Centeredness is essential to effective leadership. It provides the space in which we choose how to respond, rather than automatically reacting to a situation. In this space we find the time and awareness to bring our inspirational leadership skills to bear.

How do you get to a place of responding instead of reacting?

It is not easy, and a completely cognitive approach—which we’re often inclined to use in business—cannot work. Instead, you need to engage all parts of your brain to become centered. We call this The Science of Centeredness.

Given this challenge, we developed a simple, structured way of engaging all parts of the brain to help us be more present in everyday working situations and respond thoughtfully.

Follow these steps:

When we partner with a company to implement the Bain Inspirational Leadership System, we do so across the organization. We guide employees on how to build their leadership brand and create a personal development plan.

A leadership brand is:

• The set of inspiring characteristics that you project and live by
• The strengths others see in you, and what you see in yourself
• Your passion and what you’re excited to be known for, and to develop

Learn about the 33 inspiring elements in our leadership model and read more about the individual application and collective deployment of the system.

From a business perspective purpose is something actionable that we can apply to ourselves and our work. Purpose sharpens our thinking, guides actions and contributes to our sense of satisfaction. We focus on two aspects of purpose: clarifying purpose and living purpose.

Clarifying purpose is about articulating a compelling and authentic purpose statement. This process requires introspection and time outside the flow of everyday life. It happens infrequently, but should be reevaluated over time.

Living purpose happens every day as we identify and enact ways to reach full potential in all aspects of our lives. This requires mindfulness of purpose and considered application. It happens daily as we live in alignment with purpose. Ideally, it impacts our regular decision-making about individual and collective priorities and action.

Our work in purpose helps in three areas:

• Finding and Following Purpose - This accessible approach helps individuals reflect on their interests, the activities that they enjoy most, the traits that are essential to their character, and the underlying values they hold. Participants write their own individual purpose statements, covering both life and work.
• Defining and Synthesizing Organizational Purpose - This collaborative approach results in companies achieving high-level agreement on an organizational purpose statement among the executive team or leadership team for a relevant department/vertical.
• Connecting and Communicating Purpose - In this final step, executive teams identify and articulate powerful individual stories that link the purpose of each participant to the purpose of the organization.

Reaching high levels of achievement requires investment of time and energy. The better you can generate, sustain and manage your energy, the more you will be able to accomplish—and the more likely you are to maintain balance along the way.

There are three categories that collectively affect your personal capacity:

• Physiological - Maximizing your energy in the long run by recharging your mind and body, nourishing yourself and moving to create more energy.
• Psychological - Navigating your inner self by knowing what matters to you, understanding pressure and managing stretch, and building productive mindsets and strategies.
• Practical - Choosing what you do with your time and energy by creating boundaries, managing your time, and forming habits.

Developing an ability to self-monitor the state of your personal capacity and choosing a set of actions that you are committed to following in a sustained way will create a powerful engine for driving your leadership development across both inspirational and performance skill sets.