Stephen L. Sokolow, the executive director of the Center for Empowered Leadership, is a former superintendent of schools. He previously coauthored The Wise Leader as well as The Spiritual Dimension of Leadership. Dr. Sokolow and his wife, Laney, have two grown children and live in Allentown, New Jersey.Paul D. Houston is president of the Center for Empowered Leadership and Executive Director, Emeritus of the American Association of School Administrators. He is a prolific author and national speaker on education and leadership. Dr. Houston has three grown children and lives with his fiancée, Dr. Sandra Chapman, in Tucson, Arizona.

This book is an outstanding sequel to The Wise Leader and is essential reading, not only for those in leadership positions but for anyone who truly wants to become his or her best self. The 12 Core Values are an invaluable framework for developing skills and attributes that foster empowering relationships. The authors have drawn from the best in social, spiritual, personal, and organizational development, as well as from their own rich experiences and lifelong journeys. I am pleased and proud to recommend The Empowering Leader.

• ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionCore Value 1: Identifying, Nurturing, and Using Our Unique Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Are Aware that Everyone Has Unique Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Develop Their Own Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Help Others Cultivate Their Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Facilitate the Sharing of Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Extend Gifts and TalentsUniqueness Contributes to the Tapestry of LifeOur Higher Power Helps Clarify Life’s Purpose(s)Core Value 2: Understanding and Manifesting OurIntentionIntention Is a Fundamental Core Value of Empowering LeadershipThought Is More Important Than People ThinkSpoken and Written Words Are Keys to Manifesting IntentionsEmpowering Leaders Must Align Their Actions and IntentionsEnlisting Spiritual and Non-spiritual Forces to Manifest IntentionsUsing the ‘Third Eye’ to Manifest IntentionsEmpowering Leaders Use Attention to Focus the Lens of IntentionEmpowering Leaders Focus Energy to Manifest IntentionsCore Value 3: Using Affirmation to Make Things HappenAffirmation Is an Important Core Value for Empowering LeadersSpeaking Silently to Oneself Can Be a Useful Form of AffirmationSpeaking Aloud Can Be a Useful Form of AffirmationUsing Writing and Other Visual Arts in AffirmationAffirming Intentions Through a Pledge or PromiseRepetition Can be a Useful Form of AffirmationCreating a Secular MantraCreating a Personal Mission Statement Is a Useful Form of AffirmationSwearing an Oath Is a Powerful Form of AffirmationCore Value 4: Having A Sense of Mission or PurposeA Sense of Mission or Purpose Can Drive Us Toward Our Best DestinyWe Each Have a Special Role that Contributes to the Whole of LifeThe Light of Empowering Leaders Helps Others See Their Mission or PurposeA Sense of Mission or Purpose Helps Us Stay the Course Through Hard Times A Sense of Mission or Purpose Helps Us Take the Long View Empowering Leaders Are Agents of a Higher PurposeEmpowering Leaders Are Supported by the UniverseManifesting Our Highest PotentialCore Value 5: Learning to Balance the Head and HeartLearning to Feed the Head and the HeartAvoiding the Danger of ImbalanceLeaders Must Integrate the Head and the HeartEmpowering Leaders Must Be Affective as well as EffectiveLeaders’ Actions Are MagnifiedLeaders Can Overcome a Dominance of the HeadLeaders Can Overcome a Dominance of the HeartLeaders Must Create a Culture Where the Head and the Heart Are Valued Core Value 6: Manifesting Your VisionLeaders Must Use the Power of Thought to Manifest Their VisionVisual Imagery Can Be Used to Help Leaders Manifest Their Vision The Power of the Spoken Word Can Help Leaders Manifest Their VisionThe Power of Affirmation Can Be Used to Help Manifest Your VisionThe Power of Prayer Can Help Manifest Your VisionThe Powers of Synchronicity, Intention, and Attention Can Help Manifest Your VisionThe Elements of Your Vision Can Be