Issues

1. Preparation to lead the next generation of workers will require middlelevel leaders to know their followers as well as they know themselves.

2. Inner leadership is a process of close interaction between the leader and each coworker. The purpose of this interaction is to help coworkers change—to enhance them and inspire them to fuller, more complete use of their unique talents in doing the leader's work.

3. The inner leader's task is to teach stakeholders to do without him or her, to lead themselves.

4. Inner leaders find ways to tap their coworkers' need to exercise their whole spiritual selves and to increase their personal sense of responsibility through involvement.

5. Participation is a core element in any work community that fosters ideas like spiritual values, creativity, growth, individual maturation, and satisfaction. For many followers, participation has come to be almost a right.

6. Inner leaders, like all other committed employees, strive to build successful relationships with their bosses and stakeholders.

7. Inner leaders help their followers become partners, which asks leaders to become expert in helping coworkers participate to their fullest capacity.

8. Inner leaders "sit in council with," as opposed to "counsel" others. Counciling-with implies intimate association, close interaction, and mutual respect.

9. Inner leadership involves face-to-face contact with a wide variety of stakeholders, as much as possible at their work sites.

10. Leaders teach followers the politics of work.

11. Leaders build trusting relationships which are empowering to both leaders and followers.

12. Leaders create meaning for followers.

13. Leaders help followers achieve emotional maturity.

14. Visioning is the leader task of focusing stakeholder attention on what is important.

15. The inner leader is a teacher of his or her followers with the goal of helping them improve their essential selves.

16. Inner leadership is more a political role than a technical one. It concerns people, feelings, and relationships. Skill in creating and using formal relationships is less important than skill in diagnosis of the political surround.