No matter where we turn these days, we see and hear calls for a higher quality of leadership and a whole new approach to how we view and interact with the world. We also see and hear criticism of "old-style" leadership — more than a bit of the criticism having at least some justification.

Given this trend (and it's one that seems more likely to increase than not), it makes sense to ask ourselves just what we mean by 'leadership', and what we need and expect from our leaders.

It's not information or potential options that we lack. After all, the bookshelves are full of books on all manner of leadership styles and approaches, and Ivory Tower leadership gurus make very lucrative livings from hawking myriad types of leadership — heart-centered, principle-centered, value-centered, authentic, courageous, which are all worthy-sounding intentions.

Given the abundance of people talking about leadership, it's fairly clear -- whether we look to Corporate 'leadership scandals' or Washington D.C.'s 'leadership torpor' in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (and, some would say, a lot of other things) -- that when it comes to leadership, we're definitely missing something.

So, what are we missing?

I wouldn't presume to have the answer, though when I look at the current reality and ask myself the question, a couple of things come to mind.

The first is an insight from fitness 'grand-daddy', Jack LaLane. Mr. LaLane, when asked by the media about the 'steroid scandal' that occurred in America's professional baseball, said, "As long as it's only about winning, there will be steroids." Point taken, and it's a point that is as applicable to business and politics as it is to professional sport.

As long as it's about 'winning', there will be ethical breaches and the obligatory scandals when such breaches are exposed. There will be corners cut, money stolen, frauds perpetrated. Without changing the point of the system — that which it has been created or oriented towards facilitating — nothing really changes at all, no matter how many books, speaking tours, consultants, change projects, or scandals there are.

It brings to mind a bit of wisdom from Yeshua: "You can't put new wine into an old wine skin." Why? You corrupt the new wine. For new wine, you need a new wine skin; for new outcomes, you need a new approach … a new system. You have to transcend the worship and hoarding of 'stuff' and the perpetuation of the 'scarcity myth' and begin to create new containers, new systems, new ways.

Or, as Albert Einstein said, You can't solve the problems of today by using the same approaches that created them in the first place.

Accessing our depth, wisdom, creativity, and courage

What are we missing? Depth, wisdom, creativity, and the courage to take the leap into uncertainty and really create from the very essence of our souls and our highest potential as individuals and groups.

For depth, wisdom, courage and creativity, we must turn inward — away from the tyranny of our history — how we've always done things — towards what Deepak Chopra calls "the wisdom of uncertainty" which allows us "the freedom from our past, from the known, which is the prison of past conditioning." Says Chopra, "…in our willingness to step into the unknown, the field of all possibilities, we surrender ourselves to the creative mind that orchestrates the dance of the Universe."

As we more and more see not just the opportunity but the absolute need to change our approaches, define new 'norms', shift our 'paradigms' — these common worldviews, systems, expectations, and standards that have ruled and guided us — we find ourselves needing to look into uncertainty, uncharted waters, for new answers and new ways that lead to better, more positive, truly prosperous, and sustainable outcomes.

Finding the maps for uncharted journeys

Where do we find the maps to take such journeys? Ironically, we find our greatest guidance in the wisdom traditions of the past — from the very history that can imprison us if we're not seeing and choosing more consciously.

Wisdom traditions and ancient 'ways of knowing' offer the pathway to the depth and wisdom required in order to reinterpret those traditions for our own times, and apply them in ways that help us to become more comfortable with uncertainty, more open to creativity, more receptive to wisdom, and more amenable to inspiration.

We've gone too far off-path, and need to come back to a new center that sees beyond the insatiable greed that causes us to focus more on short-term profits than on the harm caused to others because of such short-sighted selfishness. Sound harsh? It is, but the impacts speak for themselves, and can no longer be denied or "spun" away by adept P.R. and marketing wizards.

These are the very wisdom practices that help us to come back to center — back not only to our essential Selves but also to a recognition of our connectedness to and reliance upon the Earth and one another. As Chief Seattle said, "What we do to the web, we do to ourselves." This is the understanding of a truly Wise Person, and it is Wise, Transcendent Leadership that we're in desperate need of now.

But while history has conditioned us to await the arrival of the one leader who will save us — just the right CEO, or the right Savior — we need to recognize that the face in the mirror is a reflection of the very savior we await, the very leader we need.

Yes, there will be individual leaders that transcend and affect many; but we as individuals can no longer delegate all of the responsibility to such people. We, too, need to awaken the wisdom within us, to express our unique, beautiful, creative Selves into the world.

In this way, we all have the seed of the Wise Leader within us, and we all have the responsibility to nurture this seed and grow it with all of the force and intention we can muster.