Mindful Leadership: A Way of Being Under Construction

Abstract

Mindful leadership is a new build from a foundation of mindfulness, dating back 2,500 years. As such, this chapter provides a narrative of the building blocks that have been conceptualized by neuroscientists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and scholars, and articulated, as research and empirical evidence to be transferred to a new home – that of mindful leadership. At the time of this writing, a single agreed-upon definition of mindful leadership does not exist, although depictions include the qualities, traits, and characteristics that mindful leaders employ. An unwritten, agreed upon element of what it means to be a mindful leader by the authors who conceptualize the same, described essential qualities of awareness, being fully present, and ultimately that mindfulness is a way of being, not doing. Perhaps the issues of being, instead of doing, seems contradictory to the way that people visualize leaders, who are often described by action verbs such as develop, plan, organize, or design. Mindful leaders influence others in the organization by how they listen, respond, avoid criticizing and judging, and offer compassion and empathy, characteristics and qualities that speak to the affective, humanistic, and altruistic side of leading. Mindful leadership invites a journey inward that may ultimately cultivate a sense of community or sangha. Mindful leaders slow down the busyness of the usual overwhelm and mind wandering by allowing stillness for reflection and growth. If this one chapter fulfills the intended hope and expectations, it will allow for a contemplative view of mindful leadership that invites others on the journey uniting the science with the art of mindfulness, while offering a read that integrates the theoretical and conceptual elements, with one that is experiential.