Zen Leader Blog

Video: Why Spend the Energy to Become a Zen Leader?

Posted by Anthony Attan

Apr 4, 2012 3:31:00 PM

In this video, Ginny Whitelaw, author of The Zen Leader, discusses the importance of spending the effort and energy to lead like a Zen Leader. 

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Topics: zen leader, stress, the zen leader chapter 1, zen, the zen leader, leadership coaching, leadership, leadership development, managing energy, zen leadership

Video: Why write The Zen Leader?

Posted by Anthony Attan

Mar 27, 2012 6:34:00 PM

Ginny Whitelaw, author of The Zen Leader, discusses what lead her to write this book.

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Topics: zen leader, the zen leader book, zen, the zen leader, leadership, leadership development, zen leadership

Advice to Romney: Get Out of Your Own Way, Realize the Zen Leader in You

Posted by Ginny Whitelaw

Mar 10, 2012 4:21:00 PM

mitt romneyIt’s almost painful to watch: Mitt Romney crossing the stage. His gait totters to hold a torso too stiff. His upright carriage looks nearly crackable as the questions come zinging in and he repeats what he thinks is the right answer – for this audience. I like Mitt Romney; his father was the governor of Michigan while I was growing up, so I think of him as a neighbor. I also share many of his personality traits. If you know anything about the 4 energy patterns of personality, you’ll know what I mean when I say we’re both Organizers: it’s important to us to do the right thing and do things right. But, for a good example of what getting in one’s own way looks like, look to Mitt Romney.

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Topics: zen leader, Maslow's hierarchy, Mitt Romney, zen, zen leadership

Zen Leadership = Really Whole Leadership, but What's the ROI?

Posted by Ginny Whitelaw

Jan 23, 2012 11:01:00 AM

Last week I was at an intensive Zen training and did the opposite of what I normally do.  Normally I bring Zen meditation and physical elements into leadership programs to accelerate “walking the talk” of learning. Last week I was asked to bring leadership skills to Zen trainees. What a wonderful experience! It showed me again why Zen and leadership belong together: not only does Zen take leadership to a new level, but leadership brings Zen into the world where it can do some good. It also showed me how the skill side of whole leadership – e.g., being strategic yet operational, results focused yet engaging people – paradoxical as it is, is still the easy part. The hard part is getting out of our own way, and that’s where Zen comes in.

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Topics: zen, leadership, leadership development, whole leadership development, whole leadership, zen leadership

Change Management Starts from Within

Posted by Diane Chencharick

Jan 17, 2012 8:19:00 AM

A Zen Master goes up to a hot dog vendor and says, “Make me one with everything." The hot dog vendor fixes a hot dog and hands it to the Zen Master, who pays with a $20 bill. The vendor puts the bill in the cash box and closes it. “Where’s my change?” asks the Zen Master. The vendor responds, “Change must come from within.”

I know... it's an old joke. But there's truth in that punch line. The world that we create is rooted in our very nature. It plays out in how we lead and manage. For example, the leader

• who thinks large and creates a grand, overleveraged life;
• who thinks small and creates a tiny, safe life;
• who seeks outer greatness in answer to inner doubt;
• who is outwardly impatient, because it’s hard to control inner impulses;
• who’s relentlessly drawn to what’s new to stave off inner boredom.

The idea that we are in a world of our making does not mean we can consciously control everything. It's true, our choices are shaped by the past. When we can recognize that reality contains much more possibility than what's on our limited self-made palettes, we can make the flip from, what The Zen Leader calls, being "out there" to "in here."

It begins by seeing into the mirror. How am I playing into this? If I chose this, what might I get out of it? This first step lets us see how our own forces are in play.

Find the root. Like pulling a weed, if we don't find the root, our efforts are superficial. Roots are underlying fears that have molded our behavior.

Claim your power. Accept whatever your fears may be telling you, not as a judgment, but as a discovery about yourself. When fear loses its hiding place, our world becomes a vastly bigger, freer place.

The Zen Leader leads fearlessly by changing the world from "in here." How might your options increase if you had an unrestrained perspective when implementing change in your organization?
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Topics: zen leader, managing change, zen, leadership, change management

Zen Leadership and a Happy New Year

Posted by Ginny Whitelaw

Jan 5, 2012 11:32:00 AM

The benefits of Zen leadership to the world and to yourself are abundant, but let’s start with one: an unconditionally happy New Year. To be masters of our happiness is an inside out choice – a flip from reacting to life to being a part of it and wholly owning our play. And when we make that flip, to quote the Zen koan, “Every day is a good day.”

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Topics: zen leader, zen, meditation, happiness, managing energy

Zen Leadership and a Happy New Year

Posted by Ginny Whitelaw

Jan 5, 2012 10:46:00 AM

The benefits of Zen leadership to the world and to yourself are abundant, but let’s start with one: an unconditionally happy New Year. To be masters of our happiness is an inside out choice – a flip from reacting to life to being a part of it and wholly owning our play. And when we make that flip, to quote the Zen koan, “Every day is a good day.”

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Topics: zen leader, zen, meditation, happiness, managing energy

Zen Leadership and a Happy New Year

Posted by Ginny Whitelaw

Jan 5, 2012 10:29:00 AM

The benefits of Zen leadership to the world and to yourself are abundant, but let’s start with one: an unconditionally happy New Year. To be masters of our happiness is an inside out choice – a flip from reacting to life to being a part of it and wholly owning our play. And when we make that flip, to quote the Zen koan, “Every day is a good day.”

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Topics: zen leader, zen, meditation, happiness, managing energy

Welcome to the Zen Leader Blog

Posted by Ginny Whitelaw

Jan 5, 2012 9:06:00 AM

Why Zen leadership and why this blog? Zen and leadership belong together. Zen brings leadership to its enlightened best, without the fears and smallness of ego getting in the way. Conversely, leadership brings Zen into the world where it can do the most good.  Zen Leadership is not some model “out there” for you to emulate.  Rather it is your own boundless, creative nature expressed in a way that adds value and inspires others to a better place. The Zen leader in you emerges through what I call “flips” in consciousness that transform your sense of self from separate to connected and, ultimately, one-with-everything.  Along the way, these flips radically reframe leadership, for example from coping to transforming, from driving results to attracting the future, from the confusion of delusion to whole and awakened leadership.

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Topics: zen leader, zen, meditation, leadership development, zen leadership

Welcome to the Zen Leader Blog

A blog that transforms:

This blog is dedicated to the concepts described in the book The Zen Leader by Ginny Whitelaw.  In this blog we discuss how these concepts are applied to a variety of current situations and applications, helping us all unleash the Zen Leader within us!

Also visit the FEBI Learning Lounge: The official FEBI blog

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