Mindfulness at Work

Evan Harrel and Laura Berland are back as guests on Mindfulness At Work to further discuss Compassionate Leadership at work. They founded and lead the non-profit organization, Center for Compassionate Leadership, and help train leaders for many corporations.

In this episode, they explain the evidence and science behind the ability to relate to others in a compassionate way. They share that it starts in the way we see ourselves. It seems so simple but it's not. It's really difficult to relate to others in a healthy manner if we treat ourselves in challenging ways. In fact, there are over 2000 research studies related to the benefits of self-compassion. How does self-compassion heighten the levels of productivity at work or depth of relationships? It's in learning that we don’t need external validation to feel nurtured and supported.

In order to exemplify this concept and how it works, Laura shares a personal story about the wild success she experienced in an entrepreneurial venture and yet she still didn't feel satisfied or validated. She regrets missing out on calm moments with her son during this time. We can be tricked into thinking, “I’m doing all of this work for my son”,  but that's not the truest sentiment.

They also reference Dr. Kirsten Neff's work on self compassion. She has the most published, best research in the field, and the her website,self-compassion.org houses an entire section on familial relationships.

There is a direct tie between self-compassion, growth mindset, and resiliency. It all revolves around knowing when something doesn’t go the way we plan, how to proceed and survive it anyway. A self-compassionate person recognizes everything won’t work out just right all of the time but that they can and will recover. They learn from the situation so it isn’t costly for them in the future. Leaders are at their best when they are accepting of their own failures. They are modeling vulnerability and therefore, everyone can relate to them.

Jeff Weiner is a prime example of an executive chairman garnering amazing results for LinkedIn's culture and bottom line. He talks about his own transformation from being a difficult person without emotional intelligence skills to recognizing and becoming a compassionate leader. He has helped to bring those skills into the core values of LinkedIn. He is one of the most outspoken executives in the business world championing the importance of building a compassionate and truthful corporate culture. He learned it first-hand for himself and valued the results.

This is the type of transformation that takes place and feedback The Center for Compassionate Leadership receives from the participants in their resiliency training. 

People at the top of their organizations have the opportunity to be in community with other leaders who are feeling and experiencing shared challenges and that makes all the difference. An aspect of compassion work that people don’t talk about is that it can be viewed as a sign of weakness. However, all it takes is intention and practice to recognize that in every interaction if we hone our compassion skills it is actually a strength. 

Unfortunately, some leaders want the hack, to get from point A to point B and to jump over the pond of the inner work. Yet the growth is elicited by the muck below the surface. We must go through the muck to get out on the other side. As Margaret Mead states, "We shouldn’t teach people what to think, we should teach them how to think".

A warm thanks to Evan and Laura for their contributions. Register for The Center for Compassionate Leadership Resiliency Training this Fall.Do not miss it!

Listen to this informative episode of Mindfulness at Work with Laura Berland and Evan Harrel, the founders of The Center for Compassionate Leadership. Laura is the Center's Executive Director and she is a serial tech entrepreneur, former Fortune 500 executive, meditation teacher, yoga therapist, nonprofit founder/board member, executive mentor, and digital media veteran. Evan is the Center's Chief Operations Officer. He has an MBA from Harvard's Business School and has served in the nonprofit sector as the executive director for a group of inner-city Houston preschools. He was an investment manager for 20 years, where he managed a thirty-billion-dollar mutual fund. Wow -what a duo!

Their years of corporate experience combined with their expertise in the emerging field of compassionate leadership have informed the creation of their groundbreaking curriculum for executives and leaders. In this episode, our listeners learn what the non-profit, Center for Compassionate Leadership does and how it serves our world. Their focus is on training leaders, to use them as an important point of leverage, to help grow the ripples of compassion and mindfulness across the globe.

They teach that mindfulness is the foundation for all the transformational work they execute within a structure and how it is the basis for all of the trainings and consulting they do. It's an acute awareness that we all have access to but we need to cultivate, in order to see clearly and make decisions informed by wholeness. They teach why relationships and connection are innate human needs and how to access the benefits of both by engaging in an awareness of one's energy and thoughts. Organizations should begin putting their hearts around their goals and decisions. They should let go of traditional obstacles that don't serve our culture's desire to flourish as connected, safe human beings.

All of their work is a combination of evidence-based neuroscience and behavioral research, resulting in proactive, results-oriented leaders who want to apply a human-centered approach to enhance personal and organizational effectiveness.

Evan and Laura teach us why leadership always starts with self-compassion and explain how to practice the art of compassion. 

Leaders and Leadership qualities and traits can be harnessed in many ways but must include:

1) Intense self-awareness

2) Being approachable

3) Having the wisdom to act

4)Possessing the courage for establishing boundaries- for home, work, and for yourself- which is the very hardest.

They are excited to help in the creation of a new environment for the workforce. They know going "back" to work after the reopening will look different and might be hard, but there will also be a period of deep inquiry and growth opportunity. It will be rewarding to those who are responsive and will open up creativity for deeper problem solving. We can learn a new way of working together in order to heal from the collective grief we've all experienced over the past 18 months. Are you ready?

Please reach Laura or Evan for more information about The Center for Compassionate Leadership. We are all carrying forth the information that the Mental Health Awareness the Month of May presented to us, and now it's time to apply solutions and support in the Month of June and beyond. Their work will help us all in taking action steps to do so.