Ten top talents for mindful leadership presence

Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself. It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult. - Warren G. Bennis 

What defines mindful and resonant leadership? It is about being able to bring out the best in ourselves and others. As parents, teachers, bosses, or leaders in some other capacity it is our duty to do so, and through it we inspire and empower others to achieve common goals.

But do we have the necessary skills? Whilst some people are born with qualities that make them inspirational individuals or natural leaders, others often struggle to apply good leadership, even in their own lives. And is it not that even many business leaders do not know how to lead effectively? All-too-often they are unaware of their own shortcomings. It may be that it is too uncomfortable to face one’s own weaknesses, or perhaps the self-serving ego seems more important than anything else.

Resonant and mindful leadership inspires and engages; it is leading with wisdom and from the heart through self-awareness; it is knowing how to be present in the moment and how to develop and use our capacity to reach out to others authentically and with passionate purpose.

Michael Carroll, in  The Mindful Leader, identified the following ten ‘talents’ as being vital to achieve this. These are simplicity, poise, respect, courage, confidence, enthusiasm, patience, awareness, skillfulness and humility. Learn more about these ten top talents for mindful leadership presence 

The Hidden Wiring of the Best Leaders

by Robin Sharma

Real leaders have trained their brains to focus on the possibilities and opportunities available with military-like focus. They block out the noise of the doomsayers and shut out the voices of their critics. They get that their mindset and their personal energy are two of their most valuable resources. So they protect them well.

Here are 5 things you can to do rewire your brain to develop the mindset of the best leaders in business:

1. Sell Your TV
Ok, this might be a dramatic (game changing?) move. But much of TV news operates on the sale of fear. The more negative the news, the more scared people get. And the more scared people are, the more they'll watch the news. But every piece of data you allow into your mind is the seed of an outer result. Put excellent information in and you'll deliver excellent results.

2. Value The Great Ones
Reading heroic books, biographies of people who've done great things and listening to inspirational audiobooks is a brilliant move to create your best life. Leadership is a lonely sport. Critics will try and knock you down. Competitors will try and knock you out. And the unexpected will visit you just about every single day. Your antidote to the stresses that you'll face as you stand for your absolute best? Work hard to stay inspired. In a world that discourages, do whatever it takes to maintain your courage. To build out your dreams.

3. Watch Your Words
The words you use determine the feelings you'll feel. The best performers understand that each word spoken has power. Use positive, encouraging, energetic words. Avoid negativity, gossip, criticism and condemnation. Just watch what happens to your mindset (and heartset).

4. Avoid The Energy Vampires
Smart leaders get that who you surround yourself with drives who you'll become. Play with excellent, ethical, inspired and passionate people and their stardust will rub off all over you. Avoid people who can't wait to dump their resentment/negativity/anger and fear all over you.

5. Own Your Power

It's so easy to play victim versus be a leader (Without a Title). In my upcoming book "The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in Business and in Life" (public launch: April 6), I write that the key switch to flip that changes the whole game is this one: switch from victimhood into leadership. Too many people give away their power to create positive results. They blame. They make excuses. They do nothing.

But we all have power, even if we have zero authority. Every single person alive today has the power to inspire. The power to innovate. The power to influence. The power to act. The power to serve. And the power to Lead. Use it. Please. (The world demands no less of you!).


The following are 5 tactics to lead without title:


1. Get brilliant at saying no to unimportant activities
2. Be the most positive person in every room
3. Spend 60 minutes every morning in silent preparation and planning
4. Outwork everyone around you
5. Honor your commitments

The Business of Relationships

by Robin Sharma

Included in the Top 10 Best Companies to Work For (Fortune Magazine), not surprising we see Google, Edward Jones and Dreamworks. When employees were asked why they love (yes love) working for the top contenders, they didn't mention the pay, the expense accounts or advancing to the top title in the Googleplex. They spoke first of the kindness of relationships. These passionate workers described their work culture as an extension of home, or like being with family. They spoke enthusiastically of their colleagues as being fun and supportive. Managers of the Best Companies are characterized as genuinely caring; every single employee truly matters. Work for these fortunate employees is like a favorite gathering place - a place to play at their top level with like minded talent.

