The value of mindfulness in business and in life.
The Harvard Business Review has been putting out a lot of
great stuff in the realm of Humanistic Business Management. Recently, they did
an interview with Ellen Langer about her work on the benefits of mindfulness.
Ellen Langer is a professor of psychology at Harvard University btw.
Here is a link to the video: http://hbr.org/video/3117535032001/enliven-your-work-with-mindfulness
(we are unable to embed it).
The big take away from Ms. Langer’s research is “that by paying attention to what’s going on around us, instead of operating on auto-pilot, we can reduce stress, unlock creativity, and boost performance.”
The big take away from Ms. Langer’s research is “that by paying attention to what’s going on around us, instead of operating on auto-pilot, we can reduce stress, unlock creativity, and boost performance.”
According to Langer, “Mindfulness is the process of actively
noticing new things. When you do that, it puts you in the present.” The
benefits of being more present include better performance, better innovation,
and it makes people more charismatic to those around them (and why not, you are actually awake and not
on auto-pilot – you stand out).
Mindfulness also helps you be less judgmental about others,
because instead of mindlessly pigeonholing them, you actually take the time to
consider why they are behaving the way they do.
Sounds a lot like the active practice of freethought and compassion to
me.
What’s really interesting about the article that goes with
the interview: http://hbr.org/2014/03/mindfulness-in-the-age-of-complexity/ar/1?referral=00060
is how this mindfulness approach impacts business management. The techniques
she describes as the practice of mindfulness sound a lot like critical
thinking, combined with active compassion to me.
If you are interested in the work of the Langer Mindfulness
Institute – here is their website: http://langermindfulnessinstitute.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment