The Mind of the Leader book club questions

1. 1.

   Hougaard and Carter argue ego is the root cause of most leadership failures. Where do you see ego — your own or others' — functioning as a drag on your team?

2. 2.

   The book distinguishes compassion from empathy. Is that distinction meaningful to you in practice, or does it feel like semantic fine-tuning?

3. 3.

   Which of the three qualities — mindfulness, selflessness, or compassion — is hardest to sustain under pressure? What breaks it for you?

4. 4.

   How would your direct reports describe your default mode when you're under stress? What evidence do you have for that assessment?

5. 5.

   The book argues that psychological safety is built or destroyed in small moments. What recent interaction do you think added or subtracted from safety on your team?

6. 6.

   Many organizations say they value vulnerability but reward certainty. How does your workplace actually treat leaders who say they don't know?

7. 7.

   If you became more selfless as a leader — in the authors' sense — what would you have to give up that you currently value?

8. 8.

   The research shows a significant gap between leaders' self-perception and how their teams experience them. What do you think your version of that gap looks like?

9. 9.

   Compassion in the book means caring about growth and wellbeing, not sparing people from hard feedback. Where have you confused the two?

10. 10.

    The authors suggest that busyness is often ego in disguise — a way of signaling importance. How much of your current busyness is genuinely necessary?

11. 11.

    What would it look like to practice mindfulness not in meditation sessions but in the first five minutes of your next difficult conversation?

12. 12.

    The book profiles companies that have institutionalized these practices. What would have to be true about your organization for that to happen?

How to run the discussion

• Pick six to eight, not all of them. An hour of real discussion covers fewer questions than anyone expects, and racing the list is what makes a book club feel like homework.
• Open with what people noticed, not what they concluded. Asking for a verdict first hardens opinions before anyone has heard each other.
• Let the disagreement run. The questions below that split a room are the ones worth the time; the ones everyone answers the same way can be skipped.
• Ask the quiet person a specific question. A direct, narrow question is far easier to answer than an open invitation to contribute.