I n a leadership narrative style, Jim Ferrell offers us his fresh perspective on leadership. In You and We: A Relational Rethinking of Work, Life, and Leadership , he writes: “Management of the individual is dead, or soon will be; management of relation is the new leadership paradigm.” Ferrell contends that “Relationships are what we build with each other. However, relation, by contrast, is simply a fact of existence. Relation isn’t built; it’s already there—a reality, not a construct. Everything is in relation, including us, so we are in relation whether we want it or not, and whether we have a relationship or not.” Drawing on the work of philosophers and theologians such as Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Martin Buber, Carl Jung, and Gabriel Marcel, he calls leaders to a new level of transparency and awareness, leveraging relationship to achieve both personal and organizational success. His view is very dynamic. He points out, “We’...
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