Mindfulness: A Simple Way to Lead Better

Source | www.ccl.org
How to Be a Mindful Leader
Janice Marturano lived a high-energy, high-pressure life as a vice president and deputy general counsel at General Mills. Looking to restore her personal equilibrium during a rocky time, she discovered mindfulness meditation.
To her surprise, mindfulness and leadership quickly became intertwined.
Within weeks of beginning a morning meditation practice, Marturano became more aware of how she acted and reacted at work. She used mindfulness practices to become more focused in her conversations and decisions. Her days became more productive and priorities were met. Mindfulness was making a positive difference in the quality of her leadership.
The Importance of Mindful Leadership
Now more than ever, being mindful matters — not in some weird New Age way, but in a “this could make you more effective” way.
So often, we believe we can get more done if we switch to auto pilot and get through the day in a distracted, but somewhat scripted, routine. Sound familiar?
It’s not that scripts are bad, but an unchallenged, overreliance on them can be. Why? Because opportunities are missed and mistakes happen when we’re disengaged from our lives. Even on our morning drive to work, when we take the same route every day, it’s pretty dangerous to get too comfortable in that notion and stop paying attention.