Leadership and the Beginner’s Mind

“Try to love the questions themselves, like locked living rooms or books that are written in a foreign tongue. The point is to live everything. Live the questions now. You will then gradually, without noticing it, live your way some distant day into the answers.”  R.M. Rilke
             
I love the dissonance this poem creates in the mind. Leaders are supposed to know the answers, right? That’s why they made it to the top of the organization. Being a CEO or senior leader is confirmation that he/she has acquired the most knowledge or leveraged a variety of experiences to arrive in this privileged place of knowing.

This statement may be true if the problems that leaders face in business today were less complex, and say, more purely technical. That is, if business problems looked like previous ones; more straightforward, could be data verified, where the deeper you go, the more you know. However, the senior leaders I work with are faced with far more complex problems in constantly changing workplaces, environments that are volatile, and industries that are experiencing disruption. Many of the problems they face have not been solved before, and as such, require a different kind of engagement, new skills, and capabilities that elicit vulnerability in the leader.

To say, I don’t know the answers, is the only place to begin. As Rilke said, one must “live into the unknown, the questions themselves.” These are not questions with simple yes or no answers. The questions that must be asked in today’s business context are open-ended and require the leader to put aside their assumptions, opinions, beliefs, experiences, or preconceptions (Shunrya Susuki Roshi). Roshi said, “in the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the experts mind there are few.”

Staying with what you know is a sure-fire way to play out predictable solutions. The essential questions that are open-ended, create awareness, and spark new discoveries. By taking a fresh look, leaders can draw upon the power of the organization, industry, or other industries, to reveal new ways forward. This is the only place where innovation and disruption happen.

When leaders demand instant, clear, or expedited answers before they have fully engaged with the important questions, they will fail. It is the leader’s curiosity and openness that provides new contextual awareness. “When our contexts shift in this powerful, fundamental kind of way, it reveals paths across terrains that have previously seemed forbidding and impenetrable,” (Wellwood). This scenario, where novel solutions can be discovered, requires the leader to change his/her understanding. This is a place of business growth and transformation that is most challenging to navigate, but worthwhile.

By bringing the beginner’s mindset, and opening more deeply to the questions, we walk the essential ground of the new business leader’s path. Acknowledging uncertainty undoubtedly elicits anxiety and fear in the face of the unknown. This is the place where the coach with his/her discipline to ask the big questions can foster a mindset of growth in the leader. The coach helps the leader to hold the space between, thus harnessing the possibilities where success is much more likely.

The art and science of living into the beautiful questions is as much about the personal transition and growth of the leader as it is the complex problems they face. This practice of being in the unknown must be honed and cultivated. New competencies must be developed, such as curiosity (awareness), compassion (connection), and courage (resilience).

1. Curiosity (awareness) – a practice of building greater awareness brings clarity, fluidity, and stability in a world where there are often none.
2. Connection (compassion) – a practice of developing self-compassion. It is in this generative approach that our defenses, biases, and stories can be dismantled in favor of growth that supports meaningful change and transformation.
3. Courage (resilience) – a practice of facing our reality - thoughts, wants, and feelings, builds resilience in the face of greater vulnerability and growth.

 
Senior leaders who are open to being changed by living into the questions themselves and leading with a beginner’s mind, are successful solving the complex business problems they face. They also create organizational cultures of learning and growth, where people thrive, take risks, learn, and grow themselves. These are the best places to work where people can learn to live into the questions themselves.

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