“Becoming a leader is synonymous with becoming yourself.
It is precisely that simple, and it is also that difficult.”
~ Warren Bennis
Let’s Start With Three Fundamental Claims
A leader is someone who – regardless of position, rank, or title – cares about something enough to ask others to care about it with them, and who effectively joins with others to co-create a new future.
Your leadership capability emerges from the personal and interpersonal qualities that make you uniquely you. Unfurling your leadership potential is a process of self-cultivation in service of a larger goal.
The world needs many more masterful leaders from all walks of life to successfully address the extraordinary challenges we face at this moment in history.
Developing a New Second Nature
What people usually do when faced with leadership challenges is try to adopt a new way of being using old ways of learning: book, lecture, video. These are great vehicles for taking in new ideas, but unfortunately, having a pretty good idea of what to do is rarely enough to help you actually do things differently.
To become a more masterful leader, you need more than just good ideas. You need to actually embody a way of being that supports your vision and your aims. In other words, you need to put what you learn into action again and again until it becomes second nature. If you’re seeking to take more effective action on behalf of your goals, then you’re going to need to engage your body as well as your mind.
I’m not talking about situps and pushups here – I’m talking about developing an embodied leadership presence that builds trust and gets things done. This is a presence that you own… that emanates from inside you and touches others deeply without you having to say a thing.
You’ve probably known someone who has that kind of presence: when they walk into a room, people sit up and take notice. They naturally inspire trust and easily galvanize themselves and others behind worthwhile goals. That kind of leadership comes from the inside out, and cultivating it requires training your whole self.
The Path To An Embodied Leadership Presence
1. Get clear about where you’re going.
To increase your own and others commitment to take action, you need to be clear about the direction you’re headed and stand behind it with your entire being. That begins with connecting to what matters to you in a heartfelt, visceral way.
2. Get familiar with what’s standing in your way.
Everyone has habitual ways of being that don’t support where they want to go and who they want to be. As long as those habits remain outside your awareness, it’s difficult – if not impossible – to choose a different course of action. The mind-body approach I use makes blind spots visible in a gentle but undeniable way, opening the doorway to new and more effective choices.
Let’s be clear though: This is NOT about scolding yourself into “better behavior.” Rather it’s about interrupting and uprooting the patterns that aren’t serving you so there’s room for something new to take hold.
3. Practice new ways of being.
Together we’ll identify new skills and actions that support more of what you care about. Then you’ll practice them in low-stakes situations until they become second nature, so that when the going gets tough, it’s what comes to you naturally.
This process probably sounds straightforward enough, but most people discover the approach to be unlike anything they’ve tried before. More than sitting and listening to a lecture, you’ll be up moving around and engaging with others. Rather than reading about models of leadership, you’ll investigate your own experience. In addition to exploring that experience in conversation, you’ll have the opportunity to engage in bodywork that can actually change the way you show up in your everyday life.
All of this amounts to a path of personal growth and self-cultivation that goes beyond self-involved navel gazing to focus on how you can be of service in the world. It’s about stepping further onto the path of your destiny and learning to be as effective as you can so that you can give your best to what you care about most.
By applying mindfulness-in-action to the process of bringing your deepest cares to life, you’ll open a reservoir of energy, resourcefulness, and commitment that you never knew you had. Along the way you’ll deepen your own sense of fulfillment and satisfaction as you become increasingly effective at making the contribution that is uniquely yours to make.
The Roots of This Work
The coaching and training you’ll receive with Stonewater emerges out of the Strozzi Somatics methodology developed by Dr. Richard Strozzi-Heckler, an internationally known consultant on leadership and mastery. Richard has spent over four decades developing and teaching the practical application of somatics – a mind-body approach to growth, learning, and change — to leaders of business, government, and non-profit organizations.
While somatics has long been established in the healthcare field, it was the pioneering innovations of the Strozzi Institute that built somatics into a reliable path to a more compelling leadership presence. Strozzi Somatics has emerged from a synthesis of Western psychology, Eastern philosophy, management theory, bodywork, and aikido: the martial art of peace. Stonewater builds on this foundation by incorporating new research in interpersonal neurobiology, and by applying the Strozzi Somatics methodology to the unique concerns of progressive leaders.
Learn more about embodied leadership offers for leaders and somatic practitioners.
