7 leadership traits of an agile mind in action
In times we’re living in now — it takes brave leadership, authentic expression & hyper connectedness— to lead oneself, groups & orgs.
1. Authenticity
Authenticity is irresistible, and inherently viral. We’re living in times of information hyperness — the world can instantly tune into a leader’s digital presence, recent activities, history / timeline / influences, current state of being, futuristic thinking, social interactions, cultural circles, keywords / attitudes, response patterns etc.
Are you fearlessly authentic and expressive both on digital and physical mediums?
Internet and social media seems to have inspired — higher levels of authentic connectivity, communication & inspiration, identity transparency / traceability, realtime social interactions, near realtime sentiment analysis, cross cultural collaboration and more.
Can you design your message — to cut through the noise? Can you be brave & honest about your emotions — so engaging with you appears real and relatable?
2. Equanimity
Equanimity is eliminating emotional highs and lows, and staying still.
Can you share ideas, minus the drama?
Ideas sensationalized with positive / negative emotional charges, when shared — can make readers return a ‘reaction’, however a reaction is rarely sustained or taken seriously. Provocative ideas / suggestions may excite, yet rarely get passed on.
When an idea leaves an open ended question in the reader’s mind, it’s likely to — invoke one’s inherent curiosity and thoughtfulness.
Equanimity — also means being at ease with your choices & being ready for any outcome.
Can you do the right thing—without the fear of consequences?
3. Decisiveness
Every moment challenges you to think expansively, think critically and act decisively. Especially businesses are challenged to deal with unknowns / new information every hour— with unpredictable variations & novel situations.
Can you be flexible to changing your mind @ the speed of thought?
There’s always a dilemma — Go Versus No-go & everything in between. In these moments, often the most productive thing to do — is calling out known assumptions, making an “altruistic” decision and moving forward to the next moment. Indecision, rarely protects the larger good.
Can you make irrational yet altruistic choices when the moment demands it?
Do you trust your intuition when you’re making a decision that can impact others?
4. Vulnerability
Vulnerability is simply reminding ourselves & others, that none of us are perfect. We’re all always learning & evolving.
Can you connect with people on what we do not know & create a safe place for collaboration?
While leaders are expected to inspire people to believe in a cause greater than oneself and take action — it’s also important that leaders regularly demonstrate how interdependent we are & express the vulnerability of being challenged by the unknown.
Can you take a chance with yourself & ask others to take a chance with you?
Expressing vulnerability enables visionary leaders, to take everyone along on an “explorative” journey, merely treating the business as an ongoing experiment to validate ideas and to continuously learn from outcomes.
5. Endurance
Do you have high pain tolerance for staying committed to your cause — when your team seems to be falling apart & the business is running out of fuel?
Tolerance / endurance / resilience is an inherent ability— to respond to pain. Leadership is about assuming a larger responsibility and a making a resolve to oneself & others — of being willing to do what it takes, accept new levels of pain, with an unwavering commitment towards the cause, in the interest of the larger good.
Can you look at “building resilience” as an act of building mental health & adaptability?
Leaders tend to employ altruism / selflessness to be resilient — as that can inspire one to go an extra mile, in moments that demand arduous efforts, merely to survive the journey.
6. Empathy
More often than not, people don’t say how they feel, don’t do what they say they would do and don’t do what they feel they would do. One may not articulate needs like “trust and safety” and these mostly are unspoken / unarticulated. Leaders are expected to sense the “unsaid” and bring a sense of comfort to every conversation.
Can you sense a hidden fear in a conversation and acknowledge that to offer help?
Empathy is at the core of all human communication — one has an inherent ability to sense context, mirror another’s state of being and to frame a situation.
7. Integrity
Integrity is about aligning one’s thoughts, feelings and actions — to the higher purpose and being honest, coherent when communicating it to others.
Can you preach only what you practice? Can you consistently live your vision, beliefs and (non-negotiable) values through everyday decisions & actions?
Consistently demonstrating alignment of your decisions and actions, to your higher purpose and non-negotiable values; also is vital.
Can you say “no”, when there is a breach in one of your non-negotiable values?
Leaders are expected to articulate vision, beliefs and values — clearly listing down assumptions / beliefs, for everyone to be aware of general behaviors that predominantly drive decisions within the company / community.
Codewave was founded in 2013, to create an environment of radical transparency, empathy and peer comfort — helping individuals to go on a fearless adventure of knowing what to do, when no-one’s there telling what to do. We continue to be a living, social experiment open to individuals / families / societies / organizations finding self sustainable alternatives to work. We’re thankful to everyone on our journey so far, to have shaped us to be who we are, stay true to our experiment and to who we aspire to become.
