How would you try to bring peace to the world? Dr. David Kilcullen is the founding CEO and President of Caerus, a group specializing in design of positive human influence in complex and conflicted environments. They take community development programs to a new level and focus in areas like Afghanistan. Its hard to say exactly what they do in each situation, but they have major projects in the fields of education, technology, energy, analytics and humanitarian assistance.
What makes him a leader?
Dr. Kilcullen is leading all kinds of change. When he saw traditional organizations, like charities or governments, were not effective enough in creating sustainable peace in the war-torn areas, he established this meaningful vision and direction and aligned a team to get started on Caerus. The trick with their business is it faces not just one old problem, but a complex one which as Dr. Kilcullen puts it, "the world’s most difficult problems – conflict, crime, energy shortage, poverty, climate and environmental degradation, disease – overlap in mutually exacerbating ways that make it extremely difficult for any one discipline to address them." To complement the inspiring and motivating vision of social good is how much the program enables those involved and who benefit from it. When a small team is deployed to a community, they actually asess the people and communicate their goals and receive the groups needs. His strategy of addressing each situation by its own, sets an example for how to accomplish these kinds of goals. He is revolutionizing the way we see organizations as a whole.
So what does this all mean?
Dr. David Kilcullen leads by example and exhibits authentic leadership. His experience and knowledge were reformulated into a vision for addressing these overlapping problems. The work he led to creation is original and is based on values. The strategies he used in making the organization reverberates throughout it. Although this organization is less than two years old, it now runs through about ten million in revenue and has a multi-year backlog of work. The social judgement skills needed to rally this support are seen in the perspective taking each team uses when facing a community. Because he refuses to impose western ideas on these people, they were more trusting. The affect? In Baghdad, their efforts supported locals durimg an effort against Al Quida which brought about a ninety-five percent reduction in civilian casulties in a three month period.
His complex solution has created a community in which the followers, whether workers or beneficiaries, who are motivated and inspired. They follow his strategies and are exhibiting them in many ways. How do you see this energy exemplified? Does he exhibit any other kinds of leadership?
Dr. Kilcullen is definitely a change leader. The simple fact that he is attempting to solve problems of such great proportion is beyond belief. He is clearly a leader because he is not satisfied with just hoping the issues go away, he is out there doing something about it. I feel as if Dr. Kilcullen is both task and relationship oriented in this mission as a balance between the two is detrimental for any chance of making a difference.
ReplyDelete-Ty Wiesemeyer