MODERN LEADERSHIP
unchangeable . As the Spanish neuroanatomist Santiago Ramón y Cajal wrote , “ In the adult centres the nerve paths are something fixed , ended and immutable .” However , cutting-edge neuroscience is proving that our brains maintain the ability to rewire and change throughout our lives . Scientists have dubbed this ability “ neuroplasticity .”
Sharon Begley explains in her book Train Your Mind , Change Your Brain , “ The brain can indeed be rewired . The adult brain … retains much of the plasticity of the developing brain , including the power to repair damaged regions , to grow new neurons , to rezone regions that performed one task and have them assume a new task , to change the circuitry that weaves neurons into the networks that allow us to remember , feel , suffer , think , imagine and dream .”
Not surprisingly , one of the best tools scientists have used to stimulate neuroplasticity is mindfulness meditation .
Beginner ’ s mind , as cultivated through mindfulness , can do more than simply help us see more clearly and make better decisions , it can literally rewire our brains , allowing for true innovation .
Taken together , these findings provide concrete evidence that mindful meditation training leads not only to subjective improvements in wellbeing , but also to changes in the brain at the cellular , structural and functional levels . Mindful meditation is much more than a placebo effect . Meditation practice causes neuroplastic changes in the brain , leading to improvements in depressive symptoms , feelings of happiness , and executive function .
Relieving the Pressure to “ Be Right ” The challenge is this : On one hand , lip service is paid to innovative thinking , but on the other hand , leaders feel extreme pressure to “ get it right .” This makes them scared to try new things . Or , if they do try new things and fail , they easily fall into the blame game to take the pressure off themselves . Both approaches are antithetical to the beginner ’ s mind , and to real achievement and growth .
In a famous article , “ Teaching Smart People How to Learn ,” business theorist Chris Argyris , of Harvard Business School , explained why the smartest , most talented leaders are often those who are the least open to failure and capable of learning from failure . People profess to be open to learning , he explained , but their actions betray very different values , including :
the desire to remain in unilateral control the goal of maximising ‘ winning ’ while minimising ‘ losing ’ the belief that negative feelings should be suppressed the desire to appear as rational as possible .
Argyris wrote , “ Taken together , these values betray a profoundly defensive posture : a need to avoid embarrassment , threat , or feelings of vulnerability and incompetence . This closed-loop reasoning explains why the mere encouragement of open inquiry can be intimidating to some . And it ’ s especially relevant to the behavior of many of the most highly skilled and best-trained employees . Behind their high aspirations are an equally high fear of failure and a tendency to be ashamed when they don ’ t live up to their high standards . Consequently , they become brittle
and despondent in situations in which they don ’ t excel immediately .”
Mindful leaders can stop the blame game by creating a culture of compassionate accountability . Compassionate accountability isn ’ t about finding someone or some factor to blame . It ’ s simply about objectively analysing a situation with beginner ’ s mind to learn from it . It ’ s finding where team members may have contributed to a failure , but doing so compassionately , with an attitude of “ What can we learn from this ?” rather than “ See what you did wrong ?”
The new frontiers that await humanity lie beyond the reach of expert ’ s mind and on the edges of beginner ’ s mind . The attitude cultivated by the greatest leaders is expressed by Nikkyo Niwano , who , after a lifetime of mindfulness practice , said , “ I am beginning today . I am a lifetime beginner .”
Michael Bunting is the bestselling author of The Mindful Leader and A Practical Guide to Meditation , and co-author of Extraordinary Leadership in Australia and New Zealand . He runs leadership consultancy WorkSmart Australia , a certified B-Corp . For more information , visit www . mindfulleader . net
52 ModernBusiness October 2016