You Are Because We Are

In the South African language Nguni, Ubuntu means “humanness.” Similar concepts appear in Botswana, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. In Western culture, a version appears as early as 1770 from the French Enlightenment. The philosopher Baron d’Holbach wrote in his System of Nature that “it is other people who are most necessary to the welfare of man…”

More recently US president Theodore Roosevelt addressed the idea of Ubuntu in a 1903 message.

The welfare of each of us is dependent fundamentally upon the welfare of all of us, and therefore in public life that man is the best representative of each of us who seeks to do good to each by doing good to all….

Archbishop Desmond Tutu explained Ubuntu in 2008 as the essence of being human, summed up as, “You can’t be human all by yourself.” In the video below, Nobel laureate and former president of South Africa Nelson Madela talks about Ubuntu.

In the workplace I believe Ubuntu encourages humanness in the sense of growth for the greater good. My framework of Leadership Intimacy begins with Ubuntu. Just as Ubuntu teaches us that you can’t be human all by yourself, the guiding principle of Leadership Intimacy reminds us that you can’t work all by yourself, much less lead all yourself.

Intimate leadership requires an individual to open themselves up to a new level of intimate communication between coworkers and colleagues. This expanded openness enables each team member to see the real person behind all the typical business masks. Through intimate leadership and increasingly intimate communication, team relationships grow and strengthen further increasing productivity, creativity, and innovation throughout an organization.

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