Leadership is not determined by degree, title, experience, pay, or privilege. Leadership is action; it is “the process of influencing people by providing them with purpose, vision, and direction to accomplish the greater good of the team or organization” (Pettigrew, 2024). Leadership is a calling, a vocation, and a skill that requires constant practice to hone and refine. I have worked professionally for a quarter of a century, and in this time I have developed a personal leadership philosophy inspired by the Buddhist canon of the Dhammapada that contains the principles and values that serve as my guide:

Walking the Middle Way on the Eightfold Path with awareness, humility, and compassion yields connection, success, and good karma for all.

The Middle Way is the course that runs through the center; it is balanced between the extremes of excess and scarcity. The Buddha wisely counsels, “Don’t let yourself be slack, but don’t stretch yourself to breaking either” (Easwaran, 2007). For leaders, this means finding the middle ground between disconnection and micromanagement; apathy and burnout. This is for the well-being of employees too, as studies prove that “poor leadership… is associated with near-future risk of developing cardiovascular disease” (Theorell, et al., 2012) and other ailments of the body and mind. Staying centered prioritizes well-being.

Karma is a word that is often used and easily misconstrued. It’s best defined as “the process of cause and effect… Past actions bring about current results… Current motivations and the actions that stem from them prime future results” (Shutt, 2023). For leaders and their teams, karma is an opportunity to sow the seeds of care, empathy, respect, investment, and support that will yield the fruits of connection, creativity, innovation, and success for employees and the business.

The Eightfold Path is the heart, soul, and foundation of my personal leadership philosophy and the core of the Buddha’s teachings. These steps are practices, just as leadership is a practice, and navigate the practitioner away from suffering and towards wisdom. I have adapted the original steps to make them more relevant for professional leadership while maintaining the essence of their message.

Intentional Mindfulness and Intentional View are steps in which leaders practice awareness and presence, and humbly acknowledge how unconscious biases and “single stories” (believing one knows everything about a person based on a single piece of information) influence their perceptions of team-members.

Intentional Motivation, Intentional Concentration, and Intentional Effort are steps in which leaders focus on what is most meaningful to the team and the business and commit to actualizing it through the dedication of skills and talents. These steps also inspire leaders to empower their team-members to embody their “meaningfulness, competence, self-determination, and impact, which can… stimulate their intrinsic motivation” (Huang, et al., 2018).

Intentional Speech and Intentional Conduct are steps in which leaders use inclusive, respectful, non-violent communication and walk their talk whether in a performance review or in the boardroom with executives. Words and actions should be consistent, clear, and kind.

Intentional Livelihood is where all of the practices in the Eightfold Path culminate. In this step, leaders hone in on the “gifts, passions, and service (GPS)” that matter to themselves and their team-members. To paraphrase Professor Pettigrew, investing in GPS is the practice of feeding and fueling one’s purpose, which then contributes to the greater good of the team and the business.

“To become an authentic leader… requires that individuals pursue a journey of self-discovery, self-improvement, reflection, and renewal” (Shirey, 2015). When I consider my personal philosophy and the Eightfold Path, I know that my core strengths lie in the ability to practice care and clarity in my communication and “compassion in the service of others” (Marturano, 2018). I articulate with thoughtfulness and efficacy, and I feel warmth in my heart when I connect with coworkers. The result is relationships strengthened by awareness, attentiveness, and earned trust.

A growth opportunity lies in the Intentional View step. I sometimes make my mind up about a person based on how I perceive their behavior and personality during our interactions. The problem with this is that it’s not considering the entirety of their humanity, and it’s irresponsible and unfair to condemn someone based on such a limited scope. As Professor Pettigrew put it, the “biggest barrier” here is my ego thinking that it’s omniscient enough to pass such sweeping judgment.

To develop my Intentional View, I commit to a deeper practice of the Intentional Mindfulness step. I will draw awareness to the thoughts and physical sensations I experience when a person triggers me. I will get curious without judgment and explore what exactly is being invoked by this person; what is it about their energy, tone, or behavior that is so offensive? They are possibly reflecting an aspect of my Shadow-Self that is unsettling (after all, relationships with others are mirrors to ourselves) and could benefit from my compassionate attention. I will also reaffirm the person’s whole humanity by practicing metta (“loving-kindness”) and sending intentional thoughts for their safety, good health, and overall well-being.

The practice of leadership creates connections and builds bridges fortified by dignity, empathy, equitable inclusion, and true belonging. Leaders are called to engage with an open mind and heart, and with “the courage to see our own biases, our own reactivity and our own vulnerability” (Marturano, 2018). Walking the Middle Way on the Eightfold Path with awareness, humility, and compassion yields connection, success, and good karma for all.

WORKS CITED

Easwaran, Eknath. (2007). The Dhammapada. Nilgiri Press.

Huang, Sihong, et al. (2018). Employee Work Performance Mediates Empowering Leader Behavior and Employee Voice. Social Behavior and Personality, vol. 46, no. 12, pp. 1997–2008.

Marturano, Janice. (2018). Using Mindful Leadership to Build Bridges: Identifying Your Biases, Minimizing Your Reactivity and Looking for Commonalities Enables You to Build Bridges in Even Contentious Situations. Law Practice, vol. 44, no. 6, American Bar Association, pp. 44-47.

Pettigrew, Tru. (2024). Leading Self and Diverse Teams. University of St. Thomas.

Shirey, Maria R. (2015). Enhance your self-awareness to be an authentic leader. American Nurse Today, 10(8): 7-7.

Shutt, Liên. (2023). Home is Here. North Atlantic Books.

Theorell, Töres, et al. (2012). Non-Listening and Self Centered Leadership – Relationships to Socioeconomic Conditions and Employee Mental Health. PLoS ONE, vol. 7, no. 9, pp. E44119–e44119.