Welcome to the Monthly Newsletter by Amer Kaissi
Edition #3, January 2020
Happy New Year! In this edition of “Leaders are Readers,” I am very excited to share with you my favorite book of last year: Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday. Holiday- a young modern philosopher who lives in Austin- is one of the few authors and thinkers that I chose to follow because he never fails to deliver interesting insights and wisdom.
In this short book, stillness is defined as the ability to be ready while the world spins you around, to act without frenzy, to hear only what needs to be heard, and to possess internal and external quietude on demand. Holiday explains why we need this type of stillness today: “The grind of work wears us down and seems to never stop. We are overfed and undernourished. Overstimulated, overscheduled and lonely.” Stillness is a powerful force that was given to us at birth but that atrophied in our modern busy lives. Therefore, we need to uncover and draw upon this quality that is inside of us. This will inspire us to have news ideas, to sharpen our perspective and to illuminate connections. It will allow us to generate a vision and make space for gratitude and wonder. It will also enable to us to persevere and unlock insights. To achieve stillness, Holiday suggests that we have to focus on the mind, the spirit and the body.
Under the domain of the mind, leaders need to be fully present, empty their minds of preconceptions, take their time in making decisions, sit quietly and reflect, reject distraction , weigh advice against the council of their convictions and deliberate without being paralyzed. “Our soul is where we secure our happiness and unhappiness, contentment or happiness – and ultimately determine the extent of our greatness,” notes Holiday. Therefore, leaders should focus in choosing virtue and contentment, conquering their anger, and understanding their place in the universe. Moreover, we need to take care of our bodies- our habits, our actions, our rituals, our self-care- in order to get our minds and our spirits in the right place. In focusing on their bodies, leaders should rise above their physical limitations, find hobbies that rest and replenish them, develop a reliable and disciplined routine, spend time getting active outdoors , seek out solitude and perspective, learn to sit and do nothing when called for, and get enough sleep and rein in workaholism.
If you find this book as informative as I did, I encourage you to check previous books by Ryan Holiday, especially Ego is the Enemy. It is one of my all-time favorites. I first read it when it came out in 2016, and this year I have committed to revisit its lessons by listening to the audiobook.
I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Newsletter. Every month, I will share with you one leadership or management book that I am reading, and tell you what I learned from it. Please invite your colleagues and friends to sign up.
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Dr. Amer Kaissi is a Leadership Keynote Speaker and a workplace culture and high-performance teams’ expert.
