Intuitive Leadership an interview with James Wanless, Ph.D. by Denise Marts James Wanless is a pioneer of new thinking for organizational and personal transformation, motivation, and empowerment. He has reinvented the timeless principles of tarot into a modern paradigm and tool through his best-selling Voyager Tarot Deck as well as numerous books on classical and New Age tarot. An entrepreneur and futurist, James Wanless is a sought-after speaker who counsels and trains throughout the world on the art and strategy of designing the future.   Denise: Your work over the last two decades has been focused primarily in the area of intuitive development and the use of tarot as a tool in that area of personal growth. As we move into the next century and new millennium, your emphasis seems to be shifting from intuitive development to the specific, strategic application of intuition to the everyday business of living in all areas of our personal and professional lives. As we find ourselves in the midst of unprecedented change, the leadership models of the past, based upon traditional masculine values, continue to erode. The need for conscious, balanced leadership is now central not only to our individual well-being, but also for our survival as a species. The term "leadership" is still largely associated with traditional masculine characteristics of extroversion, assertion, defining and controlling outcomes, etc. The concept of "intuitive leadership" is intriguing in that it does not appear to negate the masculine dimension of leadership, but rather integrates feminine, intuitive qualities for a more balanced approach to leadership. How do you view leadership in the 21st century? James: Leadership is changing. It is changing from the military-industrial hierarchical model of "chain of command" to a more consensual and empathic process. Leaders, now, must walk in the shoes of those they lead. They must know what others are feeling and what they aspire to. They must be able to effectively communicate, which requires the ability to listen as well as to inspire. Leaders must offer a vision and a practical plan that others must also share and believe in. Leadership becomes almost a kind of "followership," which in good Taoist fashion means to lead in a way such that the led don't feel that they are being led. It's almost like a Zen koan. Indeed, things have become reversed. Denise: What is the role of the feminine in leadership? James: Huge! Women are on the ascent. Did you know that three of the six auto divisions at the male corporate bastion, General Motors, are now led by a woman? Women lead differently than men. Women lead more from the heart, not from abstract ideas. With an open and compassionate heart, women administer to people in service of their feelings and their growth. Her leadership is people-oriented and toward what "feels right." She is the heartfelt conscience of the human psyche. Systems and flow charts are not her thing. Women lead through nurturing rather than authority, not governing by decree, but by guiding, mentoring, and facilitating. But let's not be fooled, women leaders are no soft pushovers. They can engage in tough love and be warriors in the defense of the common quest without dominating others, however. Denise: With all due respect, I have to say that what you are describing sounds more like a stereotypical ideal than an actuality. I would suggest that, in reality, women are assimilated into male-dominated socioeconomic-political systems and essentially masculinized in the process, though this is an important and valid step for many women in need of developing their masculine energies. James: I agree that all this may seem like an idealized version of female leadership, but it is true from my experience. Leadership, for me, is not confined to only business and politics, but to family, to relationships, and to one's own self-governance. It is undoubtedly true that women are often co-opted by the old male style of rule in corporations and institutions, but within other arenas of life, there seems to me to be a definitive female style of leadership. I know this from my mother and my female friends, as well as by how I see women function, which is often, as I work predominantly with women. They are my clientele in the tarot and intuition field. The key is, can women take their natural modus operandi into the larger organizational world? In some cases, but it's difficult at best. The work I have done on intuition in the corporate world has been almost uniformly sponsored by female-run companies. Denise: What is the role of intuition in leadership? James: Imperative! In this fast-paced world of change, complexity, and uncertainty, only our intuition can keep up, be comprehensive enough, and manage the unknowns brought about by change. In fact, studies have shown that the most successful CEOs, for example, in business are highly intuitive. And as intuition is ultimately a feeling, it's an empathic ability to feel what another is feeling, and that is how people are moved, by their emotional connection with a leader. Intuition is also the core of innovation, and in this day and age, creativity is the name of the game, so great leaders "feel it and follow it." That women seem to be more trusting of their feelings is a big reason for the emergence of effective female leaders. Denise: There is a developing opinion among some observers of the New Thought movement that patriarchal systems, due to their feminine-denying nature and inherent state of imbalance, cannot be