Article in German : {http://www.harvardbusinessmanager.de/blogs/warum-philosophie-sie-zu-einer-besseren-fuehrungskraft-machen-kann-a-995961.html}
AS PHILOSOPHY MAKES YOU A BETTER MANAGER (Google Translation)
Self-management: Philosophy is suitable not only for intellectual discourse. The preoccupation with philosophical questions about values or the meaning of life can be a great help for managers in professional life
In a typical coaching session, it is primarily to take advantage of a change in behavior and not about how useful it can be to even look into and think about his character and his beliefs. In our fast-paced and technology-driven business world, this is perhaps not surprising: If all people expect instant results (and pay for), only little time to pause and reflect. Although most people will always be aware of what advantages does introversion and mindfulness activities (such as yoga and meditation), are self-reflection and thinking about philosophical questions - for example, about values, positive character traits and wisdom - remains largely neglected. In executive coaching and -entwicklungsprogrammen it's rarely about what a benefit it brings you to clearly see his philosophical worldview. And now piling up the evidence that you should care a lot more about this topic.
For at least neuroscientific studies speak on the topic of self-reflection. A recent example from the journal BMC Neuroscience: In study subjects, a major brain region was activated (ie the front cingulate cortex (ACC)), when they devoted themselves to tasks that required self-reflection. As the scientists explain this study, the ACC plays therefore an important role, because he "detect discrepancies between the actual and the desired state", "convey an integration and evaluation of emotional, motivational and cognitive information" and "attention modulate" can . In other words, if you activated through self-reflection his ACC, can the positive impact on business success, because so executives can clearly be on their values and strategic goals, bring together information in order to achieve these goals, and carry out effective action plans.
Philosophical counseling
But of course will not find most self-reflection processes take place in the lab - they must translate already in the upper echelons of business and other professional situations. The "philosophical counseling" is a very interesting way of doing this, as it allows for an intensive and focused discussion of such topics. It is an increasingly important winning, international movement, helps the rational thinking, sane people here for you to clearly in the face of changes and challenges on their world view and their objectives. To that effect, philosophical advisor and their clients structured conversations in which self-reflection plays an important role on their own goals and values. Philosophical counseling is based on the teachings of ancient Eastern and Western philosophers (Socrates to Confucius), but also of contemporary thinkers, support people in developing their personal philosophy of life and empowers them to achieve their highest human goals and ideals.
Take for example a CEO to his colleagues against condescending behaves constantly irritated eyes twisted, falls them into word or devalues them in other ways. Now he is faced with a difficult ethical problem - a dilemma that could damage the financial position and the reputation of his company. But he has no one with whom he can discuss this problem because he has with his behavior so often met with his management team before the head. A philosophical counseling could give him a boost of self-reflection about his character and his values and help him in this way to wean his insufferable behavior. A CEO who actually took one such advice in such a situation, it made a surprising discovery: The fact that he dealt with the teachings of an ancient philosopher (Socrates) and a modern thinker of the 20th century (Habermas), he succeeded in improving the capacity for dialogue, consensus-building and "communicative rationality" in his management team. By philosophical considerations, coupled with positive behavioral changes, he was able to successfully pass lead his company through a difficult crisis situation.
Even exercise
Especially at turning points in the career of a manager - if he is confronted with a difficult dilemma, a crisis or challenge - is very important philosophical self-reflection. How can managers make use of the advantages of such a self-reflection advantage, without therefore avoid the need to hire a philosophical consultant? For this purpose, they should first stop once and think about their most important values. Here you can the works of many philosophers (male and female, from various cultural backgrounds) help. As an example I quote here like my "SANE" -Akronym for the elementary questions of four outstanding Western philosophers: Socrates, Aristotle, Nietzsche and the existentialists.
Socrates : What is the most difficult question that might put someone on my current approach?
Aristotle : What characteristics are most important to me, and how shall I put them in my life to express?
Nietzsche : How do I want my channel "will to power", carrying my own interests and act in accordance with my values?
Existentialists (eg, Jean-Paul Sartre) : How can I take full responsibility for my decisions and their consequences?
This is not a purely academic exercise, but should actually pay off in the real business world. Through his serious reflection on these issues our CEO discovered a structured approach, with whose help he could handle the financial and ethical dilemma of his company. He realized that he held "respect others" and "modesty" for its key values and most desirable virtues, and that motivated him to drop the derogatory behavior towards his management team and to engage in constructive discussions about how to proceed. So he came ultimately to a consensus and a well thought out decision. The fact that this CEO was thinking about his values and opportunities for cooperation with his team, he could change the situation for the better and strengthen its leadership role.
Just like the previously mentioned mindfulness activities also requires self-reflection time and effort. But his thoughts one does not have to consciously turn off, but on the contrary, think hard about deep philosophical issues such as values and the meaning of life. The reward of this self-reflection is what Aristotle ("practical wisdom") called phronsis: Thinking about timeless philosophical values can inspire us to very contemporary behavioral changes that are our inner growth and sustainable success conducive.