Highly self-aware leaders have developed their sense of purpose, they act from their internal centre, consciously expressing their core values. They ‘walk the talk’ and understand their strengths and challenges. Leadership self-awareness is a constant inquiry into ourselves and others’ experiences. Consider how you react when you or your ideas are criticized, when a colleague..
Tag: Servant Leadership
Today, Sept. 30th marks the first National Day of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. As recommended in a very informative communication I received this morning from Amnesty International Canada (below), I have registered for a virtual tour of the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School, courtesy of the Woodland Cultural Centre. It is a powerful walk-through..
What makes a good team player? According to respected and very successful leadership expert, Patrick Lencioni, author of The Ideal Team Player, members who are humble, hungry (driven for results) and people smart. A person, to be a good team player needs to be able to: admit mistakes have a sense of urgency or passion..
The experience of stillness has the benefits of increased attentiveness and detachment while at the same time nurturing connectedness to a bigger picture and deeper meaning. This can be illustrated by Saint-Exupery’s desert experience. In Dec. 1935 Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author of The Little Prince, crashed in the desert. In his story of survival in..
This penultimate post suggests methods for incorporating stillness and identifies challenges as well as potential solutions for those interested in incorporating stillness as part of leading self and others in a VUCA world. Harvard Business Review authors Talbot-Zorn and Marz (2017) wrote a blog titled “The busier you are, the more you need quiet time”…
This post explores persuasive benefits or leaders to create stillness in their own lives. Stillness is relevant for twenty-first century professionals. Professionals, indeed all individuals seek significance, yet faced with insecurities, rejection, failures and shame can be rendered immobilized or otherwise inhibited in their authentic contribution to the greater whole of the organization. Stillness is..
This post explores the conceptual and theoretical base of stillness as it relates to leadership. Ryan Holiday, a contemporary thinker and writer on ancient philosophy and its place in everyday life, asserts that many philosophies of the ancient world believed that stillness was necessary for leaders to think, be creative, write and make decisions (2019)…
This post offers an example of a business person who incorporates stillness in his professional life. The example sheds light on the discipline of stillness and how the development of a contemplative mind can serve the professional and the organization. Peter Ng Kok Song is an example of a business person who incorporates stillness in..
It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done and yet the impact was undeniably profound. In a very hot Aug. 2019 I participated with close to two hundred other participants in a four-day silent meditation retreat. For me, the retreat was an effort to foster an appropriate disposition in the face of my..
We see the world through our own lens which is why knowing ourselves is so very important. What parts of your past trigger reactions in you? Where do you find you are at your best? What is important to you? What bothers you? If you can articulate these things clearly then you will have more..