Integer Leadership Consulting

In the Opinion section of the WSJ today there is a marvelous and insightful reflection based on the words of “Nathaniel Morton, keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford, sometime governor thereof.” As I read the description of the perilous nature of the journey ahead for the pilgrims, I thought of how the nature of this journey reflected the fundamental nature of leadership, that is, traversing the unknowable challenges and unforeseen dilemmas which await beyond the horizon.

As the pilgrims depart “Delfs-Haven” the article reads, “Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succor; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts.

Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wild beasts and wild men? And what multitudes of them there were, they then k now not: for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weather-beaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.”

The final comment on the ensuring editorial which connects with the above quote says, “…we might remind ourselves also, that if those men setting out from Delfshaven had been daunted by the troubles they saw around them, then we could not this autumn be thankful for a fair land.”

This is an exquisite example of leadership buttressed by informed courage willing to confront the unpredictable vicissitudes of an unknowable future. I read this and I resonate….would it be that I too, when faced with the “unpredictable vicissitudes of an unknowable future” move forward with an informed intelligence and imagination of what could be. This autumn is an occasion to affrirm and continue to cultivate that brazen courage that is the perfect and necessary compliment to a solid portfolio of organizational tools.