Less noise for more Mindful leadership
How to lead with presence
Think back to your last “important” meeting. Were you really there, or were you mentally answering emails, going over tasks, or checking chats? In medium and large companies we spend so many hours in meetings that giving people our full attention has become the exception, not the rule.
Sometimes we confuse leadership with information: more meetings, more updates, more dashboards, when in reality it is much more about presence, connection, and deep reflection on what the team, users, or the organization need at that moment. Without that mental clarity, without that presence, it is easy to end up exhausted in irrelevant meetings, irrelevant micro decisions, and unproductive time.
So what does it actually mean, in practice, to lead with presence? Presence is uncomfortable because it forces you to stay in the moment, without distractions, without a mask. It is about deliberately deciding where you place your attention when you are with other people. And you can set the stage for every participant’s presence to show up. How can you do that?
Set objectives: Why are we here?
Reduce the noise: You cannot be present if you are doing something else at the same time. You might feel “unproductive”, but presence and productivity are not opposites, presence is what makes that moment valuable instead of corporate theater.
Hold your presence: You cannot ask others to be present if your mind is full of self criticism, comparison, and distractions, which makes you impatient, interrupt, and want everything done your way. So before each meeting, pause for a moment. Notice your mood and come back to your center so you can sustain that presence and pass it on to others.
In the end, the difference is not in your calendar, but in how you choose to show up in every conversation. You can keep piling up meetings, or you can start using each one as a real space for attention, clarity, and decision. That choice, repeated many times, is what eventually defines your leadership.