What can a Buddhist monk tell us about business?

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Phra Anil Sakya, one of Thailand’s oldest Buddhist monks, teaches mindfulness to corporate executives and criminals. At Rayong Central, a high-security prison with more than 7,000 inmates, his conscious cognitive therapy program has an impressive track record. Overall, a third of prisoners released from Thai prisons reoffend and are re-imprisoned within three years, but according to Phra Anil, nine out of 10 inmates who take their course never return.

“I asked a murderer who had been paid to kill his victim, why?” Phra Anil remembers an exchange. “He told me: ‘Venerable sir, because killing is my job.’ Consciousness is knowing what is right or wrong for humanity, so when I talk to business executives, I teach them to put people before profit. Mindfulness is getting back to who you are, changing yourself first before trying to change others.

Teaching mindfulness (paying attention to the present moment) and self-awareness is a growing trend in executive education, as schools seek to help business leaders appreciate and adopt more reflective, analytical, and collaborative decision-making styles. and Management. After all, the reason is: how can you lead others if you don’t know how to lead yourself?

As a result, Phra Anil is a regular speaker on executive education programs at Sasin School of Management In Bangkok. The school’s director, Ian Fenwick, who recently installed a meditation hall, says: “In Thailand, we have an advantage because of the tradition of Buddhism. Many executives are used to going to the temple and having a quiet time.

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“If we replace the word ‘mindfulness’ with ‘reflection,’ it becomes much more accessible. We are simply encouraging people to take time and reflect, to remove themselves from the immediacy of the situation and look at the decisions they need to make from a greater distance,” adds Fenwick.

Fostering reflection is not a new discipline in executive education. More than a quarter of a century ago, Canadian academic Henry Mintzberg helped launch the International Master’s Program for Managers (IMPM) at five universities around the world. The year-long course, which takes executives to Japan, Brazil, India, Canada and the UK, seeks to refocus business education around five mindsets, including the “reflective mindset,” taught at Lancaster University . Executives visit local Quakers to appreciate an alternate sense of themselves and learn about their decision-making and management style. Walking, poetry and canoeing are also part of the experience.

“We think of mindfulness and reflection more as a social and collaborative practice, rather than some kind of meditation, getting out of the world,” explains Martin Brigham, IMPM Academic Director and Associate Professor at Lancaster University School of Management. “Many executives make decisions without thinking, like changing gears in a car. Reflection is a way of making yourself think about your thinking instead of just mindlessly doing what you’ve done in the past. The four most important words in business? ‘What do you think?'”

Mindfulness is going back to who you are, changing yourself before trying to change others.

Brigham cites a former student, Abbas Gedi Gullet, who ran refugee camps for the Red Cross in Kenya. After completing the program, he persuaded the organization to invest in a different type of accommodation, luxury hotels, and reinvest the proceeds in the charity. “Through reflection, he was able to change the mindset,” says Brigham. “Managers like to fix things, but sometimes they also have to challenge the philosophy behind their actions.”

Mindfulness and reflection aren’t just for the boardroom. Researchers from the University of Exeter Business School found that, in particularly monotonous roles, employees who are more “conscientious” have higher job satisfaction and are less likely to quit or find their job boring.

More than half of American employers offer some form of mindfulness training to workers, according to a survey by Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health. Free subscriptions to Calm and Headspace meditation apps are among the post-pandemic job benefits being offered by big companies, including Starbucks. Beverage maker Diageo’s new London offices include an entire “wellness” floor and a studio offering health and wellness sessions including mindfulness and meditation.

However, while studies have shown that mindfulness can improve self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and help manage depression among many employees, psychologists have also warned that, for a small minority, some mindfulness practices may have the opposite effect, making people feel more anxious, even to the point of panic attacks. So, with many business schools rushing to add mindfulness and reflection to their curricula, how can executives discern what is promotional or even counterproductive fluff from what is genuinely effective?

“It is our responsibility to use scientifically proven and thoroughly researched tools, methods and concepts,” says Tom Lindholm, Managing Director of Finland. Aalto University executive education. Aalto’s programs include an integrated personal development process designed to enhance self-development and self-awareness.

“Some of our executives report feelings of invisible support growing within them, giving them strength, confidence, and calm,” Lindholm says. “Others say they can now find solutions to difficult challenges, where they previously felt powerless, hoping someone else would find the answers.”

While some executives may have a more natural inclination toward self-reflection and mindfulness, these are competencies that can be taught, argues Tore Hillestad, director of executive education at NHH Norwegian School of Economics, which works with leadership and organizational development consultancy AFF to offer mindfulness training. “We integrate what is learned in the program into daily behaviors, repeatedly and systematically. If taught well, it’s no more fluid than developing hard skills like getting familiar with a new tool or software.”

Back in Bangkok, Phra Anil suggests her own simple and mindful habit. “Just try to close your eyes, shut yourself down, and live in the present. Bring things back to yourself and ignore the urge to check social media and look at the lives of others. Don’t forget to look at your own life.”