The Heuristic Leadership and Anthropogogy

Heuristic leadership is coincidence in time, and is based on fallible method of solving a problem or making a decision. It helps you solve a problem without being a guarantee. Heuristic leadership is the arrangement or treatment of leadership to events in conjunction, as in a history.

According to Nir Golan, Educational & Leadership Expert, Heuristic leadership and Anthropogogy has four basic principles:

1.     The independent person: the perception of oneself as an independent entity. A person sees him/herself as someone who is self-directed; choosing what to do, how much and how to do it. The role of the heuristic leader is not to give ready answers to predetermined questions, but to help the person find out for him/herself what the important questions are and how to answer them. Through these questions, the dependence – independence conflict will decrease and there will be fewer objections to leading. The heuristic leader must strive to know the person personally instead of just knowing about him through past records and test data. The person has dignity and is a valued individual in the existential heuristic leader's eyes because of his freedom and his capability to make himself an individual.

2.     Adapting leading to that person's needs: the person is ready to be led when he/she needs that specific leading process, and it is incorporated into daily tasks and social functioning. He/she sees that the leading process serves his/her personal development. The heuristic leader’s role is to help people define their essence and needs by giving them freedom so these people can start to recognize their potentialities. Since every person has his/her own characteristics and needs, therefore, the most effective way of leading is to adapt leading to the needs and characteristics of that individual person with reference to their emotional and mental components, and not only to cognitive and behavioral aspects. The heuristic leader needs to provide an environment where the people can explore and discover the personal meaning of events.

3.     Renovating leading: In the digital age where there is widespread availability of network information, leading should give news and added value to the person. People approach leading in possession of their life experiences. For leading to be more significant, the person needs to connect the current leading knowledge with his/her prior knowledge. As such, heuristic leaders have to find out the prior knowledge of the person and his/her previous experiences in order to connect it to the leading experience and not lead him/her to do things they already know. The important things in life need to be decided by the person and must also be discovered by this individual through experiences. To just give the person information is not letting the person to be led.

4.     Immediate and practical leading: The main motive for human leading is for problem solving. The person has a need for the immediate application to the person behavior, so leading has to be more focused in giving solutions to the particular problem. Leading which cannot be implemented immediately is perceived as a waste of time. People must be free to decide what is good and relevant for themselves in their life.
The Heuristic leadership and the Anthropogogy aim for the advancement of mankind and independent thinking. The Heuristic leader reveals himself as an inquiring, questioning, and valuing person who conveys spontaneity, curiosity, warmth, and empathy; who listens and attends to others; who conveys acceptance and respect; who understands affective as well as cognitive meanings and intents; who confronts in a genuine and caring way. Heuristic leadership and Anthropogogy will provide one with the opportunity to accept change in an ever changing world.