Stop Reacting, Start Leading
Gain five urgent leadership insights (and a solution on 4/23) to become the grounded, RESPONSE-ful leader the world needs you to be.
Despite the growing clouds of authoritarianism looming over our future, spring has arrived. Widely considered a season of growth, it offers new beginnings.
Spring ushers in a resurgence of life in the natural world, with plants waking up from winter’s slumber, actively growing and expanding into new shapes.
The concept of “springing” is a metaphor often applied to different aspects of our lives, from personal development and professional growth to spiritual awakenings.
During this time of renewal and new beginnings, I’m curious…
What old leadership shapes have you outgrown? What new shapes do you want to become?
In the spirit of springing, I wanted to share five urgent leadership insights (and a solution on 4/23) that may inspire a leadership “springing” of your own.
#1 Compassion is Key
It’s no secret the U.S. workforce is experiencing collective trauma. What may be a secret to some leaders is how to upend this challenge. What’s the secret?
Compassion. A longitudinal study over the past twenty years reveals compassionate leaders are capable of:
Strengthening team safety and trust, the foundations for feeling a sense of belonging.
Reducing burnout and fatigue, improving the well-being and health of the workforce.
Improving employee attraction and retention contributing to their competitive advantage as an employer of choice.
Compassionate leaders practice collective care and take action to lighten the suffering of those they lead. This practice creates a sense of togetherness during a crisis.
#2 Recognize Reactive Patterns
How a leader manages a crisis is especially influenced by their tendencies to perceive their stakeholder’s emotions and make a choice to react or respond.
When you encounter an unexpected challenge that alters the course of your day, you’ve been “grabbed.” In a grab, you face a choice. You could react or respond.
In an unconscious state, you may find yourself taking on one of these three familiar reactive shapes:
Toward. For some, when another person challenges you, you may move toward them to befriend them to protect your sense of safety.
Away. Perhaps you are the type of person who moves away when challenged to protect your sense of belonging. You exclude first to avoid being excluded.
Fight. For others, you may take on the shape of a fighter. You are ready to debate to protect your dignity. Being right is the most important objective.
There are good reasons these shapes are familiar. They have ensured your survival. In hindsight, however, they likely were not the most skillful ways to manage a crisis.
Left unchecked, these reactive shapes compromise one's ability to manage a crisis skillfully. As a result, team safety and trust are almost certainly undermined.
#3 Pause, Orient, Discern
Imagine a belonging workspace. In this environment, picture how leaders manage workforce trauma and uncertainty. What actions do they take to build safety & trust?
In my imagination, leaders have the capability to pause, orient, and discern responses instead of reacting to help their colleagues re-establish team safety & trust.
The next time you are “grabbed” by unpleasant news, find a quiet place and try this 60-second sensing practice that will help you pause and reorient before responding:
Find an object to hold. It could be a photo, a piece of art, a crystal, or something else that inspires you.
Use a timer on your phone or computer and set it to 60 seconds.
Then, use your five senses to look, feel, listen, smell, and taste (optional) what you are bearing witness to.
After the minute is up, notice how you now feel.
If longer centering practices don’t work for you, this is an excellent practice to help strengthen the prefrontal cortex of your brain, where you make decisions.
If you wake up each morning before you get out of bed for 60 days, the practice will help override your amygdala or the part of the brain where we unconsciously react.
Here’s a short video that can support this practice. It offers a simple explanation as to how this practice will lead to more skillful responses when life “grabs” you:
[Image Description: An image of Rhodes Perry (he/him) sharing tips on how to be more RESPONSE-ful when life “grabs” you off center. Join our April 23rd Workshop, Become the Embodied Leader You Need, to learn more somatic leadership practices to respond (rather than react) in times of crisis and uncertainty.]
#4 Design Your Future
On April 23, you will have the opportunity to answer this BIG question:
Who do I need to be to become the grounded leader the world needs?
The workshop is for movement leaders, visionaries, and concerned individuals who know that the old leadership shapes no longer work to build the world we deserve.
This isn’t a learning workshop. Rather, it’s a transformative practice space that will allow you to design the future you long for by starting with yourself.
By the end of our time together, you will:
Gain practical somatic tools to regulate your nervous system and respond to urgent demands with intention, not reaction.
Develop a deeper sense of connection and shared understanding through peer-to-peer dialogue, reducing feelings of isolation.
Learn strategies for bridging differences and fostering inclusive collaboration within your movement.
Clarify your personal leadership narrative and gain insights into how to lead with greater authenticity and confidence.
Imagine leaving this session with a renewed sense of confidence, clarity, and connection. What would be different? What would people say about you?
This session is your invitation to become the leader the world needs, right now.
#5 The Power of Practice
I often say that belonging is a practice, not a destination. Belonging is not static. Rather it’s dynamic, and sustaining it requires an ongoing commitment.
Reading books like Imagine Belonging or Belonging at Work offer the essential knowledge and skills to create the conditions for belonging.
Yet, this work is meant to be done together, as a community of practitioners. If you crave this kind of community, you can practice with us!
Here are a few key ways you can learn, share, and receive mentorship on building belonging spaces:
The Belonging Practice. Practice embodied leadership exercises like the 60-second challenge to gain the skills to build safety & trust. This guide can help, too.
Join the Belonging Community. Our Belonging Membership Community is one of the best ways to connect to exclusive, belonging content and like-minded folks.
Your Belonging Coach. If you’d like 1:1 support, I’m offering a special 10-session somatics coaching practice package this spring. Learn more here.
I hope to see you at our April 23rd somatics & strategy workshop. More details about what we’ll cover are featured here.
Thank you for growing our Belonging Movement!