5 enduring Leadership Lessons inspired by Yogis

Can spiritual teachings be adapted to working life? Yes, they can. And you don't have to go to the Himalayas or read massive tomes to learn practical but enduring leadership lessons inspired by Yogis.

Yogi: All those who tread the spiritual path (not necessarily only practitioners of Yoga or belonging to any particular faith), and who create positive change in the world through the force of their thoughts, beliefs, words and actions. 

Read on to see how you can adopt Yogi inspired philosophies into practical leadership practices to create positive impact.

Lesson 1: Not minding what is going to happen, give your hundred percent

Effort focus rather than results focus fosters Ownership, not just Accountability. It can create an atmosphere where your team members feel comfortable taking ownership for mistakes because they are focusing on the process of getting better.  

A yogi’s focus is not on results but on actions. And while taking action, giving the utmost effort is paramount. In the Bhagwad Gita, this is what Krishna advises Arjun, when the Pandav prince, on the eve of battle, finds himself weighed down with worry on the consequences of the fight.

When we focus overmuch on the result of our actions, we stay in a perpetual state of worry. We cannot know the future, and not knowing what is going to happen and whether the result will be favourable to us or not, keeps us in anxiety and stress. This can hamper us from being effective today.

There is a subtle difference between not minding about the result and goal focus. Having an eagle eye on the target or the end-point is great. What is not great is worrying about whether we will reach the target, or feeling stressed about what will happen if we do not reach it, or obsessively wondering how people (bosses and teams and others) will react if we fail.

The Yogi leader chooses instead to focus on the actions that will take her towards her goal. And in case the goal is not achieved, she understands that results are not completely in her control. She treats failures as learning points to revise goals, and opportunities to act differently next time in order to achieve a different outcome.

This concept is well illustrated in the difference between Fixed Mindset and Growth Mindset ( “Mindset: The new psychology of Success”, by Carol Dweck). Dweck in her book, proposes that what differentiates those with a Fixed Mindset from those with a Growth Mindset, are their Beliefs and Focus. Those with a Fixed mindset focus on Not Looking Bad as an outcome, and they believe effort is not necessary and not useful. Those with a Growth mindset focus on the Process of Getting Better as an outcome and they believe effort is useful because it leads to growth (as in the example at the start).

This can be a wonderfully liberating perspective for a leader, because it means we do not need to worry about what is in the future and factors that are not in our hands, but simply focus on what is in our control, i.e. our effort. Result: less fruitless worry, and better results anyway.

Lesson 2: Root yourself in the earth, but look to the sky

Not being able to think of alternative, out of the box, creative, breakthrough ideas - is a form of Functional Fixedness (which in its original form means not being able to see a different use for an object than its prescribed use. E.g. using a hammer only to fix nails and not as a paperweight). Functional Fixedness occurs because we tend to do things the same way and draw on the same set of skills and experiences to make sense of things around us. To produce a truly original idea, you must free your imagination, challenge orthodoxy, and envision that which is not.

It’s really a matter of widening our perspectives, by learning a wide variety of things and even using different modes for learning (travel, for example, is an excellent way of learning). This is a yogi trait: being a constant and consistent seeker of higher knowledge. Leaders need to move beyond their own technical or functional space only, and learn about many other aspects. But this is difficult because we are actually wired to do things in exactly the opposite way. In fact, our biology is structured such that when we are under threat, the blood flow to our brains reduces which decreases our peripheral vision, apparently so we can deal with the immediate danger. Athletes’ peripheral vision, for example, reduces significantly before a competition.

Stress caused by the demands of our work, as well as ingrained learning and experiences can have a similar impact on us, creating a tunnel vision, geared towards solving an immediate problem or issue. But it closes us off to new ideas and approaches.

Overcoming this barrier requires asking uninhibited questions such as “Why not?” and “What if?”, and consciously embracing new experiences.

Yogi leadership requires us to be “Looking to the Sky” - consciously developing our peripheral vision for new ideas and different approaches. At the same time, “Remaining Rooted to the Earth” implies not losing touch with reality. Together, the philosophy is about pragmatic openness.

