Personal leadership is a state of mind and heart. It is about taking leadership of yourself, your own actions and experiences and how you interact with others in your personal and business lives.

It describes a way of thinking, being and dealing with the world that begins with what you think and feel – and not by others opinions and external events. It demands that you be fully present, aware of your habits and behaviours and how they impact on people around you.

Personal leadership advocates, as well, your willingness to approach situations that don’t necessarily align with yours with a fresh pair of eyes, with what the Zen Buddhists call a “beginner’s mind.”

In our increasingly interdependent, interrelated global community we are all connected. Technology has seen to that. The ability and willingness to get along with people of different ideas, faiths and value systems isn’t easy. Intolerance often lurks just below the surface, but like it or not we are all in this together.