You know the old saying, "Lead, follow, or get out of the way." And this can certainly hold valuable advice in pointing out the potential problem of those who neither lead nor follow, preferring instead to wallow in non-action or worse, sabotage. But what about instances in which the leader is really just a rote follower of some predetermined cannon that is out-of-date, uninspired, or actually perilous to body or spirit?

Let's face it, a good deal of what passes for leadership today is actually followership, where "leaders" simply hop on the band-wagon of some new management trend that is itself but an older program dressed up to look new, or some program designed to salve the wounds inflicted by the last trend. In a few cases, the trend is inspired by the practices of a truly unique and creative enterprise, and then attempts are made to mass-produce it for mainstream consumption.

Such fads spew out of the Ivory Towers of B-schools and large consultancies, and are voraciously devoured by companies that allocate mind-boggling budget sums and large groups of people who spend a considerable amount of time rolling out the massive initiatives, to less than impressive results and increasing levels of cynicism and fad-fatigue.

While many of these initiatives roll out with a purpose, and they certainly achieve the goal of keeping people busy (with plenty of meetings), mindlessly mimicking the latest management trend is not leadership. But more importantly, it too often leads us away from, rather than towards the fuller potential of people and organizations.

Mimicry in action

Examples of the more popular trends include the re-engineering of the late 80s and 90s, and simple-minded Fish-like employee-motivation programs. Each was absorbed by corporations hungry for whatever promised to boost productivity and cut costs, thus returning greater shares to key investors. But after more than a decade, case after case, study after study, shows that the intentions (at least those that were communicated) and the promised return on investment failed to materialize, thus stoking the hunger for the next "killer app" — the program or technology that would, in a stroke, solve all of the complicated problems.

In more than a few cases, such fads find their roots in some enterprise — often smaller, entrepreneurial, privately owned, and/or very long-established — that succeeds not only in accordance with the rules of the traditional market, but does so with flair, originality, and creativity. The fruits of the efforts of these organizations come to public attention via some academic, business consultant, or momentarily-popular CEO who writes a book that serves as the flint from which a new trend-fire is started.

Sundance the world!

A recent example was found in Inc. Magazine, which spent the late-90s almost exclusively exalting the explosive-growth dot-com companies, to the exclusion of the types of smaller, more resilient firms that make up the bulk of their readership. The September edition featured Robert Redford, whose Sundance enterprise, after nearly 30 years of perpetual evolution, caught the eyes of the trend-dispersers.

On the positive side, the article gives long-overdue credit to Redford, whose vision, tenacity, endurance, and creativity are worthy of note and can serve as rich inspiration to other entrepreneurs. But while the author of the piece clearly and with good reason appreciates what Redford has created, the magazine's focus was on those "Sundance Factors" that a reader might emulate in his or her own organization.

After reading the piece, one can just imagine all of the company leaders and business owners endeavoring to "Sundance" their enterprises, going so far as to adopt the "Sundance lexicon" in an effort to "be as Sundance is." This despite the fact that Redford's own quotes in the article make clear that the success of Sundance relied on things that are polar opposites of mimicry or mindless trend-following.

Copying what can't be copied?

Redford's own stubborn, long-term loyalty to his vision, through lean times as well as flush, and in times of challenge and uncertainty as well as those of greater clarity and flow, yielded an organization that is uniquely Redford. As with his films, Redford's own authenticity and vision, and his unwillingness to be a slave to some predetermined trend, is woven throughout the very fabric of Sundance. From such a foundation — a solid knowing of what Sundance is about — Redford and the other people of the enterprise can navigate the fields of pure potential, possibility, and opportunity.

While Sundance has benefitted and grown thanks to the efforts of many, over many years, it's Redford who is its very soul, and that isn't something you can copy, though you can learn from and find inspiration in the example. But we go looking in the wrong places: We seek to "do as he does" rather than find our own way of being, as he's done. Redford inspires us to find our own authentic vision and hold true to it, to find and give of our unique vision and gifts to the world, not to simply mimic what his organization does.

As Vaclav Havel has written, the truly visionary don't do something because it's guaranteed to be successful in the mainstream mind, but because it's good and right to do and thus we're compelled from our very souls to do it. Both Redford and Havel — and others — give us clues about that which yields the treasure so many seek.

Choosing authenticity over mimicry

What Robert Redford and Sundance can teach — as can other visionaries who may be less known but no less authentic, creative and successful on their own terms — is the very power of choosing authenticity and following one's own vision versus falling in with the crowd that's mindlessly following some trend and then wondering why they find it lacking in truth and vibrance.

Yet there is good reason why so many more follow trends than seek-and-do from their own authentic vision: to follow a fad is much easier; to fall in with the crowd seems less risky. To act from your authenticity requires that you know who you are, at your core, and then find the courage to be that — unmasked — in the world. These are not practices given much time or credence in a hurry-up world of quick payoffs and "risk minimization."

So those who prefer the easier route — that of trend and mimicry — will seek to copy the Redford's and Pike Place Markets of the world, while the creators of such enterprises will continue to hold fast to their own visions and define their own standards of being, doing and success. And while there is a place for the former — propagating the ideas and creations of others — it's the latter that holds the truest, richest lessons.

For those who choose the more authentic path, come the more authentic rewards: deep meaning, the joys of creating, the alignment that comes from "doing as we truly are," the humble gratitude from knowing we might have inspired someone else, and, if that authenticity strikes enough of a chord, we'll generate both meaningful and sustainable livelihood for ourselves and perhaps others, and countless seeds for others to plant in their own gardens.

For most on the authentic path, possibility itself is inspiring, and serves to keep the vision strong as it guides us where it will and as we experiment with various ways of "seeding a better world" amidst ever-changing external circumstances.

We give thanks for Robert Redford and others, known and unkown, who have inspired all of us by blazing their own trails, persevering regardless of the popularity of their visions, and following only their own hearts while enriching us all with seeds of our higher, more beautiful, creative and authentic potential.

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