Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons from Google and a ZEN Monastery Kitchen

by Marc Lesser

What would your work and your life look like if you knew how to stay focused yet flexible? What would it be like if you get the right things done, and help create a more peaceful world at the same time? Today’s leaders are grappling with the pace and complexity of change, the challenge of supporting healthy collaboration and alignment among teams and the resulting stress and burnout. The practice of mindful leadership may be one of the most important competencies in business today if leaders are to move beyond fear, anxiety, nagging self-doubt and the feeling of constant overwhelm. The principles in this book can be applied to leadership at any level, providing readers with the tools they need to shift awareness, enhance communication, build trust, eliminate fear and self-doubt and minimizes unnecessary workplace drama. Embracing any one of the practices in seven practices of a mindful leader alone can be life changing. When used together, they support a path of well-being, productivity and positive influence. Practicing mindful leadership will allow you to achieve results — with more energy, clarity, meaning and connection. Your intentions and actions will be more aligned. You will accomplish more with less effort. What would your work and your life look like if you knew how to stay focused yet flexible? What would it be like if you get the right things done, and help create a more peaceful world at the same time? Today’s leaders are grappling with the pace and complexity of change, the challenge of supporting healthy collaboration and alignment among teams and the resulting stress and burnout. The practice of mindful leadership may be one of the most important competencies in business today if leaders are to move beyond fear, anxiety, nagging self-doubt and the feeling of constant overwhelm. The principles in this book can be applied to leadership at any level, providing readers with the tools they need to shift awareness, enhance communication, build trust, eliminate fear and self-doubt and minimizes unnecessary workplace drama. Embracing any one of the practices in seven practices of a mindful leader alone can be life changing. When used together, they support a path of well-being, productivity and positive influence. Practicing mindful leadership will allow you to achieve results — with more energy, clarity, meaning and connection. Your intentions and actions will be more aligned. You will accomplish more with less effort.

211 pages, Paperback

Published May 12, 2019

About the author

Marc Lesser is a speaker, facilitator, workshop leader, and executive coach. He is known for his engaging, experiential presentations that integrate mindfulness and emotional intelligence practices and training. He is the CEO of ZBA Associates, an executive development and leadership consulting company.

Marc has led mindfulness and emotional intelligence programs at many of the world’s leading businesses and organizations including Google, SAP, Genentech, and Kaiser Permanente, and has coached executives and led trainings in Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, health care, and government.

He helped develop the world-renowned Search Inside Yourself (SIY) program within Google - a mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training for leaders which teaches the art of integrating mindfulness, emotional intelligence, and business savvy for creating great corporate cultures and a better world. Deeply rooted in science, the program has been taught to thousands of executives worldwide. He was the founder and CEO of the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI).


Marc’s books include Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons from Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen, Know Yourself, Forget Yourself, Less: Accomplishing More By Doing Less, and Z.B.A. Zen of Business Administration They have been published in 11 languages.

Marc founded and was CEO of 3 companies and has an MBA degree from New York University. Prior to his business and coaching career, he was a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center for 10 years, and director of Tassajara, Zen Mountain Center, the first Zen monastery in the Western world.

He has keynoted at Mindful Leadership Summits in Washington DC, Toronto, and Sydney and has led “Search Inside Yourself” and “Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader” trainings in San Francisco, Japan, Hong Kong, and Toronto. Learn more at www.marclesser.net.

Reviews

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the principles he shared, but not necessarily the way he went about his why explanations.