This is a deeply moving, thought provoking, and challenging book which
goes to the very heart of what it is to be a leader and even further
intow what it means to be human.
Peter Senge’s Introduction beautifully sets the stage for this book:
For many years I have told people that although there are a lot of
books on leadership, there is only one that serious studens have to
read – Servant Leadership by Robert K. Greenleaf. Most recent
books on leadership have been about what leaders do and how they operate,
why the world makes this difficult for them, and what organisations
must do in order to better develop their leaders. These books are
penetrated with seemingly practical advice about what individuals
and organizations should do differently.…This to is a book that anyone who is serious about leadership
will have to read. Synchronicity builds directly on Greenleaf’s
thinking and takes it further, expecially illuminating the nature
of the choice to lead and the deep understanding or world view out
of which such a choice might arise.
Jaworski commences his story by recounting his father’s work as special
prosecutor in the Watergate case. Without stating it he shows how his
father’s leadership in this position was driven by a deep sense of purpose
and commitment to the rule of law. A president’s man deeply conflicted
by the emerging details of Watergate, Jaworski senior took the case
on on the condition "that he would be able to pursue the investigation
with complete independence, and that he would have the right to take
the President to court if necessary." Jaworski does not go into
depth on the details of his father’s role in this case except to give
an indication of the toll it took and a series of conversations between
father and son over the Christmas before Nixon resigned. "I looked
at [my father] and I could see that his soul was aching like mine,"
Jaworski reccounts.
This sets the scence for the type of leadership discussed in this book.
It is a leadership that is soaked in purpose. A leadership that comes
from the soul. A leadership that through personal conflict and heart
ache, makes a difference.
Jaworski didn’t learn this immediately. Initially he set off on a career
path dedicated to personal gain with the philosophy ‘whoever dies with
the most money wins.’ And for quite some time he was very successful
at it. Coming crashing down to earth with the experience of coming home
from a successful and high living business trip to find that his marriage
was over and he had lost the family he thought he treasured so much,
he set off on a journey which is described in the remainder of the book.
The central them of Synchronicity is what is most challenging.
Describing events that most of us would name ‘amazing coincidences’
he argues that these are not coincidences but rather cases of Carl Jung’s
Synchronicity where by being prepared as individuals and allowing
ourselves to be prepared, we meet others who act as guides and lead
us on the path of discovery. This can be quite challenging stuff if
you’re not used to it. But it is important to understand. Even if you
do find it confronting, let yourself be open to it and find your own
meaning for it.
Synchronicity is a journey and the events Jaworski describes
are like important places. Some things are related to places he visited
and some to people he met.
One of the people that Jaworski met on his journey was the physicist,
David Bohm. Bohm’s work in modern physics, studying the nature of matter
itself – and the amazing way that matter behaves when we look at either
very small particles or very large objects like galaxies – led him to
consider that nature of thought itself.
The more I read of this the book the more I felt I was discovering
my place in the word.
I highly recommend Synchronicity. I believe if you read this
book with a determination to examine yourself and your approach to leadership,
you will be changed by it.