Mindful Leaders - Objectivity and Conscious Decision Making

Mindful Leaders  - Objectivity and Conscious Decision Making 

Decision making is an integral component of leadership. For practitioners of long-term mindfulness, meditation and embodied leadership they showed a minimizing of self-interest and consideration for the farthest-reaching consequences of their decisions. Research participants in my 2019 doctoral dissertation built upon this and showed as leaders they aimed to be consistently reliable in their decision making. They were purposeful in this, so as to retain trust and professional relations with everyone involved. Some were clear about developing a 'tough skin' to be both inclusive in involving other's perspectives in decision making and to be the final say; even when there was clear opposition and disproval. 

            With their personal mindfulness-based practices, leaders acquired a much broader sense of identity and responsibility that included something much larger than themselves. They considered not just stakeholder but also the environment and broader humanity. They made decisions with the intention of consciously being in harmony with the decision, the organizations mission, and the moment. For some, the results of this intention yielded a literal experience of doing the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons. Some called this experience, harmony, non-dual experience, being supported by sages and an undeniable palpable experience. It transformed their decision making into one that held great certainty and no doubt. Being able to make complex decisions with such conviction while experiencing a deep state of being is greatly prized by these long-term practitioners. 

            Participants were purposeful in placing their leadership role before their personal interests and sought objectivity in decision making. As an outcome of personal, internal practices in mindfulness, participants stated they acquired "greater objectivity and strength in the external world" The objectivity that arose from internal practice enabled in one participant, to move beyond the limitations of his conceptual ideas about people and act from knowledge of what the right action was:

"when you're dealing with people genuinely and in a present way. You know what the right thing to do is and you do it." 

The description encompassed more than the thinking before deciding; it included non-thinking instinctual and intuitive capacities. The description is also known as being while doing.

These experiences led participants to a preferred way to make decisions: from a state of being as calm, relaxed, centered, and unbiased as possible. In these states of being, participants’ decision making was clearer and more likely to result in the best decision possible. Also, in making the decision, the findings showed the importance participants placed on getting stakeholders’ input and multiple perspectives; the leaders considered the impact of the decision not just for stakeholders, but beyond. Divorcing the decision from personal interests also allowed leaders to better defend their decision. Such as one long-term yoga and meditation practitioner said,

"As long as what I was arguing for was in the best interest of the company and presuming, we're in concert with the best interest of society...and that it wasn't about me, or my group, or anything that was mine...They could disagree with my position but, they couldn't disagree with my motives."

The objectivity went so far as to warrant statements such as acknowledging that the work goes beyond oneself as the decision maker "I'm not in the picture at all." Or as one executive stated when in a meeting or negotiating a contract, "I know that the work that I'm doing as a leader. It's not about me anyway...I'm simply an instrument." Some had a keen ability to differentiate when something was limited to self-centeredness, to minimizing bias or if it was beyond the self. As another explains:

"I would attribute to the practice is the ability to recognize when the universe wants something and you're the door and it's supporting you completely versus something where it's yourself trying to make it happen because of some ego... something you really want to get done. [When it's self-centered]"...it does not work the same or feel the same. 

These leaders present centered decision making speaks to the connection between mindfulness, leadership and adult development theory. Mindfulness practice improved the participants’ ability to change perspective through witnessing awareness in their observation of inner experiences. Participants’ resulting distanced sense of self may have cultivated their ability to consider all stakeholders and promoted a deeper concern for a decision’s broader impact. The ability, as shown in the results, may correlate most to the highest level of adult maturity. 

Those at this level have enough personal observational capacity that they can let go of their preferred, ego-driven choice for the benefit of putting others and the organization first. These results are further supported by the research of Jim Collins (2001), where the highest level attainable in his leadership style system (levels 1 -5) is the leader who is able to hold paradox. The holding of all the contradictory and diverse positions of stakeholders, society, and the world makes for a leader who has the potential to function with great humility. The findings supported the research and indicated that through the mindfulness-enhanced maturation, long-term mindfulness practitioners have a purposeful process advantage in their leadership development and decision making. 

 Dr. Bena Long began as an Collegiate NCAA Division One Gymnast which ended in injury. She pivoted into monk-like dedication to the practice and study of the science and art of meditation, yoga, chi gung and tai chi with masters of peak performance. Teaching thousands of individuals looking to de-stress, build resilience, and experience spiritual awakening. This led to individual coaching and group lessons that soon evolved into spiritual retreats, MBA and graduate level university courses, speaking and business workshops. 

 Dr. Bena coaches, speaks and consults individuals at some of the most successful companies, non-profits and universities on the planet, including Google, Amazon, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America, Black Rock, Johnson and Johnson, Merck, and Wharton Executive Education/INSEAD.

She enjoys helping clients and organizations' developing leadership, building resilience, cultural agility, inclusion and skills to thrive in change. She conducts research and writes science-based articles on long-term mindfulness, meditation, and yoga in leadership and at work. 

She balances an active life with the quiet practice of silence, dedicated to the study of the mind and being within.

Contact: Bena Long Associates, www.drbena.com

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