transformed by integration with the feminine. The introduction of authentic, full-bodied femininity is so destabilizing and subversive to the established order that it cannot be tolerated. Rather, the old structures must be allowed to fall of their own weight, while new structures founded upon balance by balanced men and women, over time, replace the old, outdated ones. Historical precedents for this line of thought can be seen in the fact that the founding fathers, for example, did not attempt to transform monarchy; they simply rejected it and established democracy in its place. During the Reformation, the Catholic Church was not reformed, but, rather, new religious alternatives were created. How do you see the balance being struck? James: Integrating the feminine ethos into institutional America will be resisted, but it’s fighting a losing battle. Eventually, the old-world male ways will simply wither away, for they are simply out of sync with the emergent 21st-century world and its values. In some instances, however, successful balance will occur, and this will happen when the male leadership has also embraced female values and ways. Indeed, there are a few male leaders who are balanced. In particular, I am paying close attention to what happens at a mega-company like Hewlett-Packard. Its CEO, a real people-person, has recently retired, and he was greatly supportive of intuitive decision-making, which is really following one's feelings. Will his female successor live up to and even perpetuate this evolution towards a feminine way of management that espouses "emotional intelligence"? I agree that women, rather than trying to teach an old dog new tricks, should just go ahead and do their own thing. In fact, this seems to be happening. Women-owned businesses in the U.S. have a greater gross product than the entire economy of unified Germany! I feel that what we will be seeing is a blurring mix of leadership styles, an ambiguity and diversity that mirrors the nature of our changing times. If I had to bet, I would place my money on the "feminization" of leadership. Why? Because we are moving towards a greater state of personalized business, and of small business bringing together voluntary alliances of individuals. In this situation, empathy, communication, and consensus co-creativity rule. For me an intriguing question is, Can men change? They must. There is no real choice if you really look at the economic and political dynamics. But we guys can be dense and dogmatic. Certainly, men have the capacity to lead and manage in more nurturing, intuitive, and growth-promoting ways. I even know some. But they need support, encouragement, and results! I actually view my work as taking what I have learned from women and transporting it to men. It takes strong male role models with credibility to be effective at this transformation, however. Ultimately, it's the results that will sway the tides of change, but interestingly, results may be evaluated differently. There may be a newly emergent bottom line, one that values health and happiness and meaning as much as dollars and cents. What I would really love to see is an integration of the male-female styles of living through a neutral and all-inclusive paradigm and set of values. That model, for me, is nature. The natural world is both masculine and feminine, straight and curved, hard and soft, scientific and intuitive. Nature has survived and thrived for billions of years. It's our greatest success role model. My unpublished Nature Cards attempt to show just that. What a life it would be if we were to mirror nature's "both-and" ways! Follow the example of how a tree leads itself and grows from seed to fruit, continually renewing itself, living in a cyclical manner. How exciting that would be, to use the so-called male energy to branch out and break through in an expansive manner and do the so-called feminine thing of going inwards in the winter, into the dark earth, to be fruitful and fallow. Denise: How does intuitive leadership ultimately affect the way we conduct our personal and professional lives? James: Greatly! When we listen to our inner voice, we are acting from our core of authenticity. We are being true to ourselves. This is why so many of us refuse to work for others: we are self-led, doing our own thing, our own business in our own way. The intuitive way results in a greater individualism in which we can truly express our unique gifts and realize our unique destinies. Intuitive living also means greater respect for another and their truth, hence the change toward consensual and synergistic co-creation and co-leadership. Intuition, as a feeling, demands emotional intelligence — feeling our feelings — and this is a fundamental shift in how we live, away from the thinking logical mind, which is too linear, slow, and exclusive for today's world, to an openhearted, emotive way. This shakes up the entire system, from education to business to governance, in how we proceed. Intuition, I feel, is the human technology that must come along to mirror and match our outer material technologies. It's really our savior, for we humans are in danger of being outworn and outpaced by our machines, which think faster than our own minds. James Wanless will be at conducting a weekend workshop entitled "Intuitive Leadership in the 21st Century" April 14-15 at The Stonehouse Bookstore and Personal Growth Center in Redmond. He will also be available for private readings. For information, registration, or an appointment, call The Stonehouse at (425) 889-5106.