Patrick Parker, PCC, LMSW, DMA

Leadership is a birthright. It is the innate capacity we all have to lead by creating enduring value through virtue of who we are as human beings. But we often lose our way due to the intensity and urgency of everyday stress.

Inner leadership looks at the long arc of career and life. Through the examination of strengths, blind spots, unconscious drivers, and the shadow side, clients emerge with a stronger sense of identity, purpose, power, and self-efficacy.

The four main elements of inner leadership are interrelated:

Mindfulness

• The awareness that arises from paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally (Kabat-Zinn)
• Skills include dialectics, entering into the experience, the body-mind connection, and more

 
Interpersonal Effectiveness

• Interpersonal effectiveness helps get what you want, keep relationships, and maintain self-respect (Linehan)
• Skills include trust and team frameworks, validation techniques, and more

 
Emotional Mastery

• "This being human is a guest house. Every morning a new arrival of emotions as unexpected visitor. Welcome and entertain them all! Be grateful for whatever emotion comes, because each has been sent as a guide beyond" (Adapted from Rumi)
• Skills include emotional identification, managing/regulating emotions, and more

Navigating Uncertainty

• "To be capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason" (Keats)
• Skills include balancing acceptance and change, decision making, distress tolerance, and more

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Effective application of the inner leadership framework brings clients to more fulfilling careers, relationships, and lives.