The Conscious Leader: 9 Principles and Practices to Create a Wide-Awake and Productive Workplace

by Shelley Reciniello

Overview

The Conscious Leader brings you the nine principles and practices needed to create a wide-awake and productive workplace. Doing business today requires navigating the psychological terrain of people at work: egos that run amok and put personal success ahead of corporate achievement; palpable, underlying anger that surfaces in response to company policies; ill treatment by one particular manager, or your own grandstanding; and fear so contagious that people spend most of their time trying to keep their jobs instead of doing their jobs. In the incredible pressure cooker that is the modern workplace, how do you keep your eyes on a ball that is increasingly invisible? By understanding basic psychology of people at work, you can gain the essential knowledge needed to create a more successful and productive team.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780985286446
Publisher:	LID Publishing USA
Publication date:	03/01/2014
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Dr. Shelley Reciniello has spent her thirty-three-year career as a psychologist determined “to give psychology away,” to demystify psychological principles, and provide people and organizations with effective, practical information and methods to change their lives. As the founder and president of SRA Consultations, she provides Fortune 500 companies with organizational consultation, executive coaching services, and presentations, nationally and globally. With a specialization in the financial services industry, she also regularly receives coaching and consulting assignments from a variety of other businesses, including fashion, cosmetics, advertising, law, education, journalism, technology, theatre and film, television and entertainment.

Table of Contents

Foreword 11

Acknowledgements 13

Introduction: Why Hasn't Anyone Told me This before? 17

01 Why Everything Goes Wrong When Everything Seemed Right: Secret Motivations and Hidden Agendas 23

Principle # 1 24

The Portal to Nowhere 26

Why Being Conscious Matters 28

What Lies Beneath 29

How to Wake-up 31

02 When Leaders Don't Know Their Achilles Heels: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You 39

Principle # 2 39

What do You Carry? 40

Narcissistic Delusion as a Success Stopper 42

Your Psychological House 44

What Do People Say about You? 45

What Are Your Habits? 46

Easy Wins 101 46

What Is Coaching for Conscious Leadership? 51

Where Do You Go from Here? 53

03 When Personalities Get in the Way of Business: Why Can't Everyone Be Like Me? 55

Principle # 3 55

Self-defense 55

He's Got Personality 59

Not Just Another Meeting 61

04 When Organizations Repeat Family Dynamics: Who's Your Daddy? 69

Principle # 4 70

Memories and Fantasies 70

Tomorrow Is another Day 73

Leadership, Transference, and Counter- Transference 77

05 When People Regress in Groups: Teams or Gangs? 83

Principle # 5 83

Why Do People Regress at Work? 84

How to Create Progressive not Regressive Groups 89

Why Civility Matters 91

06 When the Diversity Box Has Been Checked, But Everyone Is Still the Same: Making Diversity Real 97

Principle # 6 98

When Being Unconscious Hurts 99

The Usual Missteps 101

We Look for Similarities and Overlook Differences 102

One of the Guys 103

We Look for Differences and Overlook Similarities 105

07 When Conflict, Anger, and Power Destroy Performance, Profit, and Peace: Learn How to Wear the CAP 111

Principle #7 111

Conflict 112

Anger 116

What Not to Do with Anger 120

What to Do with Anger 124

Power 126

08 When Change Is a Constant: Chaos or Containment? 131

Principle #8 131

What's so Special about Change? 132

The Leader Who Would not Mourn 133

A Story of Containment 135

Getting to Growth and Opportunity 138

09 When Bad Mental Hygiene Destroys Thinking: The Mind Does Not Take Care of Itself 143

Principle #9 143

Daily Maintenance 144

Preparation 146

Slowing down 147

Empty Space 150

Your Ideal Self 150

Beyond Consciousness 152

Conclusion

Privilege, Responsibility, and Challenge 155

Morality 156

Legacy 156

Dignity 157

Reclaiming Work 158

Appendix

Personal Coaching Questionnaire 161

References 175

Notes 179

Index 181

Editorial Reviews

“Dr. Shelley Reciniello very astutely notes ‘we cannot become mindful if we are not at first conscious.’ Having a deep understanding of what life in organizations is all about, the author provides a wealth of information revealing how leaders can derail due to behavior patterns of which they are unaware. This book is a must for anyone interested in creating better places to work.”   -- Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries, Founder and Distinguished Clinical Professor of Leadership Development and Organizational Change, INSEAD Global Leadership Center.

“The Conscious Leader is a splash of cold water in the face of sleepwalking and mindless executives and managers; Reciniello has written a thoughtful, practical, accessible, antidote for leaders committed to greater self-awareness and to more reflective organizations.” 

-- Michael A. Diamond, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Organizational Change, University of Missouri

“Vulnerability is one of the most powerful components for success in organizations followed by trust and transparency. Yet we push these out of our consciousness and create cultures where people can speak up and hide at the same time for fear their real selves will not be valued. The Conscious Leader provides insights that nudge us to wake up and become aware of all the subtle signals we send each other. Waking-up and becoming conscious is an essential step for new leadership everywhere.”

-- Judith E. Glaser, CEO, Benchmark Communications, Inc.; author of Conversational Intelligence: How Great Leaders Build Trust and Get Extraordinary Results

“Reciniello has taken a difficult and tricky subject - Freud and psychoanalysis - and made it understandable and approachable in the context of business and leadership.  This is a welcome addition to all leadership books out there today.”

  -- David C. O’Leary, Former Global Head of Human Resources Credit Suisse First Boston, former Global Head of Human Resources and Chief Administrative Officer, State Street Corporation

From the Publisher