As a business leader, responding to opportunities and challenges in a volatile market, you need to achieve not only achieve results and build relationships, but be aware of who you are, what you bring to the table and how you impact situations. You need to be able to be able to review your assumptions and see if there might be new possibilities you're not yet aware of. You need to be able to respond skillfully to others when emotions are running high - especially your own emotions! This is where mindfulness comes in. Mindfulness is the skill of paying extraordinary attention to ordinary things. It is a trainable skill that can be learnt by anyone, and requires no particular belief system. It has been reliably demonstrated to cause changes in the brain and body. Mindfulness practice allows people to be more focused on the task at hand and more present with others. What's not to like? This is a short excerpt from a Mindfulness for Personal Resilience Workshop, designed as part of an Executive Team annual retreat. I hope you find it useful.

1. Mindfulness for Personal Resilience Page 1
With Meg Salter
2012
Leadership Agility Includes Self-Leadership
Bill Joiner, Stephen Josephs, Leadership Agility, 2007

2. Mindfulness for Personal Resilience Page 2
With Meg Salter
2012
Self Leadership for Personal Resilience
Elements:
• Cognitive agility; re- • Requires the ability to
frame and see new pause and be aware of
possibilities when own beliefs,
encountering setbacks assumptions
• Emotional resilience; • Requires the ability to
respond skilfully when be aware of emotions
emotions are running and choose how to
strong enact them

3. Mindfulness for Personal Resilience Page 3
With Meg Salter
2012
What we don’t know drives us
Create gap
between
stimulus &
response
3 general iceberg beliefs around:
• acceptance
•achievement
•control
Developed by Joe Stelliga, Human Capital Inc., based on work of Reivich & Shatte, The Resilience Factor.

4. Mindfulness for Personal Resilience Page 4
With Meg Salter
2012
“From One Who’s Been There”
• “The main business case for meditation is that if
you’re fully present on the job, you will be more
effective as a leader, you will make better decisions
and you will work better with other people. I tend to
live a very busy life. This keeps me focused on
what’s important.”
William George, former CEO Medtronic, Board Member Goldman Sachs

5. Mindfulness for Personal Resilience Page 5
With Meg Salter
2012
What is Mindfulness?
• The skill of paying
extraordinary attention to
ordinary things
• Become more attentive and Clarity
conscious of what is
happening in any given
moment Concentration Equanimity
• Mental training – analogous
to physical training
Mindful
• Can be incorporated into Awareness
every aspect of living
• Trainable skill with 3
components: concentration,
clarity, equanimity

6. Mindfulness for Personal Resilience Page 6
With Meg Salter
2012
Research
• Growing subfield of neurological research
• Demonstrable changes in brain and body
• Brain:
 physical alterations, enlarge functional circuits in regions
that control attention and process sensory signals from the
outside
 Modulation of alpha rhythms (Harvard Medical School)
• Body: relaxation response includes changes in metabolism,
heart rate, respiration, blood pressure and brain chemistry.
• Meta analysis (2004) found consistent results of alleviated
suffering associated with physical, psychosomatic and
psychiatric disorders
• Observable positive impact on people with stress related health
conditions, both physical & mental health measures
• Regularly used in clinical/ hospital settings

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With Meg Salter
2012
Benefits of Mindfulness
• Sense of calm,
• Physical Health: immune system, blood pressure, cardio,
reduced stress chronic pain,
• Mental Health: cognitive processing, memory, ability to learn
• Creates a gap of Personal • Emotional Health: decreased anxiety, regulated emotions
awareness between
stimulus and
response • Stay focused on key tasks
• Reveals our • Work better under pressure
• Anticipate & engage with clients, stakeholders
iceberg beliefs Professional • Creative problem solving
• Permits choice,
personal
empowerment
• Effective listening and speaking
• Conflict resolution
• Collaboration on joint goals
Team

8. Mindfulness for Personal Resilience Page 8
With Meg Salter
2012
Where to practice
Formal practice Sport/ exercise Daily challenges

9. Mindfulness for Personal Resilience Page 9
With Meg Salter
2012
Some basics for mindfulness training...
• Pick a focus of attention
• Direct your awareness to that
point of focus
• Let other things be in the
background
• When your awareness wanders
off, gently redirect it
• Bring a matter of fact, non-
judging attitude
• Be clear about what is going on