The year was 1848. One of the most momentous discoveries about the part of the brain called the Prefrontal Cortex (PFC) was about to occur.

1: Phineas Gage was the foreman for a railway crew in central Vermont. He and his team were using gunpowder to blast through a rocky hilltop. As Phineas was loading some gunpowder, he accidentally dropped his tamping iron, initiating an explosion.  

“The thirteen-pound, three-a-half-foot tamping … continue reading

The world today has been described as “VUCA.” Which stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity.  

It’s easy to get triggered, to feel threatened, and to live with a “reactive mindset,” Dr. Daniel Friedland writes in Leading Well from Within.

There is another option, however. Despite this “VUCA reality,” we can choose instead to live with a proactive or “creative mindset.” 

“The essence of being proactive is to take … continue reading

1: Because: What gets measured gets done.

Vision. Strategy. Implementation. Results. Or, VSIR.

These four integrated elements are the essential ingredients of living a creative rather than a reactive life, Dr. Daniel Friedland writes in Leading Well from Within.

Yesterday, we explored the idea of vision. We outlined the key elements of a “life well lived.”

In the VSIR cycle, our strategies and implementation are our calls to action … continue reading

That’s where we start. That’s the question we ask.  

1: Our vision is an image of an ideal future. It transcends and includes our purpose and passion for being. Our vision generates the guiding force of inspiration in our lives, writes Dr. Daniel Friedland in Leading Well from Within.

Why is visioning so powerful?

Because when we identify a vision for the future, we create a gap between the … continue reading

1: Gallup researchers have calculated a national stress index based on a survey of more than 125,000 people from 121 countries. The analysts ask participants whether they had experienced a significant amount of stress the previous day, Dr. Daniel Friedland writes in his brilliant book Leading Well from Within.

The results? The higher the nation’s stress index, the higher the nation’s well-being.

“Further, individuals who were stressed but not … continue reading

Reactive leaders focus on protecting their egos by being overly controlling. Or by being overly compliant.

“In the protecting dimension, leaders take ‘flight’ by ‘moving away’ from others,” Dr. Danny Friedland writes in Leading Well from Within. “These leaders can appear inaccessible, aloof, emotionally distant, and uncaring. At the same time, they can also fight to prove self-worth with arrogance, intellectual domination, cynicism, and being highly judgmental and critical … continue reading

1: “Fight or flight” or “Pause and plan”?

As leaders and in life, how we show up is a factor of which part of the brain we are accessing, writes Dr. Daniel Friedland in Leading Well from Within.  Yesterday, we explored how when we are threatened or overwhelmed, the limbic system and other survival-oriented regions of our brain spring into action.

“When I get stressed and reactive, my … continue reading

1: Are we showing up as high-performance leaders?  Or low-performance leaders?

The answer, according to Dr. Danny Friedland, has to do with which part of the brain we are accessing.

“The state of reactivity associated with low-performance leadership generally includes the more reflexive and inflexible patterns of behavior influenced by the lower, survival-oriented regions of the brain, which are focused on self-preservation or self-gain,” he writes in Leading Well from … continue reading

PCI is a servant leadership organization. We have been practicing servant leadership for more than 20 years.

Dr. Danny Friedland believed there is a higher and better way of leading: Conscious Leadership, which he described as “servant leadership inspired by purpose.”

Conscious Leadership is “leading from your highest self in service of something larger than yourself,” he wrote in his book Leading Well from Within.

“Conscious Leaders focus on … continue reading

After 15 years of speaking and more than 1,500 presentations, Dr. Daniel Friedland experienced something he had never experienced before.

Danny was in San Diego to kick off a 10-month engagement of monthly meetings with the senior leadership team of one of the city’s leading organizations. The introductory session was scheduled at the end of a workshop day with another speaker, he recalls in his book Leading Well from Within… continue reading