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Finding Clarity: How Compassionate Accountability Builds Vibrant Relationships, Thriving Workplaces, and Meaningful Lives
A SURPRISING PATH TO BREAKTHROUGH COMMUNICATION AND PROFESSIONAL SUCCESS
For Marc Lesser the key to healthy relationships and effective workplaces is compassionate accountability — a practical and trainable way to clarify and achieve shared visions of success. Numerous examples
• facing rather than avoiding conflict for the long-term benefit of all.
• working with and through difficult emotions with clarity, care, and connection.
• understanding the stories we live by and evaluating whether they’re serving us well.
• learning to listen and lead in ways that align with our mission and values.
Marc works from the premise that problems are inevitable and that the success of an enterprise or relationship relies on how they are resolved. This applies to any joint effort — in a workplace, a family, a civic organization, a community, a country, or the world at large.
For Marc Lesser the key to healthy relationships and effective workplaces is compassionate accountability — a practical and trainable way to clarify and achieve shared visions of success. Numerous examples
• facing rather than avoiding conflict for the long-term benefit of all.
• working with and through difficult emotions with clarity, care, and connection.
• understanding the stories we live by and evaluating whether they’re serving us well.
• learning to listen and lead in ways that align with our mission and values.
Marc works from the premise that problems are inevitable and that the success of an enterprise or relationship relies on how they are resolved. This applies to any joint effort — in a workplace, a family, a civic organization, a community, a country, or the world at large.
- GenresNonfiction
208 pages, Paperback
Published April 11, 2023
19 people are currently reading
85 people want to read
About the author
Marc Lesser
19 books23 followersMarc Lesser is a speaker, facilitator, workshop leader, and executive coach. He is known for his engaging, experiential presentations that integrate mindfulness and emotional intelligence practices and training. He is the CEO of ZBA Associates, an executive development and leadership consulting company.
Marc has led mindfulness and emotional intelligence programs at many of the world’s leading businesses and organizations including Google, SAP, Genentech, and Kaiser Permanente, and has coached executives and led trainings in Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, health care, and government.
He helped develop the world-renowned Search Inside Yourself (SIY) program within Google - a mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training for leaders which teaches the art of integrating mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and business savvy for creating great corporate cultures and a better world. Deeply rooted in science, the program has been taught to thousands of executives worldwide. He was the founder and CEO of the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI).
Marc’s books include Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons from Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen, Know Yourself, Forget Yourself, Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less, and Z.B.A. Zen of Business Administration They have been published in 11 languages.
Marc founded and was CEO of 3 companies and has an MBA degree from New York University. Prior to his business and coaching career, he was a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center for 10 years, and director of Tassajara, Zen Mountain Center, the first Zen monastery in the Western world.
He has keynoted at Mindful Leadership Summits in Washington DC, Toronto, and Sydney and has led “Search Inside Yourself” and “Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader” trainings in San Francisco, Japan, Hong Kong, and Toronto. Learn more at www.marclesser.net.
Marc has led mindfulness and emotional intelligence programs at many of the world’s leading businesses and organizations including Google, SAP, Genentech, and Kaiser Permanente, and has coached executives and led trainings in Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, health care, and government.
He helped develop the world-renowned Search Inside Yourself (SIY) program within Google - a mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training for leaders which teaches the art of integrating mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and business savvy for creating great corporate cultures and a better world. Deeply rooted in science, the program has been taught to thousands of executives worldwide. He was the founder and CEO of the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI).
Marc’s books include Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons from Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen, Know Yourself, Forget Yourself, Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less, and Z.B.A. Zen of Business Administration They have been published in 11 languages.
Marc founded and was CEO of 3 companies and has an MBA degree from New York University. Prior to his business and coaching career, he was a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center for 10 years, and director of Tassajara, Zen Mountain Center, the first Zen monastery in the Western world.
He has keynoted at Mindful Leadership Summits in Washington DC, Toronto, and Sydney and has led “Search Inside Yourself” and “Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader” trainings in San Francisco, Japan, Hong Kong, and Toronto. Learn more at www.marclesser.net.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 5, 2023
Eight amazing short chapters starting with a mind blowing introduction on how our thoughts/feelings influence our actions and how we can change our reality.
I find the extra content towards the end more helpful as well!
