Today’s contemporary structures in the business world are much different than they were ten or twenty years ago. The trends which are running through the currents today, however, do have their roots back in the earlier decades. In our lifetimes, we have seen a move from one significant paradigm into an opposite paradigm. Businesses that work now are finding that the contemporary paradigm has its roots in something even more elemental than that’s lead to the current models.

It wasn’t long ago that the culture at large was speaking about willpower, and using your own clout in order to get what you wanted. People worked on principles of clever manipulation , and it was even accepted that this was a normal business practice, even if the manipulation had some elements of deception. It was accepted because it was generally acknowledged that everyone practiced this way. Thus, it became the norm, and the ones who could really succeed were the best at deftly covering up the manipulation.

Today’s model, where leadership qualities come from an internal sense of right and wrong, is much more effective, and also efficient. That’s because it’s based on honesty, and transparency . If there is nothing to cover up, then there is less time wasted, trying to figure out how to hide the truth. That’s a basic principle that has always been effective in any kind of setting, including business.

Seeing a return to this transparency in our lifetimes comes from a number of factors, but the single most important contributing circumstance is that it works. Honesty works. It’s something that comes naturally to everyone, but that doesn’t mean that a business training seminar won’t help to refresh ourselves on what’s always been effective. The question of leadership is always one of character, and one of the most successful tools is to start with the assumption that good character is something everyone has. This levels the playing field, so that our natural leadership potential can really come through and shine.