Leadership in flow brings balance to work and life

livemint.com:

Inner Mastery, Outer Impact: How Your Five Core Energies Hold The Key To Success. Wadhwa was recently in India to finalise a partnership with Mumbai-based Shilputsi Consultants to bring his work into the country. He spoke to Mint about his research and approach. Edited excerpts: There are five ways in which I have sought to advance the discipline of leadership to challenge the current models, to respond to the challenges that today’s leaders face. Traditional models have had a western, behavioural and outer kind of focus.

What I am seeking to do is to recognise that there is a unique wisdom in the cultures of the East which are more in the inner and spiritual life, with a more integrative approach to life. When you bring that into alignment with Western sensibilities, you get something more complete, effective and adaptive for today’s time. What are those five differences? The first is that leadership should not be seen as something that a chosen few get to do.

It is an inner choice. It is not that we should be trying to advance our career so that we can maximise our moments of leadership, but we should be seeking to advance our character so that we can maximise our leadership in a moment. The second shift is when we think about what it means to be the best for yourself and others.

Traditionally, people try to find their answers by selecting a certain set of behaviours or competencies. For example, you have to be assertive, be a visionary or be decisive. But I find that for every one of those behaviours, the opposite is also true.

You have to be not just decisive but also patient; not just assertive but also agreeable; not just visionary, but also pragmatic. So, you have to be everything and the complete opposite. That’s