Heal to Lead

18Compassionate Intelligence

TO DECIDE WHAT the next right action is to take in any given leadership situation, we can rely on a combination of intuition, compassionate empathy, and business savvy. We must feel it on the inside before we can apply innate wisdom and move toward it externally. Trusting ourselves and our emotions becomes easier once we begin integrating our past, so a mix of instinct and intellect allows us to embody the third fundamental of high-conscious leadership, Leading with Compassion—and it also allows for healthy boundaries that keep our organizations on the path of sustainability.

Thus, what's required is actually a fluid dance that balances both emotional and logical resources. Compassionate intelligence is the wisdom to know when, why, and what support someone needs and the responsibility that comes with offering a rational amount.

The action orientation of compassion likely makes it easier for leaders to understand because we're wired toward solution development. Yet that action, in the form of human support, also needs guardrails to keep people-pleasing leaders from over-indexing, to keep people-controlling leaders from developing apathy, and to ensure our organizations are places where healthy boundaries and clear cultural habits are formed.

The Spectrum Between Martyrdom and Apathy

If this flow and discernment doesn't come naturally, how do you figure out where you currently sit as a leader and what you need to do to shift? Let's go back to ...