Assembled in a Non-linear FashionManifesting Your Vision Through Partnering with People and Your Higher PowerSee Your Commitment to Your Vision as a Promise to Yourself and OthersUse the Energy of a Higher Power to Attract What Is Needed to Manifest Your VisionThe Way You View Things Is a Key to Manifesting Your VisionCore Value 7: Visualizing Your Way to SuccessThe Power of VisualizationUsing Symbols in a Powerful WaySeeing with Your Third or Inner Eye Using Mental Imagery to Solve Problems and Shape the FutureUsing Visualization as a Mental Rehearsal of a Desired OutcomeUsing Visual Imagery to Foster Desired OutcomesUsing Visualization as a Meditative TechniqueCore Value 8: Using Expectation to Achieve ResultsExpectation Is an Important Value for Empowering LeadersExpectation Helps Shape RealityHigh Expectations Should Start with OurselvesPeople Will Strive to Justify Our Faith in ThemPositive Expectations Foster Positive OutcomesWe Are the Mirrors Through Which Others See ThemselvesOthers Are the Mirrors Through Which We See OurselvesCore Value 9: Intuition—Discovering Our Hidden KnowledgeIntuition Is an Important Resource for Empowering LeadersIntuition Is Another Way of KnowingEmpowering Leaders Should Strive to Trust Their Intuition and FeelingsIt Is Helpful for Empowering Leaders to See Intuition as a Sixth SenseHow Empowering Leaders Can Become More IntuitiveIntuition Is One of the Ways We Receive Communication from Our Higher SelfWays Empowering Leaders Can Assess How Intuitive They AreCore Value 10: Using Awareness to Expand Our PerspectiveAwareness Is an Important Core Value for Empowering LeadersIt Is Important for Empowering Leaders to Be Self-AwareLenses of Awareness Empowering Leaders Will Find UsefulExpanding Our Repertoire of Lenses of AwarenessTrying to See from Multiple Vantage PointsExpanding Our Awareness and Field of Vision Some Indicators of AwarenessAwareness Involves Both Seeing and UnderstandingCore Value 11: Using Your Higher Self to Tap into Your Inner WisdomOur Higher SelfAn Inner Guiding LightEnergizing Our Higher SelfAccessing Our Higher Self Listening to Our Higher SelfOur Connection to OthersOur Power Expands When We Act and Speak in Accord with Our Higher SelfBeing Full of Power as Opposed to Being PowerfulOur Higher Self Endeavors to Guide Us to Do Our BestOur Higher Self Helps Us Become Better Versions of OurselvesOur Higher Self Helps Us Become Who We Really AreCore Value 12: Using Openness to Expand PossibilitiesOpenness Is a Core Value for Empowering LeadersThe Higher Aspects of OpennessEmpowering Leaders Create Open SystemsEmpowering Leaders Must Be Open to Many ThingsOpening Your Heart and MindOpenness Maximizes Growth and CreativityOpenness Is the Key to Creating Infinite PotentialityBonus Chapter 1 : The Gift of Synchronicity—Our Hidden Guidance SystemUnderstanding the Gift of SynchronicityMeaningful Coincidences Help Shape Our FutureMeaningful Coincidences Help Us Fulfill our Life’s Purpose(s)Increasing Our Awareness of Synchronicity Increasing Synchronicity in Our LivesOur Synchronistic HelpersExpecting the UnexpectedThe Rule of Two’s or Three’sBonus Chapter 2: The Gift of Syntropy—Constructive ActionSyntropy Is an Important Gift for Empowering LeadersMaking the World Better Is an Important Principle for Empowering Leaders Empowering Leaders Must Counter the Force of EntropyFinding Order and Opportunity Within Chaos and DisorderFostering Syntropy Within Your OrganizationBeing a ‘Strange Attractor’AfterwordAbout the AuthorsSelected Bibliography

Stephen L. Sokolow, the executive director of the Center for Empowered Leadership, is a former superintendent of schools. He previously coauthored The Wise Leader as well as The Spiritual Dimension of Leadership. Dr. Sokolow and his wife, Laney, have two grown children and live in Allentown, New Jersey.Paul D. Houston is president of the Center for Empowered Leadership and Executive Director, Emeritus of the American Association of School Administrators. He is a prolific author and national speaker on education and leadership. Dr. Houston has three grown children and lives with his fiancée, Dr. Sandra Chapman, in Tucson, Arizona.

