Mindful Leadership

"Leaders all over the planet are beginning to understand the benefits of purposefully learning to be more attentive and focused, non-reactive, and clear."
—Saki Santorelli, EdD, Executive Director, Center for Mindfulness

Business leaders today are being asked to perform and thrive in a global environment that moves and changes at lightning speed. To become more adaptable and flexible in this environment, leaders need to move beyond familiar or habitual ways of seeing the world and open up to new ways of listening, leading, responding, and innovating. Cultivating attention and awareness through mindfulness training provides a way for leaders to live all aspects of their lives with a greater sense of skill, connection, openness, and balance.

Central to Mindful Leadership Programs © is relatively intensive training in a form of meditation known as mindfulness. Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to and seeing clearly whatever is happening in our lives. On one hand it is a practice, a scientific approach to cultivating clarity, insight, and understanding. On the other hand, it is an innate human capacity that allows us to be fully present to our life and work. For most of us, paying attention to the activity of the mind for even a few minutes yields powerful and potentially valuable information. Although assumed to be subject to our conscious control, most of the time our minds are easily distracted habitually shuttling between the past and future. Little time is actually spent living in the present. Yet, our capacity to listen deeply, to make informed decisions, to effectively handle stress, to ignite innovation, and to access previously untapped resources and apply them to the challenges we face every day – all rely on our capacity to be mindful and present. Only when we are fully present in the moment can we optimize our capacity to:

• Slow down or stop the cascade of our automatic and habitual reactions.
• See ourselves and others more clearly.
• Listen deeply and understand situations just as they are.
• Be open to creativity beyond conditioning.
• Respond effectively to complex and/or emotionally charged situations.
• Act competently and ethically.
• Achieve balance and resilience in our personal and professional lives.

---

Mindful Leadership Retreat:Cultivating Leadership Presence March 10-14, 2010 Click here for details.