Can meditation make you a better leader?
In her new book “Take Your Soul to Work: 365 Meditations on Every Day Leadership” Erica Brown challenges each of us to a one-year quest to seek the answer to that question.
You need personal discipline to bring greater depth to your leadership, Brown suggests. Meditation, “an act of reflection and a chance to renew our emotional and intellectual commitments,” can provide just that.
Brown proposes that leadership is “the capacity to stretch yourself and others, to envision something larger, brighter and bigger than yourself.” It is about having purpose and meaning in all areas of your life.
To achieve leadership you need a plan — one like Brown’s book sketches out in detail. To achieve such a plan, start small and build a day at a time, she recommends. Leaders too often don’t stop to refl ect because they don’t have time. Expectations for leaders can be low; the business world is too often short on morals and ethics. Transcending the politics and pettiness of organizational life are among the goals Brown sets forth.
The author does not offer suggestions for the most effective means to use her meditations, instead proposing that a healthy spiritual practice of any type requires time alone. This time should be spent “integrating what we know about good leadership with who we are.” Leadership should be a service — one that requires authenticity, integrity and wholeness.
“Take Your Soul to Work” offers a daily dialogue to build inner leadership skills. Brown compares it to a medieval book of hours, a type of prayer book that contained the service for every day of the year.
Each day’s meditation sets forth a single word topic detailing its relationship to leadership. The author reflects her own thoughts on the topic, supported with a quote from a generally well-known source. Each day’s entry ends with a question, reflecting back the day’s topic for personal consideration.
Day No. 5, “On Power,” is a pertinent example. It begins with a quote from Abraham Lincoln: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
The passage discusses the difficulties leaders experience confusing power with influence. People follow a leader out of admiration and inspiration. Power, on the other hand, is when you exert authority over those who are powerless to disagree.
Brown then poses the question of the day: Holding up a mirror to yourself, how have you been changed by power?
Day No. 33, “On Mistakes,” begins with the admonition: “You are not your mistakes.” The mistake, Brown suggests, never matters as much as your reaction to it. The author quotes George Bernard Shaw: “Success does not consist in never making mistakes but in never making the same one a second time.” She then asks for insight with the question what was your last significant mistake?
A contemporary quote forms the basis for “On Restlessness,” Day No. 74. “If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” The quote is from the late Apple Inc. leader Steve Jobs, one of the greatest innovators of our time. Jobs said that his lifetime goal was “to put a ding in the universe.” Brown asks each of us how will you put a ding in your universe?
Brown shows great insight in her ability to break leadership into 365 component parts. Her questions at the end of each chapter are direct, compelling the reader to both insight and action.
Her choice of quotes does more than complement the topic; they show a precision in reinforcing the leadership quality. The quotes are remarkably varied, seeming to underscore the author’s belief that spirituality for the workplace is derived from many, many sources. Quotes include sections from the Bible as well as by Hindu spiritual leaders. Shakespeare, Bruce Springsteen, Dostoyevsky, Warhol, sports notables and business entrepreneurs are all given a place in this outstanding offering.
Brown offers distinctive methods of looking at ourselves as leaders, challenging us to use our spiritual beliefs to drive our leadership practices. Moreover, she suggests a way that is easily approachable and allows us to put our thoughts into action. Doing so allows us to achieve leadership on many levels every day.
“You can inspire people to dream more and be more when you lead from the inside,” she states. “When you truly lead from the inside, you won’t ultimately become a better leader. You’ll become a better person.”