Introduction to Mindfulness - Dean Amory

themselves and others, and nearly 70% said it helped them think
strategically.
Mindfulness helps us make decisions more quickly as well as more
rationally, through helping us to let go of our evaluations, according
to research by Langer, who also underlines how mindfulness helps us
be more creative.
Meditation promotes divergent creative-style thinking, studies such as
the one by Colzato et al suggest. It also improves insight into
problem solving, according to research by Ostafin and Kassman.
Mindfulness helps us to be less self-critical and more curious, to
notice new things and give up preconceived mindsets, thus adding
fuel to the creativity tank.
It helps employees act more ethically and enhances their emotional
intelligence - in particular, self-awareness, self-management and social
awareness. It does this through elements including: "checking in" to
our emotions, thoughts and bodily sensations on a regular basis;
practising attentional control; improving the ability to step back and
think and act more rationally; and by enhancing compassion.
One study by business school INSEAD showed that being exposed
to mindfulness training and coaching encourages managers and
leaders to behave in a more socially responsible way.
Mindfulness is at the heart of a number of popular leadership models,
including Richard Boyatzis and Annie McKee's resonant leadership,
James Scouller's three levels of leadership, Otto Scharmer's theory U
and Lee and Roberts' authentic leadership model.
Since the late 1970's there have been more than 1000 publications
documenting medical and psychological research on mindfulness
which demonstrate its validity and breadth of application.
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