Purpose & Leadership philosophy


The purpose of the Public Leadership Foundation is to enable MAD leadership together.

 

The main components of our purpose refer to the following:

Enabling:      Assisting and challenging ourselves and others to grow and develop

MAD:            Making A Difference, as in contributing to the greater, public good

Leadership:   The actions, behaviors, activities and roles of all individuals in actively Making A Difference

Together:     Shared and inclusive, as we shape and develop the MAD Movement in cooperation

The Foundation’s logo with its dandelion symbolises the purpose of enabling MAD leadership together: once individuals and groups have made the EPIC leap it is up to them where they land and what they grow into. It is up to them what leadership challenge to focus on and what solution to go with, while being part of the MAD Movement taking a role in further enabling MAD leadership.

Leadership philosophy

We define leadership as action and behaviour towards fulfilling purpose together. It is a shared responsibility for a journey towards continued societal development. Leadership creates leaders, not the other way around (Barker, 1997 and 2001).

Our leadership philosophy is based on the notion that the world can be a better, more equal, fair, and sustainable place for all its beings and for the earth self if we focus on delivering on internal goods, and that we all have a responsibility to Make A Difference – to be MAD – to achieve this. Such difference will only happen through active leadership performed by individuals working together towards solutions to societal challenges. We seek to not only encourage such leadership, but to identify, develop and support it in the broader MAD Movement. On individual, group, organisational and institutional levels this happens through a focus on EPIC leadership principles:

Energy         We all have energy, and our focus is on how to channel it in an effective and efficient way, how to recharge and stay energised, and how to energise those around us.

Purpose        We believe that a clear purpose not only leads to healthier and longer lives, but that it supports individual, group, organisational and institutional fulfilment and success. Our focus is to help identify and develop such purpose, and support work towards fulfilling it.

Identity        Be who you are best: yourself. Everyone else is taken. Our focus is on developing every person’s identity, individuality and potential, and to help everyone to be true to themselves. Our focus is not on molding individuals to fit preconceived leadership skills and traits.

Courage       Our focus is on developing the courage to be ourselves, to contribute to leadership, to ask the questions that need to be asked, to make mistakes and learn from them, and to believe in ourselves and those around us.

Check out the-mad-manifesto for the Foundation’s Ethics, Values, Core activities and roles