Conscious leadership means you have a keen awareness about your strengths and development areas. You understand yourself and what drives you. You understand the people around you and the impact you have on them. It's about controlling your thoughts and observations so you are intentional about how you leverage and manage your emotions. Authentic emotions are a necessary asset in business. They give you your connection to your employees and customers. Any emotional charge can be contagious. You want to make sure you are sharing ease vs. dis-ease.

This means capitalizing on the positive emotions - you know the ones that move and inspire people because you are energized and excited about a new product or client relationship. And it's neutralizing the negative emotions so as to minimize any adverse impact. You know the ones where you react and get angry because one of your managers just told you the last order was misplaced and you have an irate customer.

It's about keeping perspective amidst the very real pressure cooker of deadlines, deliverables and dollars. We all have our hot buttons - those things that hook us into forgetting that we are conscious, compassionate, competent and work well with people.A number of years ago, one of my employees routinely did not proof and spell check reports that went to the President of the company. This is a seemingly simple thing - and it really irked me. I had to remind myself that few people make mistakes intentionally. I had to step back and manage my response in a way that allowed the individual to save face yet get clear feedback and direction for what needed to change. And I wrestled with how many chances  do I give someone who is earnestly trying but not getting it before I reassign or fire them?

It is as simple as understanding and managing yourself so you bring out your best self which invites others to apply their best selves to the task at hand.

So why can it be so hard? What presses your buttons? How do you keep yourself in check? It absolutely requires that you are able to seek and listen to feedback and information that you may not want to hear. THIS is what you get paid for. :)