In my last blog I shared a bit of my reflections from a seminar delivered by Daniel Goleman. In this blog I’d like to explore another facet of his remarks. Goleman dedicated a significant amount of his time to speak of the need to act from compassion. He shared a study where six-month old children were placed in their mother’s laps and shown two cartoons. In the first cartoon the children see a circle struggling to climb a mountain. Along comes a triangle, which helps the circle to make the ascent. In the second cartoon, the children see the same circle struggling to climb the mountain. They then see a square come along and push past the circle on it’s own ascent up the mountain. Next the children are given three objects to play with – a circle, a triangle and a square. Overwhelmingly the children chose the triangle. The findings of the research are that children understand kindness and compassion at an early age. We socialize it out of them in our schools, our sports, and our activities. While Goleman is taking an active role in working with school systems to address this, I’d encourage us to think about how we, as leaders, are acting from a place of kindness and compassion each day.

In order for us to be able to act from compassion we need to be both aware of, and present with, those around us. As Goleman put it, “Time is not a chronological measure but a measure of presence.” We all have the same twenty-four hours in a day but how often do you find yourself thinking about the next meeting, a conversation you had (or need to have), a deliverable, versus being fully present?

In each moment we have an opportunity to be intentional and, as leaders, our behaviors have a ripple effect on those around us. Take the time to connect with your employees, offering support and guidance in helping them to realize their potential in service of the organizations common goals.

My invitation to you (and I will be working to do the same) is to be the triangle – spend your day mindfully, intentionally, focusing on each interaction as an opportunity to build relationship, to support others in their ascent. Think about the impact that this will have.