Strengthening and Raising Consciousness Like a Muscle
…let’s start by understanding what this means in daily life
In the last article, we spoke about the Conscious Leader. About the CEOs as pioneers, navigators and bridge builders into the next paradigm – a new stage of evolution we have to reach now. Let me say it again: The CEO’s level of consciousness sets the limit for the company’s potential. Let’s raise it together!
Before delving further, establishing a mutual understanding of “consciousness” is essential. German leaders often relegate anything related to “Bewusstheit/Bewusstsein” to the realm of esotericism, significantly restricting their potential for growth. Therefore, I encourage my German fellows to approach this concept with an open and conscious mindset. It won’t hurt. Basically it can be said: Consciousness is like an ’empty space’ – our capacity to perceive, comprehend, and make sense of the world. It’s about expanding this space to embrace more of the world, enhancing our physical, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and practical aspects, including leadership.
Expanding consciousness vertically allows us to see the world with finer granularity and a broader bandwidth. Horizontally, it enhances our connectivity and responsibility, enabling action across different time horizons.
Playing the CEO Game Beyond 3D
Raising consciousness is like upgrading from a small black-and-white TV to a vibrant, multi-level, multiplayer game. In this game, you’re not just a participant but a co-creator, reshaping the narrative as you grow and expand your understanding of the game’s levels and time zones.
The Rise of the Conscious CEO
What again makes a CEO ‘conscious’? It’s not just about being aware; it’s about expanding the scope of what one can perceive, understand, and influence. Consciousness here is akin to an ‘empty space’ – the capacity to hold, see, and make sense of a broader world, to form a coherent worldview, and to act effectively within it. This concept moves beyond the narrow focus of profits and efficiency, encompassing a broader range of influences and impacts. Also beyond simple “Mindfulness”. Which’s often “cognitive head focus” often leads to inability to act and underutilize the embodiment and togetherness of a strong team or community.
In practice for a CEO being more conscious is like knowing his/her biases and triggers, having a leading personality not being a strong ego, holding the tension of profit and purpose easily, do his or her work during the week till 7pm, being able to make current business decisions to be profitable AND creating a new business model at the same time. Can connect deeply to his peers to become a TEAM on the Board not a sum of Powerplay EGOs fight for themselves at all costs. Can regulate emotion in him/herself and others and let others grow through transformational presence with empathy and radical candor because of the sake being a profitable human and life centric company. I think you get the conscious idea beyond the classic approach.
It’s Training, Not Therapy: Strengthening and Raising Consciousness Like a Muscle
So how to raise conscioussness starting from being “classic”? The good news is: consciousness can be trained and strengthened, akin to a muscle. You do not need Therapy. This understanding unlocks new possibilities for growth and self-improvement in the rational business world.
Harnessing Neuroplasticity’s Power
At the core of this transformation lies the neuroplasticity, the brain’s incredible capacity to reorganize and adapt. This isn’t just about our conscious thoughts; it encompasses every aspect of our being – body, heart, soul, mind, and actions. Each new experience brings these levels to life, making them tangible and moldable.
Embracing New Experiences and Emotions
Every new experience is an intricate dance of emotions, more than just feelings – they are energy in motion, rich with critical information. Engaging with these experiences aligns our emotional energy, ‘in-forming’ our brains and nervous system with a dynamic impulse, and strengthening our neural connections.
Creating Pathways for Growth
So transformation starts with novel behaviors and habits. As we embrace new behaviors, we forge new neural pathways, conduits for innovative information and ideas. These pathways, nurtured over time through practice, blossom into new competencies, eventually leading to mastery. Not just talking about it or do Powerpoint presentation. Be it, then you become it.
A Journey of Courageous Exploration
This expansion of consciousness is a journey of training, not therapy. It’s about bravely exploring the unknown territories of our minds, confronting the shadows and fears hidden away. In doing so, we learn to navigate both the familiar terrains and the uncharted areas of our minds with equal ease.
This journey isn’t just about achieving personal mastery; it redefines leadership itself. It shapes leaders who are adept at business management and skilled in understanding the complexities of the human mind and emotions.
Now knowing how to raise consciousness we can now take a deeper look in which directions a CEO should wake up, grow up and finally show up to on their transformational growth journey.
To be continued.