Module 4.1 “Leadership”

Module 4.1 “Leadership”

The most important things that I learned from the readings and links are:

1.The “ask-and-empower” approach (pg 170)

2. The most important tool to be an effective human leader is

listening.

3. The three fundamentals of happiness: a sense of belonging in a

community of friends, freedom and the feeling that the choices and

decisions of one’s life are in one’s own hands, and time to reflect

about the meaning and direction of one’s life.

4. It’s important to continuously learn new skills and techniques to be

an elite leader.

The goal that I would have as a community leader regarding sustainability is to establish an Ecovillage. I would provide personal empowerment in my design for this Ecovillage, listen to all the members concerning their individual ideas, suggestions, concerns and feelings and to properly build a strong foundation for the Ecovillage.

My second goal would be to completely change that style of thinking, and rather teach about the things that fulfill our happiness as humans. For example, Brian Bacon says “in a world of massive choices, we’ve got endless opportunities for pleasure but very few opportunities for joy”, in his interview with Susan Szpakowski. This is a perfect example of what I would like to change for my community as their leader, instead of putting high value on materialistic things.

A hierarchy system is ideal in this situation for my Ecovillage. Everyone is equally important and has a chance to have their own input. My allies would be those of other Ecovillages that are successful or share the same goals as I do. The difficulties with achieving this goal would be to initially start the Ecovillage and create the awareness of the positive impacts it will have on each family. I would have to gain the trust with those who are interested. Also, having the funds to start the project would be a little difficult. However, in the end I believe I would be a perfect candidate for a leader of an Ecovillage. I would have the devotion, a strong support system and knowledge for me to achieve my goals if I were a leader of an Ecovillage.