Leadership, Emotional Health and Decision Making

Recently I heard a podcast which highlighted Dr. Caroline Leaf, cognitive neuroscientist, and leadership guru, Dr. John Maxwell.  The topic was leadership and emotional health and I thought it provided some helpful information for educational leaders, especially related to the challenges which have been faced over the past year.

Today I would like to discuss some of the insights I gleaned from the podcast and talk about how these ideas specifically impact educational leaders and the work that they do.

The first insight is that the mind is different than the brain.  Our minds are malleable; they are trainable, and the mind can change the way the brain functions.  The mind is always working, and this is important when you put it in context.  We can go for three weeks without food, three days without water, three minutes without oxygen, but we cannot go 30 seconds without a thought.

The reason this is important is that if we can control our minds, we can have an impact on our emotional and mental health.  Dr. Leaf indicates that only 3% of leaders are discussing this issue and with the challenges faced by educational administrators today we must seek to better understand how the mind works and effects our performance as district leaders.

The second insight was that the way leaders view issues such as anxiety or periods of depression is important.  We need to realize that these are normal reactions to life’s challenges and circumstances, not a finite, unfixable illness, or condition.  Leaders should be open about what they are feeling, which encourages others to do the same.  Doing so reduces stress because the issue is verbalized rather than being suppressed.  Any time we suppress the way we feel it adds additional stress which makes the problem worse.

The third insight was that our minds follow a cycle.  We think, feel, and then choose to react.  Of course, this happens almost instantaneously, but fortunately we are built to repeat the process of thinking and feeling every 10 seconds.  Dr. Leaf points out that if we can short-circuit the process once a thought comes, and use our wisdom rather than our emotions, we can become more effective leaders and decision makers.

John Maxwell adds that this happens by shifting to positive, thankful, or reflective thought rather than focusing on the negative (clearly this takes practice).  In other words, rather than embrace an emotional feeling which we may not completely understand, triggering the brain to react, take a step back and choose to control our mind.  Dr. Maxwell goes on to indicate that leadership starts on the inside.  What happens to us on the outside will have a less significant impact if we practice short-circuiting our minds on the inside.  We need to practice wisdom, not reaction.

The podcast provided much greater depth than I have been able to describe here and thus I am providing a link to it below.  I hope today’s post helps you to think through this issue a bit more and remember that we can short-circuit our thoughts. 

Also, know that what we think about grows.  If we focus on the negative and the issues which can arise in our leadership and decision making those thoughts grow.  Alternatively, if we focus on the positive and the fact that we will do our best when challenges arise those thoughts consume us.  Good, bad, or indifferent – the choice is ours.

If you are aware of techniques to help with this topic, have thoughts, or are aware of resources, please enter them in the comments section below.