Earlier this month, I attended the 2nd Mindful Leadership Summit in Arlington, Virginia attended by 750 people. I want to share some insights I gleaned from listening to a number of Summit presenters.
- Practicing mindful meditation opens you up and creates a sense of well-being.
- Leaders fail primarily from not cultivating their emotional intelligence and compassion from the heart.
- You can’t be compassionate and an unethical person.
- Compassion for all living things leads to self-compassion, which leads to compassion for others.
- You need to be intentional to frame mindfulness so people hear it and can make sense out of it based on where they are.
- Leaders are flooded with distractions and demands via technology. They are faced with “Weapons of Mass Distractions” – Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, email and cell phones.
- 47% of our time we are not focused on what we are doing.
- Leaders are to create a culture where people can show up authentically. So, show up as a leader you want others to be.
The start of every session was a few minutes of mindful meditation. Why? The premise is if you are not in touch with yourself, then you are not in touch with the world. Time and time again, I heard from each presenter how important a mindful meditation practice is to be grounded, humble, compassionate, authentic, connected, thoughtful, self-aware, and to lead from one’s heart.
In closing, let’s not put mindfulness practices on a pedestal, as a panacea for all that ails the world. As presenter Bill George, Senior Fellow from Harvard Business School, said, “Mindfulness is not perfect, but it creates spaces and a shift to see things differently.”