How to Practice Enlightened Leadership & Management

What do enlightened leaders do? How does enlightened leadership create an ethical company?

According to Conscious Capitalism by John Mackey and Rajendra Sisodia, enlightened leaders and managers are the most important elements of an ethical company. They have the decision-making power to ensure that all interested parties win.

Take a look at the responsibilities of enlightened leaders and managers.

Practice Enlightened Leadership and Management

The authors explain that leaders and managers occupy different roles: Leaders supply the ideas that propel a company forward, while managers put those ideas into practice. We’ll explore each position of enlightened leadership in detail; then, we’ll discuss best practices that help enlightened leaders and managers ensure that everyone involved with the company wins.

(Shortform note: According to other experts, there are a few other differences that set leaders and managers apart. For example, leaders are concerned with the long-term goals of a company, while managers focus on reaching short-term goals. And while leaders embrace innovation, change, and even risks, managers are supposed to achieve stated goals using methods that have already been proven to work.)

What Enlightened Leaders Do

According to the authors, enlightened leaders differ from traditional leaders because they’re motivated by the company’s ability to make a difference in the world, while traditional leaders are motivated by the prospect of power or profits.

(Shortform note: Enlightened leaders are similar to servant leaders—a kind of leader outlined by Robert Greenleaf in Servant Leadership. Servant leaders aim to make a positive difference in the world by meeting others’ needs, prioritizing them over their own desires for money, power, or glory. Greenleaf adds that servant leaders have five other characteristics: They take responsibility for themselves, listen to their intuition, persevere, communicate effectively, and nurture their followers.)

Leaders can become enlightened leaders by practicing the following techniques:

Develop your emotional and spiritual intelligence. The authors argue that while traditional intelligence—your ability to use logic and solve problems—is valuable, it’s not enough. You also need emotional intelligence (a combination of introspection and the ability to connect with others) and spiritual intelligence (an ethical code) to lead effectively. To develop your emotional intelligence, they recommend making a conscious effort to love all of life and engaging in self-reflection practices like journaling. To develop your spiritual intelligence, they recommend contemplation and studying philosophical and religious traditions.

(Shortform note: Other experts clarify that emotional intelligence is important for leaders because it enables them to create a nurturing environment for employees to thrive in—a necessity for productive organizations. Experts are divided as to whether spiritual intelligence is a valid concept, but it may help leaders by enabling them to live more meaningful lives. However, others warn that leaders who exercise spiritual intelligence at work should demonstrate sensitivity and respect for differences in spiritual or religious beliefs, or else they risk stepping on employees’ toes.)

Act with integrity. The authors argue that it’s the leadership’s job to ensure the company never stops prioritizing its good cause. This means that enlightened leaders have to align their actions—and the company’s actions—with the company’s values at all times, even when it’s hard. They must admit and learn from their mistakes and immediately correct their course. Acting with integrity also entails supporting the growth of everyone involved with the company by treating them with dignity and setting them up for success.

(Shortform note: In The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, leadership consultant John C. Maxwell argues that if you want to act with integrity, you should prioritize strengthening your character. He explains that people with good character embody three universally valued virtues—honesty, integrity, and generosity—and he suggests that you build character by seeking out opportunities to serve others. He also says that having a strong character is key to inspiring others—if you want to be an effective leader, you’ll have to become living proof that your ideals are worth pursuing.)

What Enlightened Managers Do

According to the authors, enlightened managers differ from traditional managers because they promote employee autonomy, while traditional managers need employees to rely on them for direction in order to keep their jobs. Managers can become enlightened managers by practicing the following techniques:

Give employees the opportunity to make decisions. For example, this could mean something as simple as relaxing your dress code so your employees can dress in a way that’s still work-appropriate but feels authentic to them.

(Shortform note: Businesses are increasingly moving in the direction of self-management (another term for empowering employees to make decisions). Psychologists say self-management requires five key skills: taking care of your personal needs, dealing with your emotions in a healthy way, being neat and methodical, spending your time wisely, and keeping yourself motivated. It may be necessary to ascertain that your employees have developed these abilities—and, if not, to encourage them to work on these skills—before you give them decision-making power.)

Encourage experimentation at all levels. Mackey and Sisodia say that businesses often make the mistake of assuming that only higher-ranking employees have the knowledge or ability to innovate, and they restrict lower-ranking employees to simply following the rules. They argue that this stymies much-needed creativity at the lower levels of your company—which ultimately slows the evolution of your company and puts you behind your competitors. Instead, they recommend giving all employees room to try new things and balancing experimentation with accountability: When experimenters succeed, they should be rewarded and their ideas should be promoted. When they fail, they must be held responsible—for example, via demotion.

(Shortform note: In No Rules Rules, Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer explain that Netflix has put this advice into practice by dispersing decision-making power, to the point that employees can move forward with projects even if their managers disagree. The authors say this ensures that employees are more focused on benefiting the company than pleasing their bosses, and they recommend Netflix’s four-step strategy for ensuring that employee experiments succeed: First, employees gather feedback on the project; next, they put their ideas to the test; then, they take the lead on further project development; finally, they celebrate their success or share what they’ve learned from failing.)

How to Practice Enlightened Leadership & Management