This book is an outstanding sequel to The Wise Leader and is essential reading, not only for those in leadership positions but for anyone who truly wants to become his or her best self. The 12 Core Values are an invaluable framework for developing skills and attributes that foster empowering relationships. The authors have drawn from the best in social, spiritual, personal, and organizational development, as well as from their own rich experiences and lifelong journeys. I am pleased and proud to recommend The Empowering Leader.

• ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionCore Value 1: Identifying, Nurturing, and Using Our Unique Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Are Aware that Everyone Has Unique Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Develop Their Own Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Help Others Cultivate Their Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Facilitate the Sharing of Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Extend Gifts and TalentsUniqueness Contributes to the Tapestry of LifeOur Higher Power Helps Clarify Life’s Purpose(s)Core Value 2: Understanding and Manifesting OurIntentionIntention Is a Fundamental Core Value of Empowering LeadershipThought Is More Important Than People ThinkSpoken and Written Words Are Keys to Manifesting IntentionsEmpowering Leaders Must Align Their Actions and IntentionsEnlisting Spiritual and Non-spiritual Forces to Manifest IntentionsUsing the ‘Third Eye’ to Manifest IntentionsEmpowering Leaders Use Attention to Focus the Lens of IntentionEmpowering Leaders Focus Energy to Manifest IntentionsCore Value 3: Using Affirmation to Make Things HappenAffirmation Is an Important Core Value for Empowering LeadersSpeaking Silently to Oneself Can Be a Useful Form of AffirmationSpeaking Aloud Can Be a Useful Form of AffirmationUsing Writing and Other Visual Arts in AffirmationAffirming Intentions Through a Pledge or PromiseRepetition Can be a Useful Form of AffirmationCreating a Secular MantraCreating a Personal Mission Statement Is a Useful Form of AffirmationSwearing an Oath Is a Powerful Form of AffirmationCore Value 4: Having A Sense of Mission or PurposeA Sense of Mission or Purpose Can Drive Us Toward Our Best DestinyWe Each Have a Special Role that Contributes to the Whole of LifeThe Light of Empowering Leaders Helps Others See Their Mission or PurposeA Sense of Mission or Purpose Helps Us Stay the Course Through Hard Times A Sense of Mission or Purpose Helps Us Take the Long View Empowering Leaders Are Agents of a Higher PurposeEmpowering Leaders Are Supported by the UniverseManifesting Our Highest PotentialCore Value 5: Learning to Balance the Head and HeartLearning to Feed the Head and the HeartAvoiding the Danger of ImbalanceLeaders Must Integrate the Head and the HeartEmpowering Leaders Must Be Affective as well as EffectiveLeaders’ Actions Are MagnifiedLeaders Can Overcome a Dominance of the HeadLeaders Can Overcome a Dominance of the HeartLeaders Must Create a Culture Where the Head and the Heart Are Valued Core Value 6: Manifesting Your VisionLeaders Must Use the Power of Thought to Manifest Their VisionVisual Imagery Can Be Used to Help Leaders Manifest Their Vision The Power of the Spoken Word Can Help Leaders Manifest Their VisionThe Power of Affirmation Can Be Used to Help Manifest Your VisionThe Power of Prayer Can Help Manifest Your VisionThe Powers of Synchronicity, Intention, and Attention Can Help Manifest Your VisionThe Elements of Your Vision Can Be Assembled in a Non-linear FashionManifesting Your Vision Through Partnering with People and Your Higher PowerSee Your Commitment to Your Vision as a Promise to Yourself and OthersUse the Energy of a Higher Power to Attract What Is Needed to Manifest Your VisionThe Way You View Things Is a Key to Manifesting Your