Our physiology and emotions are intertwined and when we understand how the brain works and influences our feelings and needs, it becomes easier to manage our cognitive (thinking) and affective (emotional) functions – to deal with the opportunities, risks and challenges of leadership.
Leadership is about clarity and integrity to vision, plan and strategize for the future – to solve problems, take decisions and execute in real time – a part of the ‘conative’ process – to keep the organization moving forward.[i]
When we have clarity on how the ‘mindbody’ works – it is easier to develop practices and strategies to put things in perspective – to deal with radical uncertainties and wicked problems of the fast-paced modern-techno-industrial-AI world.
We have control over and can adapt and change our cognitive and affective functions but our conative – the way we execute – is a part of our innate nature in the way we show up and work in the world. It is the natural instinctive way we approach and solve problems – which does not change.
That requires self-awareness and knowledge – to understand our innate strengths to make wise choices – to know when to ask for help and delegate by developing complementary competences within the organization – which ensures that we do not burn out in frustration trying to micromanage everything.
Self-Awareness and Leadership Mastery
One elegant way for self-awareness is mindfulness based on the breath which neuroscience supports.
According to Neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor “Your breath is the easiest way to bring your mind back to the present moment and to shift from your left thinking brain into your right experiential brain.”[ii]
Neuroscientist Iain McGilchrist’s work in The Master and His Emissary and The Matter With Things is not directly about organizational or business leadership, but his insights into brain hemispheric function have profound implications for leadership, decision-making, and organizational culture.[iii][iv]
McGilchrist warns against left-hemisphere domination, which can lead organizations to become mechanistic, overly metric-driven, and disconnected from purpose or people.
True leadership is “mastery” — not about control but understanding interconnections to navigate uncertainty and ambiguity rather than suppress them. A self-aware, purposeful leader will foster psychological safety and meaningful engagement and avoid over-reliance on rigid performance metrics of spreadsheets and algorithms,
Purposeful Leadership and Mindfulness
Iain McGilchrist’s insights into the divided brain support and enrich the practices of purposeful leadership and mindfulness, by revealing the neurological and philosophical roots of how we perceive, decide, and lead.
Purposeful leadership centers on vision, values, meaning, and contribution — all capacities of the right-hemisphere – seeing the bigger picture and long-term oriented – understands the interdependence and interconnections.
While the primacy of the right-hemisphere in perceiving the world in a more holistic, embodied, and contextual way (ideal for leadership and wisdom),the left-hemisphere plays a crucial complementary role in leadership.
McGilchrist’s metaphor: The Master (right hemisphere) understands life’s depth, while The Emissary (left hemisphere) can get lost in abstraction and utility – where both need to balance with awareness and complement each other.
Mindfulness – The Practice
Mindfulness is about present-moment awareness, embodied experience, and non-judgmental attention — all right-hemisphere qualities – which can then activate the left-hemisphere to analyze specific parts of a problem, and deal with details, measurements, and rules— focus and articulate insights – breaking them down into language, categories, and strategies that otherscan understand and act upon execution, planning, and systematization.
The left-hemisphere brings structure and sequencing to the intuitive insights of the right-hemisphere – all of which are vital when making complex decisions and executing in times of radical uncertainty.
Mindfulness trains the mind to shift from reactive control to open receptivity – to step out of compulsive thinking (left-dominance) into whole-person awareness – where the ‘mindbody’shift is both psychological and neurological.
A daily mindfulness practice helps inner-awareness and integration to recognize when one is stuck on the left brain (control, certainty, categorization) and take action – stop, take a deep breath, say observe and exhale– to engage the right-brain for empathy, intuition, presence – to balance both hemispheres.
Purposeful and mindful leadership is not just about what you do, but how you attend based on the deeper ‘why’ – to see more clearly, respond more wisely and courageously, and lead more humanely.
[i] Kolbe, D., & Bruske, A. (2024). Do more, more naturally: Empowering effortless success and the freedom to be yourself. Ethos Collective.
[ii] Taylor, J. B. (2021). Whole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our Life (1st ed.). Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc.
[iii] McGilchrist, I (2009) The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
[iv] McGilchrist, I. (2021). The matter with things: Our brains, our delusions, and the unmaking of the world (Vols. 1–2). Perspectiva Press.
