The Mindful Leader

LEADERSHIP PIONEER PETER DRUCKER once said, “You cannot manage other people unless you manage yourself first.” If this is true, most leadership education programs have it backwards. They tend to start with skills like strategy, people management and finance, but from Drucker’s point of view, this approach starts at the end and misses the beginning. It’s like building a house by starting with the roof.

Like Drucker, we believe leadership begins with yourself. More specifically, it starts with your mind. Here are a few facts that every leader should know about their mind:

• You do not control your mind.
• You are not rational.
• Your mind creates your reality.
• You are not your thoughts.

Let’s take a closer look at each point.

YOU PROBABLY DON’T CONTROL YOUR MIND AS MUCH AS YOU THINK. To test whether this is true for you, focus on any word in this sentence for a full minute. Don’t think about anything else. Don’t get distracted. Just focus on one word for a full 60 seconds. No cheating. Okay, go ahead.

How did it go? Were you able to maintain complete focus for a minute? Or did you question the purpose of the exercise? Did you debate which word to focus on? Did the word catalyze new thoughts, leading you to think of other things? The point is that if you strayed from complete focus on that one word, you failed in leading your own mind, even just for a minute.

If you failed, don’t worry: It just means you’re normal. Most people fail this test. Why? Researchers have found that on average, our mind involuntarily wanders for nearly half our waking hours. While you think you’re managing your mind, you’re not. Think for a moment about the implications of your mind being distracted from. How might it impact your effectiveness? How could it affect your ability to be present with others? How might it impact your well-being?