Why Leaders Need Personal Development
Why do we maintain that leaders need personal development, rather than professional development? And for the purposes of this website, we define anyone as a leader, because in some ways we all lead, whether we are a C-Suite Exec, a Senior Partner in a law or accounting firm, running a bakery or even a parent raising a family). The answer is simple – because leaders are first and foremost people, and they bring the sum total of their personal experiences into their work lives or duties. There cannot be sustainable professional advancement without personal development. ‘Soft skills’ or ‘non-technical’ skills (empathy, communication, problem solving, interpersonal skills, flexibility, openness, persuasion, conflict management and team work to name a few), cannot be learnt and held on a surface level! They need to be intrinsic, authentic, held deeply on the inside. As ‘Emotional Intelligence at Work’ author Daniel Goleman notes, in order to build soft skills, we first have to undo our old beliefs and patterns of behaviour, so that mind-body awareness can be created – and from this mind/body awareness, soft skills arise automatically.
We provide personal development for leaders to help to clear up these old, dysfunctional patterns of behaviour and self-sabotage and you to become fully liberated from old, destructive patterns and not only develop new, positive patterns of behaviour, but also feel lighter, happier and more fulfilled within yourself.
When a person is healed and whole on the inside, they don’t need to learn soft skills, these abilities simply arise automatically from an inner place of balance, self-worth, self-confidence and inner awareness, leading to much greater levels of authenticity and effectiveness. Empathy is one of the core soft skills, but unless empathy is first given to the self, it is not going to be given to anyone else.
We know that everything in this world has a vibration, that everything has resonance. Therefore, there is a relationship between a person’s actions and speech, and their energy so that whatever that person is saying or doing has congruence. Let me give an example – if I have simply been told by my boss to improve my soft skills, and I learn some, then walk around, pretending to appear confident, open, empathetic, authentic and friendly then my actions and my words will simply not resonate with my colleagues. I will come across as a fake to them on some level, because my actions and words do not match the energetic vibration that I am giving off, which is read by other people’s subconscious minds. In this example I will simply not engender trust in my colleagues, in fact my actions will create quite the opposite.
Alternatively, if I accept that I need help to heal my past experiences that taught me I am not worthy enough, not good enough, not clever or popular enough – and work on my inner self to achieve a state of internal happiness, confidence, self-love, self-esteem and wholeness, then I naturally increase in vibration, I naturally feel open, empathetic, creative, passionate, confident, charismatic, friendly and I communicate with resonance and ease. And because my words and actions now match my energy, (which will be bright and shiny!) I will engender trust, respect, increased engagement and attain levels of greater authenticity. This will have an impact on not only my colleagues, but also improve my relationships with my clients as people want to be around shiny, authentic people and intrinsically be able to trust them. And as I am brighter and shinier and happier, I will naturally attract great levels of success, feel more energised (as the energy trapped in trauma imprints will now be freed), be much healthier mentally, physically, and emotionally and be more creative in finding solutions to any problems I face. We can work with you (or your leaders) to clear up your past and support you in moving forward to effect this change, which, happily, will also improve all your personal relationships outside of work, too.
Hard skills are of course important, but its largely soft skills that enables leaders to be great. Goleman states that emotional intelligence/soft skills are four times as important in distinguishing top leaders from average ones and accounts for a staggering 90% of what enables an executive to climb up the corporate ladder. But according to Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, there is a significant gap between the soft skills companies require and the soft skills sets actually available in the pool of top talent.
We can help fill that gap.
It is true that an organisation’s most valuable asset is its people. But it goes without saying that C-Suite leaders/Senior Partners function under a significant amount of pressure. It’s also pretty lonely at the top. We need to start seeing leaders as people, instead of machines.
In law firms, lawyers are often forced to become robots, erasing themselves, their personalities and their humanity, to succeed and fit in with the desires of the firm – normally driven, relentless machines. This not only creates problems within the organisation but also negatively affects client relationships – because whatever it is you are selling, no matter how clever or brilliant you are, people still buy people. Additionally, the natural outcome of living in such a reduced way is the creation of severe anxiety and depression. When a person is put under stress, any unresolved, unhealed issues from their past rises up to the surface and bites, hard. It’s like turning on a pressure cooker and failing to release the steam valve – at some point, the pressure cooker is going to blow. And that can not only be very costly to your company but can also endanger corporate reputation. We can help release that pressure valve.
