Leading with intention and quality – The art of strategic presence
HEXES ApS | Culture & Behavior
We help implement changes in culture and behaviour, developing organisations, leaders, and teams.
“If you want to fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. But if you want to go wisely, slow down.” Leadership is not about moving faster. It’s about moving with intention.?
In today’s relentless pursuit of efficiency, leaders are often expected to keep pace with an accelerating world, where speed is mistaken for success. But?leadership is not about sprinting through decisions?or reacting to every fire that ignites. Instead, it’s about stepping back, creating?space for clarity, and making decisions that are not just timely but timeless. Instead try to?move with purpose, and know that?a well-placed pause?can be far more powerful than a rushed action.
What happens when you resist the pressure to hustle and instead cultivate presence? When we?shift from reacting to directing? Let’s explore what it means to lead beyond the hustle.
1. The Zen of intentional action
In Japanese, the character for 'busy' combines the symbols for 'lose' and 'heart.' Think about that. Being busy is not about lacking time—it’s about losing connection to what truly matters.
Leadership isn’t a frantic race against time; it’s about mastering the ability to be present, to discern what truly requires?your attention, and to move with clarity. Yet, modern leadership culture often glorifies busyness, mistaking it for productivity. How often do we find ourselves?drowning in meetings, urgent emails, and back-to-back obligations, yet unable to pinpoint the last truly strategic decision we made?
What if we chose to?do fewer things, but better? What if we moved from reaction to intention?
Rasmus Hougaard and Jaqueline Carter from Potential Project has written an interesting article about the attraction of busyness, the lure of the false feeling of effectiveness: https://www.potentialproject.com/insights/leadership-and-the...
"Mindful leadership entails being aware of one’s internal compass. It enables a leader to respond to a situation as it arises, to respond to the reality of constant changes from a place of deep calm and focus, and to have the presence of mind to face the reality of any situation."―?Maria Gonzalez, on the role of mindfulness in effective leadership:
2. 3 questions to train your negative capability
John Keats coined the term “negative capability” to describe the rare ability to sit with uncertainty, to?resist the urge to rush to conclusions. In leadership, this means embracing ambiguity instead of grasping for premature answers.
Leaders are under constant pressure to?provide instant solutions, to have an opinion on everything, to never waver. But wisdom often comes not from speaking, but from?pausing. Before offering an answer, ask yourself:
True leadership isn’t about control—it’s about?clarity. And clarity requires space.
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3. Finding flow and presence
In Zen, presence is everything. Maybe?leaders do not need to rush to?react but to cultivate stillness and awareness? Here are?three simple?but profound practices to help you lead with more intention and quality:
From our own, little world
We have handed over our manuscript to our publisher - now we wait... A good time to practise patience and humility ??
Leadership team development?
Leading with presence together
There is no formula. For us, leadership is not about "8 easy steps to better leadership". It's not about all the books, courses, exercises and push ups you have to do to become the optimal version of yourself. Nor is it about all the things you shouldn't do. Mostly it's about?sharing the load with your leadership team colleagues.
Read more about our approach here: LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT