in the shelter 119 Facing reality. Taking charge of our life. 121 A summary of usefulness of the reality of death 123 The presence of evil 125 Denying the reality of evil 127 Do no harm 129 Implications: Failure, fear, death, and evil 131 Small deaths 132 Time in a bottle 134 Saying no and the value of dissent 135 Social responsibility 138 The leading edge of social responsibility 140 Chapter 4 Fully Human Organizations 145 Guilty as chosen and guilty as charged 147 The sounds of freedom 152 Reversing the illusion of clear roles and expectations 153 Not enough 154 Our expectations 156 What are we to do? 159 Real and chosen accountability? Fully human organizations 164 Last time about guilt 165 The opportunity of meaning 166 The entrepreneurial act of creation 169 Epilogue: Final Words from the Philosopher 173 References and Background Reading 177 Acknowledgments 179 About the Authors 183 Index 187 EULA 194 "Confronting Our Freedom is about reframing the common practices rising from traditional thinking about management and leadership. Most management theory and practice are about the need for clear constraints to succeed in the world where we work, but this now conventional thinking about managing calls for adaptation when working remotely has become common. This book is an invitation to freedom. Structuring our world for freedom is the path to collective accountability. It is ultimately a friendly look into how we might reimagine our participation in the working world, analyzing the strategy, execution, and management of philosophers, leaders, and educators"-- Provided by publisher This book rests on the ideas of freedom and accountability. Especially how they fit into our ideas and practices that occur in our places of work. It reframes how we think about the common practices that are the essence of most jobs. It is intended to question our management practices. And offer an alternative. It is ultimately a friendly whisper into how we might think about the common practices that are the essence of most jobs. It is in essence a friendly whisper into how we might question our assumptions about consistency, control, and predictability. Even in organizations that rate highly in employee satisfaction. Best places to work and the like. Offers a new perspective on viewing the workplace through the lens of philosophy to have a better understanding of how to reclaim freedom and accountability and encourage the same in others.