Interview with Dr.Maitra on how neuroscience of leadership can help those with competing work-life responsibilities

Declan speaks to Dr. Raka Maitra about how we can apply self-awareness and neuroscience of leadership to become better leaders. This includes tips for individuals, women leaders, emerging leaders and organisations on how to better balance work-life responsibilities including caring for others. Raka’s mantra is that we can all improve our self-leadership abilities if we focus on three key traits: uncertainty, compassion and resilience.

Key takeaways:

“We can all change society and work culture, one resilient compassionate leader at a time”.

 “If we commit to developing uncertainty, compassion and resilience within ourselves, then we are all moving towards a better future for ourselves and everyone else”.

Highlights:

• Covid has made explicit some of the implicit challenges including juggling work and life balance, especially for those with caring responsibilities
• The remit of inclusion (in an organisation) has to increase to include people with more home related responsibilities and facilitate them
• People who are juggling many responsibilities at home and at work need to develop three key self -traits: Uncertainty, Resilience and Compassion
• The Covid situation has magnified the importance of why organisations need to be much more inclusive in their perspective and take it seriously to have the work-life balance of its staff at its core
• Applying CBT principles, mindfulness and meditation can help in building our resilience
• Everything life throws at us can be an opportunity to develop our self-leadership capabilities if we are willing to grow
• To grow we must commit to ourselves, commit to grow and believe in what we can deliver to the world
• We all have the gifts of resilience and compassion within us which we can use to change society and work culture
• The organisation needs to have a clear stand on what it means by inclusion
• Organisations should aim to look after staff well-being, supporting work-life balance and providing flexible ways of working