What Gets In the Way of True Leadership and Engagement?

"To be identified with your mind is to be trapped in time: the compulsion to live almost exclusively through memory and anticipation." — Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now

I recently shared this image and message on LinkedIn. The responses touched something deep that I hoped they would.

The three gray boxes in the middle of my image - Always Doing, Endless Voice in Head, and Chasing Results.

Each layer disconnects us from what makes leadership and work truly meaningful. They're the barriers between Who We Really Are and Meaningful Work.

One reader, Colin, shared a powerful metaphor that brought this to life:

"We put on coat after coat, metaphorically - layers of programming and conditioning. With each layer, we become more constrained, less able to move freely or feel what's happening around us. Eventually, the weight becomes immobilizing."

But here's the hopeful part: we can remove these layers. As Colin noted, "Once we start, it gets easier because we are now in motion again. We finally arrive, maybe where we started, free, yet wiser because of the experience."

Manuela reflected that the true barriers to meaningful impact aren't in external solutions but in our mental noise and relentless 'doing.'

She posed a question worth sitting with: "What if we collectively paused, stripped away the layers of distraction, and truly embraced the essence of who we are?"

This isn't just about workplace efficiency or leadership techniques. It's about finding our way back to ourselves - and through that, to work that truly matters.

As you move through the holidays and year end, I invite you to notice:

Which of these layers feels most present in your work right now? What might become possible if you began to gently set it aside?

With appreciation,
— Bill

Bill Fox, Founder, LeaderONE​, Space Beyond Boundaries, and Forward Thinking Workplaces
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Pioneering Leadership from Within | Unlocking Human and Organizational Potential