Mindful leadership is leading from the inside out. It starts with being able to uncover who you actually are so you can authentically lead. This is the only way to build trust. And, it’s where mindfulness comes into play. With a mindfulness practice we are training our minds to create the awareness of when our attention drifts and bring it back to the present. It’s about getting out of our heads and back into the experience that is right in front of us. If you’re having a player’s meeting, and answering texts in the middle of it, you aren’t present. And, this is where trust is eroded. Why? Because you’re telling your player that this time isn’t important to you. And, if you’re time isn’t important to him then he or she isn’t important to you.
With presence we are giving our people our full and undivided attention. Something that is extremely hard to find these days. When we do this we show our people maybe the single most important trait of leadership — that we care. In this day of constant connectivity we are being pulled in more directions than ever. Which makes it increasingly important to train our minds to bring our attention back to what’s right in front of us — that project, meeting or conversation that we are having. The things in front of us are really the only things that we can control.