These testimonials reveal that business is nothing more than a human venture built on high caliber relationships. Without deep relationships, leadership doesn't work. The old model of leadership - which puts profit above people - is dead.

Prescription for Winning Relationships At Work:

1. Act Like a Human Organizations run by a closed group of executives hovering above in the "C - suite" are falling. Leading Without A Title, where everyone is a key player is the new way to win in business. This fresh method of leading means that leaders not only master the essential skills but also understand how to act human. You can't treat human beings like capital - you will lose your greatest talent.

Acting human engages people - human engagement facilitates others towards their brilliance. A refreshing burst of humanity at the office outlasts and outshines the paycheck, the office with the view, or driving the company car. As the lights go out on the stage of old-school leadership, acting human is your game-changing solution.

2. Be One of the Few Who Perfect the Endangered Craft It's an amazing time to be alive. Revolutionary technological innovation to enhance our lives, freedom of choice to create the life you love, and the daily opportunity to choose from an endless list of beautiful rewards. Yet an insatiable hunger still lingers inside each one of us - the hunger to be heard. I'm talking about the transformative experience that happens when someone truly listens and totally gets where you are at. I'm talking about listening at the level you feel like the listener is hanging onto each one of your words like they are the most important words in the world.

The new leadership is all about relationships with people. And you can't relate without listening. It's impossible. Yet engaged listening is a craft rarely mastered by leaders. You can have the most competent leader in the world, but if he doesn't listen his leadership potential will go unrealized.

Feeding the hunger to be heard brings out the best in people. People will trust you, respect you and shatter their limitations for you when you give them the gift of listening.

3. Be Scarce We tend to value that which is scarce. We put a premium on objects and experiences we believe will run out: a Limited edition Gucci Ronson sneaker, a two week showing of Michael Jackson's This Is It. Reserve wine. We are impacted and motivated most by that which we don't come across everyday or that which comes in a limited supply. If you are seeking to create long term loyalty in your business relationships, ask yourself what is noticeably scarce? Is it generosity? Authenticity? Encouragement? Spot the scarcity and rock it.

4. Be the Most Positive Person in the Room Today there is perpetual buzz about the state of the economy, the shock of once-admired organizations collapsing before our eyes and the alarming daily rate of bankruptcy. Yes this is current reality however, focusing relentlessly on negativity is subscribing to failure.

Powerful leaders neutralize the infectious cycle of negativity; they deploy hope where it's seemingly forsaken. Enlisting yourself as the most positive person in the room breaks the binds of negativity. Change the music and people will either stop dancing or start dancing a new step. Either way, it will set a precedence - "negativity is what everybody else is doing - we are the organization that refuses its limitations." Utilize the power of positivity to step up and make today better than yesterday.

5. Go Bigger than Your Paycheck Just when we thought Apple couldn't wow us anymore they showcased innovation with the iPad, the tablet computer. Amazing. You might not love the design but you have to love how Apple delivers surprise above and beyond. Have the audacity to go bigger than your role. If a colleague is struggling to meet a deadline or lagging in productivity, don't be the first to point out the deficiency, be the first to roll up your sleeves and do whatever it takes to help out. Knock the status quo "it's not my job" to its knees and do more than you are paid for.

6. Be the Perfect Investment When it comes to your relationships, be a dream investment: low cost with exceptional high return. Prove to be a no gossip, no games, no regrets, no maintenance investment of other people's time and focus. Manage yourself with others at the highest level possible - a.k.a with grace.

