Leading with the Right “Heartset”

In this increasingly challenging world, it’s imperative for organizations to create a culture that fosters not only the right mindset, but also the right “heartset.” What makes your heartset so important?

As humans, the majority of our actions stem from some form of emotion. Our behaviors are motivated by joy, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, weariness, anticipation and more. How we feel and how we make others feel ultimately determines our success in life.

How can each of us lead with a heartset to be empathetic, kind, helpful and to inspire joy and hope in turbulent times?

Let’s start with Seth Godin’s fantastic thoughts on leadership. “Leaders create the conditions where people choose new actions. The choices are voluntary. They’re made by people who see a new landscape, new opportunities and new options. You can’t make people change. But you can create an environment where they choose to.”  Are you creating an environment where new, impactful actions can be taken?

As leaders in the nonprofit direct mail industry, it also serves us well to pause and reflect on what the term philanthropy means. Philanthropy is the ultimate behavior we seek to drive with all of the hard work we put in every day. It is the desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money to good causes. Some synonyms for philanthropy are: benevolence, generosity, fellowship, unselfishness, kind-heartedness and compassion – all of these start inside your heart!

A promising transformation is currently happening that expands the pool of stakeholders with which the business sector cares and measures success.

The Business Roundtable, a group of almost 200 CEOs, recently issued a statement declaring that shareholder profits are no longer the main “purpose of a corporation” challenging the notion that profit margins are the most important thing for a company to deliver to their shareholders. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase and chairman of the Business Roundtable shares, “Major employers are investing in their workers and communities because they know it is the only way to be successful over the long term. These modernized principles reflect the business community’s unwavering commitment to continue to push for an economy that serves all Americans.” Measuring success by leaders’ investments in their employees and the community is an exciting, new way of looking at how well your leader is leading from their heart.

This is a gigantic transformation in measuring purpose within corporations, along with the convergence of the ages of acceleration, artificial intelligence and continuous connection, this change can feel simultaneously exhilarating, encouraging, scary and threatening. Change on this scale produces this range of reactions and emotions with which leaders need to be aware. In part two of our “Leading with the Right Heartset” series, we will delve deeper into the change journey, what that means for you, for your team and for your organization.

Until then, we encourage you to learn more about the ages of acceleration, artificial intelligence and continuous connection. Understanding the impact of the confluence of these ages is the first step towards developing the empathy needed to lead through these changing times.