From the Introduction Section of the Book…

Harmony is an interesting word...  There is harmony in music, where all notes fit together within a pleasing sound structure. There is harmony in nature, where the delicate balance of an ecosystem is maintained to ensure a healthy and thriving environment. And there is harmony within organizations, where people live and work in a caring and productive way. Within this Harmonic Leadership content we will often use the world of music within analogies to illustrate how the principles of musical harmony also translate to harmony between individuals to create a healthy and thriving organization. This is why there are pictures of musical instruments used as the visual themes throughout the book. Creating these mental tie-ins to the content should help in remembering the concepts. 

Making Positive Music
When a band plays music together, each person needs to pay mindful attention to all of the other players so everyone can stay in tune and on tempo. Each player must positively care about meeting the needs of each of the others to ensure the right harmonies are being played and everyone is in rhythm. This creates a situation where all band members are in accord and working together to make positively pleasing music. This is important for all bands, regardless of the genre or style of music, from an orchestra playing classical music to a rock band playing heavy metal, the principle is the same. 

The musicians must agree on playing a certain sequence of notes in a specific period of time so the notes are congruent and fit together to create a chord that people will understand and relate to. If even one of the musicians is intentionally not caring about playing the right notes in the right rhythm and tempo, the entire band will sound bad. One negative person can wreck the music for everyone, just as one negative team-member can wreck the working environment for everyone. 

Positive Leadership
A leader of an organizational team plays the same role as the leader of a band. The primary goal is to get all people to agree on what is going to be done, when, and by whom, and then motivate them to do their best. This comes through the principle of positive leadership, where a leader creates a positive environment where every person becomes committed to the goal. 

We need to establish an understanding at the front of this learning. You will read and hear the word “positive” used many, many times to describe how a Harmonic Leader shares positive strengths, uses positive communication, influences in a positive way, and approaches negativity with... you guessed it, positivity. When I write of being “positive” I am not saying that you must always be cheery, laughing, and grinning from ear to ear all the time. If that is you, that’s great, but if that’s not you, that’s great too. If you are a quiet and serious natured person, your positive approach may be quiet and more serious, but can still have the same level of positive intent. By “positive” I am simply speaking of treating other people in a positive way (not a negative way), and creating a positive environment where people want to gather together and do good work. 

Being positive also does not mean that you’re trying to win a popularity contest, or avoid difficult conversations, or sugar-coating over performance issues in the workplace. It means that when you are having difficult conversations, it is being done with positive intent as an act of mindful caring.  

I hope this learning experience inspires you to grow the greatness that is within you.

Brian Lowell French

About the Book…

What is Harmonic Leadership?

Harmonic Leadership is a philosophy that is used to develop leaders so you can be considered to be great by those who are receiving the leadership. This book serves as a practical and pragmatic curriculum of content to provide the information and tools needed to conduct the day-to-day process of mindfully managing work and leading people. It includes assessments, activities and self-reflections that will lead you to a much deeper understanding of who you are as a person, and as a leader. This provides direction on the path to becoming an even better person and leader. 

As a leadership philosophy, it could be summarized with three words… Inclusive, Mindful Caring. By inclusively displaying a caring attitude within your leadership, you will naturally be considered a great leader. This requires mindful intention and deep awareness to understand yourself and others. 

Inclusive, mindful caring is embedded as the guiding principle throughout the content, and it informs every aspect of leadership that you will be learning about. All of the tools, techniques, methods and models are based on these principles of inclusion and mindful caring. So, when you are applying this information within your leadership, the receivers will naturally feel respectfully included for their uniqueness and will feel a deep sense of being cared for. 

This feeling of inclusion and caring has long-lasting, positive effects for the people you lead, and it will equip them to share these principles with the people in their lives As a leader, you can spread your positive energy throughout the lives of everyone who you will have the honor of leading. This then transfers to all of their family and friends, and all of the people who they will spend time with in the future. This is the positive power of being a Harmonic Leader.  

What Audience Is This For?

Harmonic Leadership is for those who want to be a more positive, inclusive and mindful caring manager, coach, teacher, community-member, parent, spouse/partner, and friend. It’s for those who want to make a positive impact on the world. Everyone in the world has the opportunity to be a leader and make the world a better place. So, this book is for everyone. 

The content is equally applicable for any level of leader, in any industry, in any size of organization. The guide has been carefully crafted to be just as useful for new leaders as it is for seasoned leaders who are leading very large organizations. It is also empowering for individual leaders who may not directly manage anyone, but who strive to be leaders and positively influence others. The bottom-line is that great leadership is great leadership, regardless of title or the number of people one is leading. 

Where Did the Content Come From?

This work is more philosophical in nature than scientific. The information is comprised of both inherent understanding that has been gained throughout my lifetime, along with observational philosophy of how people live and work together. All of the original models, tools and information are based on scientific understanding and philosophical consideration of organizational dynamics, and shared in a way to make them applicable within any team or group. Where I detail an existing theory as reference (within fair-use), the source is provided within the text and/or through a citation at the end of the chapter, so you can explore it on your own to learn more.  

I’ve been creating/facilitating leadership/management training for 30+ years in corporate, education, small-business and non-profit settings, and much of what I have learned about the positive strengths and negative challenges within leadership has come from the stories that the participants have shared during sessions – those stories of the types of leaders who created a life-giving environment versus those leaders who caused a life-draining environment (and the reasons that made the environment either positive or negative). So, I thank every person who I have had the privilege of teaching and coaching through all these years. Each of you has played an important part in the writing of this book. 

Ultimately, a lot of the knowledge shared within this book has also come from my making mistakes, and what I learned from those mistakes (and my attempts at correcting them). I want to thank all of the wonderful people who I have worked with and had the honor of leading through my career. Your kind understanding helped me to learn, and then to share that learning with others through my leadership programs and this book. So I honor the wisdom that each of you imparted.

I should note, though, that there is very little first-person narrative in this book. Only in the short introduction, in the conclusion, and on a very rare occasion in the chapters will you see the word “I” used. This is very intentional. The goal of this book is for you to think deeply about yourself and the impact you can have as a leader. And for that, you don’t need to read about me and my experience. You will see a collective “we” often used, where you are invited to be included within the thought. It’s far better for you to place yourself within the content of this book and see it through your own eyes.  

What Is the Format?

This book is a comprehensive guide that includes all of the information needed to effectively lead in most any leadership situation. Instead of focusing on just one leadership area and providing a deep-dive, it instead provides the most applicable information on all general areas of people-leadership. So, this single book can serve as a reference for most any situation that arises in your people-leadership. 

This is not just a book that you read, it is a guide that you work in. It is designed to be written in, highlighted, bookmarked and opened often to be used as an ongoing reference guide. In time, the printed version should look ragged and well-loved by frequent use. You will find though, that the more you apply the content, the more intuitive it will become, and there may be a point where you don’t need to reference the book except for special occasions that require a deeper analysis. 

Since this is more of a guidebook than a narrative book, there is not a lot of overly flowing text, long stories, or detailed passages that take a long time to state a concept that is actually fairly simple (as so many sound leadership concepts are). It is instead a concise reference guide to pack as much practical information into these pages as possible. There is also not a lot of blank-space on the pages for the sake of formatting. As a person who loves nature, I’d rather save some trees than make a page fit the very open formatting that is popular in this day (for something visually appealing, look at a tree : -). 

As you explore the use of the many tools and techniques, it will often feel awkward at first (like learning that new musical instrument), and that tells you that you’re on the right path to positive behavior change. I encourage you to keep trying, and in time, with practice, your leadership will rock.

Brian Lowell French