It may surprise you to learn that Google, Intel, Goldman Sachs and US healthcare giant Aetna are among companies that engage in mindfulness – as do General Mills, Apple, Medtronic, Genetech, McKinsey, Deutsche Bank, Intel, Proctor & Gamble and Comcast. In fact, an increasing number of blue chip and Fortune 500 companies are offering meditation, mindfulness and mind training to employees and integrating its principles into the daily work environments.23
Mindfulness is being found to be a highly effective business tool. The NYU Stern Leadership Development Programme reports that ‘today’s leaders face a range of fast-paced, dynamic leadership challenges that centre around the ability to make sound, ethical decisions in the face of ever-increasing stress and instability.’ They point out that, ‘Feelings of uncertainty can undermine decisions, leading to costly mistakes that impact individuals, organizations, and potentially entire industries.’ A new business paradigm is facilitating ‘leadership excellence that drives business results while focusing on compassion, self-awareness, courage, and resilience personally, interpersonally, and organizationally.’24 These qualities are being seen as essential for the survival and sustainability of successful, ethical organizations. Their solution is to offer mindfulness classes to undergraduates, graduates and staff alike so that mindfulness is integrated into the whole working environment.
Mindfulness can benefit any type of workplace. Across the world, from the boardroom to the warehouse floor, bosses and workers alike are regularly using the practice – and it is effective.25 In one study, after practising mindfulness warehouse workers were found to be ‘more attuned to their surroundings and more aware of their own behaviour and, therefore, more disciplined in their execution of tasks on the factory floor.’ The same principle applies to any task.
Practising mindfulness at work has been found to lead to:
• greater job satisfaction
• a significant drop in stress levels
• more appropriate responses to stress
• improvements in employee health
• better management practices
• greater ability to focus
• increased productivity
• improved quality of relationships at work across the board
• stronger level of engagement in meetings, projects and team efforts
• improvements in innovative thinking
• increased communication skills
• a significant decrease in work-related pain and on-the-job injuries.
One of the ways in which mindfulness can be introduced into business is through phrasing checklists, tasks, reports and evaluations to focus on how things are in the present moment rather than relying on fulfilling paradigms based on past experience. ‘How it’s always been’ creates mindlessness. Mindfulness positively encourages a fresh, in-the-moment approach that avoids oversights and opens the door to innovation. To remind you to do this, place a crystal in a prominent place such as on a desk or window ledge so that, when you catch sight of it, you are reminded to phrase things in the present moment rather than hark back to an old formula. This works equally well for speaking to colleagues, as it does for writing reports or instructions.
A large chunk of crystal shared with co-workers will remind you all to stay in the moment, particularly if you gather round it and touch it with a finger for a minute or two to encourage cohesiveness and clarity of purpose. You can also carry a crystal in your pocket and turn it with your fingers to gain a momentarily still mind into which creative ideas can gently drop. For a quick lunchtime reboot, spend 10 minutes at your desk, with your eyes closed, holding the image of a crystal in your mind as you gently breathe in and out. Or consider holding a lunchtime meditation session for your colleagues, using crystals. Practising mindfulness throughout the working day enables you to be quietly focused and attentive rather than stressed out and over-vigilant or, at the other end of the spectrum, bored and uninvolved.
Carnelian to facilitate decision-making (page 60), Selenite for peaceful vibes (page 70), Citrine for success (page 74) and Tangerine Dream Lemurian for creativity (page 90)
Natural Citrine has long been used to ensure success in business in addition to facilitating tolerance, creativity and open-mindedness.