The Mind of the Leader

Only internal drivers—such as meaningful engagement, connectedness, and feeling valued—can engage employees on the deeper level needed for long-term commitment and productivity.

Mindfulness is about generating greater mental effectiveness so that you can realize more of your potential on both a professional and a personal level.

Through repeated practice, mindfulness triggers a shift in cognitive control of frontal brain regions. This enables us to perceive our world, our emotions, and other people without fight-or-flight reactions and have better emotional resilience.

Selflessness is the wisdom of getting out of your own way, the way of your people, and the way of your organization.

With selflessness, trust increases because we have no secret agendas and followership strengthens because our selflessness sets free our people to be their best selves.

Compassion is different from empathy. Empathy is when you take on the suffering of others and you both lose. In contrast, compassion is to put yourself in their shoes for a moment, notice their pain, and then see if you can help them address the challenges they face.

In today’s distracted environments, only the focused survive.

Multitasking lowers people’s job satisfaction, damages personal relationships, adversely affects memory, and negatively affects health, not to mention hindered creativity.

Action addiction is an uncontrollable urge to be doing something and a discomfort with being still. It includes behaviors like constantly checking emails, texts, news feeds, or social media.

Great leaders aren’t the types of people who publicly pat themselves on the back and trumpet their accomplishments. On the contrary, they exude a strong sense of humility.

Humility is not just a noble attitude; it’s a realistic perspective on individual worth.

We’re so interconnected with others. Understanding this reality awakens a healthy sense of humility.

Leadership is about people, and people change every day. So, never assume that you’ve found the eternal answer to being a leader, because you haven’t.

People who’re high in self-compassion tend to experience distressing events without becoming overwhelmed or stuck. They view themselves and their actions empathetically which allows them to more easily bounce back from a setback.

Once you commit to caring about yourself, you gain greater capacity to care for the people you lead.