Leadership is more than just leading teams and influencing stakeholders with a command-and-control mind-set. Leaders with such a concept haven’t been successful with a long-term approach. They miss out on a vital element – Consciousness and lose the sole purpose of leadership. This is what Sandiip Panndit, a celebrated corporate trainer and mentor felt during the pandemic when corporate, big organizations and individuals were scrambling for proper guidance in the time of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA). He realised the need of a conscious leadership approach which should be heart-centered, purpose-driven, values-focused, inclusive, and allied. Therefore, he started writing his first book— Igniting Conscious Leadership which unveils all it takes for individuals and organizations to become or create conscious leaders. We present before you a candid chat with Sandiip Panndit around his first book.
1. Tell me about your book, Igniting Conscious Leadership. What made you choose this topic for your first book?
I thought of writing a book on this title during the pandemic lockdown. I could sense how organizations and individuals were scrambling for directions when the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world was at its peak. I wanted to craft a framework that would work seamlessly and be more preventive than curative for individuals and corporations. This book's foundation stone is self-awareness and has a 5-step Conscious Leadership Framework that individuals and organizations can personalize and implement if appropriately followed. This book ends with a focus on having a purposeful life by aligning our work and life with a purpose that is congruent to our inner core.
Being the Founder & Life Alchemist of Soul In Harmony, our mission is to ensure a successful and balanced personal and professional life leading to a more joyful world.
I chose this topic for my first book because I believe that conscious leadership is essential for creating a better and happier world that would be sustainable. It is based on the premise that we need to become aware and master ourselves first and only then think of leading others. With my experience with mid and top corporate leaders, we can become more effective leaders and create positive change in our organizations and communities by developing a deeper understanding of ourselves and our impact on others.
My book ‘Igniting Conscious Leadership’ unveils all it takes for individuals and organizations to become or create conscious leaders.
2. How can one make conscious leaders?
As the author of "Igniting Conscious Leadership," I believe that conscious leaders are not born but made through a deliberate process. Most of us get conditioned, and that layer hides our true identity. We need to peel off that covering to let our inner hero shine. Below are the five significant steps that can help make conscious leaders that traverse through 3 areas - Re-Look, Re-Sculpt, and Re-Born.
Encourage Self-awareness: According to a Zen saying, "We cannot see our reflection in running water. It is only in still water that we can see." Conscious leaders are aware of their thoughts, emotions, and actions and how they fit in the environment. Encouraging self-awareness is the first step towards building conscious leadership.
Foster Self-reflection: Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living." Self-reflection becomes powerful when we can use it in real-time to make better decisions. The camera and lens are essential to click a good photograph. But a professional photographer will tell you to use a tripod to enhance the picture quality further. This proverbial tripod is the self-reflection quality that helps to get an accurate picture of ourselves and the environment.
Practice Acceptance & Forgiveness: To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. Forgiveness and acceptance do not change the past but enlarge our future for better.
Revamp Self-Image: We are confined by the walls we build for ourselves. We need to internalize - 'No one is like me, and that is my superpower.' We need to spot, uproot and replace our negative programming with positive ones by changing how we view ourselves.
Forge Unified and Purposeful Growth - This is the stage where the conscious individual becomes a conscious leader by applying his clarity to his team, organization, and community. The leader aligns his purpose with the organizations to create a sense of purpose and impact in his chosen mission.
By following these steps, we at Soul in Harmony work with various organizations to create a culture of conscious leadership that promotes ethical behavior, collaboration, and innovation through the trademarked Soul in Harmony Conscious Leadership™ approach.
3. What makes such leaders different and effective?
Leaders become effective when they become conscious. Conscious leaders are different and effective because they possess several unique characteristics that set them apart from traditional leaders. Here are some key attributes that make conscious leaders different and impactful.
Self-awareness: Conscious leaders are deeply self-aware, which means they are in touch with their emotions, values, and beliefs. They understand how their actions impact others.
Empathy: Conscious leaders have a high degree of empathy and can put themselves in other people's shoes. They actively listen to others to get a fresh perspective.
Collaboration: Conscious leaders prioritize collaboration over competition. They understand that working together is essential to achieving success, and they inspire their team members to work together towards common goals.
Purpose-and-impact-driven: Conscious leaders are driven by a strong sense of purpose. They have a clear vision for the future and are committed to positively impacting the world.
Ethical: Conscious leaders operate with a solid moral compass. They prioritize honesty, transparency, and integrity in all their dealings.
Lifelong learning: Conscious leaders are committed to ongoing learning for self-development. They are constantly seeking out new information and insights, and they continuously inspire their team members to do the same.
Practices: Conscious leaders have routines and rituals that care for their mindset, bodyset, heart set, and soulset. With meditation and mindfulness, they strive to respond to and don't react to situations. This way, they make informed decisions and own their mistakes.
Our approach in the book has been reviewed and accoladed by the Chief Human Resource Officers, Senior Columnist, MDs & Chairman of large IT Services & Training organizations, etc.
Overall, conscious leaders are impactful because they prioritize people, purpose, and the planet, over profits for a sustainable future and a happier world. As a result, they create a culture of trust, collaboration, and mutual respect, which leads to increased engagement and better business outcomes by default.
4. Do you think the culture of creativity and leadership is missing in the current scenario? What can be done to improve it?
Due to the rat race of getting ahead, workers and C-Suites do not pause and ponder before they act. The bigger picture gets obfuscated during this process. The creative ideas are profound inside, but due to a lack of self-awareness, the leaders and their team members become myopic and focus on only transactional tasks. There is a constant struggle for daily tasks and survival; creativity takes the back seat.
Creativity will start appearing in the business equation once the idea of the Triple Bottomline (Profits, People, and Planet) spreads to all levels. Profits are essential for businesses, but people and the planet are also critical in the long run for sustainability.
We must create an authentic mission statement rooted in creativity and not just aim for an aesthetic wall hanging.
Then, we need to have purpose clarity at an organizational level and map it to the individual's purpose and talents.
Once these two steps are done, initiate and continue conversations with the team members - 1) what are you good at doing? 2) what do you enjoy doing? 3) what feels most useful? 4)what creates a sense of purpose and impact? 5) What gives you forward momentum in life?
These conversations will give us many cues to bring creativity back into our work. For all this, the trait I always talk about is - Self-awareness! We must include self-awareness and Conscious Leadership sessions in small and large organizations. Because only then do we get to a stage of self-reflection for creativity to take birth.
5. Are you planning to pen down another book? What will this be about?
We received a resounding success on our book’s first print. We had to go for the first book reprint within two months of its launch. The book gained much appreciation at Goa Book Fair and The World Book Fair, Delhi, within a month of its release. I could gauge the readers’ interest in Conscious Leadership. Therefore, I have decided to write another book soon, which will be something about how leaders can leverage their uniqueness and purpose. I have always believed that all individuals are unique, and that uniqueness is our superpower. If we can unfold that uniqueness, we immediately take the leadership path. The book will be about leading with a higher purpose, with elements of people, the planet, and profit all in the equation.