VisionCore Value 7: Visualizing Your Way to SuccessThe Power of VisualizationUsing Symbols in a Powerful WaySeeing with Your Third or Inner Eye Using Mental Imagery to Solve Problems and Shape the FutureUsing Visualization as a Mental Rehearsal of a Desired OutcomeUsing Visual Imagery to Foster Desired OutcomesUsing Visualization as a Meditative TechniqueCore Value 8: Using Expectation to Achieve ResultsExpectation Is an Important Value for Empowering LeadersExpectation Helps Shape RealityHigh Expectations Should Start with OurselvesPeople Will Strive to Justify Our Faith in ThemPositive Expectations Foster Positive OutcomesWe Are the Mirrors Through Which Others See ThemselvesOthers Are the Mirrors Through Which We See OurselvesCore Value 9: Intuition—Discovering Our Hidden KnowledgeIntuition Is an Important Resource for Empowering LeadersIntuition Is Another Way of KnowingEmpowering Leaders Should Strive to Trust Their Intuition and FeelingsIt Is Helpful for Empowering Leaders to See Intuition as a Sixth SenseHow Empowering Leaders Can Become More IntuitiveIntuition Is One of the Ways We Receive Communication from Our Higher SelfWays Empowering Leaders Can Assess How Intuitive They AreCore Value 10: Using Awareness to Expand Our PerspectiveAwareness Is an Important Core Value for Empowering LeadersIt Is Important for Empowering Leaders to Be Self-AwareLenses of Awareness Empowering Leaders Will Find UsefulExpanding Our Repertoire of Lenses of AwarenessTrying to See from Multiple Vantage PointsExpanding Our Awareness and Field of Vision Some Indicators of AwarenessAwareness Involves Both Seeing and UnderstandingCore Value 11: Using Your Higher Self to Tap into Your Inner WisdomOur Higher SelfAn Inner Guiding LightEnergizing Our Higher SelfAccessing Our Higher Self Listening to Our Higher SelfOur Connection to OthersOur Power Expands When We Act and Speak in Accord with Our Higher SelfBeing Full of Power as Opposed to Being PowerfulOur Higher Self Endeavors to Guide Us to Do Our BestOur Higher Self Helps Us Become Better Versions of OurselvesOur Higher Self Helps Us Become Who We Really AreCore Value 12: Using Openness to Expand PossibilitiesOpenness Is a Core Value for Empowering LeadersThe Higher Aspects of OpennessEmpowering Leaders Create Open SystemsEmpowering Leaders Must Be Open to Many ThingsOpening Your Heart and MindOpenness Maximizes Growth and CreativityOpenness Is the Key to Creating Infinite PotentialityBonus Chapter 1 : The Gift of Synchronicity—Our Hidden Guidance SystemUnderstanding the Gift of SynchronicityMeaningful Coincidences Help Shape Our FutureMeaningful Coincidences Help Us Fulfill our Life’s Purpose(s)Increasing Our Awareness of Synchronicity Increasing Synchronicity in Our LivesOur Synchronistic HelpersExpecting the UnexpectedThe Rule of Two’s or Three’sBonus Chapter 2: The Gift of Syntropy—Constructive ActionSyntropy Is an Important Gift for Empowering LeadersMaking the World Better Is an Important Principle for Empowering Leaders Empowering Leaders Must Counter the Force of EntropyFinding Order and Opportunity Within Chaos and DisorderFostering Syntropy Within Your OrganizationBeing a ‘Strange Attractor’AfterwordAbout the AuthorsSelected Bibliography

Stephen L. Sokolow, the executive director of the Center for Empowered Leadership, is a former superintendent of schools. He previously coauthored The Wise Leader as well as The Spiritual Dimension of Leadership. Dr. Sokolow and his wife, Laney, have two grown children and live in Allentown, New Jersey.Paul D. Houston is president of the Center for Empowered Leadership and Executive Director, Emeritus of the American Association of School Administrators. He is a prolific author and national speaker on education and leadership. Dr. Houston has three grown children and lives with his fiancée, Dr. Sandra Chapman, in Tucson, Arizona.

