Mindful, authentic leadership: Joining head, heart and hands

Here we are at the beginning of fall.  The leaves are turning as we reach for wool sweaters and warm boots.  Memories of summer float by as we bring our attention back to work. I remember when I was 10 I went away to a camp in Southern California at a place called Canyon Oaks. At home I was the middle child, peacemaker, book reader, sandwich maker. At camp I got to hike and swim and sing songs with other campers around the fire. I discovered that I had a body, that I was passionate about nature and that I could challenge myself in new and exciting ways. I also learned how to use a compass and the importance of knowing where I was, in order to set my direction. This later became a metaphor for my life as I learned how to access my internal compass by joining my head, heart and hands.

Fast forward to 1998. Here I was in Louisville. I’d just been promoted to vice president and chief learning officer at a Fortune 1000 company. I was responsible for training and development for 8,500 employees world-wide during a time when the company was in serious trouble. Amazingly despite falling profits, it was business as usual. Our managers were spending most of their time learning about leadership while sitting in classrooms. It was as if their bodies were fancy robots designed to carry their heads around from one place to another. And as for the heart, forget it. Profit was king and if you didn’t have a heart for that, you were in the wrong place. As for the mind, we were so busy measuring the bottom line that there was little room for insight, creativity or innovation. The more challenging our business situation, the more we tried to perfect the usual solutions.

I knew something was missing but couldn’t quite put my finger on it. I had been a mindfulness practitioner for many years, and I decided to do a two week meditation retreat in the Huerfano Valley in Southern Colorado. I remember going for a walk in the woods at dusk, listening to the birds, smelling the pine needles, seeing the wild irises on the side of the hill. My senses were alive, my heart was open and my mind was clear. Suddenly I knew that this experience of being fully present and joining my body, my heart and my mind was the key to my own authenticity and quite possibly the missing element in developing resilient, innovative leaders.

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I decided to turn my attention to creating powerful learning environments for leaders that would bring out the best of who they were and allow them to access this experience and make it their own. I had some success doing this in my corporate job, but eventually I left in search of a more supportive environment, which I found at Naropa University in Boulder. I created a program called Authentic Leadership, that included mindfulness at its core, that later became a 16-week certificate program.

What is authentic leadership? Some people think authenticity has to do with just being yourself and “letting it all hang out” but authentic leadership goes far beyond this definition. It has to do with accessing the best of who you are in the service of others. So it is not enough just to be “real,” you need to also be connected with others in order to be effective.

According to a recent study by the Center for Creative Leadership, leaders who are trustworthy are internally and externally coherent. They know themselves, show empathy for others and take action when needed. They are able to join head, heart and hands in service to the whole. In other words, they are authentic.

Why is this important in 2017? As Google, Apple, Unilever and other companies are discovering, leaders who are disconnected from who they are do not foster trust. In today’s fast-paced, digital environment, employees are starved for authentic engagement. Leaders who can authentically connect with employees bring meaning and relevance to their lives and this translates to the bottom line as commitment and performance.

To be continued in November issue of BizWest.

Susan Skjei, Ph.D., is the director of the Authentic Leadership Center at Naropa University. Contact her at sskjei@naropa.edu