The days of following and abiding by a leader, simply because they hold the title, are quickly becoming a distant memory. The ancient and stern visage of a worn and over-bearing commander, has been replaced by a flawed yet balanced, nurturing, and team-centric leader.

In a recent article by Bryan Collins for Forbes, Science Reveals The Traits Every Leader Must Cultivate, Bryan mentions MIT’s Professor Deborah Ancona’s 4-CAP+ model, and how its four capabilities (sense-making, visioning, relating, and inventing) “…teaches executives and leaders how to build on their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses or flaws.” By honoring these principles within themselves, they inspire their leadership teams and culture to do the same.

In CEO & Co-Founder of Y Scouts, Max Hansen’s wildly successful book, he discusses what a “Conscious Leader” is and how they can change the landscape of a company for the better. Here’s an excerpt from, Hiring on Purpose: How the Y Scouts Method is Revolutionizing the Search for Leaders:

“The Responsibilities of a Conscious Leader
A Taylorist or command-and-control leader would argue that their only responsibility is to create value for the shareholder or the investor. In fact, you see that kind of language in company mission statements all the time, and it’s a basic tenet of old-style capitalism.

A conscious leader recognizes that although shareholder value is important, they must answer to many other stakeholders as well. A good company, a company with purpose, will create value for all those other stakeholders as well. The community. Their vendors and suppliers. Their customers. Their employees.

Yes, that means a conscious leader cares about making the lives of employees better, beyond the mere continued existence of their jobs. Sometimes that means waking up to the realities of the workplace.

One of our favorite stories about conscious leadership involves Bob Chapman, chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller Companies. After a series of challenging years, Bob was desperate and needed to make some changes in his company, but he needed the passionate engagement of his employees to get those changes done.

Chapman was attending a wedding and had a simple but powerful realization as he watched a father walk his daughter down the aisle and give her away to her husband-to-be. He saw that every parent does their best to raise their children and provide them with the best life they can. And every single employee who worked for Barry-Wehmiller was someone’s precious son or daughter.

At that moment, Chapman realized he was personally responsible for the well-being of every employee in his company. So he decided to treat them that way, moving forward from that moment. It led him to a broader vision, and he began preaching what he calls “truly human leadership.” It made all the difference in getting his employees engaged and the company moving.”

When you care deeply for your business and its employees, they feel it and in turn become ambassadors for your “Why,” as it fuels their purpose and becomes the shared vision. “It’s part of how trust gets built between leaders and those who work with leaders.”

Click here to read more from Max and Brian’s incredible guidebook to ‘shifting your hiring philosophy.’

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Attributes: Collins, Bryan . Science Reveals The Traits Every Leader Must Cultivate. Forbes.com.

Hansen, Max . Hiring on Purpose: How the Y Scouts Method Is Revolutionizing the Search for Leaders. Lioncrest Publishing.