Art Kliner, Jeffrey Schwartz and Josie Thomson have written an important book, with the main premise being that the inner voice of strategic leadership is the “Wise Advocate”. The Wise Advocate involves “stepping back and being thoughtful: looking at your own situation, and yourself in it, with all the commitment and information of an insider but the detachment of an outside observer”. The authors write about four mind habits that will help unleash your Wise Advocate by leading from the “High Ground”, that “doesn’t focus on the needs of the moment but on long-term consequences, based on the values most important to you and your organization and on your perception of yourself and the other people involved.”

  1. Mentalizing – Seeing What Others Think – The authors write, “Mentalizing is thinking in depth about other people and making inductions about them. When you mentalize, you are reflecting on people’s essential nature and what will happen in the future…To mentalize involves “reflecting on the person’s motivations, and on what she or he is thinking.” Important questions to ask when mentalizing are: “What is he/she thinking? What is he/she likely to do next? What do they mean by this? What makes them tick?” A good mentalizer has the capacity for “empathic accuracy” which is defined as “the ability to not only recognize people’s thoughts but to observe and recognize their emotions – their feelings of pain, happiness, frustration, anger, or joy.”
  2. Executive Function – The Executive Function involves managing three main attributes: “working memory (holding complex ideas in mind), inhibitory control (regulating impulses and emotions), and cognitive flexibility (adapting to change and looking at the world from more than one perspective).”  A test of your executive function is how you operate under stress. “The middle of a stressful situation is not the time to develop your executive function. You have to build it during the easy times, day after day, so that you are prepared to rely on it during the difficult times.” Executive function “is necessary to maintain equanimity and avoid visible anxiety, or you cannot play the role of Wise Advocate in the organization around you.”
  3. Applied Mindfulness – “Applied mindfulness is the form of mindfulness that most people know: the pragmatic application of contemplative practice. Its goals are self-knowledge and self-regulation, through thinking about your thinking (meta-cognition) and observing the way you pay attention (meta-attention)…Applied Mindfulness generally involves consulting the Wise Advocate and mentalizing about yourself.”
  4. Meta-Cognition – This is an aspect of applied mindfulness that involves “thinking about your thinking”. Thinking about your thinking involves “recognizing your own thoughts and the changes in your thoughts – seeing your own intellectual and emotional progression.” Thinking about your thinking is an important aspect of self-awareness – “Are you aware of how and why you arrive at the decisions you make? Do you understand the biases you bring to a decision, and the ways in which your emotions influence your thinking?”  The more skilled you become at meta-cognition – thinking about your thoughts, consulting your Wise Advocate about them, watching their pattern through your mind, becoming mindful of them – the easier you will find it to shift away from maladaptive organizational practices.”
  5. Meta-Attention – This is also an aspect of applied mindfulness which entails “cultivating a continuous, sharply honed awareness of your own awareness.”  Meta-attention includes “awareness of the connection with your Wise Advocate. When you ask Am I in touch with the Wise Advocate right now? the answer gives you insight into the ways in which you, personally, handle the most fundamental challenges you face. This could be called deep mindfulness.”

Kliner, Schwartz and Thomson have unearthed an important aspect of strategic leadership – being a Wise Advocate for yourself, others and your organization. Their four mind habits are essential to help you activate your Wise Advocate.