The Conscious Leader: Why Leadership Is An Inside-Out Job

October 31, 2019

Forbes, Oct. 3, 2019-

Many people get into leadership thinking they must drive results. While leaders are hired to ensure results, being attached to the outcome can send a leader into operating from their EGO: edging their greatest self out. This can lead to an unconscious mantra of "If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me!"

While this mindset may produce positive short-term results, it will also produce a fear-based culture where employees mirror the mindset of the leader.

Leaders who lead from the inside out focus on being their best selves instead of operating unconsciously from the fear of failure that chatters in their mind. Cultivating discernment allows the leader to be more conscious of their fear of failure and how they behave when their fearful mindset appears. As a result of greater consciousness, leaders can notice their fear, feel it, yet consciously choose to refrain from controlling behaviors, such as giving orders, criticizing or making impulsive decisions.

If we are honest, we’ve all been there and done that. Fear and controlling behaviors occur when there is a catalyst, such as a company losing their biggest client, or the revenue being not as expected. These are just some of the events that can trigger unconscious fear in even the most seasoned leader. While many organizations have values such as respect, collaboration, and engagement to guard against such behaviors, in the moment, when the heat is on to perform, leaders often find that their worst selves appear. And even though employees can sense this shift in a leader, most often, they will put their head in the sand, fearing that if they speak up, they could offend the leader and face a negative repercussion.

If a leader leads from their unconscious fear, so will their employees. As a result, this mindset will trickle down into the organization, causing more power and control struggles in a company than those with conscious leaders.

We’ve all seen these power and control struggles between department managers and employees. It seems these struggles primarily occur between the departments responsible for sales and those responsible for fulfilling the promise made to customers. Instead of working as a team to answer the question "How might we resolve this issue for the good of the customer and company?", employees struggle with the mindset of "What’s in it for me?”

In contrast, a conscious leader creates a culture that realizes each individual must be aligned to their best self in order for long-term overall results to occur. When everyone is aligned to their best self, it is easier to work together to reach the vision, values and goals.

By following these eight principles, leaders role model how to be their best selves as they work together to achieve results.

The Seven Principles Of Conscious Leaders

Principle No. 1: Be humble. When each person approaches issues and obstacles with humility, they realize that they are but a thread among the fabric. This means they understand that it’s not all about them and, instead, are part of something greater than themselves. This mindset allows them to focus on the vision, values and goals. When they focus on this common ground and think about how they can contribute, they will be humbler in their approach.

Principle No. 2: Ask, believe and receive. Doing so allows us to focus on the vision, values and goals by first asking our intuitive self for guidance before acting. By connecting more deeply to our inner voice, we make a conscious choice of who will lead us: our ego or our best self. Connecting in this way to our best self helps us to respond to the situation instead of reacting to it.

Principle No. 3: Forgive, let go and learn. We have all had that experience where someone did not follow through, said something to offend us or stepped over our boundaries. If we don’t practice this principle and forgive, let go and learn, we will harbor ill feelings that will make it hard to connect and collaborate with the person we are holding a grudge against. In the case of this principle, we look to what it is we need to learn to improve the situation, instead of focusing on blame.

Principle No. 4: Stay open-minded and get curious. This is only possible after we have mastered principles 1-3. Then, staying open-minded and being curious isn’t so hard. But in addition, this principle helps us to be conscious of the chattering in our minds, which is our own fear that we are not enough to create the outcome we desire. Once we are mindful of this fear, we can make a choice to be open-minded and curious instead of affixing on our self-doubt.

Principle No. 5: Be grateful. Gratitude reminds us that our mind can only think one thought at a time. Therefore, when we focus on gratitude, we cannot focus on the fear of the outcome. This begins to help us detach from the outcome, breathe past our fear, change our viewpoint, learn to compliment others and ourselves and be grateful instead of fearful.

Principle No. 6: Embrace synchronicity. This helps us to let go of control and step into the unknown. We are more able to see how life wants to assist us in achieving our goals when we practice principles No. 1-5. By looking for this synchronicity, we let go of fear and understand we will always have what we need to get to where we want to go.

Principle No. 7: Focus on the vision and desire. This helps you to ignite enthusiasm within yourself and others. Enthusiasm comes from the Greek word "entheos" which means "God within." When leaders and their employees operate from the God within instead of fear, they not only reach their goals with more joy and ease, they feel more connected to their best selves as they do.

Challenge: Are you ready to be a conscious leader who leads from the inside out?