There’s a quiet revolution underway in leadership.

It’s not loud.
It’s not fast.
And it’s certainly not driven by hustle.

It’s being led by those willing to trade force for flow.
Those who’ve realized: we don’t have an energy problem—we have an awareness problem.
Most leaders don’t need more time. They need to stop working against their energy.

This insight was at the heart of a recent conversation I had with Mieke Jacobs—poet, strategist, systems thinker, and author of Poet Assassin. What unfolded was a beautiful and provocative dialogue about the hidden dimensions of leadership most of us are never taught to access.

This article is an invitation. A reframe. And a set of 5 practical shifts you can begin today to move from depletion to alignment.

1. Stop Pushing. Start Listening.

“You need to honor energy. Because stillness, if you’re extremely tired and you don’t manage energy, becomes lethargy.” – Ashish Kothari

Let’s begin here: in the pause.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that doing more is the path to leading better. That the answer lies in the next sprint, the next brainstorm, the next productivity hack. But what if the real breakthrough is what happens when we stop?

Mieke shared it simply and powerfully:

“I don’t want to chase life anymore. I want to see what happens when life comes to me.”

It takes courage to pause.
To not fill every waking moment.
To sit quietly, not with an outcome in mind, but with openness in heart.

But in the stillness, clarity arises.
We stop solving the wrong problem faster.
We realize some things don’t need optimizing; they need letting go.

Practice this:
Block 30–60 minutes this week. No agenda. No input. Just silence.
Write a question you’re struggling with.
Then sit with it. Don’t answer. Let it answer you.

2. Treat Energy as a System, Not Just a Feeling

“Productivity without presence isn’t performance. It’s erosion.” — Ashish Kothari

Too often, we manage time but ignore energy.

But the truth is—your personal energy is your leadership foundation.
And your team’s collective energy? That’s your culture in motion.

Mieke calls this “energy mastery,” and it’s a discipline that starts in the body and ripples outward through teams, systems, and even the spaces we gather in.

She shared the turning point:

“For a long time, I treated life force as something limited. Something to protect. But once I understood how much was stored in the body, and how much could be released, everything changed.”

It’s not just about resilience. It’s about coherence.

A team that is energetically attuned can absorb disruption without splintering.
A team that is fragmented? Even small stress fractures become breaking points.

Practice this:

  • Do a quick “energy audit” at the end of the week.
    Ask yourself and your team:

What gave you energy this week? What drained it?

  • Then make one small shift: cancel a meeting, take a walking check-in, shorten a Zoom.

3. Lead from Wholeness, Not Just Role

“Leadership is not separate from life. Every journey is an Odyssey.” — Mieke Jacobs

Too many leaders show up as a role, not a whole human.

We compartmentalize—strategist here, parent there, seeker somewhere else.
But leadership today demands more than functional excellence. It calls for integration.

Mieke describes her work with teams and leaders as mythic, often drawing from poetry, archetypes, and systems thinking. Why? Because organizations are living systems, not machines.

When we lead from wholeness, something shifts.
We become more attuned. More curious. More connected.
Not just with others, but with ourselves.

Practice this:
Before your next team session, read a short poem, a quote or a passage.
Open with a moment of reflection not with the agenda.
Ask: “What’s present for you today?”
Notice what opens when the heart speaks before the mind.

4. Honor the Cycle, Don’t Just Celebrate the Climb

“Spring. Summer. Autumn. Winter. Even leadership has seasons.” — Mieke Jacobs

We glorify growth, but ignore rest.
We celebrate beginnings, but skip closure.
We rush to the next thing without learning from the last.

But nature has a rhythm.
And so do we.

Every project, every phase, every transformation has its own spring (emergence), summer (maturity), autumn (letting go), and winter (stillness and renewal). Leaders who ignore this burn themselves—and others—out.

Mieke shared a beautiful practice: before beginning any team journey, she sets an intention within a “charged field.” Sometimes that field is nature. Sometimes it’s a metaphor. Always, it’s meaningful.

Practice this:

  • Ask your team: What season are we in right now?
  • If you’re closing a chapter, take time to mourn, harvest lessons, and honor the end—before rushing to begin again.

5. Let Go of Either/Or. Step into the Third Way.

“Light and darkness. Action and stillness. Both belong.” — Ashish Kothari

So much of modern leadership is rooted in polarity.
Grow or protect. Speed or sustainability. Results or relationships.

But what if these aren’t opposites to choose between…
… but tensions to hold with grace?

This is the essence of systemic intelligence. It’s not about picking a side. It’s about sensing the larger pattern—and finding the third way that arises only when we stop forcing a binary.

Mieke calls this “zooming out.” It’s how she diagnoses deeper issues in teams—by stepping back to see the whole.
Because sometimes, the conflict isn’t between two people.
It’s between an outdated order and an emerging one.

Practice this:
In your next big decision, ask:

  • What are the two poles at play here?
  • What would it look like to honor both?
  • What’s the deeper need trying to emerge through this tension?

Final Reflection: Lead as Nature Leads

This isn’t about slowing down to fall behind.
It’s about tuning in so you can lead from the inside out.

From force to flow.
From exhaustion to energy.
From fragmentation to wholeness.

“I became more productive when I started working less.” – Ashish

Not because I did less. But because I stopped doing what didn’t matter. This week, try just one shift.
Make space.
Listen for the whisper beneath the noise.
And watch what opens—not just in your work, but in your being.

Learn more about Mieke on Linkedin.

Listen to the podcast with Ashish and Mieke below.

Access and subscribe to all of the episodes of the Happiness Squad Podcast here.

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