How will this book benefit the reader:
✔️it will help in getting into more depth with the emotions and what you feel and make it more flexible at work
✔️It will guide through how flexible we can be when it comes to general things in life for greater freedom we can give ourselves
✔️It will help us in giving better clarity and finding more compassion which are essential to help us solve our tiniest to our biggest problems we face
I would recommend you to take your time reading the book. One chapter or one page at a time. It will yield better results I feel.
I find the concepts and the writing clear and totally straightforward which I really appreciate. Popular book and other media references make the reading a fun experience. The presentation of each chapter makes the reading process an interesting one too and not make it feel like a chore as it happens while reading most self help books.
Go for it. I find the book quite helpful.
I find the extra content towards the end more helpful as well!
How will this book benefit the reader:
✔️it will help in getting into more depth with the emotions and what you feel and make it more flexible at work
✔️It will guide through how flexible we can be when it comes to general things in life for greater freedom we can give ourselves
✔️It will help us in giving better clarity and finding more compassion which are essential to help us solve our tiniest to our biggest problems we face
I would recommend you to take your time reading the book. One chapter or one page at a time. It will yield better results I feel.
I find the concepts and the writing clear and totally straightforward which I really appreciate. Popular book and other media references make the reading a fun experience. The presentation of each chapter makes the reading process an interesting one too and not make it feel like a chore as it happens while reading most self help books.
Go for it. I find the book quite helpful.
January 1, 2024
Summary:
Cultivating clarity and compassionate accountability can transform how you relate to yourself and others. By responding with curiosity, discarding unhelpful narratives, listening to understand, bridging gaps, developing inspiring visions, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs, and taking purposeful action, you can gain the clarity and courage to live in alignment with your deepest values.
Life is fleeting, so start now. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Through small yet powerful steps, you can open the door to personal growth, stronger connections, and a life infused with meaning.
Cultivating clarity and compassionate accountability can transform how you relate to yourself and others. By responding with curiosity, discarding unhelpful narratives, listening to understand, bridging gaps, developing inspiring visions, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs, and taking purposeful action, you can gain the clarity and courage to live in alignment with your deepest values.
Life is fleeting, so start now. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Through small yet powerful steps, you can open the door to personal growth, stronger connections, and a life infused with meaning.
January 1, 2024
*** HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024 ***
"Finding Clarity: How Compassionate Accountability Builds Vibrant Relationships, Thriving Workplaces, and Meaningful Lives" by Marc Lesser introduces seven transformative strategies to foster empathetic, accountable, and meaningful relationships. The book emphasizes the synergy between clarity, exploring challenges from multiple perspectives, and accountability, a shared commitment to addressing problems with compassion.
The first strategy encourages responding to challenges with curiosity instead of anger. By cultivating a curious mindset, individuals can gain clarity, wisdom, and compassion, transforming difficult situations into opportunities for growth.
The second strategy involves letting go of unhelpful stories by becoming aware of and challenging limiting narratives. Meditation, self-compassion, and conscious articulation of personal stories are recommended to rewrite scripts that serve one's values.
Listening is highlighted as a crucial aspect of fostering compassionate accountability in the third strategy. Various forms of listening, such as listening for feelings, alignment on goals, intentions, and identity issues, contribute to understanding and building trust.
The fourth strategy involves minding the gaps, acknowledging and addressing disparities between expectations and reality. Tools like 360-degree reviews, surveys, and compassionate communication help bridge these gaps and promote growth.
The fifth strategy emphasizes the importance of developing a clear vision for effective leadership and goal achievement. Personal introspection, articulation of values, and crafting inspiring vision statements for various aspects of life contribute to accountability and shared commitment.
The sixth strategy focuses on repurposing struggles into opportunities for growth by confronting avoidance behaviors, recommitting to collective values, and cultivating cautious optimism.
The final strategy, taking action now, encourages individuals to embrace renewal, wholeheartedness, and gratitude in their daily lives. Practices such as meditation, journaling, and reflection contribute to renewal, while aligning intentions, feelings, and actions with values fosters wholeheartedness. Gratitude serves as a reminder of life's preciousness and impermanence.
The book concludes with a call to action, urging readers not to defer actions aligned with their values and emphasizing the urgency of embracing life with confidence, humility, clarity, accountability, and compassion. It encourages individuals to start their transformative journey immediately, as life waits for no one. Overall, "Finding Clarity" provides practical strategies for personal growth, fostering meaningful relationships, and creating thriving workplaces by combining clarity and compassionate accountability. The book's insights encourage readers to take small yet powerful steps toward living a life infused with purpose and meaning.
