Leadership Through Mindfulness: Highlights from the Wright Way Leadership Conference

Why Calm, Connection & Self-Care Matter for Student Leaders

In a world of “push through, keep going, hustle, overcome,” we at Kikori believe there’s a deeper, more sustainable path. That’s why partnering with Iranetta Wright - with her wisdom, experience, and soul-centered leadership philosophy - was such a gift.

Wright is a veteran educator and former superintendent who led major urban districts, including Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) and Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS), and Jacksonville Public Schools. She now leads The Wright Way Leadership Group, bringing decades of experience in school turnaround, equity work, and systemic change to educational leadership development.

But what makes Wright especially resonate with Kikori isn’t only her leadership resume, it’s her belief in what we sometimes forget: that good leadership isn’t only forged in challenge, but is sustained by restoration. Her signature 4 R’s — Relate · Relax · Restore · Renew — offer a framework that honors balance, mental health, and the humanity behind every educator, student, and leader.

The Wright Leadership Conference: Where Mindfulness Meets Leadership

Together with Wright Way Leadership, Kikori sponsored the Wright Leadership Conference, gathering student leaders, educators, and changemakers for a day of reflection, connection, and growth. The underlying message: leadership isn’t always about action and achievement - sometimes, it’s about presence, awareness, and care.

🧘 Why Mindfulness Matters for Student Leaders

We asked students to slow down, turn inward, and notice. Through guided mindfulness exercises rooted in breath, body awareness, and observation, attendees learned to pause, reflect on their inner world, and connect with what matters.

Mindfulness supports self-regulation, emotional balance, focus, and empathy — essential skills for leaders navigating school, peer dynamics, and community challenges. By embedding these short moments through the day, the conference modeled a vision of leadership grounded in clarity, awareness, and intention.

🌿 Relax. Rest. Renew. The Natural World as Teacher

Kikori co-founder Haley Burns led a powerful workshop centered on the theme of “Relax.” Drawing inspiration from nature - slow-growing cactuses, patient turtles, desert blooms that flourish only after rest and rain - attendees explored what it means to slow down in order to grow.

As part of this experience, each student received a small potted 'self-care plant' as the first plant in their Mindfulness Garden - a symbolic and tangible reminder: growth takes care, patience, and consistency.

Attendees were invited to reflect:

• How can I nurture myself as a leader?

• How can I support growth in my team or community?

• What small daily actions cultivate big impact over time?

This simple act of caring for a plant became a metaphor for self-care, leadership, and long-term balance.

Mingles, Reflection & Shared Stories - Building Community Through Connection

Leadership isn’t just about tasks. It’s about relationships. That’s why we embedded signature Mingle activities, not icebreakers, but meaningful, heart-centered interactions.

Attendees shared stories, reflected on their experiences, celebrated strengths, and voiced hopes. One attendee said:

“I didn’t think talking about what I’m proud of would feel so powerful, but it really helped me see my own strengths and connect with others.”

Through storytelling and mutual support, students built confidence, empathy, and social awareness. Leadership, they realized, begins when we relate, not just when we lead.

Experiential Leadership: Learning by Doing, Reflecting, Growing

Throughout the conference, every activity was hands-on, student-centered, and reflective. From cooperative challenges to leadership simulations, attendees practiced:

• Decision-making

• Collaboration

• Ethical problem-solving

• Self-awareness

This is the core of experiential learning - leadership isn’t delivered via lecture - it’s built through experience. Students left not only inspired, but equipped with tools they could use the next day in their schools and communities.

Why the 4 R’s + Yin & Yang Matter (Sidebar Idea)

In many Western leadership models, “grit,” “resilience,” and “endurance” are celebrated but often at the expense of rest, reflection, and recharge. Wright’s 4 R’s, combined with the ancient wisdom of balance, yin & yang, remind us that growth isn’t a sprint, it’s a cycle:

• Relate (yin) – building connection, empathy, community

• Relax (yin) – rest, breath, self-care, calm

• Restore (yang/yin) – healing, reflection, replenishing

• Renew (yang) – action, purpose, leadership, growth

When we honor the comfort zone — the place of rest and recharge — we give ourselves permission to return to the growth zone stronger, more centered, more compassionate.

Try This Tomorrow: A “Mindfulness Garden” Leadership Activity

Bring a slice of the Wright Conference into your classroom or youth group:

1. Give each student a small plant or seed.

2. Begin with a 3-minute mindfulness reflection on growth — personal or communal.

3. Pair students for a brief Mingle prompt: share one leadership goal and one way they’ll care for themselves or their team this week.

