How Mindfulness Benefits CEOs
Relaxation and recreation are great outlets for any busy CEO. But as Emma Seppala, Ph.D. and Science Director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism, shares with us, meditation seems to benefit them more. Hence a growing interest within the C-Suite to use mediation as a foundation to cultivate leadership skills and achieve business goals.
Recent research suggests that meditation not only sharpens attention, memory and emotional intelligence, it builds resilience; improves focus; and strengthens relationships – all very important capacities in today’s intense, volatile, fast-paced business environment. READ MORE
5 Ways to Improve Your Listening Skills
Everybody’s talking; but few are listening. Partly because society rewards speaking as a highly desirable, sought-after skill. With all the focus on talking, listening tends to get ignored.
Fortunate for us, Harvey Deutschendorf, an emotional intelligence expert, and writer for Fast Company, gives us 5 ways to enhance our listening skills:
Be fully present. Don’t engage in a conversation until you are ready to listen.
Put yourself in their shoes. What people share with you is important to them; imagine yourself in their situation.
Pick up key points and let the speaker know you did by mirroring back what you heard.
Practice active listening. Focus on what people are saying vs. planning your response.
Develop an open mind. People who are curious see any interaction as an opportunity to learn and discover something new.
READ MORE
What 5 Minutes of Silence Can Do for Your Brain
Elisha Goldstein shares with us in Mindful Magazine, sometimes the tiniest habits make the biggest difference.
In an age where there is virtually no room for solitude, taking time out of your day – even five minutes – has tremendous benefits.
Solitude provides an opportunity to balance our lives between what is demanding and what is relaxing.
Creating solitude in your life is both a mindful and self-compassionate act.
Solitude reduces stress and anxiety.
Creating some “me time” helps you to feel better. And that’s great for you and the world. Because when you feel better, so does everyone around you. READ MORE
Vulnerability as a Business Strategy
At a recent iCONIC-DC conference, Marcus Lemonis of CNBCs The Profit, took the stage to share the personal story of his childhood – a heartbreaking tale of adoption, molestation, eating disorders and thoughts of suicide.
Why?
After baring his soul, Lemonis informed the audience that he told his story “to create a connection with each person in the room.” In an effort to get people to be completely honest, Lemonis feels he must “take off the window dressing” — be totally raw — and authentic. He then chose two people from the audience to share something they have never shared before.
On making his point about what it is to be vulnerable, Lemonis acknowledges that he does all of this to understand the psyche of his clients. In making a decision about who to do business with – who will you choose?
Someone who is vulnerable or someone who plays it safe? READ MORE of this fine post by Kimberly Weisul and tweet her to let her know you liked her post @weisul
Wicked Problem Solvers
As the emphasis on innovation grows, this Harvard Business Review article by Amy C. Edmondson, teaches us some lessons from successful cross-industry teams. The fact that multi-sector teams can generate radical innovations is well-defined. How to build and run them is another ball of wax.
From an adaptable vision to promoting psychological safety to enabling knowledge sharing and learning through execution, organizations today need to frame people’s differences as a source of strength or advantage for the team. As cross-industry teaming becomes the norm, leaders will need to encourage social bonding, emphasize professional values and force face-to-face interaction. Read More and let the author know you liked her post @AmyCEdmondson
All Photos are sourced from the original articles.