Leading in Times of Chaos: The Leadership We Need Now
A Reimagining of Leadership Rooted in Care and Collective Integrity
Over the past few weeks I have been fortunate enough to attend a weekly group circle dedicated to exploring how to navigate times of chaos and polycrisis - it has been illuminating, tender and perspective shifting.
Simply being with others asking themselves similar questions, sharing our respective experiences and coming together to forge a path forward that feels true to each of us and the whole has been a gift.
It has crystallised even more deeply for me the need for us to come together, to co-create a new way, focus on our communities and the places where we can make a real difference.
What is very clear is that we need a reimagining of what leading means. If ‘the way it has always been’ has led us this far, we need a new way to take us forward.
One that is not built on disconnection, but is relational and built on community and shared humanity.
One that doesn’t sacrifice everything in pursuit of the illusion of success or growth at all cost.
One that is rooted in care, devotion and is regenerative for all.
It reaffirmed my commitment and devotion to a more embodied, attuned, relational kind of leadership as a force for good that ripples out into the world.
A fundamentally different orientation to power, success and impact.
Embodied, Regenerative Leadership - A New Pathway
Embodied, regenerative leadership is about reclaiming the aspects of leadership that have often been dismissed, suppressed, lost or devalued.
Traits such as relational intelligence, attuned presence, deep listening, resonance, coherence, and profound care. Being in service rather than self-serving and rooted in love rather than fear.
It’s the opposite of extractive leadership.
It’s regenerative.
And it is what we need to lead ourselves and our communities into a future that makes sense.
A leadership that is rooted in collective embodied integrity.
Collective Embodied Integrity - What We Owe Each Other
Collective embodied integrity is a way of being that is rooted in both our own truth and relational care.
It starts within each of us.
It begins by being true to ourselves in a way that is felt. It’s the feeling we experience when our actions, words, and choices are congruent with what we deeply know and feel. It’s a sense of coherence we experience within - an inner alignment between what we feel matters and how we act and move through the world.
Collective embodied integrity doesn’t stop at the Self. It also lives in the space between us. It’s relational and invites us to ask “What is my impact?” not just “What is my own truth?”
Mark Walsh, one of my early embodiment teachers speaks to the idea of having ‘one eye in, one eye out’ in embodiment. In the context of this article, I would interpret it as meaning being attuned to what’s happening within us (what we feel and sense) as well as being attuned to those around us.
We don’t stop at whether something feels good to us, but also consider its impact on the people around me, the communities I’m part of, and the Earth I walk on.
It involves being willing to be impacted by others’ perspectives and needs and having our own point of view shifted and expanded.
It’s a kind of leadership that doesn’t just centre the Self, but includes the Self within the whole.
It’s rooted in congruence with what truly matters to us, and deep care for the natural world and those we are in community with.
It’s an ongoing practice of inner alignment and relational accountability.
A dance between self-awareness and shared responsibility.
When we feel that we are part of a larger field, a living system, not just an individual path, our integrity and leadership becomes not just about what we feel or what we want to express, but also how we impact, repair, contribute to the spaces we are part of.
It includes:
How we show up when things are difficult.
How we stay in dialogue even when we are uncomfortable.
How we hold both truth and connection, fierceness and compassion.
How we let ourselves be touched by others.
How we relate to the natural world we are innately part of.
It almost becomes a collective nervous system regulation practice.
It’s about creating enough safety within ourselves and in our relational spaces to keep showing up honestly, even when it is challenging or messy.
How Do We Move From Here?
So what does this mean, in practice?
I can’t say what it might mean for you, because your path is yours to explore.
What I can say is that if something in this feels resonant, if it stirs something in you, even subtly, then perhaps there’s something here worth paying attention to.
Maybe it’s an invitation to reflect on whether your ways of being and leading are coming from a place that feels coherent to you.
Perhaps it’s tracing the thread back to this question: what feels true and important to you?
It could be an opportunity to explore the impact you desire to make at this time, and the contribution you want to bring into the world.
If that’s something you are curious to explore more deeply, I simply invite you to stay in conversation with it.
With yourself. With others doing this work. With me, if that feels aligned.
Because we don’t need more people following the blueprint of leadership that has led us here.
We need more leaders who are grounded, attuned, rooted in care and courageously redefining what it means to lead at this time.
If you would like to explore this in more depth, get in touch at isabelle@isabellegriffith.co.uk.
You might also be interested in:
Leadership Redefined: Why Feminine Leadership Is Powered By Rest
Embodied Feminine Leadership: Your Way Of Being is A Way Of Leading
