Self-actualisation and the art of leadership

Self-actualisation means exactly what it sounds like. It means realizing the highest potential of your self. The idea itself owes a lot to Abraham Maslow.

An American psychologist, Moslow(1908-1970) put forward one of the more intriguing theories about human motivation. According to him, motivation could be explained using a hierarchy of human needs. This hierarchy, he envisioned as a pyramid.

  

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Self-actualization is necessary to lead the many 

At the base of the pyramid are our needs for such basics like water, food, rest and warmth. As you go up the hierarchical ladder, you encounter the needs of love, self-esteem, safety and the sense of accomplishment. Once these needs are also satisfied, you reach the pyramid’s top. Here, the need we have to satisfy involves realizing our full potential.

Maslow proposed that such a fulfilling of your complete potential would result in ‘self-actualisation.’ In other words, you become your true self. According to Marlow, this is a transcendent state which leads to a broader view of humanity and greater compassion. The natural extension of such a state seems to be inner peace.

Gazing at the self

The idea of pursuing a life that allows the thorough realization of your full potential may not sound unusual in the 21st century. After all, high achieving professionals and organizations typically strive after that highest potential. And the closer you get to fulfilling that potential, the better your performance become.
But the challenge is in finding the motivation to strive towards the highest potential- to envision that stage where your greatest creative aspirations meet the ideal business objective.
The truth is that this state already exists inside your self. What you have to do is first, realize it within yourself and then pursue it.

We are talking here about your True Personal Vision.

True Personal Vision
True Personal Vision is the innate vision that exists within yourself.


It’s true- meaning that you couldn’t replicate it any other way than by discovering it in you, not any more than you could replicate love.


It’s personal- meaning that it couldn’t be found anywhere else in the whole wide universe except in your own self. It’s at the same time an affirmation of your own uniqueness and also a celebration of being.


It’s a Vision- a vision is more than transient. It’s not phantasmagorical, at least not in this context. Rather, it’s the clearest view of your deepest aspirations, manifest as something approachable, something worth reaching for, something that drives you to do more, more and even more. Something that helps you challenge yourselves to scale new heights.


The idea that this vision abides in yourself is comfortable. But then, if that’s the case, why is it so hard to find this vision?


The answer is to be found in the truth mentioned before- that True Personal Vision could be found within you. This naturally means that a penetrating inward gaze is needed to realize it. Unfortunately, we all live in a busy world where such inner-reflection is the exception than the norm.


Besides, you would have to wade through morass of wrongly held notions and thickets of distractions before reaching at the vision. The wrong notions and such are often products of poor past experiences- professional or personal. There’s no need to carry them forward thereby letting them influence the decisions you make. Uprooting them may require expert help.


  

Temenos Vision Lab
Temenos Vision Lab or TVL is a unique session developed by Temenos+Agility which helps you realize your True Personal Vision. Using proprietary tools, some of the best leadership coaches in business guide you to your vision in Temenos Vision Lab.

Developed based on 25 years of business consultancy experience, TVL envisions the change agent as a holistic being whose ‘different selves’- professional, personal, social etc. influence each other. Such an interconnectedness between the selves means that one cannot just become better in one aspect by circumventing the other.

This is why it’s necessary to consider the person as a holistic being if he or she is to be helped to achieve their full potential. To use Abraham Maslow’s term, self- actualisation is possible only by considering the self as a whole and  not by looking at one or other facet. And it’s this integrated view, and of course the realization of True Personal Vision that TVL brings to you.


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