Are you listening to what your body is telling you? And what has that got to do with how you show up as a leader?
My guest, somatic leadership expert and educator Dr. Pavini Moray, and I explore how tuning into the body's signals can guide better decision-making, boost leadership empathy and prevent burnout. Our conversation also covers the significance of creating trauma-informed workplaces and developing skills to process triggers.
I love this idea of the body as a continuous source of wisdom and insights. Helping us to process what’s going on internally and giving us little external signals - a tightening of the shoulders, a clench of the jaw, a shallow breath. What’s happening below our necks? Let’s find out!
Holding power to lead with wisdom
Why you should listen: Pitfalls of leadership power
Impulsive, intoxicated leadership behaviours
We explore somatic awareness in leadership
Listening from ‘the back of the body’ to cultivate empathetic leadership
Building safe, trauma-informed corporate cultures
Noticing, naming: do a leadership body scan
Take action
Go back to the fundamentals of breathing, meditation, body awareness. Do a body scan to figure out how you are feeling today. Breathe into any tension and listen to the cues and signals the body is giving.
Tip of the week
Is from Composure: How Centred Leaders Make the Biggest Impact and it’s about the ‘feeling into the feeling’ exercise. Pay attention to the feeling you're experiencing in your body, visualise it, breathe into it, imagine its shape, texture, colour and temperature. Imagine yourself sitting in that emotion, that shape, that texture - breathing into it, observing it and creating some space in it and then breathing out. Take your imagination through the end or bottom of that particular image.
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About Dr. Pavini Moray
Dr. Pavini Moray is a founder and author with more than 30 years of experience as an educator, activist, somatic coach, and serial entrepreneur. They support humans and organisations to evolve their communication and enjoy thriving relationships. Pavini's "How to Hold Power: A Somatic Approach to Becoming a Leader People Love and Respect" was published by North Atlantic Books in 2023. You can learn more at www.pavinimoray.com
Key moments
Planet Human: What does Microsoft’s market capitalisation valuation of $3 trillion tell us about where wealth and power - unelected - really lives?
Planet Zoë: Embarking on an outdoor experiential program with emerging leaders in the science world - very cool! Continuing to mull global power dynamics and how that will influence this year’s writing, fiction and nonfiction.
Introduction to Somatic Leadership and Dr. Pavini Moray (00:04:27)
Bringing the Body into the Conversation (00:06:40) Discussion on the importance of paying attention to the body's signals and incorporating the body in leadership and decision-making.
Understanding the Body's Signals as a Source of Wisdom (00:08:42) Exploration of different signals the body provides.
Practising Somatic Awareness and Interpreting Body Signals (00:11:05) Insight into the process of practising somatic awareness, cultivating curiosity, and interpreting body signals for better decision-making.
Impact of Ignoring Body Signals and Potential for Stress and Burnout (00:16:09) Discussion on the consequences of ignoring body signals, leading to stress, burnout, and the importance of paying attention to early signs of burnout.
Personal Experience and the Importance of Paying Attention to Body Signals (00:19:40) Personal experience shared by Zoë about the impact of ignoring body signals and the shift in mindset after going through a significant health event.
Stepping into Leadership (00:20:49) Exploring the impact of stepping into a leadership role and holding power in an organisation.
Somatic Awareness and Power (00:22:02) Understanding the concept of holding power and learning to feel its impact on others through somatic awareness.
Listening and Empathy (00:28:08) Understanding the role of deep listening and empathy in embodying power and creating human connection in leadership.
Trauma-Informed Workplace (00:31:28) Recognising and addressing trauma in the workplace, creating a culture of consent, and developing skills to handle triggers and responses.
Technology and Empathy (00:38:57) Exploring the potential of technology to enhance empathy and somatic practices, and its impact on human potential and love.
Avoiding Pain and Repair (00:42:57) Discussion about avoiding pain and repairing relationships, and the tendency to sweep aside difficult questions.
Understanding Personal Power (00:47:04) Dr. Pavini Moray emphasises the importance of recognising personal power and influence, and the impact of each individual's actions.
Somatic Leadership Practices (00:50:24) Zoë Routh discusses the importance of somatic practices, such as body scans and breathing exercises, for centred leadership and compassionate responses.
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About your host, Canberra leadership expert Zoë Routh:
Zoë Routh is a leadership futurist, podcaster, and multiple award-winning author. She works with leaders and teams to navigate future horizons.
She has worked with individuals and teams internationally and in Australia since 1987. From wild Canadian rivers to the Australian Outback, and the Boardroom jungles, Zoë is an adventurist! She facilitates strategy and culture sessions with audacious teams.
Zoë's fourth leadership book, People Stuff - Beyond Personality Problems: An advanced handbook for leadership, won the Book of the Year at the Australian Business Book Awards in 2020. Her fifth book is a near future science fiction dystopian novel, The Olympus Project.
Zoë is the producer of the Zoë Routh Leadership Podcast, dedicated to asking “What if…?” and sharing Big Ideas on the Future of Leadership.
Zoë is an outdoor adventurist and enjoys telemark skiing, has run six marathons, is a one-time belly-dancer, has survived cancer, and loves hiking in the high country. She is married to a gorgeous Aussie and is a self-confessed dark chocolate addict.