Leadership From Where You Are

How every woman in every role can lead with influence and impact

NINA KHOO – SENSITIVE LEADERSHIP COACH

Master NLP Coach, Creative Visionary and champion of women, Nina works with sensitive female leaders to fully understand and harness the power of their highly sensitive trait.

Managing their overwhelm, self-doubt and energy levels, Nina’s clients let go of everything that keeps them small and invisible, developing true resilience so they can lead with confidence and integrity.

Website: www.ninakhoo.com

When you think of a leader, what comes to mind?

Do you think of a warrior clad in armour, charging into battle with a loud war-cry, an army following behind them?

Or maybe you’re picturing a politician, banging emphatically on the table as they argue their latest policy.

Is the image you’re creating in your mind of someone loud, brash, extroverted? Male?

Maybe you’ve managed to transcend our patriarchal conditioning and are imagining a female leader – the mighty Boudica perhaps, our late Queen Elizabeth II, or Margaret Thatcher.

You may be thinking of the suffragettes, our brave ancestral sisters who fought for our right to vote; heckling politicians, chaining themselves to railings and storming parliament.

But how many of you, I wonder, are thinking of a mother holding her baby’s hands, speaking encouragingly while guiding them to take their first tentative steps?

Or a teacher delivering a lesson to a classroom of pupils?

Taking part in a rally or march, the current version of the suffragette movement, any form of activism where you stand up for what you believe in – is leading. As is daring to speak up and share your point of view in a discussion, whether that’s on a stage, on social media, at work or across the dinner table.

And when you thought about ‘leaders’, did you think of yourself, standing in the supermarket selecting one brand over another? Looking through the list of ingredients and maybe choosing the product with the better sustainability credentials or the one with the least additives?

Every consumer purchase we make has an impact.

For instance, opting to avoid palm oil or going for products that contain sustainable palm oil has far-reaching implications on deforestation, the extinction of species and climate change.

Yes, even your biscuit choice has consequences!

Every time you choose not to buy something new but instead recycle something you already own or buy a pre-loved item also has an impact.

We only need to look at photos of the mountains of plastic waste we ship to countries such as Malaysia, Turkey and Poland to see what a big difference our choices make.

When we decide to shop at a farmer’s market or a local independent store, we’re supporting individuals rather than global companies. These choices may seem insignificant, but collectively, they make a huge difference.

Mothers can often be the last people to see themselves as leaders.

Those that take time out from their careers to raise children forget the many leadership qualities they’re displaying daily:

Co-ordinating family logistics – mothers need to be experts in strategic planning and delegation, especially during the school holidays
Mediating disputes between family members and friends – requires advanced diplomatic skills such as empathy and conflict resolution
Volunteering at school and in the community – all of the above skills are needed for this, plus creativity, initiative and team building
Managing household finances – daily decision-making and resource management

Skills any CEO of a company would be proud to boast!

Worth considering the next time you question whether you have the skills to apply for a job after your career break or wonder whether you’re able to run your own business.

Speaking of leadership and acknowledging our power, did you know that if you’re a Highly Sensitive Person, you’re physiologically wired to be a leader?

Your highly responsive nervous system causes you to notice and respond to changes in your environment way before the rest of the population. This could be changes in temperature, light, air quality, noise or to any signs of danger which includes toxins. ‘Danger’ for your hair-trigger fight or flight response comes in many forms, many of them invisible.

Nature has created Highly Sensitive People to be the canaries in the coal-mine. To respond first before everyone else, so ensuring the survival of our species. Which is why the highly sensitive trait has been found in consistent percentages of approximately 20% in over a hundred different animal species.

In evolutionary terms, it’s crucial to pay attention to what is happening to our Highly Sensitive population.

What they’re noticing and the way they react is a critical early indicator of what will eventually impact everyone else. So, HSPs are unconscious leaders, just by virtue of the way they are wired.

We are all leading

The fact is, whether you’re Highly Sensitive or not, are the CEO of a company or the office cleaner, run your own business or are a stay-at-home mum, we are all leading, every day, whether we do it consciously or unconsciously.

You don’t need a fancy title to be a leader. You don’t need to be an extrovert or aggressive to be a leader. Leadership comes in all forms, and we’re doing it every day, whether we realise it or not.

So make even your smallest decisions mindfully, because as the saying goes, a butterfly flapping their wings on one side of the World can cause a tsunami thousands of miles away.

Your choices and actions have an impact.

And you’re leading every day, whether you realise it or not.

With love,

Nina

PS. You can experience Nina’s work yourself at an upcoming workshop happening in Brighton on Sunday 27th April.

Find out more here.