This book is an outstanding sequel to The Wise Leader and is essential reading, not only for those in leadership positions but for anyone who truly wants to become his or her best self. The 12 Core Values are an invaluable framework for developing skills and attributes that foster empowering relationships. The authors have drawn from the best in social, spiritual, personal, and organizational development, as well as from their own rich experiences and lifelong journeys. I am pleased and proud to recommend The Empowering Leader.

• ForewordPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroductionCore Value 1: Identifying, Nurturing, and Using Our Unique Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Are Aware that Everyone Has Unique Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Develop Their Own Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Help Others Cultivate Their Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Facilitate the Sharing of Gifts and TalentsEmpowering Leaders Extend Gifts and TalentsUniqueness Contributes to the Tapestry of LifeOur Higher Power Helps Clarify Life’s Purpose(s)Core Value 2: Understanding and Manifesting OurIntentionIntention Is a Fundamental Core Value of Empowering LeadershipThought Is More Important Than People ThinkSpoken and Written Words Are Keys to Manifesting IntentionsEmpowering Leaders Must Align Their Actions and IntentionsEnlisting Spiritual and Non-spiritual Forces to Manifest IntentionsUsing the ‘Third Eye’ to Manifest IntentionsEmpowering Leaders Use Attention to Focus the Lens of IntentionEmpowering Leaders Focus Energy to Manifest IntentionsCore Value 3: Using Affirmation to Make Things HappenAffirmation Is an Important Core Value for Empowering LeadersSpeaking Silently to Oneself Can Be a Useful Form of AffirmationSpeaking Aloud Can Be a Useful Form of AffirmationUsing Writing and Other Visual Arts in AffirmationAffirming Intentions Through a Pledge or PromiseRepetition Can be a Useful Form of AffirmationCreating a Secular MantraCreating a Personal Mission Statement Is a Useful Form of AffirmationSwearing an Oath Is a Powerful Form of AffirmationCore Value 4: Having A Sense of Mission or PurposeA Sense of Mission or Purpose Can Drive Us Toward Our Best DestinyWe Each Have a Special Role that Contributes to the Whole of LifeThe Light of Empowering Leaders Helps Others See Their Mission or PurposeA Sense of Mission or Purpose Helps Us Stay the Course Through Hard Times A Sense of Mission or Purpose Helps Us Take the Long View Empowering Leaders Are Agents of a Higher PurposeEmpowering Leaders Are Supported by the UniverseManifesting Our Highest PotentialCore Value 5: Learning to Balance the Head and HeartLearning to Feed the Head and the HeartAvoiding the Danger of ImbalanceLeaders Must Integrate the Head and the HeartEmpowering Leaders Must Be Affective as well as EffectiveLeaders’ Actions Are MagnifiedLeaders Can Overcome a Dominance of the HeadLeaders Can Overcome a Dominance of the HeartLeaders Must Create a Culture Where the Head and the Heart Are Valued Core Value 6: Manifesting Your VisionLeaders Must Use the Power of Thought to Manifest Their VisionVisual Imagery Can Be Used to Help Leaders Manifest Their Vision The Power of the Spoken Word Can Help Leaders Manifest Their VisionThe Power of Affirmation Can Be Used to Help Manifest Your VisionThe Power of Prayer Can Help Manifest Your VisionThe Powers of Synchronicity, Intention, and Attention Can Help Manifest Your VisionThe Elements of Your Vision Can Be