Conscious Leaders Aren’t Better – They Are Different

Although we’ve tried to explain why we think the Conscious Travel movement is different in an earlier post here; the following image and the Primes’ animation sum it up perfectly.

“A butterfly is a transformation, not a better caterpillar.”  

Humanity is being called to transform itself, not simply change.

Transformation At Work

We don’t think that the future of tourism is about being more of the same (as expressed by the forecasters at UNWTO); or even just about being better (delivering a higher yield or net benefit); but really about a completely different vision altogether. The problem is that that a new “vision” has not yet been articulated or shared by enough people to become an alternative reality. So the movement part of Conscious Travel is really about the shift in consciousness needed to create a new vision that transforms our sense of self and our understanding of what is possible.

The Primes – a change management consulting company  – provides a concise yet dynamic explanation of the distinction between  Change Vs. Transformation here.

After watching this video distinction, it’s not hard to see that the tourism community is dominated by managers all beavering away with the admirable intention of making matters bigger and desirably better but, in so doing,  are  stuck in a form of time warp as the future can be nothing but an extension of the past.

True leaders – people we call Conscious Leaders – are free of the past. Their vision creates an imaginary future that has no ties to a past and is free, like a balloon that has escaped a child’s grasp,  to drift over the rooftops in search of a new home.

According to Chris McGoff, the purpose of leaders is to create visions that followers will  fall in love with.

Change, which is about fixing the past, is done by managers.

Transformation, which is about creating a new future, is done by leaders.

Are you ready for leadership?