Six Attributes of a Leadership Mindset

Flexibility of mind, mindfulness, resilience, genuine curiosity, creating leaders, enterprise thinking

Joe Britto

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781785834318
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Written by Joe Britto, The Six Attributes of a Leadership Mindset: Flexibility of mind, mindfulness, resilience, genuine curiosity, creating leaders, enterprise thinking carefully examines the six key attributes that make up a leadership mindset, and explores in detail how you can grow them for yourself.

Foreword by Gill White.

We can find a different way of leading by developing a different way of thinking. And the first step in growing a leadership mindset is taking responsibility for making that shift happen.

In this insightful handbook, Joe Britto shines a spotlight on the qualities and behaviours that embody a leadership mindset and inspires leaders to step out of their comfort zone as they take on the challenges faced by their teams and organizations.

With the help of engaging stories, practical challenges, and an acute sense of humour, Joe guides you through six key attributes of leadership flexibility of mind, mindfulness, resilience, genuine curiosity, creating leaders, and enterprise thinking and explores how you can bring them to life both within and beyond the workplace.

Joe does this by breaking down what the six attributes are and how they work, and by considering and suggesting ways around the barriers we may inadvertently put up that inhibit the development of our leadership capacities. From there he delves into the behaviours of each attribute for example, asking What if? and demonstrating generosity of spirit under the attribute of genuine curiosity and presents a range of exercises you can use in order to cultivate them.

In doing so, he reveals the real gift of a leadership mindset: that as we grow our mindset and develop positive behaviours, we can lead ourselves and our teams to better outcomes and nurture the leadership capacities of others.

Suitable for both established and emerging leaders.

Chapter 1

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a buzzword these days. Google it and you’ll get hits advocating mindfulness for everything from spiritual development to a cure for depression and anxiety, and a de-stressor for modern life. Mindfulness is big business with mindfulness schools and a plethora of books all vying for our attention and money. But despite being a buzzword and a fast-growing cliché, mindfulness has very real and practical applications that are neither abstract Eastern mysticism nor new-age hippy-dippy. So, mindfulness is important, but it’s not a golden bullet to save us from all ills. In our context, mindfulness is one of the six attributes. Nothing more, nothing less.

Have you ever walked out of a meeting wondering what was just said? Have you ever sat in a meeting so engaged in the conversation that later, when a colleague says you seemed defensive, angry, or quiet, you’re genuinely shocked? Have you ever been so caught up in the banter of pundits and colleagues – or so sure of your own direction – that you were bowled over by a challenge you didn’t see coming? I’d say what we’re all missing in those situations is an understanding of the direction of the conversation – and of the impression we’re leaving – and a failure to read or anticipate where our team or business is at. I’d say we’re missing the ability to be present in the moment and see, really see, what’s unfolding in front of us – which is where mindfulness comes in.

To be mindful isn’t magical or spiritual, though it can have a touch of both. Being mindful is just what it sounds like: being aware of what’s happening now. It means being free from the thoughts in our heads; concerns about what we should or shouldn’t say, a preoccupation with how we might look if we spoke up, or any number of other thoughts that do a good job of keeping us, well, small.

We only have so much brain power, and if that capacity is being used up worrying about [insert your current preoccupation here] it means we don’t have space to focus on what’s really important. Mindfulness gives us that space. Being mindful liberates us from the small and mundane and lets us elevate our perceptions and our conversations – and see what’s happening beneath the surface.

Mindfulness is central to a leadership mindset because the stillness of mind that it brings creates a fertile landscape in which to grow the other five attributes. From that stillness and presence, genuine curiosity, flexibility of mind, and even enterprise thinking all become possible.

So let’s begin by understanding where mindfulness came from.

A (Very) Brief History of Mindfulness

Meditation, the practice of training the mind, is most often associated with Eastern religions – such as Hinduism and Buddhism – and has been practised for thousands of years. Though there are others, its two most popular forms are concentration meditation and mindfulness meditation.

