Blog

by Brian Lowell French, guest contributor

Leaders are consistently challenged by all of the distractions faced through the day, taking focus away from leading the team and managing the important work. These distractions cause leaders to become scattered, making it difficult to be mindful and intentional as they lead their teams. 

When I wrote my recently published book, Harmonic Leadership – Leading with Inclusive, Mindful Caring, the intent was to provide leaders with practical and pragmatic …

By Joy Reichart, New Ventures West, guest contributor

Recently, as part of an organizational retreat—one that was centered on asking questions and being in a space of unknown, of emergence, of creation—we were invited to engage in a 24-hour media fast: no articles, books, TV, podcasts, social media. Essentially cleansing our minds and bodies of the incessant bombardment of other people’s words.

When the invitation was first issued I felt myself go white with terror. My panicked mind started pr…

Jacqueline Carter at the 2018 At Work Summit

Jacqueline provides an overview of current leadership challenges and presents research findings for successful leadership practices in the 21st century. To address leadership challenges, Carter shares how mindfulness is an effective tool to manage attention for leaders. She discusses how research demonstrated most leaders feel ‘unmindful’ and their minds are cluttered, therefore resulting in tasks being incomplete. Carter provides three…

For this month’s Round-Up, we examine the latest findings regarding MBSR and structural brain changes, what our brain waves tell us about how we engage with art, the promise of mindfulness-oriented recovery enhancement, remembering selfless experiences, and look at how functional brain connectivities relate to pain and trauma. We have summarized the main ideas and key takeaways below with links to the full articles.

1. Mindfulness Doesn’t Change Our Brains in Ways Once Thought

Findings from th…

By John J. Murphy

We all know the eternal optimist says “the glass is half-full,” while the pessimist says “the glass is half-empty.” But as the author Simon Sinek says, “People who wonder whether the glass is half empty or half full miss the point. The glass is refillable.” That’s the real optimist. 

Research shows that positive energizers, those who are not only optimistic, but who uplift, motivate, and renew others usually wind up uplifting themselves and their organizations. Their contagio…

Andrew Hafenbrack, PhD at the 2019 At Work Summit

Professor Hafenbrack presents his findings of research studies on Meditation and State Mindfulness, exploring if Mindfulness helps with motivating for mundane tasks. He explores the difference between State and Trait mindfulness, and the response his controversial NYT op-ed received that stated research studies had resulted in people feeling demotivated when it came to doing mundane tasks. This session discusses this research and the imp…

By Mo Edjlali, Mindful Leader Founder and CEO

Recently I stumbled across a Linkedin post highlighting an article featured in the Washington Post, “An unintended consequence of mindfulness” by assistant professor Andrew C. Hafenbrack. I was excited to see folks taking a curious and thoughtful approach to the findings. It reminded me of a very different reaction we experienced when we shared a critical article on social media a few years ago - "You guys are idiots"- the article that ENRAGED our f…

by Jim Blake, guest contributor

Sooner or later, despite our best efforts, every business leader will have feelings of self-doubt, inadequacy, insecurity, and fear. Too often we ignore these feelings by pressing them down or attempting to put a positivity bandage on them. But avoidance will only lead to a cycle of repetition. Instead, we must have the courage to look at our pain, our sorrow, our trauma—and the feelings that result—without letting them define us.

Depending on your life experien…

By the Mindful Leader Team

Part of being a good leader is knowing when to listen to others. The same is true for becoming a mindful leader. While reading isn’t the only way to learn about mindful leadership, it can be a huge help to see what others have experienced before you. We’ve compiled a list of ten mindful leadership books from experts in the field to help you build your own path to success. For each book we've included a summary, the rating on Goodreads (the world's largest book review …

by Jocelyn Davis, guest contributor

Command authority is a poor basis for life. Whether you’re atop a corporate jungle gym, reaching for the next rung, or off playing in the sandbox, your long-term professional and personal success is a matter of influence, not dominance.

Some consider influence synonymous with persuasion, but, influence is really the art of getting things done without coercion. More precisely, it’s the ability to engage and guide others in collaborative work without relying o…