In my last two columns, I've discussed the value of "Conscious Leadership," as defined by Whole Foods founder and CEO John Mackey in his new book of the same name. Conscious leaders connect people to purpose and hold themselves - and their organizations - to the highest ethical standards. Businesses that do this have higher employee retention, dependable suppliers, loyal customers, better reputations, fewer regulatory and legal hassles, greater market share, and bigger profits. How do you become a conscious leader? It begins with a robust commitment to self-improvement. Before we can consciously lead others, we have to learn and grow ourselves. John cites Benjamin Franklin's famous commitment to a lifetime of personal betterment. Franklin formulated a system of 13 virtues - he called it the "path to personal perfection" - and concentrated on developing just one virtue each week. Franklin found it difficult to meet his own high standards, writing, "I was surprised to find myself so much fuller of faults than I imagined." Yet he remained committed to incremental improvement and - over a period of years - those virtues became second nature, part of his character. Conscious leadership requires wisdom. And John emphasizes that it can be developed only through meaningful experiences and deep reading. We live in a data-rich, news-saturated age. Throw in social media and most of us are swimming in a sea of trivial, meaningless and even false information. To break free of this, John writes that "We must dive more deeply into the long-form article, the absorbing book, the engaging documentary, the enriching dialogue, the inspiring inquiry, the edifying conversation. It means committing to depth - going beyond the superficial and seeking out the substantive." Before you can inspire others, you have to become a more mature, more self-aware individual yourself. | 
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