Concentration meditation encourages attention on an object in order to develop a discipline of mind. This kind of meditation mostly consists of sitting comfortably and bringing our focus back to the object of our attention when it drifts. That object could be a statue of Buddha, a candle, a point on the floor, the wall, a rosary, a chant, or even our breath. It’s referred to as concentration meditation because it trains the mind through concentration on an external or physical reference point.

Mindfulness meditation has also been practised for thousands of years in the Buddhist tradition and has moved into Western culture mostly through Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are. Ten-day Vipassana meditation retreats are becoming increasingly popular throughout the world. It teaches us to train our minds to be fully aware and present when meditating.

Unlike concentration meditation, mindfulness doesn’t train the mind on an object. It focuses on an awareness of our bodies and surroundings. The intent is that when we “end” our meditation, our mindfulness is still there, slowing down the world as we notice the small things around us. That leads to a deep awareness of our surroundings and of our relationship to the world.

With practice, we don’t just see the world for what it is, we come to see ourselves for what we are too. Not more than we are, not less than we are, just what we are. We become aware of our prejudices, egos, agendas, and our own wishful thinking that prevents us from honestly seeing events unfolding in front of us for what they are. Normally, as we notice the world around us, we can’t help but notice our own reaction to it. That awareness can breed a calmness that acts like a buffer against life.

Why Mindfulness Matters in a Leadership Mindset

But how does that relate to a leadership mindset? Well, the reason why I’m counting mindfulness as an attribute of a leadership mindset is because clarity of mind is the best way I know of making astute observations and informed decisions. If I can’t, or won’t, see what’s right in front of me, if I’m blindsided by events I should have seen coming, or if I’m trying to wrestle the world and everyone in it to do what I want, then I may be doing a lot of things, but living a leadership mindset isn’t one of them.

Let’s think about that for a moment. For me, one of the benefits of a leadership mindset is that it allows us to move beyond reacting and allows us to start anticipating. It’s about trying to see down the road as far as we can with as much clarity as we can. It’s about seeing our successes and the challenges that lay ahead of us and it’s about making decisions with the best available data and the clearest possible insight that allows us to pivot to accommodate the twists and turns that await us.

That’s what makes mindfulness so important. Because none of that is possible if we lack the ability to see the situation unbiased by what we think should happen or what we really want to happen. Expectations keep us holding on to a version of reality that may not be true, and that’s a poor window through which to look at our team or business.

Practically speaking, if we’re trying to wrestle the situation to the ground to push our agenda forward, we could be missing things that might make our idea work better. We might miss the article that shoots our idea down but offers us a chance to see the holes in our thinking. We miss an insight because we’re so fixated on making the plan work as we first conceived it. We miss … [fill in the blank]. The biggest clue to that way of thinking is saying “should” or “ought to”. If we catch ourselves becoming annoyed because something should have happened or someone ought to have done something, we’re ignoring why those things didn’t happen, and what we can learn from the situation.

But mindfulness isn’t just about strategy planning. The attribute of mindfulness relates to seeing the people around us clearly. It takes mindfulness to see the subtleties in people’s reactions during a meeting, to notice resistance or openness, to take a clear look at the facts. If we don’t see these things, we charge ahead – bull-in-china-shop-like. We don’t try to phrase our ideas carefully, meaning that others struggle to really understand what we are saying, we don’t admit the change is tough, and on and on the problems run. Because we haven’t noticed what’s happening for our audience, we run the risk of losing the support we did have and losing any chance of gaining new support.

That ability is a long way from the idea in neurolinguistic programming (NLP) of looking at people’s eyes to see if they’re lying. It’s a leap from Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People.1 That’s because mindfulness isn’t about using techniques on people. Mindfulness is about seeing a situation for what it is. Like a leadership mindset, it’s a way of looking at the world that’s borne out of our experiences. If mindfulness hasn’t been part of your life experience to date, it’s about trying the idea on, adopting the behaviour, and seeing the effect it has on you and those around you.

