No man is an island, Entire of itself; Every man is a piece of the continent, A part of the main.
~John Donne | 1572-1631
It is not unusual for executive leaders to isolate themselves. At VIM Executive Coaching, we have seen many examples of leadership who refuse to take counsel and place themselves at the center of every decision. With apologies to U.S. President Harry Truman who famously told the world that the “buck stops here,” he was not without serious guidance from numerous sources before making decisions.
We intentionally put down the dates of birth and death for John Donne, the poet who wrote the above piece, to show that men and women have long-wrestled with this idea of isolation. What is new, as has been said, under the sun? At the conclusion of the poem, the poest concludes that every loss, every act of separation lessens us. Separation lessens everyone in the work place as well.
Many people, particularly in this age of isolation have viewed themselves as being apart from humanity and from the fabric of their organizations.
Isolated?
We are all too familiar with social media experts extolling the virtues of modern-day connectedness. Unfortunately, the psychological and sociological communities have a decidedly different take on the topic. Digitally, technologically, we may all be more connected, however from a personal and people point of view, we are distant and often strangers to one another.
It is a sad state of affairs, this isolation. All of the social media sites and office platforms and work group software platforms has made many of us strangers. After nearly three years of lockdown, semi-lockdown and who-knows-what, many workplace interactions are reduced to digital meeting boxes. There are all kinds of backgrounds and screens in use to personalize the boxes, but they are bounded boxes all the same.
Workplaces miss the social cues, the chance meetings, the impromptu visits and such. It has become increasingly more difficult for executives to get the feel of office situations and the pulse of human dynamics.
It is no wonder then, that decisions are all too frequently made on the basis of digitized information; the facts and nothing else! The decisions lose their dimension, depth and color. This often results in bias or skewed management.
It is easy for executive leaders to become as isolated everyone else in the organization and that’s a major problem. Instead of presence and authenticity there is the isolationist’s mentality. It didn’t work in John Donne’s time, or Harry Truman’s or in 2023.
The opposite of isolation
The opposite of isolation is “being present” in the moment and within organizations. The way executive leaders must interact, the path that good leadership needs to take, is to become more mindful, not less; much more engaged and not separate.
How many times have we heard in VIM Executive Coaching sessions, “my people kept the bad news from me,” or “I made a bad decision because no one would tell me the true picture?”
Unless the true pictures are authentically true, unless executive leaders mindfully engage, they do function in isolation. While we can’t insist that in the least, hybrid solutions are best, it is all-too-easy to find examples that isolation has led to many a flawed conclusion based on inadequate information.
Mindfulness is key to understanding the true nature of things. Mindfulness prevents separation and isolation. Mindfulness leads to good decision-making. It is, to our thinking, a clear-cut choice.