Find your inner Zen to revolutionize your company
Six takeaways:
Beth Jannery is CEO of Titan Global Advisory, where she works with CEOs and Venture Capital firms as a consultant. She is also the author of The Power of Tao. Her argument in this piece is that Taoist ideas aren’t a retreat from ambition, and can help us in the workplace. She says that Taoist ideas are a different way of exercising power: strength through flexibility, influence through authenticity, and progress through alignment instead of force.
Here are her 3 key principles:
- Adopt the conscious compass: Rigid plans tend to break the moment conditions or situations shift. Jannery suggests a flexible mentality towards daily actions; an approach grounded in your values and vision, where direction matters more than speed. You still track metrics, but they should connect to purpose and show up in real operating results.
- Practice wu wei in decision-making: In the Tao, the principle of “Wu wei” is often translated as “effortless action.” But it doesn’t mean doing nothing. It means precision: being aware of timing, and acting when conditions are right instead of forcing results. Refusing to be reactive to stress. Jannery’s example is a time she delayed a long-awaited product launch by six months, not out of fear, but because it was clear that the market was not ready for the product yet. That kind of patience can decide whether a launch fails or leads its market.
- Lead through the unseen current: Every organization has an invisible cultural current running underneath it. Leaders who understand it can extend their influence without pressuring anyone, by being authentic, communicating clearly and creating an environment of psychological safety. Your presence shapes behavior more than pressure does.
Jannery also offers 3 practical ways to begin instituting Taoist principles in the workplace:
- Start with silence: Take 10 minutes of stillness before any major decision. Jannery calls it strategic discipline, not indulgence.
- Audit your energy: Ask yourself honestly whether your presence brings tension or trust into a room, and adjust from there.
- Build flow into the culture: Encourage your team to work with fewer rigid processes and more adaptable frameworks.
Jannery’s point is that a leader’s inner balance spreads outward. Teams stay steadier under pressure, people innovate more freely when they’re less afraid, and customers respond to companies that feel human.
Her closing question applies to leaders everywhere: can you lead from alignment instead of urgency?
By Beth Jannery for Fast Company
Read the whole story.