Joe Britto - Six Attributes of a Leadership Mindset: Flexibility of mind, mindfulness, resilience, genuine curiosity, creating leaders, enterprise thinking

History has given us many leaders who have no power, no team, no title, no money nothing. Yet they motivate thousands to follow them, and to change laws, beliefs, countries, and governments. The list is long: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela, and Mother Teresa, among many others. What do these leaders possess that drives them to such greatness, and how do we all get some of it?

In this book Joe Britto helps us to understand that leadership is a mindset. Its not a title, a role, a rite of passage, or something thats bestowed or inherited. Leadership is a way of behaving and a way of thinking. Its a way of being in the world. Once we understand this, we can lead from anywhere in any situation. Benjamin Zander, in The Art of Possibility, teaches us that an orchestra needs a leader in every chair, because a lack of ownership for ones own notes, and not holding other musicians to account, could lead to the entire piece being played off key.

Joe helps us to practise and build a mindset that enables us to lead better. But reader be warned: just reading this book will not turn us into awesome leaders. This takes work, practice, effort, and consistent application. And like anything worth having, it will take time and we will fail along the way. An old boss of mine used to say, Failure is glorious because it means you were reaching further than you ever have before. And it comes with a beautiful jewel a new pearl of wisdom. So, as youll hear Joe say soon, treat this book as a manual: dip in, try it out, and explore what the six attributes mean for you both in your professional and personal life.

Before you continue with the book and follow Joes explanation of the six attributes, a word on what those attributes have come to mean to me.

Mindfulness is a particular passion of mine. As Joe suggests, mindfulness is effective in slowing down the world and its true. I began to study transcendental meditation in 2008 and it was transformational for me; I had more time in my life than I had dreamed was possible. I know its not easy to find the time to devote to gaining mindfulness, but Ive found that if we do, we feel more in control, calmer, and less anxious about everything.

I love the fact that Joe emphasizes the genuine in genuine curiosity, the kind of curiosity we had as kids: not seeking information to necessarily gain something, just being genuinely curious. As parents, how many of us have been driven to the edge by our childrens charming yet insatiable curiosity? Why is the sky blue? Why is the sea green here and blue there? Why, why, why ? Somewhere in the process of growing up we can lose the innate desire to seek to understand for no other reason than because its fascinating.

Thinking differently, flexibly, isnt easy but it is a choice. This is where flexibility of mind comes in. So if mindfulness helps us to wake up and become conscious, and genuine curiosity leads to interesting answers, its flexibility of mind that helps us to creatively combine ideas into a bigger one.

I read the chapter on resilience first because Ive always been worried that I wont have what it takes when my mettle is truly tested. I once went on a week-long fitness bootcamp, and on the third day we were running around a field pretending that we were in a war zone: saving imagined victims and hauling them to safety. My victim was a baby, and on the third round of the course I couldnt breathe any longer. But I kept going. When we focus on what we truly believe is important, we often find we are capable of much, much more than we might at first think.

The chapter on creating leaders reminded me of the advertising tycoon David Ogilvy, who used to send every new office manager a Russian doll with a note inside that read, If each of us hires people who are smaller than we are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we shall become a company of giants. As Joe says, great leaders know that those they lead will come up with bigger and better ideas than they ever could. And they understand that thats a good thing.

My favourite chapter is the one on enterprise thinking. Thinking for the whole company and setting personal interests aside is not easy. Perhaps because enterprise thinking can seem counterintuitive it is one of the toughest of all the attributes. The challenge is to understand and not just know the old adage a rising tide raises all boats