Michael Carroll

The Talents of Mindful Leadership: Mindfulness meditation in leading healthy organizational change
June 20-24

Leaders in today's thriving information age have to remain vigilant to a wide range of ever shifting and resilient marketplace forces. And when organizations are confronted with the demands and uncertainties of such relentless change, the speed and intense pace of getting it done faster, better, cheaper and smarter can appear overwhelming. Yet some organizations respond creatively - innovating, adapting and thriving.

Guiding an organization through such constant change requires leaders who are not just financially disciplined and shrewdly competitive but as importantly self-aware, confident and socially skillful. And many leaders in organizations like Google, Facebook and McKinsey Consulting have turned to an ancient meditative practice for training the mind called mindfulness-awareness meditation to cultivate these leadership qualities - the talents of a Mindful Leader.

During this 5 day seminar, participants will learn and practice mindfulness awareness meditation, explore how such training offers a fresh approach to developing leaders and discuss how to skillfully bring mindfulness awareness to the job in order to promote health and well being. Mindfulness practices and guided meditation instruction will form the basis of each day's session.

Monday

What is mindfulness awareness meditation and how can it help us engage workplace challenges, stressors and demands? Participants will learn and practice mindfulness awareness meditation and learn how such a simple act could have profound impact on the workplace.

Tuesday

What is the "wisdom of achieving nothing" and how can it help us become more skillful at work and in life in general? Participants will review scientific findings on mindfulness, explore the "motivations" behind such a practice and discuss and possibly recognize how "the awakened mind" is a profoundly available resource for promoting well-being.

Wednesday

How can mindfulness awareness meditation cultivate our natural leadership talents? Using guided meditation, participants will explore in detail how mindfulness awareness meditation cultivates 10 natural leadership talents highly sought after in the modern workplace.

Thursday

What is "being synchronized" and how does it help us discover profoundly different ways to manage change? Participants will examine how "mindfulness" shifts to "awareness" which promotes a profoundly different way to engage life. Principles like "resonance" "Shih", "Lha, Lu and Nyen" and "Mandala" will be introduced as tools for managing change.

Friday

How can we start a meditation practice and bring the wisdom of the practice to our work and daily life? Participants will plan ways to bring their experience of mindfulness awareness back to their daily lives both on and off the job.

Michael Carroll is the author of Awake at Work (Shambhala 2004) and The Mindful Leader (Shambhala 2007) and over his 28 year business career has held executive positions with such companies as Shearson Lehman/American Express, Simon & Schuster and The Walt Disney Company. Michael has an active consulting and coaching business with client firms such as Procter & Gamble, Google, AstraZeneca, Viropharma, Starbucks, National Geographic Expeditions, Gilbane, Inc. and others.

Michael has been studying Tibetan Buddhism since 1976, graduated from Buddhist seminary in 1980 and is an authorized teacher in Kagyu-Nyingma lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. He received his bachelor's degree in theology and philosophy from the University of Dayton and his master's degree in adult education from Hunter College. He has lectured and taught at Wharton Business School, Columbia University, Swarthmore College, Yale University, University of Sydney, St. Mary's University, University of Toronto, Kripalu, Cape Cod Institute, Zen Mountain Monastery, Shambhala Mountain Center, Karme Choling, Evam Institute, Omega Institute (assisting Pema Chodron) and many other practice centers throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. Michael's forthcoming book Fearless at Work; Confident in Life is scheduled for publication in the spring of 2012.

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