Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson Bringing Mindfulness into the Workplace
Dec 2, 2019
In this insightful conversation, Marc Lesser, the founding CEO of the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute and former leader at the San Francisco Zen Center, discusses the fusion of mindfulness and leadership. He shares unique stories from his Zen background, emphasizing how mindfulness practices can enhance emotional intelligence in the workplace. Marc addresses the tension between Zen principles and capitalist goals, advocates for investing in mindful leadership for strategic advantage, and offers practical tools, like the 'one breath a day' exercise, for cultivating mindfulness at work.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Zen Practice Became Leadership Training
- Marc Lesser spent ten years at the San Francisco Zen Center and became director of Tassajara, where work and leadership were integral to practice.
- He learned to integrate mindfulness, caring, and getting things done, which led him to pursue an MBA to bring that spirit into business.
Kitchen Work As Spiritual Practice
- At Tassajara the kitchen work felt extraordinary: cutting carrots and cooking became a practice of care and connection.
- Marc describes a child asking if their neighbor was God, illustrating how monastery culture transforms the ordinary into the sacred.
Mindfulness Paired With Emotional Intelligence
- Marc links mindfulness to emotional intelligence to widen its relevance in business settings.
- He emphasizes cultivating attitudes like kindness and curiosity amid difficulties rather than compressing practice into a buzzword.