The Behaviours of Mindfulness

I mentioned in the introduction that every attribute of a leadership mindset has a corresponding set of behaviours. Perhaps now’s a good time to think about what the behaviours of mindfulness are. I say behaviours because, although we’ll all wear mindfulness differently, we’ll also be able to see commonalities in the way that somebody with mindfulness – as an attribute of a leadership mindset – holds themselves. These are some of the behaviours we can expect to see:

Attribute of a leadership mindset	Behaviours
Mindfulness	Self-awareness Seeing

Challenge: An Experience of Mindfulness

Challenge: An Experience of Mindfulness

We could talk about mindfulness forever and get no closer to living its behaviours, so before we go any further, let’s have a go at experiencing it. Before we begin, let’s remind ourselves that it can take years to develop the kind of clarity that comes with mindfulness. Monks dedicate their lives to it, and although we don’t all have the desire or resources to do that, mindfulness practice can be a good idea for everyone.

Of course, sitting on a cushion on the floor – as is customary in the practice – isn’t for everyone and that’s why I’ll offer a few different approaches before the end of this chapter. For now, let’s just get a taste of what mindfulness is. We’ll begin with a fairly traditional take, so that way we know what we’re digressing from if we choose to. But, like I said, if this doesn’t work for you, just hold on; there’s another bus coming.

First off, find a place where you can be uninterrupted for ten minutes. Read this section through then set the book down and give it a go. Set a timer beforehand, if you like, so you don’t have to keep checking the time.

Sit on a chair, with both your feet flat on the floor. Place your hands on your lap, palms down. Hold yourself upright as much as possible. Try not to slouch forward. Close your eyes if you like, or leave them open. If they are open, find a spot about six feet in front of you on the ground and keep a loose focus on that spot, i.e. not an intense stare, but a relaxed gaze.

Then listen and notice. Listen to the sounds around you. The wind outside perhaps. The drone of traffic. Listen to the footsteps around you if there are any. A neighbour’s dog barking. Listen to these things without a story line. Try not to run into a dialogue of how the wind’s kicking up the leaves and making a mess on the lawn or pavement. Try not to tell yourself the story of how you used to love running through the leaves in autumn when you were a kid. Give up the story about how cruel the owner of the barking dog is to keep it locked up while she’s at work.

Instead just listen.

Notice your breathing. And notice the gentle rise and fall of your stomach as you breathe in and out. Notice the gap between the in breath and the out breath. Notice how you’re feeling. Your reaction to the sounds around you. Notice if the dog barking annoys you. And with everything you notice – good, bad, or indifferent – let it go with every breath out.

If it helps, imagine the things you notice are clouds drifting by on a summer’s day. It’s as if, sitting there on your chair, you’re on a hillside watching these clouds float by. And just like watching clouds pass, you’re not attached to the thing you notice. It’s just there. Drifting by. A temporary feeling, or thought, or thing. And when you don’t hold onto it, it just goes on its way. Drifting away with every breath. Leaving you free and unaffected.

If a thought or a feeling does take a hold, notice that it’s done that. Don’t beat yourself up, don’t tell yourself you’ve wasted three, five, or nine minutes of your practice. When you notice that your mind has wandered, breathe out and let that thought go. Then go back to hearing the sounds around you. Noticing you and the world around you without creating a story around any of it.

Keep doing this for ten minutes. And after ten minutes, stop.

Mindfulness and t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• Introduction: On Mindset
• Chapter 1: Mindfulness
• Chapter 2: Genuine Curiosity
• Chapter 3: Flexibility of Mind
• Chapter 4: Resilience
• Chapter 5: Creating Leaders
• Chapter 6: Enterprise Thinking
• Epilogue 1: Applying the Six Attributes of a Leadership Mindset in Business
• Epilogue 2: Applying the Six Attributes of a Leadership Mindset in Life
• Bibliography
• Copyright