compassionate leadership

New Paper: Vulnerability, Calmness, and Nordic Leadership

I am pleased to share my latest paper, which argues that calmness, concentration, and a touch of coldness, when combined, cultivate a vulnerable leadership style that fosters trust and resilience.

In much of today’s leadership discourse, vulnerability is praised but often vaguely defined—sometimes confused with oversharing or weakness. My paper challenges this, contending that calmness, focus, and emotional coolness—although frequently underestimated—are essential to creating openness and psychological flexibility in leaders. Drawing from Nordic leadership traditions, I clarify how these qualities can empower leaders rather than hinder them.

Using a phenomenological lens, I weave a personal anecdote with leadership theory and psychological research. This offers a new perspective on how these understated qualities allow leaders to be both vulnerable and resilient, attentive and adaptive.

The paper suggests that calmness, concentration, and coldness are not barriers to connection but qualities that help leaders hold space for others, nurture trust, and strengthen teams. They form the backbone of trust-based leadership, which balances vulnerability and steadiness, ultimately benefiting both individuals and organizations.

You can read it here

This work is guided by two hypotheses with one overall objective of establishing an ethics of mindfulness . The first hypothesis is the concept of moral motivator or in- tentional moral. Both Western philosophy and mindfulness operate with an intention influenced by their moral beliefs. The second hypothesis is the relationship between moral reasoning and wisdom. That is, our reasoning is affected by our moral belief . To combine those two theses, I introduce the concept compassion from mindfulness and the ethics based on the French philosopher Gilles Deleuze. Hereby, I suggest that by practicing mindfulness, one can develop his or her capacity for compassion, but also – this practice – is a «way of life» that can help protect the planet: an ethical practice.

Read the entire paper here: Compassion – Toward an Ethics of Mindfulness.

“Compassion – Toward an Ethics of Mindfulness” is published in the journal Mindfulness & Compassion, vol. 3, issue 1.