Understanding the Importance of Inner Peace

It’s difficult for me to imagine an effective team leader who is basically unhappy with himself or herself. Let’s face it masking unhappiness can only carry a person so far. And, how many people really want to go the extra mile with a leader who consistently displays doubt and inner personal turmoil?

I want to be clear; I’m not talking about those days when you feel like a Peterbilt ran over you. Those happen, no question. I’m talking about your and my general outlook and perspective about ourselves and the inner peace or lack thereof we have. Basically, if we’re not happy with ourselves, how do we expect the team to grow and develop?

Developing inner peace and coming to terms with yourself starts with being comfortable with who you are. This starts with the basic understanding that God created you uniquely and differently than anyone else. He instilled in all of us a temperament as well as talents (or strengths) that when tapped give us tremendous energy and personal satisfaction. Effective team leaders I know understand both their temperament and their talents and they are fully aware of not only what drives them to personal effectiveness, but they also have an inner peace and confidence that comes from it.

Leaders who have strong inner peace manage their teams using this knowledge and not only bring the best out of their team members and themselves.

Secondly, the effective team leaders retain their inner happiness because they don’t allow external circumstances to impact their inner peace. They remain on mission to do what they feel they have been called to do. They certainly don’t ignore what’s happening around them – they simply don’t let the external (or things they don’t control) overtake them.

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, refers to the Stockdale Paradox (named for Admiral Jim Stockdale who was a POW during Viet Nam).  In Collins’ view "the companies who went from good to great exhibited this paradox. On the one hand, they stoically accepted the brutal facts of reality. On the other hand, they maintained an unwavering faith in the endgame, and a commitment to prevail as a great company despite the brutal facts."

In order to do this, the team leaders needed not only resolve and character; they needed to draw upon an inner peace and confidence.

Comments

[Paul Arnold]

Your post reminds me of the "Horatio Hornblower" novels. Despite being fiction, each novel is full of action and focuses on what it takes to be a leader. He recognizes that courage and calm confidence in his identity directly impacts the future of the crew and ship to accomplish its mission.

[Wayne Hastings]

Paul, thanks for the great comment, you're exactly right.