Leading With Awareness

A Roadmap for Awakened Leaders

Joan Marques

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780367893996
• eBook ISBN: 9781000411256
• Topic: Développement personnel
• Subtopic: Commerce Général

Presenting the essentials of awakened leadership through 50 contemplative branches, this text is a revolutionary yet sensible leadership manual that takes the reader from self-reflection to interaction, touching on internal and external factors that influence business decision-making.

This book is designed to expand awareness within those who lead at present or those who aspire to lead. One can only lead others responsibly having understood how to lead the self, becoming an "awakened leader." Awakened leaders stay true to their values but are very much aware that life and business are continuous processes of growth and change—an awareness more critical than ever in today's VUCA world. Awakened leaders recognize that these constant changes are calls to regular reflection, enabling greater empathy, understanding, and ultimately, improved decision-making.

Postgraduate students and practicing leaders in the workplace will value this book, which tells them in a straightforward way how to undertake no-nonsense action with a compassionate and visionary foundation.

PART I
Self-Inspection

1
Am I a Leader?

The Leader Inside

This path I am treading
Is paved by the choices I made
And will evolve as a result
Of how through life I wade

While the world outside
May influence the tide
My perspectives and actions
Make my path narrow or wide

I may not be in charge
Of whatever might emerge
But my attitude guides me
In converting drought to surge

The leader of my life
I am, without a doubt
I’m grateful for my steps
In living good, gentle, yet stout

~ Joan Marques

Are you a leader? Not sure if you ever asked yourself this question, but chances are that the answer varies based on the circumstances. If you’re down and out, or just had a major disappointment, you most likely think that you are definitely not leader material. On the other hand, if you just graduated, landed a great job, received a promotion, or had your partner agree to your marriage proposal you may give yourself a pat on the back as a remarkable leader.

And indeed, it depends, but in a different way than described previously. If you consider being a leader something like holding a formal position of authority over others, you may not meet your own criteria. But if you agree that leadership starts within, and manifests itself through your behavior and actions, you have a high chance of making the leadership ranks.

One favorite thought I heard some time ago is that we’re all born leaders, because we are the one sperm that managed to break through the barrier of an egg cell and fertilize it. Perceived that way, each of us is a winner and could see themselves as a leader. But most people don’t think of leadership as a set of behaviors. They consider it positional, and that is a misnomer, because there have been numerous people who held great formal positions, and were worthless as leaders. Similarly, there were, and still are, many people in the simplest of positions—or even without jobs—who carry themselves in such a way that others gravitate to them for advice and to hear their opinion. Those people have more leadership qualities in their pinky fingers than the ones holding major positions, but are narcissistic and inconsiderate toward others.

Leadership is the way you carry yourself. It is displayed through your focus and your grit. Grit is something that cannot be taught. It’s that inner desire to succeed at something you consider important, and that propels you forth long after others have given up. That’s grit. And that’s one of the remarkable qualities of true leaders.

Another critical factor that can help you determine if you are a leader is your driving motives: Do you only focus on your own progress, or do you have a sense of responsibility toward those around you? Whether this pertains to coworkers, family members, or pets, we all find ourselves in a position where we have to take care of others. This may not always be a desirable place to be, but if you are able to take on that responsibility for others, aside from yourself, and make something good of it, you may label yourself a leader.

In fact, no one said that leadership is fun. Sometimes the pressure of taking on leadership is downright hard. Whether this pertains to leadership over your own actions and decisions or those of others. This may explain why so many people actually prefer not to consider themselves leaders: it’s not easy. Leadership is not only responsibility but also care, insight, awareness, and setting a good example for others. That takes off a large chunk of the fun in life, because as a leader, you should keep in mind that others will want to follow your example. So, what example are you setting?

2
Why Should I Be a Leader?

For the longest time, I thought that everyone would like to be a leader. Over the years I asked this question to undergraduate and MBA business students, and I became aware that this is not the case. In fact, a majority of the people I asked whether they saw themselves as a leader responded negatively to this question. Many of them did not even consider it viable that they would be a leader anytime soon in their lives.

I started understanding that this mindset may have originated from what is generally being taught, namely, that you are only a leader when you hold a formal leadership position. More narrowly defined: many people think that they would only be a leader if they were the CEO of a corporation. This, in my opinion, is a misleading notion. Why? Because we exert leadership all the time! Deciding to do this and not that is a leadership task. Any decision we make ultimately influences the course of our path from here to the future. Now, is that not leadership, then?

Reflecting on the title of this section, the answer could therefore easily be: you should be a leader because you already are, whether you like it or not. The difference, from the moment the awareness of your self-leadership kicks in, is that you also get an increased understanding of the responsibility you have for your actions, and the fact that a large part of your fate lies in your own hands. While you cannot change certain circumstances, you can change what you do when the circumstances emerge. If, for instance, you have lost a job, relationship, or an opportunity you had hoped for, this may get you down and in despair. Such emotions are understandable, and you should take the time to mourn the sense of loss you feel. Yet, you cannot do this forever. At some point you will have to get up, straighten your shoulders, take a deep breath, and bounce back!