4. Invite them to journal or talk: What does this plant need? How does that relate to what you need as a leader?

5. Encourage them to revisit the plant regularly - water it, observe it, care for it - and reflect on how small consistent actions lead to growth.

This activity connects SEL, leadership, self-care, and community — and costs next to nothing.

Leadership Isn’t Only About Doing - It’s About Being

The Wright Leadership Conference, with Iranetta Wright’s philosophy and Kikori’s experiential lens, showed what happens when we reimagine leadership:

• Leaders who care for themselves, not just perform

• Communities grounded in empathy, presence, and reflection

• Students who lead from strength, not stress

This is leadership rooted in balance, not burnout. In connection, not competition. In calm, not constant crisis.

If you’re ready to bring these values, practices, and experiences into your school or program, Kikori is here with the tools, mindset, and heart to help you build leadership through care.

Explore Kikori Premium for a full library of experiential SEL tools, mindfulness routines, leadership activities, and community-building resources to help foster grounded, compassionate leaders who know that rest is as powerful as action.

The Research Behind Rest, Mindfulness & Effective Leadership

Why the Comfort Zone Matters Just as Much as the Growth Zone

For years, education has been filled with messages like push harder, lean in, keep going, emphasizing grit, resilience, and productive struggle. But neuroscience and psychology are clear: growth only happens when effort is paired with recovery.

Here’s what the research shows:

1. The Brain Learns Better After Rest, Not During Stress

Neuroscientists at the University of Rochester found that the brain consolidates learning during rest periods, not while actively solving problems. 

Takeaway: Students need pauses — not constant challenge — for learning and leadership insights to stick.

2. Calm Nervous Systems Make Better Decisions

Studies in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience show that mindfulness lowers amygdala reactivity, improving emotional regulation and decision-making. 

Takeaway: Leaders can’t lead well if their nervous systems are in “fight or flight.”

3. Self-Regulation Skills Increase Empathy & Perspective Taking

Mindful awareness strengthens the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain responsible for empathy, flexible thinking, and reflection. 

Takeaway: Mindfulness isn’t “soft.” It literally builds the brain structures leaders depend on.

4. Recovery Improves Performance More Than Constant Grind

Research on high-performing athletes and executives shows the same pattern: Strategic rest → better performance, creativity, and follow-through. Constant output leads to burnout and rigid thinking.

5. Student Well-Being Predicts Student Leadership

School-based SEL studies show that students who practice mindfulness and self-care have higher:

• sense of agency

• problem-solving ability

• community engagement

• resilience that is sustainable, not forced

Bottom line: Rest is not the opposite of growth - it is the soil that makes growth possible. Pairing leadership challenges with restoration creates leaders who are calm, ethical, reflective, and centered.

Yin & Yang — Ancient Wisdom for Modern Leadership

What Taoist philosophy can teach us about leading in schools

In Taoist thought, yin and yang represent the interplay of opposing forces that together create balance. Neither is superior. Neither is complete on its own. Leadership, especially for young people, is the same.

Here’s how the metaphor applies:

🌙 Yin: The Quiet Power (Rest, Reflection, Receiving)

Yin qualities include:

• calm

• listening

• intuition

• inner stillness

• softness

• restoration

These are the qualities we often undervalue in Western leadership models — but they support deep connection, empathy, and clarity.

☀️ Yang: The Active Power (Action, Energy, Expression)

Yang qualities include:

• drive

• courage

• expression

• movement

• growth

• productivity

These are the qualities most leadership programs prioritize.

But leadership flourishes when yin and yang are in dynamic balance.

Why This Matters for Students

Many student leadership programs overemphasize doing (yang) and underemphasize being (yin). This creates young leaders who are:

• overextended

• anxious

• achievement-dependent

• unsure how to rest without guilt

But when students learn both sides - action and restoration - they develop a leadership identity that is sustainable, grounded, and supportive of community.

A Leader Who Is Hardly Known

In the Tao Te Ching, the highest form of leadership is described as one where the leader is “hardly known.” This doesn’t mean invisible - it means steady, grounded, and humble, guiding through presence rather than pressure.

This aligns beautifully with Iranetta Wright’s 4 R’s:

• Relate (connection)

• Relax (calm)

• Restore (healing)

• Renew (purpose)

Together, Taoist wisdom and the 4 R’s remind us: Great leaders don’t burn brightly and burn out - they burn steadily.