You have probably heard the saying, “A truly great leader is hard to find, difficult to part with, and impossible to forget.” The same adage holds for bad leaders too, at least the “impossible to forget” part — this also holds for colleagues as well. Did you ever wonder why?
True story telling time: So Debbie (not her real name) is having lunch with a colleague. She has not seen her old boss in three years when suddenly, he comes through the door of the restaurant. Debbie quickly hides behind her menu. Her table mate is confused by her behaviour. Debbie is frantic that her old boss, whom she left three years ago, might have seen her. She is relieved when her table mate informs her that he dropped his keys on a table and went to the men’s room. Debbie quips out loud about her temptation to grab his keys and throw them in the trash. Her table mate is flabbergasted when Debbie informs her that they have to leave the restaurant! This really is a true story. So what is behind Debbie’s irrational behaviour?
Your brain drives all of your behaviour. From a neuroscience perspective, you might be surprised to learn that your memories are actually controlled by the way your brain works regarding memory storage and recall. This fact adds greater significance to a science based understanding as to why a leader’s behaviour is the singular most important predictor to a team’s performance. It is also a key predictor to employee engagement and individual performance as well.
You can have immediate and vivid recall of past bad leadership experiences because your brain doesn’t recall memory with an associated time stamp. The hippocampus is the part of your brain responsible for memory storage and recall. Working with a memory pattern recognition system, when you experience a new episodic event similar to a previous traumatic experience (Debbie seeing her old boss after three years), your brain recalls associated memory complete with all of the negative feelings that go with it. It’s like you reloading a document from stored computer memory, only without a time and date stamp on the memory and the emotional baggage the memory produces.
Learning the skill of Positive Presence will ensure that you are always aware of how your behaviour impacts all those around you. You learn how to read the energy in the room and the behavioural nuances. You learn the power of a positive mindset and the behaviours of collaboration and connection that are necessary for success in any workplace.
Focus is a fundamental requirement in today’s workplace. In the knowledge workforce focus is necessary for productivity and efficiency; It’s necessary for quality and for safety; It’s necessary for self-awareness; And it’s also necessary for the practices of mindfulness and meditation. A colleague of mine who suffered from alcohol addiction, found it impossible to focus for any length of time. This lack of focus blocked her ability to do the meditation and prayer taught in the 12-step Program she was participating in for a sober life. She was however, able to re-wire her brain and train herself for focus and meditation, and she shares her story in her book “Madly Chasing Peace – How I went from Hell to Happy in Nine Minutes a day”, by Dina Proctor. 
“Leaders lead”, as the old saying goes. This is a simplistic view of what leaders actually do; it does not take into account the fact that not everything a leader does is worth following. So let’s revise this saying to be more specific: “Leaders lead by modeling effective behaviour.” In today’s complex organizations everyone must be an influential leader. Influential leaders are role models of accountability. Their appropriate behaviour comes from a conscious choice to live by their conviction, to change harmful mental models, and to manage their emotions. Their appropriate behaviour is a result of their well-developed 
Accountability must be a visible practice In creating an organization that is built for collaborative success. All team members are clear about their specific responsibilities. They are aware of the organization’s purpose, mission, vision, values, and how they fit into this framework. They are given measures and tools to use in this framework. They are given measures and tools to use in determining if they are moving forward or falling behind on their objectives. They are empowered to do their job, and they are rewarded for their efforts. The result is a high level of employee engagement with a vested interest in the success of the organization. 
In today’s fast paced and ever changing business climate, the most dangerous thing about stress is how easily it can creep up on you. You get used to it. It starts to feel familiar, even normal. You don’t notice how much it’s affecting you, even as it takes a heavy toll.
The findings coming from the neurosciences is proving that the ‘brain-power’ needed for productivity and efficiency in today’s work environment can only be attained when you are in a state of positive emotional electro-magnetic neuro-chemical energy. This state requires (and/or depends on) your ability to create a flow of positive thoughts and feelings amid the chaos, the change, and the ambiguity of today’s work environment.
Successful companies and their leaders don’t stand around waiting for direction in moments of potential crisis. With a highly developed sense of purpose, they take the initiative and problem solve with collective intelligence and effectiveness in a systems based approach to averting crisis and obtain optimal levels of sustained outcomes. This collective and collaborative approach to performance arises from a focus on upper brain response for achievement, rather than a lower brain response to self-preservation.
Do you ever go to work and ask yourself, “How can I perform my very best today?” If you are asking that question, have you ever asked, “What do I need to do to perform to my full potential?” As a leader you not only need to be self-aware but you need to be self-evaluating constantly for individual and organizational performance improvement. The day you stop continuing to learn, to grow, and to develop is the day you start dying an inevitable slow death. Rest assured your competitors will not stop improving if you become comfortable with your status quo.
In the knowledge-based economy it is the first time in human history that a ‘hard day’s work’ is not ‘hard’ in the physical sense, but instead it is the employee’s brain that’s being worked — it is their ‘mind,’ that is employed. That being said, for today’s organizations to succeed and thrive will depend on the ability of the collective working brain-power of their workforce to create and produce.