By Dean Newlund
We live and work in a state of almost constant distraction. Notifications interrupt our thinking, meetings run into meetings, and emails compete for our attention. Leaders are expected to make decisions quickly, respond immediately, anticipate what’s next, and somehow remain connected to the people around them. The problem isn’t simply that we’re busy. It’s that we can become so focused on what just happened or what needs to happen next that we’re rarely fully present for what is happening right now.
That lack of presence has consequences. We miss what someone is really trying to tell us. We react instead of listen. We overlook subtle changes in a team. We make decisions based on assumptions rather than what is actually happening. Sometimes we become so consumed by the noise around us that we lose touch with our own instincts.
I believe one of the answers is surprisingly simple and increasingly difficult: be present. Not as a mindfulness exercise, but as a leadership capability. Self-awareness and the ability to be fully in the moment are a superpower. Presence gives us access to better decisions, deeper relationships, greater courage, and something leaders don’t talk about nearly enough: intuition.
What 736 Hours of Presence Can Teach Us
One of the most powerful demonstrations of presence I’ve encountered comes from an unlikely place: performance artist Marina Abramović. In her legendary work The Artist Is Present, Marina sat silently at the Museum of Modern Art in New York while visitors took turns sitting across from her. She did this for 736 hours. There was no conversation, no phone, no agenda, and no attempt to impress, persuade, fix, or accomplish anything. Two people simply sat across from each other and looked at one another.
Marina described her role simply: “My function was to be there—present—100% for them.” Think about how unusual that has become. How often do we give another person 100% of our attention? Even when we appear to be listening, part of our mind is often somewhere else. We’re thinking about how to respond, evaluating what the person is saying, anticipating the next meeting, or wondering about the message that just appeared on our phone. Our body may be in the room while our attention is somewhere else.
Marina’s experiment strips all of that away, and something extraordinary happens. People cry, smile, and become visibly emotional. Without saying a word, many experience a profound sense of connection. Marina describes herself as a mirror for the people sitting across from her. Some project joy while others project tremendous pain. That idea stays with me because leadership often works the same way.
Presence Allows Us to See What Is Really There
When I’m truly present with someone, I notice things I otherwise miss: a hesitation before an answer, a change in tone, something that doesn’t quite match between the words being spoken and the emotion behind them, a concern that hasn’t yet been expressed, or an idea that is beginning to emerge but isn’t fully formed. Presence creates room for those things to surface, and it also creates room for me to notice what is happening inside myself.
Marina puts it powerfully when she says, “There’s nowhere to escape except into yourself.” That can be uncomfortable because presence removes some of the places we normally hide: activity, urgency, expertise, talking, and problem-solving. Sometimes the most important thing I can do as a leader is stop trying to fill the space, listen more carefully, observe what is happening, and resist the urge to immediately fix what appears. That’s when I begin seeing what is actually there rather than what I expect—or want—to see.
The Hardest Part of Presence Is Discomfort
Being present sounds peaceful, but often it isn’t. Real presence requires us to stay with situations we would rather move away from: a difficult conversation, a team that isn’t aligned, a decision without a clear answer, feedback we don’t want to hear, a strategy that isn’t working, a relationship that has become strained, or the uncomfortable realization that something about our own leadership needs to change.
Marina makes an important observation about growth when she says, “We never can change our life or ourselves if we do things we like.” Her point is that meaningful change requires entering territory where we don’t know exactly what is going to happen. That is also the territory of leadership, especially today. Innovation, transformation, and reinvention all require us to move toward uncertainty rather than away from it.
That also means failure has to be part of the equation. As Marina says, “Failure is such an important aspect of everybody’s life. If you experiment, you don’t know what is going to happen. So failure has to be part of the journey.” If we experiment, by definition we don’t know exactly what will happen. Some things will work and others won’t. The challenge is remaining present enough to learn from both.
Presence Comes Before Strategy
In my work with leaders and teams, I see organizations naturally reach for solutions. They want a new strategy, structure, process, initiative, or organizational chart. Sometimes those things are exactly what’s needed, but I’ve learned that there is often a more important move that comes first: helping people become present enough to see what is actually happening.
That means asking questions we sometimes avoid. What aren’t we talking about? What assumptions are we making? Where are people holding back? What has changed that we haven’t acknowledged? What are we afraid might happen? What is our experience telling us that the data alone cannot? Before people can meaningfully change what they are doing, they often need to slow down enough to see, hear, and feel again. That’s where connection begins, insight emerges, and courage is born.
Presence Opens the Door to Intuition
There is another reason I believe presence matters so much for leaders: it creates the conditions for intuition. Intuition has a difficult time competing with noise. When our minds are filled with emails, deadlines, meetings, analysis, and constant stimulation, the quieter signals are easily drowned out.
Marina describes a state in which you give everything you have and then let go. “You have to give 100% of your own self—your last atom of energy. And then, you have to let go. That’s when intuition steps in.” I think there’s an important leadership lesson in that. Good leadership requires analysis, expertise, data, and experience, but there are moments when those things can only take us so far.
There is a point where we have to become quiet enough to notice what we know but cannot yet fully explain. Something feels wrong. A person seems ready for more. The team is saying yes, but something tells us they aren’t really committed. An opportunity doesn’t look perfect on paper, yet we sense there is something worth pursuing. That isn’t magic. It’s often the accumulation of years of experience, pattern recognition, observation, emotion, and information operating beneath our conscious awareness. But we have to be present enough to hear it.
Leadership Isn’t Always About Moving Forward
We tend to associate leadership with action: move faster, decide, execute, solve, and deliver. Leaders certainly need to do those things, but leadership isn’t only about moving forward. Sometimes it’s about standing still long enough to hear the truth.
Before the next important conversation, put the phone away and give the other person your complete attention. Before answering, allow another few seconds of silence. Before offering your solution, become curious about what you might be missing. Before making the decision, notice what your experience and intuition are telling you. When someone is sitting across from you, try giving that person something increasingly rare: 100% of your presence.
We spend enormous amounts of time teaching leaders what to do, but perhaps we need to spend more time developing their ability to simply be. In a world competing relentlessly for our attention, presence isn’t passive. It may be one of the most powerful acts of leadership we have.