Leading from the Heart

There are many broken parts in the existing business model, and trust is one of the biggest. Too often in today’s business world, we lead with organizational structure, instead of leading from the heart. We are focused on transactions instead of thinking of how these actions translate into the foundational elements of business, which often get missed, including the need to have lasting human-to-human relationships. We read more headlines about restructuring, layoffs, or re-organization and who gets to stay and who is no longer with a company than why this change was needed (beyond the financial justifications).

Imagine if your organization first talked about the changes that were happening in terms of the higher purpose. My intuition tells me that we would be having less restructuring, layoffs, and reorganizations when conscious leaders lead with people-centered values.

Being a leader means recognizing that everything you do has an impact on the people around you. Conscious leaders have high self-awareness and are in tune with our feelings, thoughts, and actions on this journey. You are guided to serve with compassion and care about the impact you create by truly engaging and driving the mission of the organization.

Do you lead from the heart in abundance?

Conscious leaders are the light that shines on others, not to dominate or control others, but to help us ignite our own inner light and become a leader as well, so that we can find our higher purpose that drives connections, communication, and relationships. Conscious leaders go beyond managing people and supervising work. We lead by example, through the alignment of our words with their actions. We are aware that life requires us to experiment and to tap into our courage and see opportunities instead of problems. We bring people together inside and outside an organization with the purpose of creating value.

Conscious leaders continuously do work to tap into understanding who we are, and also take care of ourselves. We energize people, not burn them out. We understand the importance of our own wellbeing and respect the needs of others to be whole and healthy people. If you are a conscious leader, you have a potent imagination and a desire to explore opportunities. You have a knack for seeing possibilities because you take the time to stop and listen, and you have a deep knowing that what you do impacts others. You allow yourself to be balanced, joyful, courageous and curious. You feel that investing in human beings is healthy and sustainable for your business. You learn who to trust and then get out of people’s way so they can do the work that is aligned with the overall mission of your organization — tapping into the hearts of those around you.

Conscious leaders focus on continuously asking questions, like:

• What am I here to create in the world? How does my life’s work make the world healthier for me, my community, and the world?
• What are my most trusted and valued relationships?
• What is working well? What do I need to focus more on?
• Do I have the mindset of scarcity (transactions) or abundance (relationships)?

Conscious leaders are not perfect, but we are willing to go through the challenging process of transformation to become more whole. We are more likely to be giving, vulnerable, compassionate, and inspiring, though we will not necessarily possess all such traits. This also doesn’t mean that we don’t sometimes fail to live up to these ideals. We do fail, as we are only human. The difference is that we face our failures and learn from them, while also holding onto our conscious decisions.

Would love to hear your thoughts and comments about what you’re creating in our emerging world.