New Wine In Old Wineskins

Overview: The article explains leadership quality and the new culture for leadership. A familiar parable is that of putting new wine in old wineskins. In biblical times, new wine was stored in strong, new leather bottles. As the new wine fermented, the new leather was capable of expanding and remaining intact. On the other hand, if old leathern bottles, which had been subject to decay, were used, the wineskins would often burst from the action of the fermenting wine. Thus, both the new wine and the bottle would be lost. What can this parable teaches today? Are there leaders in the year 2001 trying to put new wine in old wineskins? It suggest that when one establish a new leadership paradigm (such as servant-leadership) within an organization without first addressing the need for a compatible organizational culture, we are pouring new wine into old wineskins. Every organization has an organizational culture. The culture is determined, consciously or unconsciously, by executive leadership—sometimes by just one dominant leader. It must first focus on changing the culture itself. This is done in three steps. First, the old culture must be unfrozen. Next, there must be a move to the new culture. Finally, the new culture must be frozen. The newly created culture must incorporate organizational learning, so that the organization can adapt to new conditions and alter practices over time.

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Format: HTML | Date: Jan 2001 | Pages: 1