(I024) How The Ensō Mindset Changed My Brain
My journey with the Ensō Mindset began with the quiet presence of my Jiichan, my Japanese grandfather. Though I never watched him practice calligraphy, I can imagine his brush moving across the canvas, creating bold strokes in his shodō paintings—an artist and a businessman shaping the world with deliberate, intentional movement. His art, now in my hands, became the inspiration for how I understood leadership, resilience, and ultimately, how my own brain worked.
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A New Way to Think, Learn, and Lead
For years, my work in HR, leadership training, and development followed structured methodologies. But the more I studied human behavior and neuroscience, the more I saw that true growth wasn’t linear—it was dynamic, fluid, and adaptive. The Ensō art my Jiichan created wasn’t just aesthetic; it was a representation of how we think, how we change, and how we lead.
The more I embraced this mindset, the more I noticed how my own brain was shifting. Instead of viewing leadership as a series of rigid steps, I started seeing it as a cycle of learning, experimenting, and mastering. I realized that growth didn’t happen through a single breakthrough but through an infinite loop (∞) of reflection, failure, and refinement.
Ensō Infinity Growth Model (∞)
Rewiring My Brain for Growth
Through journaling, observation, and deep reflection, I became my own case study. I tracked how my thoughts changed as I let go of perfectionism, embraced failure as part of learning, and allowed curiosity to replace certainty. My brain was shifting from fixed patterns to dynamic adaptability, from seeing leadership as a role to embodying it as a continuous practice.
The Ensō Mindset reshaped how I process challenges:
Instead of fearing change, I saw it as impermanent. Nothing was ever "finished" or "final"—growth is always in motion.
Failure became feedback. Each attempt was another brushstroke in the circle, another chance to refine my thinking.
Presence became my greatest tool. Like my Jiichan’s art, leadership required being fully in the moment—responding, not reacting.
From Learning to Leading: Ensō as a Dynamic Model
As I wrote my book, And So...A Tree Still Grows, I realized that leadership itself needed a new framework—one that mirrors how the brain learns and how we adapt to an ever-changing world. This became the Ensō Infinity Growth Model (∞), a way to view leadership as a living, breathing practice:
Shu (守) - Learning from the Past
Leadership starts with building a strong foundation—mentorship, persistence, and discipline.Ha (破) - Experimenting with the Present
Leaders must break past old patterns, try new approaches, and be willing to fail forward.Ri (離) - Mastering the Future
True mastery isn’t about control; it’s about flow. Leaders embody wisdom, align with their purpose, and create lasting impact.
Resilience as a Teachable Skill
Resilience is not just something I practice—it’s something I teach. A CEO I worked with once said of my leadership, "Anette doesn’t just lead; she listens, observes, and reflects. Her ability to empower others through patience and insight creates an environment where people feel safe to grow and take risks." That insight speaks to the core of the Ensō Mindset: resilience is not about pushing through alone, but about learning to adapt, reflect, and move forward with intention.
Why This Matters Now
The world is changing faster than ever, and traditional leadership models aren’t keeping up. The Ensō Mindset offers a new way to grow and innovate—one that is human, adaptive, and continuous.
I see my journey not as one of "arriving" at a final point of success, but as one of infinite evolution, where each insight feeds the next. The Ensō circle is never truly closed—there is always room for more growth, more learning, and more possibility.
And so, like the tree that still grows, my journey continues.
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Resilience isn’t just something you’re born with—it’s something you train. Just like the Ensō circle never truly closes, leadership mastery is an ongoing practice of learning, experimenting, and refining. If you're ready to build adaptability, sharpen your leadership, and step into continuous growth, join me in the Human Impact Kata this month and start applying the Ensō mindset in real-time. Let’s grow, together.
