“A leadership model that is more respectful of people while generating greater economic value is within reach. There is no need for complicated methods; three universal values provide the pathways to reinventing leadership. They are Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.”
Céline Schillinger - Dare to Un-Lead
Those are the words of Lyon, France-based and first-time author Céline Schillinger, an engagement leadership thinker and practitioner who has previously been recognized multiple times for her innovative engagement initiatives in the corporate world. It includes being bestowed the Medal of the National Order of Merit by the French government.
Schillinger’s just-released book, “Dare to Un-Lead: The Art of Relational Leadership in a Fragmented World,” is not a theoretical model. As Schillinger describes, “It came from experimenting with new patterns, new interactions and new forms of value creation in the workplace.” Schillinger’s experimentation and execution result in a playbook of sorts that any organization or leader can adopt. Her French nationality might have had something to do with the book’s pillars of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
What is Liberty?
Schillinger writes: “Far from being an obstacle to the smooth running of an enterprise, Liberty is an accelerant. It allows people to exercise judgment, escape the pitfalls of arbitrariness, and develop their agency. Collective freedom begins with the emancipation of the individual, a transformational experience that is undergone by anyone who aspires to change agency. To extend freedom at scale, a different kind of leadership is required, putting new and sometimes counterintuitive principles at the heart of managerial practices.”
Schillinger believes she had a duty to start with the pillar of Liberty to express the voice of all the people she has worked with in the past, including frontline workers, activists, and middle managers. They are the people who have an enormous desire to contribute to “Better Business” to better organizations, who are prevented from doing so by the very nature of our organizations.
“It’s a shame,” she said. “We shouldn’t do harm to people and our businesses. Goodwill and a sense of purpose are already there in our organizations.” Schillinger begins with Liberty because she advocates for an employee’s agency, tapping into and unleashing an unheralded engagement opportunity. “It’s difficult for organizations to know what to do with people who are so different, who have such aspirations,” she advised.
What is Equality?
Schillinger outlines Equality in Dare to Un-Lead as follows: “Inequalities in status and access to information, domination relationships, and obedience have become obstacles to the performance of organizations. A semblance of equality cannot mask the difficulties organizations face when dealing with the diversity of people. Yet there is a phenomenal opportunity before us in the shape of networks, as well as the technology and human relationships that enable them. Networks, as organizational design principles, allow for new, highly effective collective work practices, replacing domination with peer leadership that has the capacity to inspire agility and innovation.”
She drives home the point of not only being more open but by being “comfortable in the uncomfortable.” When we’re more open to complexities of equality—and not just to the adage ‘my door is always open’—but to meaningful, complex change, good things can happen.
For example, of the 600 references in her book, Schillinger points out that over 40% of them are from women. “It was an important action for me to establish equality coherence [in the book],” she said, as an example of walking the talk.
What is Fraternity?
At the root of Fraternity, Schillinger wonders aloud if the organization and its people can become activists for good. In this approach, “How do we create real togetherness?” she asked.
She believes that we could benefit enormously by importing the activist movement traits into the organization. “How can we transform our business from an engineering mindset—from a mechanistic approach—into organizational movements which build togetherness through common action in the service of a shared cause?”
Schillinger writes in the book: “Fraternity is a challenge in a contemporary society marked by individualism, distrust, and competition. This is about so much more than team building and efficiency. To focus on that alone will deliver no more than superficial results. True fraternity stems from a shared commitment to a common cause in an activist movement. Activism—its psychological drivers, its engagement mechanisms, its tools—offers organizations and leadership an immense opportunity to progress. Corporate activism enables the formation of communities based on intent and impact. These are two key drivers of human and economic performance that can activate the radical reinvention of leadership.”
Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity: do you dare to un-lead?
Of note, Dare to Un-Lead is edited by the fantastic work of editor Richard Martin.
Watch the interview with Céline Schillinger in full below or listen to it via the Leadership NOW podcast.
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Check out my 4th book, “Lead. Care. Win. How to Become a Leader Who Matters.” Thinkers50 #1 rated thinker, Amy. C. Edmondson of Harvard Business School, calls it “an invaluable roadmap.”
