Mindfulness Helps You Become a Better Leader

Former chair and CEO of Medtronic, and now a Harvard management professor, Bill George has this to say about mindfulness:

The practice of mindful leadership gives you tools to measure and manage your life as you’re living it. It teaches you to pay attention to the present moment, recognizing your feelings and emotions and keeping them under control, especially when faced with highly stressful situations. When you are mindful, you’re aware of your presence and the ways you impact other people. You’re able to both observe and participate in each moment, while recognizing the implications of your actions for the longer term. And that prevents you from slipping into a life that pulls you away from your values.

He goes on to point out that…

In recent years, medical studies have found evidence of meditation’s many benefits, including protecting against health problems from high blood pressure and arthritis to infertility, reducing stress, improving attention and sensory processing; and physically altering parts of the brain associated with learning and memory, emotional regulation, and perspective-taking — critical cognitive skills for leaders attempting to maintain their equilibrium under constant pressure.

via Mindfulness Helps You Become a Better Leader – Bill George – HBS Faculty – Harvard Business Review.