Just what is an executive leader? VIM Executive Coaching has often seen the term thrown about with wild abandon. No surprise, there seem to be as many definitions of executive leaders as there are management courses.
Clearly, the following characteristics and/or terms are often associated with executive leadership: a clear vision, be a servant, ability to talk and listen, a high ethical sense, being a team player, empowering others, adapting to change, managing key individuals, problem solving, looking toward the future, honesty, integrity…well, you get the picture.
Frankly, if we speak to 100 experts, we are liable to arrive at 100 definitions of executive leadership.
What We Know
The characteristics and terms up above, gleaned from many executive leadership sources, are all positive and important attributes. We can find no fault with any of them. Indeed, they reflect all of the currently popular buzzwords. From the list, we can ferret “resilience,” “mindset,” “servant leadership,” and “ethical behavior.” Motivational speakers and podcasts repeat those thoughts hundreds of times a day, along with “listening skills,” “negotiating the workplace,” and, of course, the tried-and-true requirement of “being a team player.”
But we must interject an inconvenient truth: they are (all of them) not enough – on one hand, and way too much – on the other.
A great executive leader is much like an Olympic athlete or a professional competitor on any level. Over the years of practice and discipline and “muscle memory,” in the most important moments, the athlete “simply is,” and “is” in the moment. It is a state of being fully immersed, not even thinking but acting, being totally “there,” and responsive to anything that may come their way.
What we know at VIM Executive Coaching is that the best executive leaders, the tip-top, most aware leaders, are not necessarily the wealthiest, the most industry-acknowledged successful, those with the prestigious MBAs or those getting a lot of air-time on the financial networks. They are those who are mindful. Being fully mindful is the equivalent of having perfect muscle memory and making decisions in the moment.
Who Are You?
VIM Executive Coaching works with executives at all stages of their leadership development. We coach those barely starting in organizations to women and men who have been in management positions for decades.
After all of our work with so many incredible executives across North America and throughout the world, do we have any thoughts on who make the best executive leaders? Yes, we do, but you might be surprised by our observations.
The best leaders are those most willing to be the most mindful; to know themselves, complete with faults and flaws; those who are responsive and avoid reactions; those willing to take the most inward journeys rather than bias, judgment or pontification.
We live in a time when mindfulness is a skill that often seems to run counter to the knee-jerk opinions we so often experience on social media, cable news, on teleconferencing calls and at far too many of our industry meetings and virtual or in-person get togethers. Yet, the very skill of mindfulness is exactly what our society (work and personal) sorely needs.
What is an executive leader? He or she may not be singled out at first, for leadership is hardly the same as having the loudest voice or the meanest opinion. Leadership, as mindfulness, is not found by searching for a name tag or social media platform. Leadership comes from a quiet and responsive place where, like the conditioned athlete, you just know you’re ready to take on the biggest challenge.