Mental agility means more than thinking critically and solving problems in the workplace — it’s about combining your knowledge and character ethic to make choices that display confidence, courage, and individual leadership in all aspects of your life. At a recent MY Journey® event, Rob Siegfried, CEO and Founder of The Siegfried Group, LLP (Siegfried), encouraged his audience to lean into mastering their mental agility by learning about and reflecting on how to make growth-oriented choices.
“We’re not only here to talk about mental agility because it’s important to your job,” explained Rob as he took the MY Journey® stage. “It’s more encompassing than that. It’s really about how you make decisions throughout your life. Choices are paramount.”
Siegfried’s MY Journey® program helps employees build mastery in a variety of areas, enhance their leadership capabilities, and experience transformational growth. During this event, attendees heard from both Rob and guest speaker Dr. Bill Isaacs and were given reflective time to think about their decision-making processes, honestly consider their strengths and weaknesses, and understand how to leverage these items and their mental agility to make the complex and difficult choices that foster success.
Mastering mental agility is a valuable process
Rob and Bill Schieffer, Executive Vice President at Siegfried, were joined on stage by two of the Firm’s clients, and the group discussed their perception of mental agility and how it has played a role in their success.
“Mental agility is all about being deliberate, planning, pausing, reflecting, and iterating, so that by the end, you get to the best possible result,” one client stated.
They also examined the professional value of strengthening your mental agility, especially through opportunities and programs like MY Journey®. They reflected on how Siegfried employees are passionately committed to the work they’re doing for clients and possess the unique intangibles necessary to succeed in areas where they have minimal prior knowledge or experience.
“If you’re mentally agile, people always make time,” said Rob. “But if you ask the same question over and over, and people don’t feel like you’re really learning and curious and finding solutions, then they won’t want to engage with you.”
Reflective thinking
Dr. Isaacs, President and Founder of Dialogos and Founder of Generative Capital, spoke about how expanding your thinking process and understanding yourself play into mastering your mental agility.
“Mental agility has an element of expansiveness to it,” Dr. Isaacs explained. “It’s not just about being quick. It’s about being inclusive. It’s about noticing your situation – noticing your context – and impacting it.”
In an interactive group activity, Dr. Isaacs helped attendees identify their leadership strengths and weaknesses. Although it can be difficult to do, by having the courage to identify the parts of yourself that may be stuck or need improvement, you can become more masterful and confident in the ways you think and interact with the people and environment around you.
“Without courage, you cannot be self-led,” said Dr. Isaacs. “In fact, being self-led is displaying courage.” This MY Journey® event was hosted live in Las Vegas and broadcast to nearly 20 locations around the country. More than 1,100 people were in attendance.