Bouncing back. We may not have the literal buoyancy of a rubber ball, but if you had no resilience at all, you probably wouldn’t have been able to read this book at this moment, and if I did not have any, I wouldn’t have been able to write it.

Resilience is a powerful self-leadership trait that enables us to withstand more than we would ever hold possible. Do you know the story of the professor and the jar, filled with rocks? When he asked his students if they considered the jar full, the students admitted that this was the case. Immediately, the professor proved them wrong by pouring fine sand in the jar. The sand trickled down and nestled itself in the spaces between the rocks. The professor asked the students if the jar was full now, and again the students agreed, upon which the professor poured some water in the jar, demonstrating that there was still some holding capacity in the jar.

This little story can be interpreted in many positive ways, but it definitely illustrates the power of resilience. If we compare ourselves to the jar, we can understand our capacity to overcome more challenges than we might have initially thought we could. There is oftentimes just a little more capacity than we thought ourselves to have. It’s the resilient leadership in us that creates enough elasticity to go yet another mile, in the meantime getting over mental wounds we thought would never heal.

Our human frailty is rather deceptive, because in reality, we are capable of so much more. Resilience ties in well with perseverance and persistence. Actually, if there were any family ties possible between words, these three could be siblings. All of them represent strength and endurance to a level that could be decisive for the quality of our lives.

Now, you may wonder: what is it that makes some people more resilient, thus driven, than others? Is it an inborn trait or can it be learned? Several scholars have done research on this topic, and they agreed that resilience can be learned, so we all can increase our level of resilience if we choose to. With resilience comes a greater sense of responsibility, as mentioned earlier: you understand that you cannot point fingers at others for the things that go wrong in your life, because you are ultimately the one who made the decisions to be in the here and now.

Resilient people have a tendency to take a hard look at themselves, assess where they may have gone wrong in order to have landed in the current situation, and how they could elevate themselves to better conditions.

That is the exertion of leadership, directed at self-improvement. If you get in the habit of implementing this, you will soon find yourself in positions of formal leadership, because others will start recognizing your qualities, and want you to apply them to their environments as well.

3
Who Benefits From Me Being a Leader?

This is one of those many questions that is best answered with, “It depends.” Answering the question this way is not a means to avoid a straight answer. It is just the truth. The type of leader you choose to be will determine whether anyone—including yourself—will benefit from it or not. The factors that this depends on are not only limited to your behavior, by the way, but they also depend on the environment involved. Sometimes there are a large number of stakeholders involved in, let’s say, a corporate or academic environment where you fulfill a formal leadership role, and sometimes there may only be a small group of individuals involved. Either way: it is important to reflect regularly on this important question: “who benefits from me being a leader?”

Without intending for the following to sound self-centered, you should try to discover some personal benefits from leading. Not just the financial reward that so often comes with a leadership position and not just the influence you will be able to exert toward certain groups. Leadership is a great opportunity to learn about yourself and to develop skills that you discover toward improvement. If, for instance, you find that you are highly sensitive about what others say about you, you may have to work on that, because you will not escape the fact that not everyone will be equally fond of you. Some people may respect you, but dislike some of your traits or the way you look or talk. Others may feel just the opposite: they may like how you look or present yourself, but they don’t respect you as a leader. And in between there are numerous shades of opinions.

That’s why it is important to reflect and see things in perspective. People include their biases and experiences in the pictures they paint of others, and their opinions about you may be tainted by the mental lenses they wear. This is why you have to practice the art of emotionally releasing when you find yourself hurt due to misinterpretations or biased views. If performing in any leadership role is too painful and stressful and undermines your well-being, you should consider bringing about some drastic changes, either by shifting your perspectives or by changing your environment.

Reflecting is also useful as a tool to mentally scan the entire landscape in which you perform. Regardless of your ideas about anyone you encounter in your leadership practice, you should always try to do your very best to help. And whenever you cannot help, try to refrain from harming. This is an old Buddhist concept, but it works in any situation, and it is morally responsible as well.

Leadership can sometimes come across as a thankless job. You may find yourself trying to accomplish so much for those you serve as a leader, yet, they complain and speak poorly about you whenever they can. At any rate, you have to remain devoted to your conscience, and try to maintain a broad view on your role: to serve your stakeholders and the organization you represent, and to do so, with the best intentions, even though outcomes and opinions may not reflect your efforts.

Sometimes it takes many years for people to realize how you benefitted them with your leadership efforts. That’s okay. Some people may never realize it. That’s okay too. As long as your intentions and efforts are morally sound, and you can distill growth for yourself and others in the process, you are on the right track.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Part I Self-Inspection
• Part II What’s My Purpose?
• Part III What’s the Foundational Problem?
• Part IV How Can I Solve It?
• Part V Who Am I Affecting?
• Part VI What Matters in Leadership?
• Index