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Leadership Styles

(With a Meditation on the Tao)

Janet Rodriguez

OGL 365: Reinventing Organizations

Professor Michael Pryzdia

December 2, 2021
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INTRODUCTION

Reinventing Organizations by Fredrick Laloux is a book that provides the idea of

organizations adopting a new set of practices and management principles. According to Laloux,

there are five types of organizations with all different types of styles. These organizations are

categorized under the colors red, amber, orange, green, and teal. For the first part of this

assignment, I will be focusing on certain leaders that fit the role of the first four leadership styles.

The second half will be discussing John Heider’s book, The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu’s “Tao

Te Ching” Adopted for a New Age and how the passages in this book relates to Teal Leadership.

PART ONE – Leaders and their leadership styles

Organizational Leadership Style: Red

Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and a perfect

example of what a leader in a red organization looks like. Stalin used fear-based leadership to

gain control and to keep that control intact for as long as he could. He was able to remove other

leaders from their power and had the ability to kill anyone he felt was an “enemy” of the people.

In a biography of Stalin it says he, “conducted a vast reign of terror, having people arrested in the

night and put before spectacular show trials” (Biography, 2019). Once Stalin was able to get a

hold of power, he and his followers put it to use to only benefit him and his beliefs. Laloux says,

“the chief surrounds himself with family members … sharing their spoils” (Laloux, 2014, p.18).

Although Stalin was not surrounded by family members he was surrounded by a numerous

number of soldiers and citizens who believed in him and gave him their loyalty. Those who

demonstrated their loyalty usually had their lives spared and were spoiled. For over two decades

Stalin was in power, his adaptability to chaotic environments was impressive but considering all
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the enemies he had and all the problems he caused, he was destined to fail in achieving stability.

This failure and his cause of fear are the reasons why his leadership is considered under the red

organization and why he never moved onto the Amber Organization.

Organizational Leadership Style: Amber

When I think of a leader under the Amber Organization, I think of Pakistani education

advocate, Mala Yousafzai. In the text, it says two major breakthroughs of the Amber

Organizations are the “plan for the medium and long term” and “can create organizational

structures that are stable and can scale” (Laloux, 2014, p. 20). Yousafzai’s love and devotion for

education, especially for the female population has been strong and has driven her to be the

inspiration and leader she is today. At the age of 17, Yousafzai become the youngest to win a

Goble Peace Prize and since then has created the Mala Fund. The Mala fund is “an organization

that, through education, empowers girls to achieve their potential and become confident and

strong leaders in their own countries” (The Nobel Prize, 2014). The Amber Organization focuses

on stability and transmitting across generations. In the case of Mala, she is giving the students

she inspires the opportunity to carry on her legacy and her organization motivates these students

to do such. Although Mala has done the extreme efforts to be where she is, a student that is a part

of her organization or someone who has just as strong of beliefs as her can replace her. I say this

because education is a system in which will be known as important for a very long time. Amber

Organizations believe “there is one right way of doing things” (Laloux, 2014, p. 21). The Mala

organization believes females to have the social and economic right to go to school as there one

right way.
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Organizational Leadership Style: Orange

The Orange organizational leadership style consists of innovation, accountability, and

meritocracy. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, is a leader I can categorize under the Orange

Organization. Based on the Orange perspective, “the goal in life is to get ahead, to succeed in

socially acceptable ways, to best play out the cards we are dealt” (Laloux, 2014, p.24). Benzos

started his career off by only selling books on Amazon to creating an online store that the public

can find everything in. He saw a world that was evolving at a quick pace, he took advantage of

keeping up with the changes to be successful and have society accept his company. As stated in

the article, Bezos was “able to develop Amazon and position the company to be a dominant

organization. He had to be creative and use reasoning skills to think of a way to make Amazon

stand out and be different than companies” (PennState, 2021). Despite Bezos charming

personality and his heroic-based leadership, many can argue that Bezos’s organization hierarchy

remains top-down. Based on Amazon’s employees’ experiences, they feel they have been treated

unfairly and doubt Bezos ability to work in the harsh conditions that they do. According to Rina

Cummings, an Amazon employee with unpaired vision, says “new managers consistently try to

place her in other departments she is unable to do the work in” (Sainato, 2020). I believe Bezos

views both Amazon and the employees as robots, “orange thinks of organizations as machines, a

heritage from reductionist science and the industrial age” (Laloux, 2014, p. 28), he wants a

perfect alignment between his employees and the organization. When events happen out of order

or unexpectedly, it is expected of him and management to intervene.

