Mental Flexibility: The Secret to Leadership Resiliency

The pace of change will not let up nor will the Tsunami of discontinuities in terms of technology, global marketplace and societal challenges be diverted by our wishes or hopes.  The challenge for any and all is how to become resilient enough to bounce back when knocked off our feet  and to learn how to assimilate and adapt to shifting conditions more effectively.  The key here is to develop greater mental and emotional flexibility.  Without that ability to flex without breaking, to bend with the currents of change without getting up rooted, an individual, a leader, a team or an organization can collapse, fall apart or lose their way.

Greater mental flexibility and the follow on of leadership resiliency requires four primary things that I will write about in greater detail in the coming weeks.  First, there is a need for a “Core Orientation” – namely, a strong sense of purpose, vitalizing mission, personal identity and rootedness in living, working and being.  Second, there is a great need for “Perspective and Contextual Reframing” – this means the ability to step back and away from the weeds of details and to see the bigger picture and longer term time frame as well as being able to shift the context through perspective reframes. Third, to develop greater mental flexibility requires “Confidence” – the capacity to know you are on the path or to have a sense of how to get on the path even when feeling lost – a core belief in oneself and the team or group around you and to engender in them that sense of “we can figure this out” or “we can do this.”   Finally, “Resiliency of Being” – this is the process of building in self, family, team and organization a greater ability to bounce back from challenges by building a more flexible presence in the world.  This resiliency can be developed through many means: exercise, quality of relationships, mental attitude, conditioning, diet, etc.

Join me as I explore these four key building blocks toward the mental flexibility that all exceptional leaders can benefit from.