“I love molecules,” explains Marcus. “You apply a certain amount of heat and a certain amount of pressure,
and you know exactly what’s going to happen. At the start of my career I did great working with molecules, but now I work with people. People are unpredictable. You apply a certain amount of heat and a certain amount of pressure, and you never know what’s going to happen.”
Great leadership is conscious leadership.
Greatness is not a function of circumstance. Greatness … is a matter of conscious choice - Jim Collins
Living consciously is a state of being mentally active rather than passive. It is the ability to look at the world through fresh eyes. It is intelligence taking joy in its own function. Living consciously is seeking to be aware of everything that bears on our interests, actions, values, purposes and goals. It is the willingness to confront facts, pleasant or unpleasant. It is the desire to discover our mistakes and correct them… It is the quest to keep expanding our awareness and understanding, both of the world external to self and of the world within.
- Nathaniel Branden
Conscious Employees
We use seven qualities to distinguish conscious from unconscious employees. The first three are character attributes: unconditional responsibility, essential integrity, and ontological humility. The next three are interpersonal skills: authentic communication, constructive negotiation, and impeccable coordination. The seventh quality is an enabling condition for the previous six: emotional mastery. These qualities are easy to understand, but hard to implement. They seem natural, but they challenge deep-seated assumptions we hold about ourselves, other people, and the world. This is why although most of us know about them, we don’t know how to enact them. They are common sense, but not common practice.