Organizational Leadership Style – Green

In a Green Organization, there is an increase of sensitivity on people’s feelings and

believes all that all perspectives deserve an equal amount of respect. Individuals who

characterize themselves under the servant leadership believe there is more to life other than

success or failure. The ideas of hierarchy and power to them mean very little and think that such

ideas should no longer exist. Herb Kheller is the ideal leader I think of in terms to the Green

Organization. Kheller was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Southwest Airlines until his

death. Throughout his leadership years, Kheller brought out greatness in his employees and

satisfaction for his customers. His status of being the CEO for Southwest never stopped him

from having a good time and connecting with the employees, “From the beginning, Kheller has

adopted a visible, hands on, slightly over-the-top style always ready to promote a party and have

fun” (O’Reilly & Pfeffer,1994, p.7). Kheller did the outstanding job of transforming Southwest

Airlines and being known as perhaps the best CEO in America. He once stated, “I'd rather have a

company bound by love than a company bound by fear” (Freiberg, 2019). You could never see

Kheller working in a Red Organization because of his lack of interest in using fear. The

leadership Kheller brought to his employees was fulfilling because he showed interest in them,

looked beyond title and status, he put his employees first before his customers, and hired for

attitude, trained for skill (Freiberg, 2019).

PART 2 – Leadership Styles with a Meditation on the Tao

Organizational Leadership Style – Teal

Very few leaders and organizations function under Evolutionary Teal leadership.

Individuals who use Teal practices are motivated through purpose and growth. Power and

profitability are never a part of their goals. Laloux says, “Teal Organizations dispense with the
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usual control mechanisms; they are built on foundations of mutual trust” (Laloux, 2014, p.80). I

found three out of the twenty-three passages from The Tao of Leadership by John Hieder to be

impactful, to continue I will be discussing these passages.

When working in a Teal Organization, I find that passage #5, Equal Treatment to be

important for the organization to be successful. It is stated in the passage, “Neither is one person

or one people better than the rest of humanity” (Hieder, 1985, p.9). This aligns with Teals

practices and beliefs so well because in Teal organization, the hierarchy ladder ceases to exist.

Teal sets a high priority in learning from oneself and learning from others if needed but the idea

of power means nothing to the integral leadership style. Laloux says with self-management, “it

replaces, works with an interlocking set of structures, processes, and practices; these inform how

teams are set up, how decisions get made, how roles are defined and distributed…” (Laloux,

2014, p.134). Self-management is a concept many may be afraid to practice but the idea itself is

a whole learning process that can be done. I believe it promotes clarity and understanding of

organizations tasks and those who perform them. People in Teal organizations slowly but surely

begin to see that their coworkers are more than their job title, working as one provides a better

outcome for the organization and the those working in it.

Passage #7, Selflessness, also positions itself very well with Evolutionary Teal

leadership. A lot like Equal Treatment, Selflessness is about caring more of others needs than

your own. “The leader grows more and lasts longer by placing the well-being of all above the

well-being of self alone” (Hieder, 1985, p.13). It is the willingness to help those around you

before you can help your own self. Leaders in Teal view the organization as a living entity, an

environment they are extremely delicate with and never for it to go anywhere it is not meant to
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even if money, power, or popularity is involved. A main goal of the Teal Organizations is to,

“become the truest expression of ourselves, to live into authentic selfhood, to honor our

birthright gifts and callings, and be of service to humanity and our world” (Laloux, 2014, p.45).

Lastly, passage #12, The Paradox of Letting Go is another great representation of the

Teal Organization Leadership style. The book states, “My best work is done when I forget my

own point of view; the less I make of myself, the more I am” (Hieder, 1985, p. 43). This

statement relates a lot to what Laloux must speak on behalf of egos and the failures it causes

within ourselves when we hold on to them. “By looking at our ego from a distance, we can

suddenly see how its fears, ambitions, and desires often run our life” (Laloux, 2014, p. 44). Since

Teal Organizations view people as equally important instead of hierarchy rankings, people who

thrive on their big egos will not do well in this kind of organization. It is important for people to

listen and decrease control so that they can let go of their ego and become their authentic self.

CONCLUSION

Overall, the five leadership styles created by Frederic Laloux in Reinventing

Organizations are all different with their unique set of values and practices. Despite their

differences, they all show the awakening of consciousness and evolution of organizations.

Organizations who have been led by fear have the opportunity to be a part of an organization that

strives for self-management, wholeness, and purpose. After learning so much from the past but

also learning about what’s to come, I am sure that todays and the future’s generation will

approach the Teal Leadership style.

References

A&E Networks Television. (2019, September 4). Joseph Stalin. Biography.com. Retrieved

December 2, 2021, from https://www.biography.com/dictator/joseph-stalin. 

Freiberg, K., and J. (2019, April 7). 20 reasons why Herb Kelleher was one of the most beloved

leaders of our time. Forbes. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from

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kelleher-was-one-of-the-most-beloved-leaders-of-our-time/?sh=1aa403c3b311. 

Heider, J. (1985). The Tao of Leadership: Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching Adapted for a New Age.

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https://sites.psu.edu/leadership/2021/02/01/jeff-bezos-as-a-leader/. 

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O'Reilly, C., & Pfeffer, J. (1995). Southwest Airlines (A) HR-1A. Stanford Graduate School of

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https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2014/yousafzai/biographical/. 
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Sainato, M. (2020, February 5). 'I'm not a robot': Amazon workers condemn unsafe, grueling

conditions at Warehouse. The Guardian. Retrieved December 2, 2021, from

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