Once a philosopher visited an enlightened Zen master. Eager to get to the heart of the matter, the philosopher asked, ‘What is the essential teaching of Zen?’ ‘Attention,’ the teacher replied. The scholar was taken aback by this unexpected answer. ‘I didn’t ask you...
As a self-awareness and leadership coach, I don’t think the leaders I’ve worked with have had much of an idea of what they were taking on when they said yes to authentic, mindful leadership development training. They did not realise that the familiar ground they were...
In their book The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in Organizations, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner write, “Leaders make risk safe, as paradoxical as that might sound. They turn experiments into learning opportunities. They don’t de ne...
I define self-awareness as an awareness of our thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and environment in the present moment. It is paying attention in the present moment purposefully and non-judgementally. It is experiencing and accepting reality as it really is—not how...
Mindful leadership requires presence—being in tune with our feelings, thoughts, and experiences in the present moment. The value of staying present can be brought home by understanding what we habitually do in its place: engage in absentmindedness. Much of the time...
When I started my personal transformation journey at the age of 22, I had no idea what I was signing up for. I started taking classes in practical philosophy, depth psychology and mindfulness meditation. I thought this would somehow make me special. What I did not...
