How "contemplative leadership" can help us face uncertainty with confidence

"There's a lot of pragmatic wisdom in The Prince, all focused on achieving significant leadership goals. However, as the critics of its time so succinctly put it, one key message of the book is that, when it comes to leadership, "the ends justify the means." Although it is now often regarded as an outdated manual for acquiring and maintaining power, some of the utilitarian conclusions that Machiavelli draws are very similar to how outcome-oriented leaders rationalize their achievements today."

"We can easily forget that the way we participate in everything we do communicates the kind of leader we are. This greatly impacts the way we show up in every interaction, impacting the quality of our presence in each meeting and our ability to authentically connect with, and influence, the wider organizational context. When our focus is on achieving big results, we can become too task-focused to consider the means we are using to get things done."

"Reframing the concept of leadership as our ability to influence others is a helpful first step in actively taking responsibility for what we do and how we do it. When our external world is ever-changing, we need to go inside to our internal world and connect with what is most valuable, meaningful, and true of ourselves. It's only as we do this that we build a solid foundation on which to base the wh"

Leadership often emphasizes outcomes at the expense of ethical means, echoing Machiavellian utilitarianism where the ends justify the means. The way leaders participate and behave communicates their leadership identity and affects presence, connection, and influence across organizational interactions. Excessive task-focus can blind leaders to the processes and means used to achieve results. A contemplative leadership approach cultivates simultaneous attention to both means and ends, grounding influence in internal values. Reframing leadership as the ability to influence others encourages responsibility for actions and behavior. Connecting inward to what is valuable, meaningful, and true builds a foundation for authentic, sustainable leadership.

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