In the wisdom traditions of North America's First Nations people there are many teachings that relate directly to leadership. Two of these are the Twin Trail and the Children's Fire. The Twin Trail reflects a deep understanding of our human psychology, speaking to the primary difference between humans and our animal relatives: the capacity to make moral choices. It was described to me in a challenging encounter I had with my First Nations mentors in 1998. "We would not trust any leader who is not committed to the Twin Trail – the inner trail of self-understanding, self-unfolding, and deepening; the outer trail of having powerful effect in the world. The Twin Trail of leadership is built upon the knowledge that very few humans can survive the accumulation of power without being corrupted by it. Hubris is the greatest challenge of all successful leaders and it grows most powerfully where there is no valuing of the inner trail. The outer trail of having effe...
An open dialogue to promote sustainability