Leaders are expected to exercise greater awareness, critical and creative thinking, and ultimately freedom of action and response-ability than regular employees. The higher the position of leadership, the more these traits are demanded.
But how can leaders cultivate and strengthen these abilities? And how do we eliminate behavior patterns that inhibit them?
The answer, as psychologists are increasingly finding, is mindfulness.
Mindfulness allows leaders to:
If you don't believe that mindfulness provides these benefits, simply picture the last time you were terrified or infuriated or distressed. How clear was your thinking? How creatively inspired? How open to feedback?
No one would hope to be mentally agile and empowered under those conditions. And that's the point: those emotions tend to take us out of the present moment and limit our critical and creative thought.
So unless a leader makes a conscious effort to stay mindful, these negative emotions squash one's abilities to operate from a position of choice and power.
And what we have found through our research is that exceptional -- aka fearless -- leaders routinely make that conscious effort to stay mindful in difficult situations.
Fearless leaders stay mindful so that they can operate from their highest consciousness when it matters most, rather than reacting to negative circumstances and emotions such as fear (especially the fear of failure).
Indeed, the ability to routinely operate from higher consciousness under stress -- grace under pressure -- is one of the most noted and obvious traits of a fearless leader.
And the good news is that mindfulness is a skill that can be learned and strengthened with the right exercises, including the ability to retain mindfulness within high-stress moments and situations.
It's one thing when colleagues and team-mates comment on a leader's improvement in Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness -- and that happens pretty routinely -- but it's entirely another thing when a leader's spouse or kids do it!
Then you really know a substantial change has taken hold.
And that's one of the many milestones that happen to leaders when they get coaching from The Fearless Leaders Group.
And now you can have the same experience. Review our Fearless Focus Engagement options and contact us directly to get started.
Or learn more about what operating from your highest consciousness looks like for your natural leadership style.
Different leaders express their highest consciousness differently, so knowing what type of fearless leader you are can help you more consistently stay in that higher consciousness.
And that makes taking our short, interactive quiz a no-brainer.
Fearless Leaders grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let go. It’s the most practical book I’ve read on how to heighten mindfulness and ignite personal courage. It’s a powerful book, tough at times, tender at others. From her own fearless experiences, and those of leaders she’s studied, Dr. Cathy Greenberg offers revealing self-assessments, intimate first-person examples, and engaging applied exercises. Follow the steps she outlines and they will enable you to achieve higher levels of performance and greater awareness of yourself and your environment. With Fearless Leaders as your guide you’ll make better decisions and lead a more passionate life. You can’t ask for more than that from any book!
—Jim Kouzes
Fearless Leaders tackles (and teaches) one of the most complex attributes of outstanding leaders throughout history, moral courage.
—Amy Edmondson
That's a tough one, moral courage is hard to teach and it's such an important quality for leaders. If we could get more people to step up to use moral courage more often - we would see better results.
—Jerry Boykin
After having the pleasure of recording an On Demand Seminar with Dr. Cathy Greenberg, I was astonished by her ground-breaking perspective on leadership, and the role she takes herself as an inspirational leader. Not only did I learn to sharpen my focus, she also showed me how to achieve greater confidence and courage to become an inspirational leader myself. She was truly a pleasure to work with, and I am thrilled that she accepted to be a faculty at the Gazelles Growth Institute.
—Daniel Marcos
hello@fearlessequalsfreedom.com
