In 2018 I completed Search Inside Yourself a program developed by Google. This program teaches you mindfulness-based emotional intelligence for leaders.
The book Search Inside Yourself states "The incredible Google engineer Chade-Meng Tan who, with the help of a Zen Master, a CEO, a Stanford University scientist and Daniel Goleman created a business and personal development program with a difference: Search Inside Yourself".
"The program is grounded by science, shaped to have everyday practical application and translated the concepts of contemplative traditions into accessible, understandable language".
The program talked about how on average we spend 47% of our time mind wandering. During these wanderings we spend time in the past or in the future. It is widely known that depression is associated with spending time worrying about the past and anxiety is worrying about the future. As humans we need to spend time working on being present or being in the now.
The program focus on six key themes;
Mindfulness is being able to get off auto pilot (old habits) and be aware of what is happening when it is happening. During the program we learnt was how to focus on a single breath because if you are focusing on your breath this helps keep yourself present. If you can keep your focus there you cannot focus in the past or future. Your mind will wandering however you learn how to be ok with this wonder and then bring yourself back to the present. Viktor Frankl's states "Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." Mindfulness is about more than sitting on your butt and doing meditation. It is about integrating mindfulness into all aspects of your world, whether it is doing a quick three breath exercise before you start a team meeting or being mindful when you are walking from one meeting to another or having a mindful conversation with a colleague.
Self Awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts, beliefs, motivation and emotions. Daniel Goleman states that self awareness is "knowing one's internal states, performances, resources and intuition". During the program we were provided with strategies on how to shift from emotional awareness to self awareness. The shift of 'I am experiencing anger' compared to 'I am angry'. Emotions are what you feel and are not who you are. The key points were self awareness is an emotional intelligence foundation, emotions are essential for decision making, pay attention to the body and shift your view from existential (I am) to physiological (I experience).
Self Management is internal states, impulses and choice. It is not avoiding, denying or suppressing. Whether we are at work or at home we can have triggers which hijacks the amygdala part of our brain, basically your emotions hijack the prefrontal cortex. When we are triggered our brain reacts, it can think you are under threat and this threat could be real or perceived. You feel your body physically react as your heart beat gets faster or you start sweating or you breathe quicker. Self management is about understanding what you can do if you have been triggered (Stop, Breathe, Notice, Reflect, Respond). It is also about participating in mindful conversations and active listening. Do you loop back to the people you are talking with? Self Management is also about practicing Self Compassion. So many times people talk about how they are their harshest critics. Dr Kristin Neff talks about Mindfulness, Common Humanity and Self Kindness being the key to Self Compassion. It is about having a growth mindset and a belief in change, motivation to correct past mistakes, motivation to grow and learn from others and effort to improve after a set back.
Motivation is a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way. Within Search Inside Yourself it talks about alignment, envisioning and resilience. It refers to Martin Seligman, who is seen as the founding father of positive psychology (the study of what constitutes the pleasant life, the engaged life, and the meaning of life) and the concept of flow. Alignment is around you understanding what your values are and where they have come from. Throughout the program you spend time meditating and journaling literally searching inside yourself to find these answers. This is where I first started understanding what my why and values are. Initially I had a list of top 5 values (Fun, Love, Understanding, Loyalty and helping others). Today I have a top 3 which are Fun, Forgiveness and Family. Envisioning is based on a very simple idea, it is easier to achieve something if you can visualise yourself achieving it. Resilience is the ability to overcome obstacles along the way. Alignment and envisioning help you find out where you want to go, and resilience helps you get there.
Empathy is the ability to sense other people's emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. It does not necessarily mean agreeing, it is possible to understand another person with kindness and still respectfully disagree. Leaders are able to make tough decisions while being empathic, it could be said that the best way to make tough decisions is with kindness and empathy. If we think about change management, a lot of effort in put into the process and talking to people about position not people.
Something that I have observed is that we could improve this process by acting with more empathy and kindness to the people affected and understanding that those people could be part of a wider group. This would created an environment of trust and understanding. With enough trust and understanding, we may be able to find creative ways that either solve everybody's problems or mitigate concerns. If people trust you, feel that your heart is in the right place, and understand that you are doing this for the greater good they are more likely to participate in the process. I was involved in a change process in an organisation where we decided that for the future state of the organisation there was no need for certain roles within the leadership team. As a leadership team we decided to make the changes with our team first and I was one of those roles that was affected. It was the first time that I had been involved in a change process where we did it from the leadership team downwards and people that left, left with love for the people and organisations.
Leadership is about developing people and helping others reach their full potential. Within Search Insight Yourself they talk about leading with compassion. They quote Thupten Jinpa (English translator for the Dalai Lama) definition of compassion "Compassion is a mental state endowed with a sense of concern for the suffering of others and aspiration to see that suffering relieved". They talk about Compassionate Leadership being the most effective form of leadership. Jinpa breaks down his definition into three components; A cognitive component (I understand you), an affective component (I feel for you) and a motivational component (I want to help you). The book talks about how compassion creates highly effective leaders and leaders go through an important transformation to get to this point. Bill George (widely respected former CEO of Medtronic) is quoted "This shift is the transformation from "I" to "We." It is the most important process leaders go through in becoming authentic. How else can they unleash the power of their organisation unless they motivate people to reach their full potential? If our supporters are merely following our lead, then their efforts are limited to our vision and our directions … Only when leaders stop focusing on their personal ego needs are they able to develop other leaders."
If you are given the opportunity to attend Search Inside Yourself, I would highly recommend investing time into this opportunity whether your motivation is for personal or career development or you are just curious. Mindful Leadership is something that is becoming more common in today's society or something that people are craving more of. For me personal, it is something that I value highly and part of my continued development as a leader and person.
This blog has been written with extracts from my notes that I made during my time at Search Inside Yourself, my interpretations and extracts from Chade-Meng Tan book "Search Inside Yourself"
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