For seven years now, a growing number of General Mills workers have been practising meditation, yoga and so-called “mindfulness” in the workplace. And what began as a side project by one executive has transformed the culture of a Fortune 200 multinational. “It’s about training our minds to be more focused, to see with clarity, to have spaciousness for creativity and to feel connected,” says Janice Marturano, General Mills’ deputy general counsel, who founded the programme. “That compassion to ourselves, to everyone around us – our colleagues, customers – that’s what the training of mindfulness is really about.” The General Mills initiative is at the vanguard of a movement that is quietly reshaping certain corners of the corporate world. William George, a current Goldman Sachs board member is one of the main advocates for bringing meditation into corporate life, writing articles on the subject for the Harvard Business Review. “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,” he tells me. “I tend to live a very busy life. This keeps me focused on what’s important.” There are no reliable statistics on how many companies offer meditation in the workplace, but a quarter of large US employers have launched “stress reduction” initiatives, according and that number is growing steadily.
So it seems to be luck over the period of the guru screaming and survival training to learn how to beat the competition. We return to ourselves, to the improvement based on understanding and compassion. It does not mean slow down, but to be aware that in everyday life there are times to spend and others to recover. The programs for stress reduction have this regenerative function and maintain the focus on things that really matter at that time. There needs to be calm because the frenzy does not stimulate optimism rather depress it, leading to be in late or always feel at fault for something. In this difficult times we need to be optimistic and to reduce the stress caused by fear. Therefore, find the time to reduce stress and enlarge our mental limits.
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