Integral Leadership: A Focus on Cooperation not Competition

From a young age, growing up in war torn South Sudan, Akon knew there was a better life than the one he had come to know.

He learnt to see the Waring factions in his country objectively. By learning about the different tribes and religious groups in his country, Akon began to see his country more from the perspective of a whole, rather than as isolated, segregated parts. Although he was still relatively young, he viewed himself as a leader.

He began to form groups of communities that came together to discuss each-others issues in an open and transparent way.

Akon knew that if he could help people feel like they were heard and listen to and understood, then regardless of their religion or tribal denomination, they would be able to work for the good of each-other, and therefore the good of the whole.

What were the motives underlying Akon's thinking, beliefs and actions? First and foremost, he wanted to make a difference. He had grown up and seen how colonialism had exploited the country's natural resources, especially oil, mainly for the benefit of large corporations and high ranking officials.

However, Akon felt that by studying energy and mining, he would be able to work as a leader to disperse South Sudan's immense mineral wealth for the good of the greater population. Not only that, but he knew that natural resources were starting to run out globally, so he would have to think of innovative ways to help the South Sudanese adjust to declining economic growth.

Core to this would be aligning the people's thinking in terms of cooperation rather than competition. To build this sort of cooperation among such diverse communities of varying religious and tribal backgrounds, Akon felt that rather than trying to get everyone to conform to a certain way of thinking, he had to work towards making space for different ideologies to coexist.

The only way he could do this was by integrating people's views, beliefs and ideologies into the way the country operated and developed. Key to this he knew, would be communication. More specifically, non violent communication. Akon would therefore spend much of his time mediating this process of non violent communication. He would spend hours working to create spaces and forums for communities to express their feelings, their thoughts, and their wants openly and transparently.

This would be a fundamental first step in becoming the type of leader that the South Sudanese looked up to, respected and valued. Akon would go on to use the fundamentals of integral leadership to bring diverse communities together through cooperation, not competition.