How does a leader become mentally mature? vol.2
Continuing from the previous article, I will talk about how How a leader becomes mentally mature.
In the last article, I referred that 1) it is important to perceive ourselves as we are, without being biased towards any particular consciousness. To elaborate a little more, we can connect with the subjective truth of the intuitive consciousness without being caught up in the fixed concepts of the thinking consciousness and without ignoring the positive and negative feelings of the bodily consciousness. In addition, we utilize the meta-consciousness to look after the whole of these three consciousnesses. In other words, the starting point for mental maturity is to perceive the “self as it is” without being biased towards a particular consciousness.
2) Deconstructing and reconstructing the mental model
When we can free our consciousness to perceive “the real us,” the result is that we can become aware of our mental models (belief systems and value systems) and flexibly adjust them.
A mental model is a value system for various things that exists in the thinking consciousness. The question, “Who am I? “What is family? “What is a customer? “What is work? “What is money? We have some standard of value for everything.
For example, Let’s consider the question “What is work?” There are many possible answers to this.
▼Work is to respond to his/her superior’s expectations.
▼Work is to respond to customer expectations.
▼Work is to create new value.
▼Work can be fun (or painful.)
▼Work is something to do to earn money.
▼Work is the realization of one’s dreams.
The values are so diverse that there can be many answers to just one theme, “what is work”. And there is no absolute standard for which values are good and which are not.
The reason why values are so important is that they are often assumed by us when we judge something or feel something. To use the previous example of the value of “what work is”, if you have the value of “work is fun”, you are more likely to have positive feelings when your boss asks you to do additional work. On the other hand, people who believe that work is hard are more likely to have negative emotions in the same situation.
So far we have talked about the importance of mental models (belief systems and value systems). Now I will discuss this in more detail.
First, let’s define two concepts: identity and beliefs. Values about ourselves, or “who am I?” is called “identity.” Values for other than ourselves or “what is XX (e.g., work, subordinates, money, etc.)” is called “beliefs”.
Identity….values about oneself. One’s own answer to the question, “Who am I?”
Beliefs — Values of things other than oneself, and one’s own answer to the question, “What is XX?” (XX includes subjects such as work, subordinates, money, etc.)
Some of you may be wondering why we treat identity and beliefs separately here? Because both are, in the broadest sense, values. Identity is the answer to the question “Who am I ?” Beliefs are the answers to the questions “What is XX (something other than oneself)? It’s just a difference in what the values are about.
Nevertheless, it still makes sense to treat identity and beliefs separately. Although Identity and belief are both concepts that fall into the same category in terms of values, and they are interrelated in that they affect each other, we can still say that identity is closer to the core and beliefs are closer to the surface. In other words, identity is the cause-side in cause and effect relationship, and beliefs are effect-side in it.
For example, if a person’s identity is “I am a person who finds pleasure in contributing to others,” it is easy to have the belief that “work is to contribute to others”. If a person’s identity is “I am a person who tries to achieve my dream,” it is easier to have the belief that “work is for the realization of my dream.
Identity and beliefs belong to the thinking consciousness in the 3+1 Consciousness Model. The thinking consciousness is composed of the mental model and the mental process of cognition and judgment, and the identity and beliefs are the elements of the mental model.
Identity and belief have two sides: one side is formed from the subjective truth and the other side is formed from past experiences. In other words, we build mental models (belief systems and value systems) within ourselves as a regulating valve to balance living in subjective truth and harmony with surroundings and society.
And, and this is the most important point, identities and beliefs are changeable and can be consciously chosen by ourselves. In some respects, identities and beliefs are formed from subjective truths, so if we have a deep-seated wish, we can adjust it to something that is connected to that wish.
On the other hand, identities and beliefs are formed from past experiences, like a series of geological strata or the annual rings of a tree, which are formed by the accumulation of experiences since birth, so it is difficult to change everything at once. In addition, based on past experience, our current identity and beliefs are the optimal point for balancing living in the subjective truth and harmony with surroundings and society, so it is not necessarily good to change them.
In the midst of the tension in the social implementation of subjective truths, the decision to change or adjust identities and beliefs is made or forced in the face of contradictions and conflicts that cannot be addressed by current identities and beliefs.
If we compare changing or adjusting identities and beliefs to climbing a mountain, it’s not so much about changing the path you climb on the spot, but more like descending the mountain once and then climbing back up by a different route. It means that once you let go you can try on a new one. It’s called deconstruction and reconstruction of identity and beliefs.
