Compassionate leaders are well-served by integrating head, heart, and body knowledge. One of our favorite ways of strengthening our head knowledge is curling up with a well-written book and exploring the themes and wisdom within. Here are a few recent reads that would be valuable for any compassionate leader to dig into.
Taking action in the face of uncertainty is scary. As uncertainty and complexity increase, our deepest survival instincts become set off even more. These pressures are particularly pronounced for leaders. Leaders need to sort out matters in their own life and they have teams turning to them for answers. These uncertain times are a chance for leaders to rise by anchoring with equanimity, leading with transparency, and responding to the world pragmatically.
Compassionate leaders understand the importance of emotional intelligence and body intelligence, in addition to that of head-based intelligence. In recognizing these other forms of knowing, we simultaneously broaden our powers of understanding and responding to the world, and we deepen our capacity to use our miraculous thinking brain.
The premise at the heart of Wonder Drug: 7 Scientifically Proven Ways That Serving Others Is the Best Medicine for Yourself by Stephen Trzeciak, M.D. and Anthony Mazzarelli, M.D. is straightforward: By serving others, the authors say, “your life will crack wide open in only the best ways.” The book is clearly well titled. If serving others can do all this, it is truly a wonder drug.
Lack of knowledge is one of the most common barriers to leading compassionately. Many leaders have said they would like to strengthen their compassion skills but lack the knowledge as to how to do it. Science shows that this is a capacity that we have always had. Recognizing that compassion and leadership are complementary can set us on the path of growing our compassionate leadership.
We are a competitive species. Sometimes so much so that we work well past the point of flourishing. Can we courageously make choices in our leadership and life that support thriving for ourselves and for the whole world. To do this, we need to overcome our impulse to perfectionism and the difficulty we have setting healthy boundaries.
As we explore the obstacles to compassionate leadership, we turn to the issue of excessive time demands, which is named consistently in our leader surveys. What is a compassionate leader to do? We start by changing our relationship with time, ourselves, and the culture. Be realistic about the fixed nature of time. Practice self-compassion. Be courageous – name when the system is broken and collaborate to create more human solutions.
Over the past few years, we’ve surveyed hundreds of leaders in our training programs and retreats about the most challenging barriers they face to leading more compassionately. In the weeks ahead, we will explore the barriers to compassionate leadership and ways that these challenges may be overcome. Some are fairly straightforward and to be expected, while others may seem counterintuitive. Which barriers show up in your leadership?
As the pace of positive change around the world accelerates, so does the level of challenge humanity is facing. It is tempting to want to put one’s head in the sand and hope that this will all go away. Or maybe the temptation is to become filled with rage and lash out with anger and hostility. Neither extreme takes us anywhere particularly helpful. What can we skillfully choose to make a constructive difference?
A lot of attention has been given to “The Great Resignation.” What next? The human species owes its strength and its existence to connection and cooperation. We need each other to not only survive but also to thrive. As compassionate leaders, we are remaking our organizations to prioritize safety, connection, and belonging for all. “The Great Reconnection” is already underway.
