“In the deeps are the violence and terror of which psychology has warned us. But if you ride these monsters down, if you drop with them farther over the world’s rim, you find what our sciences cannot locate or name, the substrate, the ocean or matrix or ether which buoys the rest, which gives goodness its power for good, and evil its power for evil, the unified field: our complex and inexplicable caring for each other, and for our life together here. This is a given. It is not learned.”

Annie Dillard

In “Leading from Within,” an essay in Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation, Parker Palmer connects leadership with our inner and outer lives. Palmer exclaims, “Authentic leaders in every setting—from families to nation states—aim at liberating the heart, their own and others’, so that its powers can liberate the world.” To Palmer, we all lead in some capacity. In clarifying the connection between the inner and outer worlds, Palmer explains, “The spiritual traditions do not deny the reality of the outer world. They simply claim that we help make that world by projecting our spirit on it, for better or for worse. If our institutions are rigid, it is because our hearts fear change; if they set us in competition with each other, it is because we value victory over all else; if they are heedless of human well-being, it is because something in us is heartless as well.

In describing leadership, Palmer identifies 4 shadows that leaders project, which inner work is key to address: insecurity about identity and worth, the belief that the universe is a battleground, the belief that ultimate responsibility for everything rests with us, fear of the natural chaos of life, and denial of death/fear of failure. Toward the end of the essay, Palmer asks, “How can we support leaders?” He suggests: Value inner work. Talk about inner work as a deeply personal matter that can be accomplished in community. Don’t be afraid to discuss fear.

Talking about leadership, and the importance of inner and outer work, has never been more important. As beacons of leadership pass, institutions are starved of ethical leaders, definitions of leadership demand more inclusive language and action, and norms of leadership are shattered, creating justice and peace depends on all of us doing inner and outer work. Ultimately, that is how we achieve the unified field of which Dillard and Palmer write. Leadership is about creating the unified field.