7. Get Naked in Your Conversations Make your conversations count. Speak with candor. Brave the real issue. Say only that which is helpful: don't use your words to criticize or divide. Anybody can do that. Be radically honest, define reality. Trust is born out of the truth. Sloganeering and masking the truth breeds mistrust and disrespect. Go to the difficult truths and people will go the mile with you.

8. Get Famous for Reliability Next time a teammate or department is unexpectedly riding the wild rapids, be the person out in the water risking the rapids with them. Become known for acts of reliability.

Every single person needs to take ownership of the organization's results. Everyone needs to take responsibility for what does or does not get accomplished in a day. Anyone can reach success if they consistently do the right things. Reliability, no matter what, is the right thing. Reliability translates into ownership and taking ownership is a way to present yourself as a leader.

9. Turn Everyone Into a Cover Story Commit to noticing everyone. The young new associate in the elevator on Monday morning, the CFO's assistant, the receptionist, the customers, the interns... Remember everyone's contributions, what's important to her, what he does well, and what makes everyone smile. Everyone is worthy of being the next cover story and leaders show it.

Ethics for the New Millenium

The Dalai Lama Foundation has introduced a working guide entitled Ethics for the New Millennium. It presents a moral framework based on universal rather than religious principles. It rests on the observation that those whose conduct is ethically positive are happier and more satisfied and the belief that much of the unhappiness we humans endure is actually of our own making. Its ultimate goal is happiness for every individual, irrespective of religious belief. The guide offers helpful benchmarks for goals we can set as individuals and corporations. Download the guide now

Leadership of Ethical Behavior in Business

The strategic leadership of ethical behavior in business can no longer be ignored. Executives must accept the fact that the moral impact of their leadership presence and behaviors will rarely, if ever, be neutral. In the leadership capacity, executives have great power to shift the ethics mindfulness of organizational members in positive as well as negative directions. Rather than being left to chance, this power to serve as ethics leaders must be used to establish a social context within which positive self-regulation of ethical behavior becomes a clear and compelling organizational norm and in which people act ethically as a matter of routine. This article frames the responsibility for strategic leadership of ethical behavior on three premises: (1) It must be done—a stakeholder analysis of the total costs of ethical failures confirms the urgency for ethics change; (2) It can be done—exemplars show that a compelling majority of an organization’s membership can be influenced to make ethical choices; (3) It is sustainable—integrity programs help build and confirm corporate cultures in which principled actions and ethics norms predominate. Click to read more.

Resonant Leadership

by Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee

A New Kind of Leadership for Challenging Times

Extraordinary Leadership: 5 Best Practices to Lead

EXTRAordinary Leadership

                                      thought-provoking, potent & practical

unique tools for developing a WORLD-CLASS career

                              & OUTSTANDING life

MLO Y Robin Sharma!

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Leadership Manifesto

by GEORGE AMBLER

Photo by Wesley Fryer

1. Leaders shape the future. Leaders bring change and leaders challenge the status quo. If there is no need for change, there is no need for leadership.
2. Leadership is a choice. Leadership does not just happen. Leadership is a choice we make to live our a vision and purpose daily.
3. Leaders are made and not born. Leaders know who they are, understand their unique purpose, strengths and skills. They use who they are to bring their vision into the present.
4. Leaders live their vision. They become the change that they want to see in the world. They set the example and show the way.
5. Leaders incite conversation. Leadership is about making a difference and driving change which stimulates conversation and debate. The ideas that get talked about are the ones worth talking about.
6. Leaders understand that character matters. Character establishes the foundation for trust. Without trust you cannot lead.
7. Leaders invest in themselves. Leaders take care of their spiritual, emotional, mental and physical needs.
8. Leaders are results focused. Leaders initiate and make things happen.
9. Leaders inspire. Leaders cannot achieve their visions alone. They inspire others to come alongside and participate in the journey.
10. Leaders leave a legacy. Success is what we do for ourselves whilst legacy is what we do for other. A leaders legacy is what they do for other and how they have invested in and developed others.