Thank you Ellen for your thoughtfulness regarding the role of mindfulness in leadership.
I’d like to take it a step further and expand the concept of mindfulness into a discussion of the value of altruism. Altruism, the ability/willingness to go beyond self in consideration of “others”.
Altruism used to be a respected and expected attribute of leadership. When altruism is part of a leader’s character they are able to elevate themselves above self interest and actually take in what is going on around them(mindfulness?).
When altruism is present the good of the whole can be ascertained and leaders can act in ways that benefit the greater needs of their employees, customers,constituents…moving beyond the constraints of their ego and self preservation. Employees can take their cues from their leaders and also learn to act with an eye towards contributing to something greater than themselves.
I believe that a lack of altruism is at the core of much of the financial collapse and at the heart of the overabundance of scandal and fraud in leadership today. Same might be said for an ineffective congress overpopulated with self serving politicians.
So thanks for the discourse on mindfulness; I’d like to put that term under the umbrella of altruism and get that value back into leadership discussions and incorporated as a basic requirement for anyone in a leadership position.
With regards,
Betty Shotton
www.liftoffleadership.com

Tags: ALTRUISM as a Leadership Value

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 8:16 am and is filed under ALTRUISM, LEADERSHIP BOOK, Leadership Values, Meaning & the Leadership Profession. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.