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6 human intelligences that drive purpose in business leadership

30 Oct 2018

The world of business has informed the quotes about success that abound around moving forward, driving to achieve, pushing harder to advance. We hear that standing still is stagnation and that lack of drive and action is tantamount to failure. Our economies, even the cultures we are part of, are all based on making progress, moving forward and making things happen. We are told to push and work hard to get more and be more.

6 human intelligences that drive purpose in business leadership

Yet ancient wisdom (Tao Te Ching) dictates that

Knowing others is intelligence, knowing yourself is true wisdom’ and ’mastering others is strength, mastering yourself is true power.

Understand where you are before moving forward

Many of today’s most successful leaders understand that, while moving forward with purpose is essential for sustainable success, it is equally important to stand still, reflect and be mindful of our current functional and behavioural realities in order to reach our desired results.

As Jeff Boss has stated:

You cannot be a leader if you cannot lead yourself.

Like any Global Positioning System (GPS), we can only reach our destination if our current location is known. Standing still in order to move forward challenges us to avoid perceiving life as a rat race that consists of continuous and unreflected action. We need to take the necessary time to stand still, reflect and regroup with purpose, thus consciously engaging with our multiple intelligences.

Our multiple intelligences

Thinking – how much reflection time do I set aside and how does this impact on the quality of my thinking and resultant actions?
Feeling – what is the relevance of accessing and naming my emotions in the context of leadership development?
Doing – how is my ‘doing’ conscious and integral rather than reactive and habitually driven?
Relating – how is my engagement with others representative of my current and espoused values?
Being – what is my purpose and how does this inform my life and work?
Knowing – how do I align all of these intelligences to show up as an authentic leader?

The journey of moving forward with purpose rests on self-awareness, as we can only manage what we know. Developing both functional and behavioural competencies is possible only if our starting point is grounded in current awareness and reality, which starts with us just taking a moment to reflect who we are and where we’re going.

About Sue Bakker

Sue Bakker is the Academy Head for TowerStone Leadership Centre, whose vision focuses on empowering leaders to build a values-driven culture for sustainable success.