Leaders exist all around us. A leader might be the manager of a team, the founder of a company, or the director of a department. But a leader also can be an individual contributor, community activist, or solo-preneur. But what makes a leader great? A great leader is a mindful leader.
A mindful leader cares about their colleagues. They’re thoughtful and respectful. Because of their mindfulness practices, they try to lead with empathy and kindness. I’m talking, sends you flowers when your grandmother passes, pitches in to send you a wind chime to remember your cat by, and sends you a text to check in on how you’re really doing. A mindful leader provides you with or reveals to you meaningful growth opportunities and supports the dreams and collective success of the team at large.
But what is mindfulness? Mindfulness is a buzzword you might have heard tossed around in the last few years in particular. As you know, the trendier a word, the less meaning it seems to have. (Looking at you, game changer.)
Let’s start with what mindfulness teaches us. Mindfulness and meditation teach us to stop, breathe, and consider our words and reactions and actions carefully. Being a mindful leader means carving out time to care for yourself every day and quiet your mind (that inner and outer critic).
I think you can already see where I’m going here.
Mindfulness asks us to carve out space. Space for kindness. Space to take care of ourselves. Space so we can see people as human and worthy of respect.
I still have a lot to learn before I would consider myself the kindest, most mindful, best version of myself. (Maybe you feel the same way.) But I’ve been lucky to have worked for mindful leaders throughout my career who have led with intention. They inspired, supported, and built up their teams. These mentors provided me with the blueprint for how to become the kind of leader people want to follow.
So let’s meet ourselves where we are. Let’s try to become kinder and more mindful leaders in our communities, families, friend groups, and at our jobs. Let’s acknowledge that we’re definitely not perfect and apologize when we mess up. Then repeat, repeat, and repeat that learning process. This process becoming more mindful allows us to be kinder to ourselves and to one another.
What mindful leaders have you known in your career? What about them made them so great? Tell me in the comments below and send this article to the mindful leaders who have inspired your career!