The solutions to our current problems will not come from the thinking that created them. Evolved consciousness and empowered leadership is needed – leaders capable of creating vital outcomes through examining their internal assumptions and honing external competencies. The leadership disciplines required to face our own development is explored.

We need a different kind of dialogue, one that can help us consciously create the future we desire. The pathway to the new desired state is developing fluency in four different arenas simultaneously, doorways if you will, that explore the inner and outer dimensions of self and system. The old ways of operating are crumbling. Reacting to problems with yesterday’s strategies will not produce the outcomes and future we desire.

Want more bandwidth, increased margin and room in your work and life for more rest, reflection and relaxation? Turns out we can take simple measures to counteract the cognitive tax of scarcity. A preoccupation with scarcity diminishes IQ and self-control. Tips are shared to convert tasks that demand constant vigilance into one time tasks.

Checking our assumptions and becoming more adept at deeper inquiry can result in a higher quality of information and perception, which assists us in creating the outcomes that really matter. Five fundamental communication skills – intention, receptivity, courage, deep inquiry and deep listening – are the catalysts to transforming the organization’s culture.

Brain research indicates that social and physical pain produces similar brain responses. Threat responses are triggered in social situations and they are more intense and longer-lasting than reward responses. With this reality in mind, how does the leader lessen threat responses in the workplace? We enable reward responses instead, using the social qualities of status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness and fairness (expressed with the acronym SCARF).

What does the brain crave from the leader? Apparently, to focus on solutions instead of problems, letting people come to their own answers and keeping them focused on their insights. The approach of “carrots” (incentives) and “sticks” (threats) don’t bring long-term success and are not suited for environments with increased complexity.

Transformation is not a linear, step-by-step process. Transformation is the result of mastery over time and increased consciousness through breakthroughs, contractions and plateaus. This article takes the reader through a framework of adult development and suggests disciplines and practices to upgrade the internal operating system and consciousness of the leader.