"A new style of leadership in ISKCON"

A great interview with Akrura das, from Gita Coaching:

You can learn from the past but don’t get stuck in it. Don’t cling to it, don’t dwell on it and don’t grieve over it. For example, the old way of leadership of command and control doesn’t work anymore. Both in spiritual and material organizations you experience the same. You can’t lead people as you used to. There has to be a new style, a new type of leadership. I think that right now our leaders are staggering between the old and the new style.

I had a good experience of what I call the new style of leadership in ISKCON. I had a conversation with our GBC secretary about an important question. During the conversation he took notes. When I finished he said: ”Let me see if I understood everything correctly.” He read his notes for me. He asked a couple of questions to be sure that he had understood everything correctly. You can imagine how I felt. I felt completely understood and very inspired over the fact that this leader was interested in what I had to say. I spoke 95 percent of the time.

In conclusion, although there are problems, there’s a lot of positive things in ISKCON and a number of effective leaders. And coaching helps to understand and develop effective leadership.