Mandatory mindfulness training for Leaders

Within a two week period, in two unconnected conversations, two people told me that practising mindfulness had probably saved their lives. Now, you may think this sounds like an exaggeration. If I hadn’t known both of these people pretty well, I would have agreed.

Both these friends are highly intelligent, socially active, and professionally effective. Neither are prone to exaggeration or melodrama. They talked about being at low points in their lives when mindfulness was introduced to them, in a measured way as part of our conversation.

And this got me thinking; how can more people be attracted to trying mindfulness as a technique for getting through both the good and the bad times, in the best of mental shape, without first having to reach crisis point? Because I believe that having the practise under your belt when you are at your best, will help to get you through the tough times with better perspective (and a better night’s sleep).

As someone who has worked in the field of leadership development for over 20 years, I firmly believe that mindfulness as a practise should be embedded into leadership training. Leaders have further to fall when things go wrong – if they are more mindful, or mind-fit, more of the time, their decisions are likely to be better and they are likely to be able to ride the rough seas with a steady hand and an open heart. They are also likely to be better leaders and communicators who inspire followership and develop more leaders around them. A recent Reuters article referred to mindfulness as “biceps for the brain” and was being hailed as essential for peak performance.

We owe it to ourselves, to those we work with and live with, to make mindful practise part of the way we are.

If you practice mindfulness or meditation, what convinced you to give mindfulness a go?

If you don’t already practice, what would it take to give you an appetite for it?

Join me and work with two world-leading teachers of mindfulness and mind-fitness on 5 June: http://bit.ly/1tymgzT

 

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