Assembled in a Non-linear FashionManifesting Your Vision Through Partnering with People and Your Higher PowerSee Your Commitment to Your Vision as a Promise to Yourself and OthersUse the Energy of a Higher Power to Attract What Is Needed to Manifest Your VisionThe Way You View Things Is a Key to Manifesting Your VisionCore Value 7: Visualizing Your Way to SuccessThe Power of VisualizationUsing Symbols in a Powerful WaySeeing with Your Third or Inner Eye Using Mental Imagery to Solve Problems and Shape the FutureUsing Visualization as a Mental Rehearsal of a Desired OutcomeUsing Visual Imagery to Foster Desired OutcomesUsing Visualization as a Meditative TechniqueCore Value 8: Using Expectation to Achieve ResultsExpectation Is an Important Value for Empowering LeadersExpectation Helps Shape RealityHigh Expectations Should Start with OurselvesPeople Will Strive to Justify Our Faith in ThemPositive Expectations Foster Positive OutcomesWe Are the Mirrors Through Which Others See ThemselvesOthers Are the Mirrors Through Which We See OurselvesCore Value 9: Intuition—Discovering Our Hidden KnowledgeIntuition Is an Important Resource for Empowering LeadersIntuition Is Another Way of KnowingEmpowering Leaders Should Strive to Trust Their Intuition and FeelingsIt Is Helpful for Empowering Leaders to See Intuition as a Sixth SenseHow Empowering Leaders Can Become More IntuitiveIntuition Is One of the Ways We Receive Communication from Our Higher SelfWays Empowering Leaders Can Assess How Intuitive They AreCore Value 10: Using Awareness to Expand Our PerspectiveAwareness Is an Important Core Value for Empowering LeadersIt Is Important for Empowering Leaders to Be Self-AwareLenses of Awareness Empowering Leaders Will Find UsefulExpanding Our Repertoire of Lenses of AwarenessTrying to See from Multiple Vantage PointsExpanding Our Awareness and Field of Vision Some Indicators of AwarenessAwareness Involves Both Seeing and UnderstandingCore Value 11: Using Your Higher Self to Tap into Your Inner WisdomOur Higher SelfAn Inner Guiding LightEnergizing Our Higher SelfAccessing Our Higher Self Listening to Our Higher SelfOur Connection to OthersOur Power Expands When We Act and Speak in Accord with Our Higher SelfBeing Full of Power as Opposed to Being PowerfulOur Higher Self Endeavors to Guide Us to Do Our BestOur Higher Self Helps Us Become Better Versions of OurselvesOur Higher Self Helps Us Become Who We Really AreCore Value 12: Using Openness to Expand PossibilitiesOpenness Is a Core Value for Empowering LeadersThe Higher Aspects of OpennessEmpowering Leaders Create Open SystemsEmpowering Leaders Must Be Open to Many ThingsOpening Your Heart and MindOpenness Maximizes Growth and CreativityOpenness Is the Key to Creating Infinite PotentialityBonus Chapter 1 : The Gift of Synchronicity—Our Hidden Guidance SystemUnderstanding the Gift of SynchronicityMeaningful Coincidences Help Shape Our FutureMeaningful Coincidences Help Us Fulfill our Life’s Purpose(s)Increasing Our Awareness of Synchronicity Increasing Synchronicity in Our LivesOur Synchronistic HelpersExpecting the UnexpectedThe Rule of Two’s or Three’sBonus Chapter 2: The Gift of Syntropy—Constructive ActionSyntropy Is an Important Gift for Empowering LeadersMaking the World Better Is an Important Principle for Empowering Leaders Empowering Leaders Must Counter the Force of EntropyFinding Order and Opportunity Within Chaos and DisorderFostering Syntropy Within Your OrganizationBeing a ‘Strange Attractor’AfterwordAbout the AuthorsSelected Bibliography