But this is difficult to do in times of crisis and deadlines. It’s better to cultivate a broader approach towards learning. Spend a little of your time learning things which may appear unrelated to your field of work (read about psychology if you are in Marketing - you never know what triggers breakthrough thought!). Sign yourself up for new experiences. If you love movies, visit a comedy club sometime. If you like getting your news through the TV, try an online subscription to a newspaper. And above all, don’t say No as a first response when presented with something outside the familiar.

Lesson 3: Believe in transience

A true yogi believes in the impermanence of the physical world. Yogis see the grand scheme of things in nature, and live beyond day to day sorrows.

There is no benefit in holding on to feelings and experiences which are negative. Our experiences shape our beliefs, and our beliefs dictate our future behaviors. It is important for everyone to know which experiences and feelings to let go of, in order to create a positively charged world view.

This too shall pass....

“This too shall pass” (a saying attributed to the poet Rumi, or more generally to medieval Persian literature) is a powerful maxim that reflects on the ephemerality of the human condition. Just like the early morning dew-drops on a lotus leaf vanish as the sun climbs higher in the sky, similarly human experiences are fleeting.

The philosophy of transience can contribute an important coping mechanism and build personal as well as organisational resilience. For any teams, it can be a guiding principle that helps them to overcome setbacks and approach work with renewed vigour.

Microsoft, under the leadership of Satya Nadella, is a prime example of this. The company was struggling to write it’s 2nd (or was it the 3rd?) act after being pioneers who had yielded their leadership position to competition. Nadella, through a series of powerful messages, imbued employees with a new sense of purpose and the conviction that the current struggles would pass, that helped them to overcome a toxic culture and infighting, to start on a new path of reinvention and growth.

Lesson 4: Free yourself from inner conflict and become a friend of your self

A yogi has mastered the skill of self acceptance. Yogis are comfortable in their own skin and do not feel the need to conform to social codes of dressing, living or simply being. Their inner selves and their outward behavior are in total consonance, creating inner peace.

On the other hand, a vast majority of people live their lives being inauthentic to themselves in order to conform. We stop ourselves from expressing our opinions, our feelings, our ideas, since we have been conditioned since an early age to fear the consequences of 'exposing' our true selves. When we deny our true selves, we face internal conflict. We have disturbed feelings and may even experience physical symptoms of stress.

"To thine own self, be true" (Hamlet, by William Shakepeare)

A Yogi leader is one who has accepted who she is, and is able to fearlessly be herself. This is Authentic Leadership (popularised by Bill George in the early 2000s).

It’s easy to spot authentic leaders. They’re the people who are very comfortable being themselves, who are highly self-aware, who express themselves without fear but with empathy, who do not shy away from saying ‘I don’t know’ or ‘I was wrong’, and who behave the same way in public and private.

Authentic leaders encourage intelligent disobedience in their followers and allow others also to be their own true self. They believe that in order for others to express their trues selves, it is not conformity that is required, but the ability to intelligently disagree with the boss.

Lesson 5: Assimilate from all but be your Own

Yogis were non-affiliate. They did not belong to any particular religion, but followed the path of spirituality through the practice of universal values.

As leaders, it is important to practice non-affiliation, and not associate with any particular ‘camp’ or group within the organisation. A leader who is seen as partisan will find it difficult to build trust with all. Only by being consistently impartial, and practicing universal leadership values, can true Yogi Leadership be attained.

In the final session of the Chicago Parliament, Swami Vivekananda said at the conclusion of his speech, that each must assimilate the spirit of the others but also preserve his individuality while growing according to his own law of growth.

For this to happen, we must all have a deep sense of personal integrity. In order to not get attached to any particular way of thought, we should develop our inner compass and be guided by it. Being ethical is abiding by rules and norms, having integrity is abiding by our personal code.

This can be lonely. It can make you unpopular. But only for a little while.

We cannot all be Yogis. But it is possible to develop action focus (over result focus), activate pragmatic openness, build resilience through a belief in transience, accept ourselves, and behave with integrity. Not easy, but definitely doable.