3 Key Qualities of Noble Leaders (Part 2)

Connection

In the first part of this series, we addressed the quality of awareness as the ground of noble leadership. While awareness is critical for being a noble leader, seeing and knowing what's happening (or NOT happening) around you is just the first step. Before a leader engages in skillful action (more on that in Part 3) s/he should first effectively make a connection. Since leaders cannot accomplish their missions without the help of others, quality connection is essential. However, simple contact should not be confused with connection. Walking by an employee’s desk and asking “How’s it going?” while continuing to walk out the door without waiting for a response is simply “contact.” For connection to occur, there needs to be sustained attention, listening (not just hearing), and a felt sense of genuine interest. Let’s break those down.

Sustained attention means being present without distraction. Training in mindfulness practice helps develop this skill. When we’re there, we’re really there…the whole time. We’re not stopping to look at our mobile device, or turning our head every time someone walks by, or glancing at the TV or computer screen. We’re totally present with the person we’re with.

Listening means giving the other person the gift of your full attention and absorbing what they’re saying. It means not thinking about what you’re going to do or say after the other person finishes speaking. It does mean fully HEARING what they’re saying, taking it in, and letting it enter your consciousness.   

Genuine interest is shown by demonstrating some form of empathy toward the other person based on what they’ve just shared with you. Empathy can sometimes be expressed verbally or non-verbally. An employee tells you he’s worried because he doesn’t know how he’s going to make a deadline and you say, for example, “I can see that you’re stressed out about that. What do you think would help support you in making that deadline?” If you lack the words at the moment, simply tilting your head and expressing concern can show you’re hearing and empathizing. Relating to the employee’s emotional state and expressing a willingness to help alleviate his pain in some way shows that you’re interested in his success, thus making you an ally in his success rather than a target for his frustration.

The key to each of these components is to be genuine. If you’re genuinely paying attention, genuinely listening, and genuinely interested, you will create genuine connections and develop an office, team, or workplace that is genuinely loyal because they will know that you care about them as people and not just as contributors to the bottom line.  

Part 3: Skillfulness (stay tuned)

3 Key Qualities of Noble Leaders (Part 1)

Noble leaders lead with a sense of vision and purpose in a manner that inspires and elevates those who work with them. In particular, they possess three key qualities which they keep in balance in order to allow them to excel: awareness, connection, and skillfulness. In this post, we discuss awareness.

Awareness

Awareness is the quality of seeing and knowing what is happening at three levels. Noble leaders are aware first of themselves. They are conscious of their own habits, emotions, skills and abilities, as well as their own shortcomings. This self-awareness allows them to take advantage of their strengths and locate and utilize resources that will compensate for their weaknesses. When a weakness displays itself as a mistake in judgment, a burst of uncontrolled emotion, or hubris, a leader’s developed self-awareness will sound an alarm, allowing for the opportunity to self-correct or seek some form of recovery or re-setting. Sometimes it results in regret and apology. This is only made possible through the power of awareness, honesty, and humility.

A second level of awareness is that of others. This means, being aware that there are other huma

n beings in one’s environment who, just like them, have thoughts, feelings, desires, and needs. When a leader doesn’t pay attention at some level to the humanity of those with whom she works, others feel she doesn’t care and the commitment to the common mission is weakened. When people feel treated like equipment rather than like thinking, feeling human beings, no one feels “ennobled”, and thus, the leader cannot be considered “noble.” Conversely, when a leader demonstrates that she is aware of what’s happening among those around her, she becomes worthy of respect and admiration. The humanity of simple awareness of another’s humanity is powerful.

Finally, noble leaders are aware of the world around them; that is, the energetics of the environment  in which they operate. This ranges from knowing the current mood of one’s office staff, to feeling the tension or elation of the whole organization. It can also extend wider to include an awareness of society and where it stands vis-à-vis the organization’s mission at any given time. Such global awareness allows a leader to gain valuable perspective that can not only help guide the organization’s direction, but also see how the organization can make contributions that are not only needed but welcomed.