Mindful Leadership

By Chris L. Johnson, PsyD., guest contributor

COVID’s tragic impact—on health and the economy, working remotely or job seeking, juggling kids and school, racial strife, and a divisive US election soon—is like nothing we’ve ever had to address (1). Yet, if these past few months of enforced pause have shown us nothing else, it’s that we’re able to learn on the fly.

Conventional, rationalistic tradition—involving lectures, books, data points, and debate—has led us to believe that learning is some…

By Joy Reichart, New Ventures West, guest contributor

As a school dedicated to everyone uncovering their authentic contributions to life, we at New Ventures West have always worked to cultivate optimal conditions for growth and connection. We are constantly honing and refining the ‘containers’ for our Integral Coach training programs—particularly now that we have moved to a virtual classroom.

What is a well-held container?

A container for growth is just that: a physical and energetic field ar…

By Jay Forte, guest contributor

So many people today are working remotely. With a computer and Internet connectivity, employees can get most (or all) of their usual work done. 

But working from home during a pandemic is drastically different from the traditional work-at-home mentality. Today, remote employees have to juggle so many things that impact their productivity. There is family, home schooling, shopping in a pandemic, having enough of the essentials, finding and using safety equipment …

By Art Kleiner, Jeffrey M. Schwartz, and Josie Thomson, guest contributors

This is part of a series. You can find the first article here. 

Strategic leadership is the ability to handle complex problems: where there is no obvious or facile solution, the stakes are high, and collaboration with others is essential. In this series for Mindful Leader, we are exploring the seven challenges, based in the mind and brain, which strategic leaders can expect to face as they move through their careers.  

By Andy Lee, guest contributor

In 1988, the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) published a book that transformed how people thought about leadership development. In The Lessons of Experience, the authors proposed that based on their research, the most important source of professional growth is not training programs or even mentoring relationships, but rather the insights that result from on-the-job experience. They captured this lesson in the 70-20-10 prescription for leadership development, …

Dear Friends,  

By John Murphy, guest contributor

Here is something to contemplate: Why manage something when you can delete it? Why solve problems inside a box when it is the box itself that is the problem? 

In today’s world, we are inundated with strategies and techniques on how to manage unhealthy stress, but very little is offered on how to eliminate it. Some even question whether this is possible. 

No doubt, stress can be a challenge. Every year seems to bring more things to worry about. Viruses. Climat…

What can mindful leaders learn from servant leadership, a movement that has been around since 1970? Find out from business leader, expert speaker, and the author of The One Minute Manager.

By Ken Blanchard, guest contributor

I have an important question for you: Are you here to serve or to be served?

Your answer to this question is the first step on your journey to becoming a servant leader. Why? Because self-serving leaders think leadership is all about them—but servant leaders know that lea…

By Art Kleiner, Jeffrey Schwartz, and Josie Thomson, guest contributors

If you want to lead your organization toward long-range goals, prepare for these challenges.

The goal of many enterprises today – business, government, and not-for-profit – is to be strategic. This means being undaunted in the face of complexity and disruption: able to handle complex, “wicked problems” for which there is no obvious solution. And strategic organizations need strategic leaders: people who can foster that qua…

 By Janice Marturano, guest contributor

Every day we are asked to make decisions. Some are of little consequence while others can literally change our lives and the lives of others. When those important questions arise, we can find it difficult to choose. We might feel paralyzed by an overload of input from others, or we might feel as though there is no clear "right." So, are there ways a mindful leadership practice can help? Let’s look at 3 Steps to Mindful Decision-Making:  

Step 1: Stop and…