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FOREWORD

Imagine the hard-earned wisdom of a compassionate mindfulness teacher woven seamlessly with the insights of an experienced organizational leader, and you can begin to picture the illuminating tapestry of this creative and empowering book. Our inspiring guide, Marc Lesser, distills his decades of meditative practice and entrepreneurial leadership in both small and large workplace settings to provide seven powerful practices that can make our professional and even personal lives more effective and rewarding.

Lesser teaches us how loving what we do while letting go of procrastination and our attachment to unhelpful habits can free us to engage with others, our selves, and our work more productively and creatively. So much of the mind’s energy is often spent avoiding discomfort — in ourselves or others — and yet learning to be compassionate and open to the inner experience at the core of who we are is the research-proven way to create healthier minds, bodies, and relationships.

“Connecting” to our own pain, the pain of others, and our mutual interdependence are key ways in which leaders can help cultivate work environments that support optimal productivity and innovation. How? As this insightful guide beautifully reveals, being fully present in our awareness — being open to what is, as it is happening — enables us to be present in our connections with others, which helps them feel seen, safe, and secure, the basis for feeling trust. It is this sense of trust and the ensuing experience of belonging to a larger whole, to the organizational group, that a mindful leader creates, bringing out the best in coworkers in an organization, optimizing not only their productivity but also their well-being. Fortunately, these key mindful-leadership skills can be learned, and this compact book teaches exactly how to do so.

But what does being a “mindful leader” really mean? While mindfulness has no final and fixed definition, the term broadly means being fully present for life, opening to what is without being swept up by judgments or getting lost in efforts to cling to or avoid experiences. Being mindful entails an open awareness that creates a state of trust in which the brain’s “social engagement system” is turned on and we connect with others, and even our own inner life, with more acceptance and clear thinking. A “mindful leader,” then, is an individual who is able to harness these characteristics of mindful awareness in ways that inspire others to become their best selves, optimize how they solve problems, and find innovative approaches to their organization’s challenges and goals. A mindful leader makes the work environment a generative social field in which compassion, connection, and creativity thrive.

The seven accessible practices in this book can teach you how to become just such a leader. This is the journey you are about to take, a journey you’ll be guided on every step of the way. Enjoy!

— Daniel J. Siegel, MD, executive director of Mindsight Institute and author of Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence