“Our thoughts and perceptions shape the world we live in and we possess the ability to alter our perceptions today, not tomorrow. This means we hold the power to modify our actions.”
― Itayi Garande, Author
VIM Executive Coaching remembers a time when the business world was enamored with the concept of the “hard charger,” that dauntless, fearless executive leader who rolled up their proverbial sleeves, threw all the “dead wood” aside and plunged head first into whatever was perceived to get done.
For, especially at the start of the new year many organizations loved the idea of the “clean slate,” the starting-over and the reset, when newer was always better and adversity was just a state of mind. Mind was always over matter. Executives could will any situation to improve if they but willed it to happen.
Many were the staff members who suffered under the yoke of the hard charger. For the hard charger who took no prisoners, made virtual prisoners of anyone who dared to challenge, ask questions, have an innocuous opinion or simple question. To the hard charger out to change the world, any opinion or observation or gentle suggestion was a serious challenge.
Who controls the noise?
Mind over matter is, of course, a myth. It is a cover-up and a way of steamrolling the truth. Psychologists warn of the mind over matter attitude.
For example, Hilary Jacobs Hendel writing for Psychology Today, reminds us that on a personal level, “For too long we have been a culture that tells people to ‘get over it,’ ‘buck up,’ and ‘keep a stiff upper lip.’ We medicate before understanding the root cause of our suffering.”
We will exercise latitude here and say that “medicate” might also include staff to constantly listen to the “wisdom” of motivational speakers who have never really held corporate jobs, endless podcasts by so-called experts and videos by business gurus offering quick fixes. The point is that for far too long, some executive leaders convince their staffs all the problems in the work place rests with them or, “it’s not me, I’m the leader, it’s you!”
In a more business sense, a great example was presented by the Wharton Business School of the omniscient executive leader-hard charger:
“The stereotypical, larger-than-life, charismatic CEO who never makes mistakes and is probably the smartest person in the room and rides in and out on a white horse with a perfect, unblemished record only exists in urban legends…[we] come to realize that the only perfect CEOs [we] know are the ones whom we don’t know.”
An executive who rules by control, who overrides emotions and believes in sheer will over reflection and response, will invariably fail.
In today’s highly complex, multi-channeled, uniquely structured organizations having one vision and one controlling hard-charger can be downright dangerous to the mission. Far better, the executive leader say to themselves and even to staff: “I don’t have all the answers. Instead of plunging in, let’s review, discuss alternatives, and be authentic in how we proceed.”
For the best executives don’t always know. They weigh and measure, respond and discuss, strategize and above all, mindfully listen.
We are not suggesting –
We are not suggesting mindfulness should equal indecision or inactivity. We are not suggesting mindful organizations should do away with executive leadership. We are stressing that sometimes the best solutions are when problems and challenges are addressed by responding, openness, authenticity and resilience rather than intractability.
2026 should be a more mindful year, where inflexibility should be viewed in the light of what happened in the past, when mind over matter was the rule, and when we stopped listening to one another. There is plenty of room for all of us to be authentic.