As a result of this repeated deconstruction and reconstruction of identities and beliefs, it appears as if they have advanced to the stage of mental maturity, and it is said that they have expanded their capacity as leaders.
Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Identity
I will now use my own story of a time when I did not do well as president as an example. If you need it, please refer to the following article.
As your level of freedom of consciousness increases, you are able to connect to subjective truths and become more aware of your feelings of comfort and discomfort, so you are more likely to feel things like discrepancies, gaps and twists between your inner and outer self.
And when you become aware of the mental models in your thinking consciousness, or, metaphorically, the glasses you wear, you are ready to deconstruct and reconstruct your identity and beliefs.
In my example, my original identity as president is…
▼The president must be strong.
▼ The president must be able to make decisions on his own.
▼ The president should not be unsure of what to do
▼ The president must put aside his ego
It’s probably closer to the nuance of subconsciously thinking that way than consciously thinking that way.
However, as more and more things went wrong, the employees around me began to drift away, and I became even more complacent. The root cause of this complacency was the stereotypical view of what it means to be a president.
The turning point was a coaching session given to me by an employee. In hindsight, it was an opportunity to take a meta-conscious view of myself and find subjective truth.
Over the course of several years, I realized that one aspect of my subjective truth was the “search for universal truth” and that what I wanted to do as president of Alue is to “create a source that opens up people’s potential”. And in order to do this, I realized that I didn’t need the stereotype of “being a strong and perfect president” at all, and it came naturally to me to deconstruct the Identity.
As this deconstruction of identity progressed, the following reconstruction of identity occurred
Even as the president…
▼ I can show my weaknesses
▼ I can make decisions together with employees. In fact, it’s better to make decisions together.
▼ If I don’t understand something, I can just ask around.
▼ It’s okay to have my ego (of course, I have to get along with it though.)
The people around me have become less and less distant. In fact, younger employees have told me that I don’t seem distant anymore.
My own identity as president at the moment is as follows. This is an expression I arrived at when I decided to try to verbalize my identity in my research on “ISHIKI(consciousness) management”. It’s a little exaggerated, but it’s so comfortable for me that I’m having it as it is.
▼Living as a proactive player in an ecosystem that builds an educational infrastructure to achieve SDG 4, democratization of education (to ensure quality education for all).
▼Supporting employees to live their own subjective truths and letting the company embody its natural wholeness
To sum up, freeing my consciousness freed me from the “stereotypical concept of being a strong and perfect president” that I had assumed for myself. By freeing my consciousness, I was able to free myself from the “stereotypical president” that I thought I was, and I was able to come closer to my own style of president, where I could express my true self while also fulfilling my position as president.
Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Beliefs
As the identity changes, the beliefs change as well. Before my identity changed, I had the following beliefs…
▼ Employees are the ones to protect
▼ Money is an essential part of business and life
▼ Communication is the transfer of information
▼ Customers are the ones with problem-solving needs
▼ Business is a means to realize one’s dreams
Such beliefs are derived from the identity of “a strong and complete self as president”. As I write this, you can see that these values have a strong element of ego. My own self-centered view of what a president should be, causes people around me to feel “controlled”.
Along with the reconstruction of my identity, my beliefs were also reconstructed. Here is a partial description of the verbalization of the beliefs at the same time as the verbalization of identity.
▼ Employees are comrades co-creating an ecosystem, while living their own subjective truth
▼ A business is a story of building an ecosystem in which one can live in one’s own subjective truth as well as overlaying it with the subjective truths of one’s comrades and those around one.
Now that we have talked about deconstructing and reconstructing identities and beliefs, I would like to conclude with a few remarks.
First of all, there is no right or wrong answer to identity and beliefs. It’s a matter of whether they are comfortable for oneself or not.
Also, deconstructing or reconstructing identities and beliefs is not something we should aim for or do. I think it is best to think of it as something that will happen when we connect to the subjective truth, as necessary. If we start with the idea of “what should be done” without connecting to the subjective truth, the energy to go through the process of change will not continue and it will not work.
And since the restructuring of identity and beliefs implies a shift in values, it’s not easy to change overnight, nor is it something we should try to do. It is mostly a gradual process, at least over several years.
Values are like the foundation on which we stand now, and it takes a lot of courage to let go of them. I think it can be interpreted as the need for a connection with the subjective truth as the center of our own unshakable commitment to step out into it.
Here are the quests of the day. (If you’d like, please share your thoughts in the comments.)
・What kind of transformation of identity, if any, has there ever been?
・What changes, if any, have there been in your beliefs?
Bunshiro Ochiai
