All that is visible must grow beyond itself, extending into the realm of the invisible. Thereby it receives true consecration and clarity and takes firm root in the cosmic order.

(The great leaders) value their words highly. They accomplish their tasks; they complete their work. Nevertheless, the people say that they simply follow nature.

Leadership does not come out of what we say we are going to do. It comes out of what we do. It comes out of being who we are. If we try to be something specifically, we will always fall short of what we are capable of being.

So much of who we are and what is possible in each of us as human beings is not known by any of us. Who can imagine a butterfly coming out of a caterpillar? In truly being oneself, this evolution, this change, becomes a natural process. The way we consciously move in that direction is to give ourselves purpose and to act out of the highest sense of purpose that we can imagine in everything we do - to have that purpose show up in everything that we do.

That is the point of it all. If I am a leader, it is not because I have tried to be. I am simply being myself. I am simply expressing myself to the best of my ability and acting out of the passion and convictions that I feel. I am simply striving to continually move myself forward, to move to higher ground, to live out of a higher sense of purpose - and, more and more, to have that constantly reflected in all of my actions.

Yet, as the I Ching says, "I am only following nature." I follow nature by being true to my natural self, my own inclinations, my own abilities and the things that naturally interest me. I look at who I am and where I am - 45 years old with a wife and brand new baby - and look at what is going on in the world, and I see what I really want to do. I am only following nature.

This is a time - almost more than at any other period in history - for each individual all over the planet to play a leadership role. It doesn't have to come out of trying to be a leader or carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders. It need not be born out of the responsibility that someone else gives us or from attempting to live up to someone else's sense of our responsibility. Really, the opportunity that is described in these passages from the I Ching is available to each and every one of us. We live in a world where each of us has to educate ourselves to make conscious choices, to make commitments - and to take a stand about living out of those conscious choices and commitments. Conscious choice and commitment are at the heart of leadership.

Henry Ford had commitment. Mr. Ford developed a new idea. His purpose in life was to continue to improve that idea, to make it better. The development of the Ford automobile was as successful as Henry Ford's imagination, initiative, ingenuity and persistence. As he succeeded, he needed to bring in other people to handle different aspects of the business - the budget, marketing and production. When he was gone, the corporation became the image and the profit became the business. The vision no longer matched Henry Ford's true purpose, to create a better automobile and a better product. There are obviously risks associated with leadership.

It is important to note that leadership can also be misguided and, consequently, go wrong. Consider Lawrence Rawl, the Chief Executive Officer of the Exxon Corporation. I have not met Mr. Rawl personally, but I do know from talking with a friend of his that he used to be a true community leader. He was genuinely involved, he participated, and he appeared to be the kind of person you would expect to move to the leadership of a major corporation. He did with Exxon.

Now, however, the process of running a corporation as immense as Exxon has gotten so big, there is so much going on, there is so much money to be made - arms and voices everywhere are pulling at him. Then something happens like the oil spill in Prince William Sound. I am bewildered by why Mr. Rawl does not come forward as a true leader would. I wonder why he doesn't say, "Look, we made a mistake while I was on the job - and I am going to make sure that everything that can be done to rectify the situation is done. We are going to stay with our cleanup no matter what it costs and how long it takes. That is my word, on my honor, as a gentleman and as the leader of this corporation."

I am sure that somewhere, that is probably the kind of guy he is - but the corporation is enormous and there is an incredible amount of money involved. Exxon made $5.7 billion in profit last year, which is a little over $10,000 a minute. I am told that Mr. Rawl personally made 9 million - and yet I am also told that he cannot take the time to either call or write the President of the United States or the Governor of Alaska, or to communicate his position directly to the people of Alaska. He has remained absolutely silent except to be quoted as saying, "I don't understand why people are so angry. It's just an oil spill." In my opinion, this is not the mark of either a great leader or a true gentleman.

This fall, I traveled to Alaska with Dr. Jay Hair, President and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. I went to have a first hand look at the extent of the damage at Prince William Sound, to speak to some of the leaders in Alaska and to perform several benefit concerts for the Federation's Alaska Fund and for the Alaskan Conservation Foundation. Out of our trip came a song that I am writing called "Raven's Child". These lines from that song apply to the misguided leadership I think we are seeing from Exxon:

This fall, Exxon held a celebration party to congratulate themselves for completing their work in Alaska. They are not planning to return. The government now says that they are going to get involved to make sure the job is actually done - and that they plan to send Exxon the bill. Yet if we, as leaders, do not keep Exxon keenly alert to our concerns, they will continue to gloss over the problems associated with the cleanup. Nothing will be accomplished for the long term. That $5.7 billion of profit will go into people's pockets instead of, for example, to invest in measures to prevent such environmental disasters in the future.

We need to keep our government officials alert to our concerns as well. It seems to me that the majority of politicians see the public move in a certain direction, and immediately get out in front of them, making the people believe, they, the politicians, are leading the parade. Politicians are trying to demonstrate their leadership and are, at best, simply followers of the thinking of the people. Their leadership ability is only given space within which to work by what the people give to them.

With the leadership opportunity I personally have available to me, I have made this commitment, and I invite you to do the same - I am not going to let Exxon get away with it. I am going to talk about this everywhere I go, until they have completed their work.

It's a simple as that. Follow nature. Value your word. Accomplish your tasks. Complete your work.

Windstar Journal, Spring 1989, Reprint by permission only.

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