On the occasion of Women’s Day, Bhanumathi Narasimhan shares insights that can help cultivate good leadership qualities in women.
A leader has the qualities of inner confidence, strength, foresight, clarity and an unbiased approach to act in the larger common interest of all involved. Yet, there are times when one doesn’t have answers, has to take risks and is challenged by another. Meditation is a powerful tool to tap, polish and refine the intrinsic leadership potential in us. The following are a few key leadership skills that meditation effortlessly enables:
1. Taking the right decisions at the right time: When faced with challenging situations, the difficulty is in thinking ‘what will I do’ and comparing it with past experiences or others’ experiences. These are hindrances.
Meditation helps here. With breathing techniques and meditation, creativity blossoms and brings the ability to tackle people and situations as they come. We do not have to pre-empt anything. We will get the necessary answer spontaneously at the time when it is needed.
2. Learning mind management: Management is an essential aspect of every organization — be it health, financial, business or any other area. The mantra for smooth progress is mind management. This is extremely important for a cordial environment. Meditation teaches us how to keep our mind calm, relaxed and centered, which then reflects in our behavior with others, and this inspires people to work together with us.
3. Being assertive rather than aggressive: When we realize our strength, we also understand the difference between assertiveness and aggressiveness. We realize that being aggressive is not our nature. When we see some irregularities or need for improvement, we need to be able to express ourselves well.
The skill we get out of meditation is enhanced observation, clarity in perception and refined expression. Most of our problems are due to lack of proper communication. When we know ourselves and what we want, then we are able to put the two together and express ourselves better. When the mind is agitated, we cannot know what we want. Only when we understand the situation, can we bring it under control. That is why it is necessary for people faced with challenges at the workplace or at home to meditate.
4. Keep your self-esteem despite any gender discrimination: Meditation is respecting oneself — recognizing that we are the best. So there is no need to crave for somebody else to respect us. When we think that somebody is not respecting us, we feel depressed, we feel dependent on others, we try to convince or impress them. In this state, we definitely make mistakes; and there is a stress factor involved.
Meditation is honoring oneself. The stress is eliminated. When we are in harmony with ourselves, people automatically start respecting us.
In fact, it is not only women who are facing discrimination. Even among men, there is competition. Women have the quality to nurture, to harmonize and to bring people together. This comes naturally to us. When we do something that is not natural for us, then we do not succeed. These are the small little details that we have to attend to.
5. Conflict resolution: Conflicts are natural to every organization and we have a great responsibility to resolve them. How do we negotiate win-win terms in such situations? How do we make people listen to us when they are set in their own ideas of right and wrong? This requires a combination of skill and presence. Both these qualities develop naturally with meditation. When you meditate, you also develop the patience to listen to all parties with an open mind and make unbiased decisions.
6. Creating a harmonious, progressive society: As women, we are born compassionate and we should use this innate quality to create a harmonious and progressive society where people are happy, prosperous and contented. Meditation helps us develop this intent and work towards it.
As Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says, “The role of women today is of utmost importance. In fact, it is the only thing that determines whether a society is strong and harmonious, or otherwise. Women are the backbone of society.” (The writer is the chairperson of the Women’s Conference, and director of Women and Child Welfare programs of The Art of Living).
Source: Speaking Tree