Increasing leadership integrity through mind training and embodied learning.

This paper offers foundations for an integrated approach to leadership integrity consultation, melding somatic learning methods with practices for training the mind, known as lojong in Tibetan Buddhism. Embodied learning and mind training are grounded in similar perceptions about the importance of attention and awareness for developing effective, powerful action in the world. Fundamental to both methods is developing the capacity to act with awareness: the capacity to be fully present to what is taking place, rather than being distracted by expectations, habits, or fears about either oneself or others. Experience with coaching leaders suggests that such awareness is essential for leadership integrity, which requires a leader to act with wholeness from deep values in ways that can be sustained over time. The paper describes these methods, identifies how they have been addressed in research, shows how each has been used in consulting, and suggests that they may be used together synergistically within processes of leadership development.