But why is dysfunction in leaders so common? The answer is simple when we give thought to what factors drive a person to achieve substantial success. Common motivational drivers such as the need to achieve/be recognised, the need for power and authority, improved self-esteem and self-worth and securing feelings of safety and security are among the most common drivers. Normally, the need for these drivers arises from a place of lack, from childhood trauma perhaps, or issues in later life. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you grow up with a mother that suffers from deep depression. Your father leaves when you are little. You feel powerless, because you can’t help your mother, and unloved. Not worthy of having your father stay put, or having your mothers caring attention. You might also suffer financially. As a result of this childhood, you might make a few choices. You may become a victim, become a drop-out, a drunk maybe. What is more likely is that you will decide you never, ever want to feel so powerless again. You want to feel secure, so this means you need to achieve success, power and preferably earn a lot of money, and ideally feel some level of protection from the world. Becoming a top lawyer or business executive would be a good way to achieve those drivers. But they are dysfunctional drivers – they come from a place of lack, so they will end up causing you and potentially your employer problems. And the problem is, even if you do become that top ranking lawyer in that magic circle law firm, you will never actually feel safe, feel secure, feel the love that you have always needed.
The problem is that needs – such as needing security – are internal needs and as such they cannot be met by the creation of external gains, such as a high income, or a high-status position, no matter how high the income or levels of worldly success. These needs can only be met by addressing the unresolved issues influencing current behaviour on the inside – in other words, by resolving them on the levels on which they occurred, on the inside. Work may be required on the physical, mental, emotional, soul and energetic levels and also on the unconscious, sub-conscious, conscious and superconscious levels. We can help achieve wholeness on all of these levels – and also on more esoteric levels which can also affect a person, such as clearing cellular memories of past life trauma and breaking damaging ancestral patterns. Coaching and other therapies cannot address issues at this level, because they tend to focus on only one level of a person’s being – usually the mental level. If we are traumatised at any stage of life, this affects us on all levels of our being, therefore the trauma needs to be addressed on all of those levels. Additionally, other leadership development programmes cannot restore a leader to wholeness, but, using a combination of both ancient and modern personal development techniques, we can achieve this. Additionally, we can help you or your leader find his or her self-love, self-worth, self-esteem, confidence, success, security, joy, happiness, peace and wholeness and hold these things inside him/herself where they belong. This will make your leader bright and shiny! And I am not joking about the shininess! Normally after leaders have had a couple of sessions with me their colleagues notice something has changed and start telling them they look different, or they look well, younger, or ‘fresh,’ or ‘have you been away?’ The results of working with me are visible.
When a leader cleans up any unresolved issues, they automatically become happier. Happy leaders make good leaders and positive role models, who exhibit enhanced non-technical/soft kills, emotional intelligence and greater levels of authenticity. They will of course remain motivated about the achievement of success, but now the motivation comes from a positive source, i.e. they want to fulfil their highest potential, and help people. They will be able to easily handle stress and be less likely to succumb to illness.
Think of a happy leader as a gardener. The gardener has complete control over the garden, he nurtures the seeds, providing the perfect environment in which the seedlings can thrive. He is patient and sees the perfection in all of the flowers, not just the showy peonies and roses, but also the quiet ferns and daisies. He is whole and content in himself, so is not challenged when the sunflower grows taller than he, instead he is proud of himself to have nurtured it so well. If a plant is weak and struggling, he can support it. If it is out of control he can gently prune it, not to damage it, but to allow it to grow back healthier and stronger, and provide more fruit in the months to come. We are experts in leadership development and can help you or your company to create happy, empowered and effective leaders.
Ultimately, working with us will enable your leaders to have a better relationship with themselves, enhanced levels of confidence and natural charisma. When a leader enjoys a high level of self-respect, he or she will operate with respect other people, and the planet, and before you know it you are looking at an Enlightened Leader and a truly sustainable business for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Happy leaders are highly motivated and engaged. Working with us enhances their creative and innovative capabilities, which serves to enhance the organisations competitive advantage. Additionally, happy leaders attract good business and enjoy enhanced relationships with clients which only serve to improve the bottom line. They also enjoy enhanced physical, emotional and mental health which also benefits the organisation.
Physics proves that everything has a frequency – a level of vibration – and that includes an organisation. An organisation is an entity in itself, with its own unique frequency. This is directly correlated to the frequency of each individual working for the organisation – particularly at C-Suite level as they set the tone for the rest of the organisation as well as the organisational values, strategies, mission statement and practices. The higher the level of frequency of the C-Suite leaders, the more attractive the organisation will be to prospective and current clients/investors/customers. The organisation will naturally become more successful, employees will be engaged and motivated and this will be reflected in an improved bottom line and business sustainability. This premise is based on the Natural Laws of Attraction – ‘that which is like itself is drawn,’ or the ancient Hermetic axiom, ‘As above, so below, as within so without’ and is based in science.
Creating happy leaders is a win-win scenario for any organisation.
We are experts in creating happy leaders, happy people.
Feel free to contact us by clicking here.