"Finding Clarity: How Compassionate Accountability Builds Vibrant Relationships, Thriving Workplaces, and Meaningful Lives" by Marc Lesser introduces seven transformative strategies to foster empathetic, accountable, and meaningful relationships. The book emphasizes the synergy between clarity, exploring challenges from multiple perspectives, and accountability, a shared commitment to addressing problems with compassion.
The first strategy encourages responding to challenges with curiosity instead of anger. By cultivating a curious mindset, individuals can gain clarity, wisdom, and compassion, transforming difficult situations into opportunities for growth.
The second strategy involves letting go of unhelpful stories by becoming aware of and challenging limiting narratives. Meditation, self-compassion, and conscious articulation of personal stories are recommended to rewrite scripts that serve one's values.
Listening is highlighted as a crucial aspect of fostering compassionate accountability in the third strategy. Various forms of listening, such as listening for feelings, alignment on goals, intentions, and identity issues, contribute to understanding and building trust.
The fourth strategy involves minding the gaps, acknowledging and addressing disparities between expectations and reality. Tools like 360-degree reviews, surveys, and compassionate communication help bridge these gaps and promote growth.
The fifth strategy emphasizes the importance of developing a clear vision for effective leadership and goal achievement. Personal introspection, articulation of values, and crafting inspiring vision statements for various aspects of life contribute to accountability and shared commitment.
The sixth strategy focuses on repurposing struggles into opportunities for growth by confronting avoidance behaviors, recommitting to collective values, and cultivating cautious optimism.
The final strategy, taking action now, encourages individuals to embrace renewal, wholeheartedness, and gratitude in their daily lives. Practices such as meditation, journaling, and reflection contribute to renewal, while aligning intentions, feelings, and actions with values fosters wholeheartedness. Gratitude serves as a reminder of life's preciousness and impermanence.
The book concludes with a call to action, urging readers not to defer actions aligned with their values and emphasizing the urgency of embracing life with confidence, humility, clarity, accountability, and compassion. It encourages individuals to start their transformative journey immediately, as life waits for no one. Overall, "Finding Clarity" provides practical strategies for personal growth, fostering meaningful relationships, and creating thriving workplaces by combining clarity and compassionate accountability. The book's insights encourage readers to take small yet powerful steps toward living a life infused with purpose and meaning.
January 2, 2024
Day 1/365
Book 1
Cultivating clarity and compassionate accountability can transform how you relate to yourself and others. By responding with curiosity, discarding unhelpful narratives, listening to understand, bridging gaps, developing inspiring visions, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs, and taking purposeful action, you can gain the clarity and courage to live in alignment with your deepest values.
Life is fleeting, so start now. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Through small yet powerful steps, you can open the door to personal growth, stronger connections, and a life infused with meaning.
This book is perfect for starting the new year. CULTIVATING Clarity is one of my MAIN Goals for 2024.
I recommend this book to anyone struggling with clarity in their reflections and projections for the new year.
Book 1
Cultivating clarity and compassionate accountability can transform how you relate to yourself and others. By responding with curiosity, discarding unhelpful narratives, listening to understand, bridging gaps, developing inspiring visions, transforming breakdowns into breakthroughs, and taking purposeful action, you can gain the clarity and courage to live in alignment with your deepest values.
Life is fleeting, so start now. Don’t wait for the perfect moment. Through small yet powerful steps, you can open the door to personal growth, stronger connections, and a life infused with meaning.
This book is perfect for starting the new year. CULTIVATING Clarity is one of my MAIN Goals for 2024.
I recommend this book to anyone struggling with clarity in their reflections and projections for the new year.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2023
Finding Clarity was written by an author who has the personal experience and education to be in a good place to help others benefit from his knowledge to lead better, more fulfilling lives.
I appreciated all the helpful information and stories of how lives have been changed for the better by using his techniques.Marc helps the reader learn how to work through difficult situations and see difficult people in a new way.
I appreciated all the helpful information and stories of how lives have been changed for the better by using his techniques.Marc helps the reader learn how to work through difficult situations and see difficult people in a new way.
January 18, 2024
There was potential with the whole concept to listen for understanding.
This book basically answers the question: What if there was a set of strategies you could use to communicate confidently, while making everyone feel respected, heard, and valued, one that helped you and the people in your life seek mutually beneficial solutions in the face of challenges? (could have been more concise here)
- Ignoring issues never leads to peace or resolution – all it does is cause discomfort and friction.
