In business, if you want your team to thrive, learning heart centred strategies to connect and communicate is the one essential ingredient that accelerates growth. A clear mind can drive strategy, but an open heart is what creates trust, loyalty and genuine connection.

For years, I believed leadership and business growth lived in the mind— technical ability, logic, planning, decisions, KPIs. And here’s the harsh reality. My business didn’t take off. I struggled managing team members and became bogged down in performance analysis.

But life has a way of breaking us open.

And that breaking was what transformed how I lead my business.

The truth is, the shift that changed everything for me didn’t come from a new qualification, training, a clever system or a productivity hack.

It came from grief.

Raw, unfiltered, life-stopping grief. And it opened my heart in a way that no leadership textbook ever could.

When Loss Became My Teacher

When our son died, my world collapsed in an instant. One moment I was the ambitious, energetic business owner, and the next I was sitting at the bottom of the ocean, looking up at a surface I wasn’t sure I’d ever reach again.

My brain fog was relentless. Decision-making felt like wading through mud. I questioned everything—my choices, my path, my identity.

And for a while, I stayed small. Quiet. Unsure.

But grief does something extraordinary when we let it move through us: it softens the armour we never realised we were wearing.

It cracked me open. And in that opening, something shifted.

I became more real. More present. More connected—first to myself, then to the people I served.

And that authenticity changed my entire business.

The Mind-Hearted Tracks Of Leadership

Today, I see leadership as two train tracks running side by side.

One track is the mind—strategy, systems, structure, direction.

The other is the heart—empathy, attunement, courage, connection.

Without the mind in leadership, you can’t steer a team.

Without the heart, they won’t follow you.

You need both. Mind-Hearted leadership.

But for years, I was leaning almost entirely on logic.

Grief forced me—uncomfortably, painfully—onto the second track.

Grief also stripped away everything that no longer mattered and left me with the courage to make decisions that aligned.

And that’s when everything began to flow.

My team trusted me more deeply. Communication strengthened. My team grew. My business expanded.

Not because I bounced back—I didn’t.

But because I rose differently. I’d stopped leading from performance or perfection and started leading from presence and authenticity.

What Mind-Hearted Leadership Really Looks Like

Heart in leadership isn’t softness. It isn’t people pleasing. It’s not emotional outpouring or indulgence.

Heart is presence. Heart is truth and honestly. Heart is the courage to be seen and to see people—not just their output.

Here’s what it looks like as a Mind-Hearted leader within business:

CLEAR MIND

• Making decisions congruent with values meaning boundaries are no longer optional.

• Communicating openly —even when it’s uncomfortable- honest conversations create alignment faster than any spreadsheet.

OPEN HEART

• Building safety before strategy- people who feel seen become more creative and confident.

• Acknowledging every team member is a human being- stress, grief, overwhelm, these things don’t disappear at the office door.

It’s impossible to invite authenticity from a team when you won’t model it yourself.

This isn’t fluffy leadership.

This is effective leadership.

The kind that strengthens teams.

The kind that retains talent.

The kind that builds cultures people don’t want to walk away from.

People are tired of being managed.

They want to be met. They want leaders who can hold vision and vulnerability at the same time. Leaders who are brave enough to feel and still make clear decisions.

Leaders Who Really Create Lasting Impact Are The Ones Who Understand:

People don’t follow titles.

They follow connection.

They follow resonance.

They follow the feeling of being valued, understood and supported.

A clear mind gives direction.

A courageous heart gives meaning.

When you lead with both, everything changes.

Are you seeking to find clarity, confidence and courage?

Like to learn more about developing resilience through life challenges?

Niky offer’s her Rise UP program for women online as well as her Lead Her UP retreats for women.

• Find out more about her retreats here

• Listen in to Niky’s Synergy Women podcast here