Leadership lessons from the meaning of Namaste

Namaste

The divine light in me bows to the divine light within you

Hindus often greet with the phrase- Namaste- it is a phrase that you certainly might have heard at the end of a yoga class, but I wanted to share the significance of that meaning for human leadership.

(It is also Diwali today so I am feel especially spiritual!)

Namaste as a greeting serves as a reminder that we are made of the same stuff.

I honour the place in you, that is the same as it is in me

No matter how different we may be in background, experiences, ways of thinking, education, gender, abilities, preferences… this one word reminds us that:

We are the same. And we are whole.

There is a deeper message, that there is a divine existence in every living thing in the universe- a light. A fragment of something greater than ourselves. That light is our nature, the absolute essence of you.

We can give our selves a break because Hinduism also teaches that as humans, it is in our nature to forget that we have this incredible connection.

So Namaste serves to firstly remind us that we are more than all the material things- what car we drive, the roles we play, who we are with, the experiences we have had. I am more and I am whole.

When we are caught in these definitions we have of ourselves we fall into the trap of feeling less than or better than others, separate from others and different from others.

You might not be a Hindu; but I would like to connect with you on a level of sameness rather than difference, and share this these ideas about leadership and relationships.

• I invite you to think about how whole you feel? When people say- ‘bring your whole self to work’ how possible is that?

• Do you feel seen as whole by others? Do you see others as whole?

• Do you feel interconnected to others? Can you see what is the same about someone who might appear to very be different to you?

What sameness and connectedness does is invite us to have compassion for others, to be able to explore and hold the perspectives of others. I believe that this can help us to hold a space for others, listen better, be curious and compassionate. And lead in a more human way.

Namaste