Conscious Leadership is a business principle of higher purpose, and a stakeholder principle of greater good. It is based on neuroscience, and requires all of the attributes of emotional intelligence: mindfulness, self-awareness, self-mastery, social awareness and social mastery. This application of neuroscience to leadership has become known as neuroleadership.
But applying neuroscience to leadership is not enough. Conscious leadership demands that neuroleadership is applied in a specific way.
A conscious leader is one who knows himself, is empathetic to others, and knows what waves of change are coming in the next decade. They are mindful of the impacts those changes will likely have on their organisation and the value they deliver to the market. And they are making decisions now that will best prepare their organisation, and those who work within it, to leverage their strengths.
Conscious Leadership is founded on the principle of greater good – accessing powerful insight to balance and optimise decisions made on behalf of the organisation, the community, and humanity. It requires a letting go of ego, a resistance to urges, impulses, temptations and distractions, so that one may make conscious decisions about where ones attention will be focused. Attention is raw power – an asset to be used wisely, selectively, and with discipline. As such, is it one of the most reliable predictors of future success and life satisfaction.
The Benefits of Conscious Leadership
There are many personal and professional benefits of conscious leadership in business, including:
- Trusted Authenticity – truly knowing who we are, what our purpose is, and positioning ourselves in roles where we are genuinely aligned to the purpose of the higher good – the organisation, the community etc. Having a higher purpose serves to open one’s mind to limitless possibilities, to free oneself from ‘the way it has always been done’. It provides the flexibility and agility needed in today’s rapidly changing business environment.
- Improved Decision Making – a great benefit of focused attention and purpose, is in finding the answers to questions in the gaps – in those moments when you are not focused on anything, In a state of calm, almost of mindful distraction the brain can stack assimilate new information, and often resolve questions in queue. And all it takes is to stop doing and start thinking, In doing so you release processing power for the brain to make the decision without your conscious involvement. It is as though your brain, knowing your higher purpose, continually and subconsciously seeks solutions that serve you and your business.
- Innovation – opening the mind also benefits creative thinking, which leads to higher forms of innovation than might otherwise be possible. Instead of thinking outside the box, conscious leadership removes the box.
- Improved Relationships – more than 80% of a relationship is built subconsciously. I love the phrase from an article[1] by Gina Hayden that says “the clouds of one’s identity – those habits, unconscious patterns and behaviours that cast a shadow over us” and in doing so, erect a barrier between us and others. An ultimate outcome of emotional intelligence is to ability to observe thoughts and emotions arising, as they arise, and have the ability to determine a course of action that promotes an outcome that is most beneficial to all – the greater good. This removes the barrier, and allows a free exchange of subconscious messaging that builds trust, rapport and respect.