Leading Consciously

Leading Consciously addresses the issues of motivation, decision-making, communication, time management, effective learning, work psychology, organizational development, and self-mastery. The author weaves together the insights of some of the most remarkable leaders of the world whose lives embody great truths about leadership and self-transformation, masters such as M. K. Gandhi, Edmund Hillary, Mother Teresa, and Albert Einstein. Debashis Chatterjee is an international management thinker, Fulbright scholar, corporate philosopher, mystic, and writer. He is a member of the faculty in Behavioral Sciences at the Indian Institute of Management in Lucknow, India. An immensely popular speaker on the themes of spirituality and modern management, Chatterjee organizes frequent leadership retreats for diverse audiences of executives, doctors, scientists, political leaders, and social service workers in India and around the world.

A significant driver of disengagement amongst employees is a lack of psychological safety generated from weak and underdeveloped intra- and interpersonal skills on the part of managers. Addressing the issue head on, this book enables leaders to lead with conscious awareness to build and sustain psychologically safe cultures through which team members may positively engage with work in a far more meaningful and purposeful way. All too often, leadership-follower relationships are purely transactional and focus on errors and problems, resulting in an impoverished transactional leadership culture. These dynamics result in weak rapport, low levels of emotional intelligence on the part of line managers and, subsequently, employee disengagement. This book unpacks these drivers in detail and builds a model that can be used as the basis of personal development and as a large-scale intervention into the leadership culture of an organisation. This model is very accessible and can be used in a structured training programme through a series of action learning workshops based upon coaching relationships and mutual dialogue. The book is ideal reading for HRM managers, change leaders, learning and development managers, students of management and leadership, and line managers in organisations who are involved in leadership roles.

Conscious leadership is a journey, not a destination - and it starts with the simple framework of practices found in this book. Paul Ward draws on his coaching, consulting, and leadership experience along with his academic studies and the writings of experts in the emerging fields of conscious leadership and conscious business to illustrate the real-life application of conscious leadership practices. Conscious leaders, he explains, want to make the world a better place to live and work. They constantly ask themselves three questions: What am I noticing? What are my intentions about what I am noticing? What responsible actions can I take in response to what I am noticing? The themes of noticing what is going on, setting intention, and acting responsibly provide a framework for learning about the practices for leading consciously. Using all the conscious leadership practices provides a process of transformation on your inner journey to becoming a more conscious leader. This book is for leaders - and even if you dont consider yourself to be a leader, you can apply the practices to living and leading consciously. The practices are simple, but they are not easy: It will take dedication, a leap of faith, and daily practice to navigate The Inner Journey to Conscious Leadership.

You'll never see leadership the same way again after reading this book. These fifteen commitments are a distillation of decades of work with CEOs and other leaders. They are radical or provocative for many. They have been game changers for us and for our clients. We trust that they will be for you too. Our experience is that unconscious leadership is not sustainable. It won't work for you, your team or your organization in the long term. Unconscious leadership can deliver short term results, but the costs of living and leading unconsciously are great. Fear drives most leaders to make choices that are at odds with healthy relationships, vitality and balance. This fear leaves a toxic residue that won't be as easily tolerated in an increasingly complex business environment. Conscious leadership offers the antidote to fear. These pages contain a comprehensive road map to guide you to shift from fear-based to trust-based leadership. Once you learn and start practicing conscious leadership you'll get results in the form of more energy, clarity, focus and healthier relationships. You'll do more and more of what you are passionate about, and less of what you do out of obligation. You'll have more fun, be happier, experience less drama and be more on purpose. Your team will get results as well. They'll be more collaborative, creative, energized and engaged. They'll solve issues faster, and once resolved the issues won't resurface. Drama and gossip will all but disappear, and the energy and resources that fueled them will be redirected towards innovation and creativity. Any one of these commitments will change your life. All of them together are revolutionary. Leaders who practice the 15 commitments: - End blame and criticism - Speak candidly, openly and honestly, in a way that invites others to do the same - Find their unique genius - Let go of taking everything-especially themselves and their problems-so seriously - Create win for all solutions - Experience a new relationship to time and money where there is always enough What do you need to bring to the table? Be curious. Sounds so simple, and yet in our experience it's a skill few have mastered. Most of us are far more interested in being right and proving it, than we are in learning, growing and shifting out of our old patterns. By default we gravitate towards the familiar. We're asking you to take a chance and explore the unfamiliar. You'll get scared and reactive. We all do. So what? Just stay curious and let us introduce you to a whole new world of leadership.

"An uplifting and compelling leadership book based on the hard-earned lessons learned by the author when he was head coach of the Ann Arbor Huron High School ice hockey team, about how he motivated, engaged, and empowered his players to go from being ranked as the absolute worst team in the nation to one of the country's best"--

At the core of exceptional leadership is the ability to lead self. Some level of proficiency can be demonstrated by simply focusing on leading others. But to achieve transformational results, leading self is essential. Cultivating self-awareness and developing a life plan are key elements of leading self. And really, should not leaders demonstrate a level of self-mastery before leading others? It is time that leaders move to a deeper understanding of themselves as they operate within a world of accelerated change and increasing complexity. Although leadership performance is evidenced in outward results, decisions, and actions, the genesis of the leadership performance is an internal endeavor. Resiliency and ethical behavior are grounded by having a strong sense of purpose, established vision, and clear operating values. To the degree that the leader is consciously leading self, the quality of his or her leadership corresponds. Be it for good or evil, conscious leadership is powerful. This book makes plain the case for enhanced self-awareness, provides case studies and research support, presents the voices of several master leadership coaches, and most importantly...leads the reader through the life planning process.

A highly practical guide to help leaders make intentional choices and draw on their assets, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors to influence others, bridge differences, and initiate positive change. Reframing Change: How to Deal with Workplace Dynamics, Influence Others, and Bring People Together to Initiate Positive Change is based on the premise that if people act with integrity and learn to develop positive workplace relationships, a ripple effect can engender similar changes in the organization as a whole. Of extraordinary value to leaders, middle managers, and management students, it is a fresh and practical how-to manual for putting new ways of thinking to work in an organizational setting—one that backs its advice with results from a rapidly growing body of rigorous social science research. Organized around a series of essential skills, Reframing Change shows readers how to test assumptions about others, clear negative emotions and augment positive ones, build effective relationships, bridge cultural differences with people, deal with difficult situations, and initiate change in work environments. This advice is driven home with the stories of real people in real situations that explain key underlying principles, with a single storyline running through each chapter.