Boundless Leadership is a book written by Joe Loizzo and Elazar Aslan.
It provides a method to realize your vision, empower others, and ignite positive change. The book was published in 2021.
Leadership Is an Inside Job
We’ve all heard that one of the critical aspects of being a good leader, never mind a boundless leader, is agility of mind. But the agility it takes to change our thinking given new external data doesn’t hold a candle to the agility we gain by becoming more self-aware.
If you’re not self-aware, you’re not able to self-correct.
Discernment: The key to incisive decisions
Discernment—the fourth quality of mind—is what emerges when we make a point to attend to our experience from the vantage point of unbiased awareness. In boundless leadership, our understanding of discernment differs dramatically from the conventional take.
We see it as based not upon perspectives and judgments derived from past experience but rather on our ability to break free from the past and see things freshly as they are here and now.
This clear discernment involves the ability to see the whole field—the panorama—to recognize what matters most within it and to consider what happens when those elements are in conflict.
Shift perspective from the usual distractions
Being able to shift perspective and see the whole is attentional flexibility in action. But we won’t be able to shift as long as we stay unwittingly stuck in our biased agenda and point of view. The capacity to shift adroitly is most important not in terms of shifting our strategy or execution but in terms of shifting who we really are—that is, when it comes to our short- and long-term development as leaders.
If we can watch how we’re able to develop awareness over time, we’re able to direct our attention toward those qualities that are going to empower us to be more effective as leaders or humans.
Balance: Developing true confidence
Presence is related to balance in boundless leadership. The second quality in the discipline of mind, balance, is a key factor supporting the competence of clarity.
It involves an ongoing process and a continuous challenge for leaders who want to stay connected to their strengths, since it entails getting back on track when distracted, diverted, pumped up, or knocked down.
Presence: The brain is a social organ
When it comes to how presence affects clarity, remember that clarity is the highest capacity of our new brain and the result of the primal, self-protective parts of our brain feeling safe enough to let the newer, more sociable parts of our brain lead. It’s where our attention is most nimble and our consciousness is the most expansive, hence where we have the most flexible, fine-tuned engagement.
Unbiased Awareness: Escaping the trap of fixed judgment
A leader’s effectiveness will be diminished if they lack the capacity for unbiased awareness—the third quality of the discipline of mind that breeds clarity.
Unbiased awareness is the ability to be present to reality as it is, free from preconceived ideas or programming, not swayed by polarizing positive or negative biases, attachments, or aversions, and not disconnected or distanced from the nuances and complexities of genuine experiences.
Application: Leveraging the Power of Intention
As you work with the discipline of mind within boundless leadership, you’ll engage the practices, strengthen the qualities, and develop more clarity. One of the best ways you can bring this clarity into play is by better understanding your intentions.
Conflicting intentions often lie at the root of our most ill-advised efforts. For instance, if someone criticizes us, we often feel the need to correct them. We may feel that we’re being helpful by setting the record straight, but our critic feels we’re being defensive and are not listening or taking responsibility.
Mammalian mode
- Mammalian mode requires safety and connection messages.
- Without safety cues, brains default into survival mode, leading to fragmentation and self-limitation.
- Tuning into our bodies in the present moment provides reassuring messages and grounds our minds in reassurance.
Practice mammalian mode
- Sit or lie in a comfortable posture.
- Focus on the place where you sense your breathing.
- Keep returning to the breath when distracted.
- Feel present in the moment.
- Practice for 5-20 minutes without stress or fatigue.
- Practice regularly, 3-7 days a week.
- Use brief presence pauses in daily life.
