There are a few people in the world who have had such a unique and remarkable life journey like Joseph Jaworski. In his book, Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership, Jaworski relays personal experiences to guide his reader to understand how surrendering himself to synchronicity led him down the path to becoming a significant servant-leader. By breaking down his life experiences into four distinct parts related to leadership, Jaworski outlines the principles, philosophy, and, most importantly, the people that informed his journey.
In the first few chapters of his book, it is clear that Joseph Jaworski came from a background of extreme privilege. His father, who served as a Watergate special prosecutor, became one of the most famous lawyers in modern United States history (Jaworski, 2011). Prior to recognizing his true path, Jaworski followed in his father’s footsteps to become a highly accomplished lawyer who lived a busy, and often manic, lifestyle.
At first glance, it seems difficult for the average person to connect with Jaworski himself—let alone the stories and opportunities he discusses in his writing. For many people, regardless of their interest in synchronicity and servant-leadership, many of Jaworski’s experiences are only available to those who come from extreme wealth. Initially, some of the trials and tribulations Jaworski relays, like the failure of his first marriage and his personal struggle with his first career, may not garner sympathy from the reader. If Jaworski intended to reach a broad audience from the start, he may have missed the mark in his first few stories and observations.
A life of privilege aside, Jaworski has a remarkable ability to describe aspects of unspoken human connection. It is often those connections that are central to pivotal moments of change in his life. From an intuitive glance with a stranger on a subway, to experiencing a sense of familiarity with a stranger on the street, Jaworski describes a handful of moments experienced by himself and others to help his reader understand how to begin to identify those moments themselves.
In one of his anecdotes, Jaworski describes a missed opportunity experienced by a friend who was traveling in Argentina. This friend, who opened himself up to identifying these unspoken connections, passed a women on the street who he felt he had known. However, he chose not to act on this feeling. As a result, his inaction led him down a path of wondering what could have been. In contrast, Jaworski himself seized the same kind of moment in a crowded airport to meet the woman who would eventually become his second wife.
Logically, a reader can deduce that not all seized opportunities will result in meeting their spouse, and not all missed opportunities would have been moments that led to life changing experiences. Still, being open to all of those moments is a point that Jaworski very expertly gets across to his reader. Any moment could be a moment that leads us down the path of pivotal change, and identifying and experiencing those moments are central to experiencing synchronicity.
Ultimately, Jaworski’s purpose is to guide readers to understand synchronicity and how it can guide us towards effective servant-leadership. In order to meet that purpose, Jaworski understood that it was important to demonstrate the power synchronicity through telling and reflecting on his own story. It is not enough to understand synchronicity through definition alone, it is something that must be demonstrated and communicated through the history of those who have been able to tap into that part of themselves and the world around them. Jaworski gives the reader this gift by unapologetically reflecting on who he was in the past and detailing how he gradually shifted his own mental models moving forward.
Through the creation and development of the American Leadership Forum, to his time as head of scenario planning for Royal Dutch Shell, Jaworski eventually highlights what it means to truly lead:
…true leadership is about creating a domain in which we continually learn and become more capable of participating in our unfolding future. A true leader thus sets the stage on which predictable miracles, synchronistic in nature, can—and do—occur. (Jaworski, 2011, p. 182)
According to Jaworski (2011), a leader can only get to this point if they are open to synchronistic moments and are also capable of three major fundamental shifts in their mental models: the way they think about the world, their understanding of relationships, and their nature of commitment. When a leader can shift their mental model and also build a shared mental model with those around them, they can truly contribute, participate, and improve with the natural progression of the system around them.
Approaching leadership as a chance to serve is something that speaks to me on many levels. Prior to reading Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership, I was generally skeptical about how my professional and personal path aligned with leadership in any capacity. However, the concept of Robert K. Greenleaf’s servant-leadership as it is explained by Joseph Jaworski is something that has opened my mind to new possibilities. In my understanding of innovative leadership, I believe using the servant-leadership style as the foundation in my leadership development will be the key to successfully developing into an individual who is able to engage self, culture, and systems equally (Metcalf & Palmer, 2011).
While my criticisms are grounded in the fact that Jaworski’s personal anecdotes and background are very specific to someone who comes from extreme privilege, I felt he was able to break through his particular situation to convey feelings that are universal, but often not recognized by many people. Overall, Jaworski effectively conveyed how identifying moments of synchronicity in our own lives can be the driving force for the emotional pivots, mental pivots, and moments of connection between humans and nature that eventually lead us down the path to becoming who we are meant to be.
