I noticed that Western countries have great interest in mindfulness. Many studies have shown that they tried to adapt the Eastern Philosophy to certain businesses, universities, government agencies, counselling centres, schools, hospitals, religious groups, law firms, prisons, the army, and other organizations by offering training in mindfulness meditation. The link between mindfulness practice and leadership development was strengthened with the introduction of Scouller’s Three Levels of Leadership model (Scouller, 2011) which emphasizes psychological self-mastery, includes mindfulness meditation as one of its main self-development techniques. The model was designed as a practical tool for developing a person’s leadership presence, know how and skill. It summarizes what leaders have to do, not only to bring leadership to their group or organization, but also to develop themselves technically and psychologically as leaders.
I have so far witnessed the personal leadership in an “inner” level; these involved personal beliefs, emotions and unconscious habits. At its heart is the leader’s self-awareness, his/her progress toward self-mastery and technical competence, and his/her sense of connection with those around him/her. It is the inner core and the source of a leader’s outer leadership effectiveness. I recall the teachings of Buddha advocated that one should establish mindfulness in one’s day-to-day life maintaining as much as possible a calm awareness of one’s body, feelings, mind, and dhamma. I always trust that the practice of mindfulness supports analysis resulting in the arising of wisdom. It is believed that meditative stabilization must be combined with liberating discernment. To be able to understand our “self”, I believe one must acknowledge that mindfulness is a spiritual or psychological faculty that is considered to be of great importance in the path to enlightenment . It is the seventh element of the noble eightfold path.
What are the results from the training of mindfulness meditation and mindful leadership? The participants will discover that enlightenment is a state of being in which greed, hatred and delusion have been overcome, abandoned and are absent from the mind. Organization will understand that mindfulness is an attentive awareness of the reality of things especially of the present moment. It is antidote to delusion and is considered as such a ‘power’. This faculty becomes a power in particular when it is paired up with clear comprehension of whatever is taking place.
Benefits from mindfulness leadership at the level of public and private leadership are what the leader must do behaviourally with individuals or groups to address the “four dimensions of leadership” which are: A shared, motivating group purpose or vision; Action, progress and results; Collective unity or team spirit; and; Individual selection and motivation. The benefits at inner level also called personal leadership refers to what leaders should do to grow their leadership presence, knowhow and skill. It has three aspects: Developing one’s technical knowhow and skill; Cultivating the right attitude toward other people; and; Working on psychological self-mastery.
This is to name a few companies and institutions that have provided training programs in mindfulness: University of Massachusetts Medical School Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society; Fortune 500 companies (such as Raytheon, Procter & Gamble, Monsanto, General Mills, and Comcast) and others (such as BASF Bioresearch, Bose, New Balance, Unilever, and Nortel Networks). Ford Motor Company, McKinsey & Co., Michael Rennie; and Aetna International. Sounds True (an audio recordings company) along with some newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals in fields other than management, one can find indicators of interest in mindfulness in organizations outside of business. This includes legal and law enforcement organizations as well. Harvard Law School, even many US government organizations offer mindfulness training including United States Armed Forces personnel. Children in the public and private schools are introduced to such program as well.
What makes me believe that mindfulness leadership is a new trend in organizational change are testimonials from different CEOs who considered meditation as beneficial to running a corporation; including mindfulness leadership in professional development program; has mindfulness as a core value; recognizing the importance of silence, inward attention, active listening and being centred; offer mindfulness classes; uses mindfulness in coping strategies; mindfulness is also taught in prisons to reduce hostility and mood disturbance among inmates and improving their self-esteem.
“Mindfulness and compassion actually develop at the same pace. The more mindful you become, the easier you’ll find it to be compassionate. And the more you open your heart to others, the more mindful you become in all your activities.”
