TCC & Leadership

While I have just begun my practice of T’ai Chi Chih, I have been a student and teacher of leadership development for two decades. Recently I’ve been exploring how leaders grow: A transformation is needed in keeping with the massive, swift and unending changes in the world. Events have accelerated; something that happens half a world away impacts us the next day. In my experience most leaders do not know how to slow down, reflect, and observe. So, I was struck between the parallels in TCC and leadership qualities for the future.

First is that things move in circles – like the movement of hands in Bass Drum. But today’s leaders assume (usually) that everything moves in straight lines forever. Markets expand on and on; things always get bigger, faster, and less costly. Leaders of the future need to understand that the world moves in circles. Always moving back and forth, up and down.

The central purpose of TCC is to develop, circulate, and balance the Chi. I think the central purpose of effective leadership is to develop, circulate, and balance the life force of human organizations (human knowledge and wisdom). More so now than ever before, brute force, control of assets, and artificial manipulations of things like money don’t build true sustainability.

The practice of TCC helps unify mental and physical energy. The meditative state that results show us the power of living in the moment. There is no past, no future; there is just now. This is what I call “leadership presence.” Being keenly focused on what needs to happen now, and observing the current state of one’s self, is a talent future leaders will need.

I am keenly interested in transformation. What is the process? What does it look and feel like? From my study of leadership development I have come to appreciate the spiritual nature of transformation. It’s not just physical (although it can be). It’s not just Ppsychological (although it can be). It changes the way we see and experience the world, and what we believe.

And even as a novice TCC practitioner, I can sense this transformation. People around me observe someone more peaceful, moving at a slower pace and becoming detached from the swirl of everyday activity. I finally “got it” when I read about Seijaku: serenity in the midst of activity. Strangely enough this leads to an even deeper level of engagement with the world – but one that separates purposeful action from mere motion. So my task is twofold. Learn and practice TCC more deeply. And try to communicate that learning into a language and conscious practice for future leaders.