Globalization, disruptive technologies, pressure on finite resources, increasing social disparity, and demand for business transparency: Enter the age of uncertainty. These transformative times are reshaping the workplace in profound ways, demanding the crossing of thresholds at myriad levels. Leadership is what enables us to traverse our own thresholds while helping others traverse theirs. 

The origin of the word “leadership” is the old European word leith, which means “to go forth and cross the threshold; to let go of old ways and embrace the new.” In other words, leadership is about shaping our future while letting go of yesterday’s logic.

The hallmark of yesterday’s logic is a control-and-predict, hurry-up-and-get-on-with-it short-termism. It has infected how we perceive our world and our sense of self within it—as self-absorbed units struggling for survival in a dog-eat-dog world. We are separating ourselves from each other and corrupting our relationships.

 …