The Mindful Leader

During times of fear and high anxiety, we count on our leaders to help us calm us and keep us focused. We need to hear they understand the problems we are facing and that they have a vision and plan to get us out of the mess. In challenging times we need our leaders to inspire us and motivate us, with realistic optimism, to reach our common goals.

So where are these pillars of strength and composure? And how do they become the Lincoln-like characters we need in times of crisis like our own?

Leaders are all around us—in our families, communities, and organizations; they are in our kitchens, mailrooms, and boardrooms. We only need to observe where people turn in times of high stress—no, not the liquor cabinet—to know who the true leaders are. Like ships making for a safe harbor in a storm, during a crisis, people are drawn to those who are steady and forward-looking, positive and encouraging.

Leaders are committed to personal mastery—the discipline and practice of personal growth and learning. Personal mastery is not something you have or a goal to achieve, though there are goals and achievements along the way. Personal mastery is a lifelong journey and a process; you never arrive and continuously learn. As Peter Senge, the author of “The Fifth Discipline” notes, “learning in the context of personal mastery does not mean acquiring more information, but expanding the ability to produce the results we truly want in life.”

Mindfulness is at the heart of personal mastery—mindfulness is present moment awareness, a non-judging tuning in to the flow of experience as it happens. The good news is we all have the inborn capacity to be mindful; the challenge is that it’s not easy and it takes practice. Leaders who practice mindfulness develop the necessary self-awareness to monitor and manage their mindsets and emotions, especially when disaster threatens. They tap their inner strength, their better angels, and tame their demons to lead others. Mindful leaders are agile and responsive in challenging times.

Mindfulness matters, because it fuels and supports all the critical leadership skills we read about more than witness—vision and strategy, informed decision making, collaboration, engagement, innovation…With millions of hours spent on leadership development programs—Google hits number over 40 million for leadership skills—you have to wonder why we are still left with a leadership vacuum in our organizations, today more than ever. Mindfulness matters because it enables us to be present and more deeply connected to ourselves and others—the personal mastery to be an effective leader.

In challenging times, leaders matter more than ever, and mindfulness matters to leaders in ways that enrich their lives and the lives of their followers.

Next Blog Posting: Mindful Leadership: It’s All About Practice

To learn more, please attend the NNJASTD Professional Development Workshop on May 20th
Mindful Leadership: Personal Mastery in Challenging Times  Presented by Ken Giglio  Register at http://www.nnjastd.org/node/472/#click

For more information on Mindful Leadership, please visit our website www.mindful-leaders.com.