Create Your Future with Conscious Leadership

Everyone aspires to be great and possess the freedom and fulfillment that life has to offer. But few take the path of looking inward and recognizing that the fundamentals of leadership lie in “well being”.  

Well-being, being that of the person, his family, community and country.  We experience well- being when we have self-awareness, self-management and the ability to manage our relationships.  

Leadership is  an inner skill set rather than what is most often seen with outer technical and psychological skill sets.  We define  a leader as an embodiment of consciousness that represents the desires and attitudes of a group- family, community, or country.  Leaders represent the collective consciousness and this is why we must look at who are chosen to lead and who are not.

We know what represents a good leader; but how to get there seems to be the challenge.  The first and most fundamental quality that a leader has is having a collective vision, not an individual dream. When Dr. King gave his speech, “I have a dream”, he was thinking as “we” collectively, it was not for his personal needs, passions and greed.  He had a global vision that would benefit all of  humanity.  This concept alone, is not what our current climate  produces.  

After reviewing the most current leadership courses, we found most of them, based on research oriented case studies where the performance of what we view as successful leaders is reduced to a skill set and compared with others of less success. The courses do indeed provide a set of skills, but most skills are technical and managerial in style. If you look at a leader from a humanistic viewpoint rather than a reductionist/allopathic like model, one would find it much more difficult to use a “technical skill set” to define it. In other words, when we look at human skills, they are more challenging to define and replicate as opposed to an assembly line model. Yet human skills are the key to being a successful leader, one that has the charisma to inspire other people to believe in you and support your vision.

Perhaps we can look at leadership from a holistic model as opposed to a reductionist or allopathic model. When we look holistically, we can dive deeper into those traits that make a great leader unique and charismatic. Great leaders, like Dr. King and Mahatma Gandhi had qualities that inspired the masses because of their loyalty, respect and passion for serving society not themselves. They were respected and loved by the world because they reflected that. We don’t see that deeper level of commitment when we have well trained leaders and managers with leadership skill set.

Skills can be acquired in training the consciousness to be loyal, compassionate and genuine. This type of processing goes beyond what has been called practical psychology. It has been said, that a successful leader isn’t a person seeking control, power, or selfish motives that uses sheer psychological manipulation to bully the masses. But one whose actions emerge from the depth of human consciousness reflecting a better life, inner and outer, to both the leader and the group she/he leads.

And those traits can be acquired through inner training. Namely, working with the mind and its functions. I have identified three overall traits based on surveys from workshops, although there are certainly more.

1. Presence is the first and foremost. You don’t find a great leader distracted by the ever changing environment. Their awareness is focused on the issues at hand and these issues are forefront on their agenda. They don’t look at the past harboring resentment, but use it as a tool to navigate the choppy waters. And, they don’t look to the future with uncertainty. They stay present in the moment and when they speak, they speak to the human condition.

2. Self- empowered. Great leaders are self-empowered. They exude confidence from knowing who they are. They don’t feel above or beneath anyone. So criticism and other types of remarks do not affect them in a derogatory way; they use this to move forward and make necessary adjustments. When we are self-empowered, we have strength and rely on our inner consciousness to guide us. With self-empowerment we are able to empower others. This is want conscious leadership is all about.

3. Integrity and Compassion. Many leaders can have presence and self-empowerment and still be tyrants. But Great leaders have one exceptional quality; loyalty and love for humanity itself. They look and listen with that part of the mind that is not affected by “I” . They are looking at the collective consciousness and realize that any action produces a vibration that affects the whole of the world. They have a collective vision. This is what creates charisma. You can’t really define it, but you know who is charismatic and who is not. There is just that something, and that something is love and joy.

Whether you are a leader in your family, community or in your work environment, train yourself to be healthy, happy and holy. These three qualities give a sense of well-being and when we feel good others feel good also. We must raise the consciousness of our immediate groups if we are going to create change for ourselves and our communities.

One of the first skills to practice is inspiration. Inspire yourself by learning how to breath skillfully and efficiently. Once you have become so inspired, you can inspire others. Here are some tips.

Here is a simple recipe for inspiring yourself and others:

• Remain Calm – Consciously Aware Living in the Moment
• Be present and listen attentively.
• Welcome periods of crisis. They allow you to look at what “is” twice.
• Look for opportunity in everything. Staying positive breeds positive change.
• Inspire yourself and leave behind the motivation. When you are inspired it comes from the soul. When you motivate it comes from the “head”. Move from your head to your heart so that you can inspire others.

Rather than be a victim of circumstance or play the blame game, you can shape your path forward by asking yourself some resourceful questions.

• Ask yourself the following questions as a way to be the architect of your own story:
• Ask yourself, “What kind of world do I want to live in”?
• Ask yourself “What kind of family, community or organization do I want to create”?
• Ask yourself, “What kind of community or work team do I want to be part of”?
• Ask yourself, “What is my role in creating this”?

We are in the midst of a new civilization, as leaders of change we need to be aware of it, and what are we going to do about it. In today’s world there is transparency; there are no secrets. Great leaders are charismatic and they externalize their internal representation on the world in positive ways to breed success for others. Success practiced consciously, brings a better life, inner and outer, to both leader and the group she/he leads.