The Conscious LeaderBy Thomas Shenk Did you know that airline pilots are told not to memorize pre-flight checklists? This may seem counterintuitive, but it’s because it’s important for them to be fully conscious of the “multitude of variables involved in each and every take off and landing,” as a pilot friend of mine tells it. This premise is no different than managing people and organizations. It is only by becoming aware—or conscious—of the variables inherent in that list that the mind can select the right behaviors for a given situation, rather than subconsciously gleening from a nominally pertinent checklist. Here’s the premise: Behaviors (at least what we can observe) are driven by how one sees the world, one’s perceptions, one’s frame of reference, one’s perspective and deep seated beliefs. Thinking in these terms raises the question, do people consciously choose their behavior or are behaviors chosen subconsciously? In other terms, do people have the capability to think before they act—the ability to “come-conscious”—as they choose a behavior, or are they operating on auto-pilot, from their subconscious; their nature—a memorized checklist, as it were?
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