Resonant Leadership

Discussion Questions

Chapter One: Great Leaders Move us

  1. What is resonant leadership?
  2. Why is leadership more difficult now than it has been in the past?
  3. Do you practice renewal by using mindfulness, hope, and compassion on a daily basis? Why or why not?

Chapter Two: The Leader’s Challenge

  1. Have you experienced an organization that is in the state of dissonance? What was the situation?
  1. Resonance and dissonance are contagious. Are you conscious of “reading” the body language of people around you so that you can get a more accurate read of the emotional climate? How do you monitor your own nonverbals so that you convey a message of mindfulness, hope, and compassion to your organization?
  2. Why is emotional intelligence of equal or greater value in leadership than cognitive abilities?

Chapter Three: Dissonance is the Default

  1. When we are under stress why do we revert to ineffective practices? When did you find yourself tempted to do this?
  2. How is the Sacrifice Syndrome the opposite of being what Jim Collins in Good to Great calls a Level 5 leader?
  3. How does focusing on short term results actually contribute to creating dissonance?

Chapter Four: Waking up to Resonance and Renewal

  1. What does it mean to be truly “aware”? Have you experienced any of the 3wake-up calls? Did you recognize them as warning signs? What did you do with the information?
  2. There are three parts of renewal: mindfulness, hope, and compassion. Do you practice each of this every day? How do you do it? Do you share your reflections with your team?
  3. Scan the experiences listed in Exercise A. How many of these have you experienced in the past two years? How have you dealt with them? How do you get renewal during this time?

Chapter Five: Intentional Change

  1. Within your team, you can explore the exercise about intentional change: exploring ideal self, real self, establishing learning agendas, experimenting and practicing new agendas, developing and maintaining close personal relationships. As a team, create a learning agenda for your organization after you explore the ideal and real selves as individuals.
  2. What is your personal learning agenda? Establish short term goals to create that agenda. Create an agenda for the end of the year. What is your goal for two years from now?
  3. Who are your main connections? Who have you developed a relationship with in the past few months that is a surprise for you? What connections can you strengthen?

Chapter Six: Mindfulness

  1. What ways do you practice mindfulness—exercise, meditation, fishing, nature walks? Share your strategies as a team.
  2. Are you a good observer of non-verbal cues? Do you attend to affect, body language, nuances? What could you do to get better?
  3. Do you pride yourself on “multitasking” which is actually keeping you from concentrating on a few, real issues? How can you eliminate distractions? How do you use reflection to focus on a few real issues?

Chapter Seven: Hope

  1. How do you create vision and hope in your organization? How do you share your personal vision with a group?
  2. How does your personal vision contribute to the organization’s vison?
  3. What is the difference between creating the “illusion” of hope, and creating real hope?

Chapter Eight: Compassion

  1. “True compassion does not expect reciprocity of equal exchange. It means giving endlessly.” What does this quote mean to you and your team?
  2. Have you had the benefit of a leadership coach? How can you create coaching opportunities within your leadership team(s)?
  3. What kind of professional development would you need in your organization to give people better coaching skills?

Appendix A:

Provides definitions and descriptions of power stress, sacrifice syndrome

Appendix B:

Additional exercises

[Added Appendix mine]: profiles on different generations in current workplace

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