Reboot: Leadership and The Art of Growing Up - Book Summary
“This is what great leaders do. Great leaders look unflinchingly in the mirror and transform untamed hungers and unruly compulsions into moments of self-compassion and understanding. In doing so, they create the spaces for each of us to do the same, turning our organizations into places of growth and self-actualization.”
Rebooting is about approaching life back from the first principle. The job of a leader is to understand themselves deeply in order to understand others and lead effectively. You can understand yourself—and others—by inquiring within. Radical self-inquiry is the process of “unflinchingly looking in their mirror”, internalizing and processing all that you see, and letting go to make space for self-awareness and radical self-compassion.
The process of “rebooting” requires radical self-compassion because it is only by letting go of the fear to inquire within and be alone with your thoughts that you can tap into the potential within you. Such potential is already within yourself. The art of becoming a leader—and growing up—is to think less and let go of all the layers piled up above your soul merely as a way of protecting the ego.
“The toughest part of being a leader—hell, of being an adult—is meeting the world as it is and not as we wish it to be. The demons of the world, the demons of your soul, require just one thing: your broken-open heart. ”
The path of radical self-inquiry requires a convinced detachment from the default mindset that “if I don’t answer this email now, the business will collapse”. There is only one essential requirement to becoming yourself: to deeply inquire within while the “frames of life speed by you”.
There is positive affirmation by society when you don’t step back and inquire within. When you are flowing in the direction of the water flow, most people around you reinforce such behavior, and they run the flow with you. In Jerry Colonna’s words:
““When I moved fast, when I spent my day not truly occupying my life, not standing still, not being real, I found it easier to live in accordance with other people’s expectations. By not standing still, I was able to be the object of everyone else’s projections of who and what I should be. Too busy to live my own life, I took direction from the affirmations of others.””
The art of leadership is about becoming a person—growing as a person. That is a process that requires time, and a persistent inquiry within yourself. “Keep opening. Stand still. Keep opening and stand still. Open up, get curious, and inquire within.” (Colonna, 2019)
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