- Swapping suspicion, anger or judgment with curiosity can help you gain clarity, foster compassionate accountability, and find more constructive solutions. The key lies in retraining your response. (not revolutionary but still a helpful construct)
- find a “stretch zone” which challenges you enough to learn and grow, one that has the right amount of discomfort to spark curiosity and learning.
- Meditation will help you understand how you construct your identity and beliefs, so you can question your fixed ideas and loosen the grip of limiting narratives.
- Listening is key in fostering compassionate accountability because the latter is rooted in trust and safety
- To listen more effectively, prioritise relationships over roles.
- delve deeper and articulate why you’re “here.”
- One pivotal step in turning these breakdowns into breakthroughs is to confront your avoidance behaviours
There are different ways to listen:
Not listening occurs when you’re distracted or indifferent. Listening with preconceived ideas means you assume you already know what someone will say. Listening for content focuses on the narrative without grasping underlying messages. More positive types of listening include: listening for feelings to tune into emotions; listening for alignment on goals and motivations; listening for the intentions behind words; and listening for identity issues like self-esteem and competence that may underlie the conversation.
This book basically answers the question: What if there was a set of strategies you could use to communicate confidently, while making everyone feel respected, heard, and valued, one that helped you and the people in your life seek mutually beneficial solutions in the face of challenges? (could have been more concise here)
- Ignoring issues never leads to peace or resolution – all it does is cause discomfort and friction.
- Swapping suspicion, anger or judgment with curiosity can help you gain clarity, foster compassionate accountability, and find more constructive solutions. The key lies in retraining your response. (not revolutionary but still a helpful construct)
- find a “stretch zone” which challenges you enough to learn and grow, one that has the right amount of discomfort to spark curiosity and learning.
- Meditation will help you understand how you construct your identity and beliefs, so you can question your fixed ideas and loosen the grip of limiting narratives.
- Listening is key in fostering compassionate accountability because the latter is rooted in trust and safety
- To listen more effectively, prioritise relationships over roles.
- delve deeper and articulate why you’re “here.”
- One pivotal step in turning these breakdowns into breakthroughs is to confront your avoidance behaviours
There are different ways to listen:
Not listening occurs when you’re distracted or indifferent. Listening with preconceived ideas means you assume you already know what someone will say. Listening for content focuses on the narrative without grasping underlying messages. More positive types of listening include: listening for feelings to tune into emotions; listening for alignment on goals and motivations; listening for the intentions behind words; and listening for identity issues like self-esteem and competence that may underlie the conversation.
April 17, 2023
Good stuff. This includes nice examples and stories, along with solid advice. Recommended.
Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!
Thanks very much for the free copy for review!!
January 1, 2024
Average
January 1, 2024
Pulls together some good ideas that repeat what many others have said. Nothing particularly new or groundbreaking for anyone who's looked into meditation and the practice of compassion.
January 1, 2024
Easy read with simple tips that could change your life for the better.
I like the different forms of listening.
I like the different forms of listening.
December 4, 2024
I enjoy Marc lessers work. Always validating and to the point. Mostly read his work to maintain positive leadership at my office. He had a decent email blog as well for quick reset and reframes!
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August 27, 2025Finding Clarity by Marc Lesser is all about increasing self-awareness and interpersonal skills so one can excel in #leadership and life! https://loom.ly/xFvOG3s
November 8, 2025
Budismo aplicado ao mundo corporativo 😁
Conselhos úteis para auto gestão de emoções e desconstrução dos problemas de comunicação que geram tantos problemas em organizações.
As metáforas usando Alice, Buda e até Homer Simpson são simpáticas e trazem um colorido interessante.
O conteúdo tem grande profundidade mas é entregue de forma simples e leve. Usarei como referência nos momentos de crise.
Achei que alguns capítulos mais ao final soaram como quase auto ajuda, mas não desmerecem o mérito do livro.
Conselhos úteis para auto gestão de emoções e desconstrução dos problemas de comunicação que geram tantos problemas em organizações.
As metáforas usando Alice, Buda e até Homer Simpson são simpáticas e trazem um colorido interessante.
O conteúdo tem grande profundidade mas é entregue de forma simples e leve. Usarei como referência nos momentos de crise.
Achei que alguns capítulos mais ao final soaram como quase auto ajuda, mas não desmerecem o mérito do livro.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews