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Focus. How Varied Meditation Practices Become Integrated Into Lives of Business LeadersThe Sequence of LearningThe Impact of the practices. Context: An Elective Seminar Executive Development. The Group Reported On500 Working Professional MBAsAverage Age 34Religiously DiverseDivided Equally
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1. THE IMPACT OF MEDITATION IN LIVES OF SILICON VALLEY LEADERS Andre L. Delbecq, J. Thomas and Kathleen McCarthy University Professor
Santa Clara University
August 12, 2010
2. Focus
How Varied Meditation Practices Become Integrated Into Lives of Business Leaders
The Sequence of Learning
The Impact of the practices
3. Context: An Elective SeminarExecutive Development
The Group Reported On
500+ Working Professional MBAs
Average Age 34
Religiously Diverse
Divided Equally - Men and Women
High Achieving Scientific, Engineering, Functional Mgrs.
350 Senior Executives
Average Age 55
Technology (1/3) and Health Care (2/3)
Directors, Vice-Presidents, CEOs, Trustees
4. Science Based Business Cultures
At best unleashes creativity in a decentralized, loosely-coupled, self-directed business culture
At worst is a destructive stew of greed, opportunism and activism
Dangerous Place for the Psychologically/Spiritually Immature
5. First Discipline: Presence Meditation
Importance of Being Present to “Now”
Centeredness
Visual/Breath
A New Experience to Multi-tasking Managers
6. Participant Reactions
“This puts me outside my comfort zone”
“I discovered life does not begin in the future but now”
“I now see multi-tasking as getting in the way of connecting with others”
“I have lived in a world of fears, obsessions and addictions. Part of the answer has to be to be present so I can listen to God in the Now”
7. Second Meditation: Light and Darkness in Organization
Provider of Products and Services
Place Where Talents Enabled
Locus of Community
Impact on Justice/Injustice
Steward of Resources
Areas of Darkness/Light
From Comparative to Contributive
8. Participant Reactions
“I focused on contributing to organizational light and found my day more rewarding”
“I have longed for a sense of purpose and now see it is both received and can be offered”
“My relationship with God has been deteriorating as I separated my spiritual life from my work”
“If I am going to give that much of myself to work it needs to have purpose and meaning”
“The problem has not been my work but my approach to it”
9. The Unfolding Spiritual Journey:Cycles(Stages) Conversion
Answering a call to spiritual deepening and service
Purification
Admission of and dealing with brokenness
Illumination
Glimpsing the transcendent in the everyday
Unification
Living continuously in the presence of the transcendent
10. Conversion
Already Discussed
Opening to the “Inner Voice” Beckoning The Leader To Live in New Awareness
The Desire for Meaning and Integration
11. Purification
Acknowledging the Messes in our Lives And Turning to the Mystery That Bears a Thousand Names For Healing
The Alternative
Blaming Others
Accepting the False Self
12. Purification-cont. “It has been a rare thing for me to think of others. My drive toward success has dominated my life. As a consequence of my self-centeredness I am in a self-imposed isolated space. I need to change my ways.”
13. Purification-cont.
I confess my ethics have been warped during the economic boom. “After my meditation I prayed for guidance to regain the purity of purpose I once possessed for my engineering work”
14. Purification - cont.
“In my meditation I felt I could not see beyond my immature actions and selfish petty ambitions. I realize it is myself that is the source of darkness. I now want to be a source of light at work the way I was earlier in my employment.”
15. Purification-cont.
Holding back, procrastinating, daydreaming, avoiding involvement - these are the ways I protect myself from the pain of failure. But of course, I am also cutting myself off from the joy of putting my heart into my work.”
16. Confronting Darkness - Changing Behavior
Purification does not stop with simply recording, complaining about or acknowledging personal darkness at work.
The movement is for participants to change their leadership behavior.
17. Illumination
In the Christian tradition:
Ability to see God in creation and the daily
Movement away from self centeredness toward serving others
18. Illumination-cont.
“I started seeing the hundreds, thousands of connections to all the people in business and government every day touched by our products and services. I was almost overwhelmed with the magnitude of our mission, the impacts that we have that I have not been conscious of. I realized I need this awareness to sustain me through the day to day struggles at work.”
19. Illumination - cont.
“I have changed my outlook on my job. I am no longer simply a program manager, but rather an enabler of collaboration and communication. I help others see how valuable they are and how their work helps society as a whole.”
20. Illumination - cont.
“I now complete my work without complaint and in a positive manner. I help my work team to become more of a family. Life is not always filled with champagne and flowers, but I foresee a future at work with greater meaning because it is a form of service”
21. Illumination - Humility as Litmus Test
“I have chosen to enter my own data. Humbling I can tell you. I say a silent prayer asking forgiveness for the times in the past when I expressed irritation to the data entry person asking “Why can’t you have this by…. Now I put my own “regal” fingers to the keyboard and know why.”
22. Integrating Practices Into the Busy Leadership Day
Beginning the Day with “Emptiness” Practice
The temptation from gifts
Entering the Workplace With Consciousness of Purpose
Aware of Light and Darkness
Re-Centering Before Each Major Task
Mindfullness, Presence
Engaging the “Examen” Upon Leaving
Avoiding Repression/Obsession
Spiritual Reading in Spirit of “Lectio” In Evening
23. No Compulsion Regarding Form
“Who would want to do sitting meditation after an eight hour flight sitting in Frankfurt Awaiting the Transfer?”
“Lectio” at Jackson Hole using nature
24. Conclusion
A Variety of Meditation Practices Introduced and Later Incorporated Into the Leadership Day
Resultant Spiritual Growth Interpreted Through the Lens of Stages or Cycles
Significant Shift in Self-Reported Satisfaction With Leadership Role
Significant Impact on Collegial Relations, Productivity, Satisfaction.
25. Thank You Andre L. Delbecq, J. Thomas and Kathleen McCarthy University Professor
Santa Clara University
adelbecq@scu.edu
(408) 554-4629