Eric Martin - Your Leadership Moment: Democratizing Leadership in an Age of Authoritarianism

Praise for Your Leadership Moment

The critical skill that leaders need today is the ability to work across lines of difference to create meaningful change that benefits everyone, not just the privileged few. Your Leadership Moment allows readers to build that skill through touching, provocative, and deeply human stories and its call for everyone, regardless of their circumstances, to choose to lead.

Jacqueline Novogratz, founder & CEO of Acumen

An adaptive leadership truth-telling about defining moments of our times. A compelling read for people and companies who seek to challenge the status quo and survive.

Lauren Serota, head of performance & talent at Patagonia

Eric lives leadership. From the intimate stories of his own life, to his pragmatic ability to hand people and groups what they need, to his deep love and commitment for a more just and generative worldwe are lucky to have his contributions. Your Leadership Moment shares ideas everyone can use and a humanity we are all hungry for. Your sense of yourself and what is possible will be elevated on the other side of reading t his book.

Alexander Grashow, author of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership

Just like one of Eric Martins adaptive leadership sessions, Your Leadership Moment takes you on a journey. You end up surprised to find yourself examining purpose, power, and identity with a renewed motivation to change your life, community, organization, and t he world.

Bavidra Mohan, head of leadership at Acumen

As a scientist, I share Eric Martins passion for tackling challenges at the interface of humans and the environment. I take heart in his pragmatic and systemic, yet human-centered, approach to leading adaptiv e change.

Dr. Sarah Elaine Lewis, senior director for innovation at The Sustainability Consortium

Eric Martin combines relentless optimism with hard-nosed realism in powerful stories of people like you and me who saw a leadership opportunity and refused to sit on the sidelines. Each of us has the potential for a leadership moment. Reading this book will help you fi nd yours.

Dr. Marty Linsky, coauthor of The Practice of Adaptive Leadership

Eric Martin invites us to consider the power of leadership moments to influence change both within and outside of corporate walls. Creating a sustainable future requires nothing less than each of us seizing these moments.

Euan Murray, CEO of The Sustainability Consortium

Eric Martin has managed to put into writing what he so masterfully and authentically does in his life and work: make acts of leadership, fuelled by courage and compassion, accessible to all. This book has real heart and real tools for leaders. Im excited to put its wisdo m to use.

Molly Alexander, founder of MPA Globa l Advisors

The perfect balance of evocative storytelling with practical leadership ideas. Democratizing leadership speaks to people across our social and political divides, and offers hope for healing a fracture d nation.

Roger Sorkin, award-winning producer & executive director of the American Resilien ce Project

YOUR

LEADERSHIP

MOMENT

Eric R. Martin

Mango Publishing

Coral Gables

Copyright 2020 by Eric Martin.
Published by Mango Publishing Group, a division of Mango Media Inc.

Cover Design & Layout: Roberto Nez
Interior Graphics: David Carol

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Your Leadership Moment: Democratizing Leadership in an Age of Authoritarianism

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2020933926
ISBN: (print) 978-1-64250-267-1, (ebook) 978-1-64250-268-8
BISAC category code: BUS071000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Leadership

Printed in the United States of America

For t he unseen.

Table of Contents

Start Close In

Sta rt close in,
dont take
the s econd step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you dont
wan t to take.

Start with
the ground
you know,
the p ale ground
beneath your feet,
your own
wa y to begin
the con versation.

Start wit h your own
question,
give u p on other
peoples questions,
don t let them
smother something
simple.

To hear
anothe rs voice,
follow
your own voice,
wait until
that voice
becomes an
intimate
p rivate ear
that can
rea lly listen
t o another.

Start right now
take a small step
you can cal l your own
do nt follow
some one elses
heroics, be humble
an d focused,
start close in,
don t mistake
that other
for your own.

Start close in,
dont take
the s econd step
or the third,
start with the first
thing
close in,
the step
you dont
wan t to take.

by Da vid Wh yte

In October of 2018, I sat in a room in Ventura, California, with Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard and our board of directors. Among line items on the agenda like budget, innovation, and governance was one that sparked curiosity and sent the mind into a flurry: mission statement. Two words with high gravity. A statement by which we measure success, derive our values, and hold each other accountable. A phrase to be echoed and imitated by large and small companies alike, and a north star for those starting thei r journey.

Since the early 1990s, Patagonias mission has been one designed with inherent tension: Build the Best Product, Cause No Unnecessary Harm, Use Business to Inspire and Implement Solutions to the Environmental Crisis . Somewhat clunky, but profound. Lead with excellence, manage your mess, and bring others along for the ride. There are many businesses excelling at one or two of these principles, but our success is only activated if we achieve them i n concert.

The mission was progressive when we wrote it in 1992. Now its old news. The planet is out of time, and humanity is out of time, Yvon said. We are in business to save the planet. These words lit a spark. A discussion ensuedopinions traded, our existence questioned, consumerism villainizedand ended with a new mission: We are in Business to Save Our Home Planet . Yvon challenged the companys leadership, How will the new mission change how you and your teams do your jobs? There was some hemming and hawinglatent fear inherent with any change. And mostly, an absolutely electric energy leading to a collective, H ell yeah.

It took a while for me to digest the profundity of that conversation and the new mission. The compulsion of urgency. The confirmation that all bets are off. The acknowledgement of the crisis at hand. And the license to be an agent of change for the company and for our home planet. I went back to my team and said, Yvon changed the mission. Heres what were here to do. The question was how to do it. The answer, radical em powerment.