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Be A Leader, Change The World

by Mark Wuttke

Spring, the season of renewal, is an ideal time to evaluate your personal commitment to conscious leadership—of self, of community and of the planet. With this new column, I will illuminate leadership as an antidote to the many challenges we face (and sometimes create for ourselves and our world).

Trend-spotter Faith Popcorn, who delivered a bellweather for our recession-battered society during the 2011 International Spa Association conference, said a culture focused on reinvention and renewal, inspiration and elevation, connection and nurturance, and transparency and honesty is emerging. Society is mandating substance over superficiality, and the notion of “self” is inextricably woven into the context of community. Well being is an “interconnected web” that encompasses friends, family, community and the planet. “We can’t be well,” she said, “if our universe is ailing.”

Popcorn’s message resonates with me as a human, husband, father, business owner and world citizen. I am especially impressed with her conviction that leadership and action are the keys to improving ourselves, solving society’s ills and saving the planet.

We can address a range of topics through the filters of leadership and action. We can examine the leadership required to convey “true truths” as opposed to “false truths” about natural, organic and sustainable products, practices, philosophies and lifestyles. Among the questions to be answered:

•Why do we need a personal manifesto of “conscious leadership?”
•What is authentic, healthy wellness?
•How do we spot “wellness-washing”?
•What is authentic green? How is this definition evolving?
•How can a commitment to transparent leadership eradicate “false truths” motivated by profit rather than honesty?
•What is the most direct path to regenerative sustainability?

I look forward to addressing these and other topics in future issues. I welcome your comments and suggestions.

MARK WUTTKE heads Wuttke Group, a business development consultancy for natural, organic and sustainable spas and boutiques in the luxury market. He works with LOHAS, Green Spa Network and the Natural Beauty Summit in the United States and Europe.

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