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Mindful Work: How Meditation Is Changing Business from the Inside Out (Eamon Dolan) Kindle Edition

by David Gelles (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.2 out of 5 stars 162
See all formats and editions
A New York Times reporter reveals what business leaders around the country are already discovering: Meditation may be the key to fostering a happier, more productive workplace.

For the past few years, mindfulness has begun to transform the American workplace. Many of our largest companies, such as General Mills, Ford, Target, and Google, have built extensive programs to foster mindful practices among their workers. Mindful Work is the first book to explain how all sorts of businesses and any kind of worker can benefit from meditation, yoga, and other mindful techniques. As a business reporter for the New York Times who has also practiced meditation for two decades, David Gelles is uniquely qualified to chart the growing nexus between these two realms. As he proves, mindfulness lowers stress, increases mental focus, and alleviates depression among workers. He also offers real-world examples of how mindfulness has benefited companies that have adopted it — from the millions of dollars Aetna has saved in health-care costs to the ways Patagonia has combined leadership in its market with a pervasively mindful outlook.

Gelles's revelatory book picks up where bestsellers like Thrive and 10% Happier leave off, by detailing how mindfulness works in and for the companies that adopt it, revealing the profound impact mindfulness can have on the world of work. Mindful Work goes beyond other books on the subject by providing evidence for the practical benefits of mindfulness and showing readers how to become more mindful themselves.
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  1. Print length
    306 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    HarperOne
  5. Publication date
    March 10, 2015
  6. File size
    1243 KB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Brimming with insights and backed up with solid research, Mindful Work takes us to the front lines of a revolution that is transforming the business world.”
—Arianna Huffington

“Gelles has done a masterful job of capturing the 'mindfulness movement'. His candid analysis and his dialogue with people from all facets of this movement paint a wonderfully clear view of a potent proposition for living and working in better ways.”
—Scott Kriens, Chairman, Juniper Networks, and Director, 1440 Foundation

“In this compelling book, Gelles describes how apparent paradoxes can resolve into a business culture where taking a breath is part of making a buck.”
—Sherry Turkle, author of Alone Together

“In this wise and revealing work, David Gelles explains how Eastern wisdom is transforming the Western workplace. Smart, hopeful and inspiring, this is a book with a wide reach and a clear focus.”
—Mark Epstein, author of The Trauma of Everyday Life and Thoughts without a Thinker: Psychotherapy from a Buddhist Perspective

“A delightful, authoritative, and provocative guide to the new world of mindfulness at work. David Gelles covers the story from the inside out, giving readers exactly what they need to assess whether mindfulness is for them — and, if so, how to forge ahead. Give this book your full attention.”
—Daniel Goleman, author of Focus and Emotional Intelligence

“This stunning new book is by far the most insightful, practical guide to mindfulness and meditation. Gelles, who has deep experience with mindfulness, takes us inside leading companies like Google, General Mills, Aetna, and Patagonia to show how meditation is transforming workplaces. Mindful Work could change your life.”
—Bill George, Harvard Business School, former CEO of Medtronic, and author of True North

“Gelles deftly shows the power of mindfulness to change individuals, businesses and our world for the better. Mindfulness is a practice we need to embrace, and we cannot be afraid to follow this path.”
—Marc Benioff, Chairman & CEO, Salesforce

“Mindfulness in the workplace is a real trend and few are as well equipped to explain it as David Gelles. He expertly conveys how companies incorporate mindfulness principles into their cultures and offers practical tips to managers on how to do the same.”
—Reid Hoffman, co/founder & chairman, LinkedIn and co-author of The Alliance

“This carefully researched, heartfully written, and delightfully readable book tells one of the most interesting true stories of our time: the fascinating and sometimes messy coming together of the wisdom world and the corporate world.”
—Chade-Meng Tan, Jolly Good Fellow of Google, author of Search Inside Yourself

“Readers curious about the benefits of mindfulness at work or in their personal lives will appreciate this book.”
—Booklist

"Intriguing, timely, and enjoyable new book, a fascinating account of the increasing adoption of these ancient oriental disciplines by western businesses as means of improving corporate efficiency, reducing employee stress, and, directly or indirectly, boosting the bottom line."
—Financial Times


 

From the Inside Flap

A New York Times reporter reveals how meditation can be the key to fostering a happier, more productive workplace.

Over the past few years, mindfulness has begun to transform the American workplace. Many of our largest companies like General Mills, Ford, Target, and Google have fostered mindful practices among their employees from the factory floor to the executive suite. Mindful Work is the first book to explain how all sorts of businesses and any kind of worker can benefit from meditation, yoga, and other mindful techniques. As a business reporter for the New York Times who has also practiced meditation for fifteen years, David Gelles is uniquely qualified to chart the growing nexus between these two realms. As he proves, mindfulness lowers stress, increases mental focus, and alleviates depression among workers. He also offers real-world examples of how mindfulness has benefited the companies that have adopted it from the millions of dollars Aetna has saved in health-care costs to the ways Patagonia has combined leadership in its market with a pervasively mindful outlook.

Gelles s revelatory book picks up where bestsellers like Thrive and 10% Happier leave off, by detailing how mindfulness works in and for the companies that adopt it, revealing the profound impact meditation can have on the world of work, and showing all of us how to become more mindful ourselves.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00LZ7GPH4
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperOne; Reprint edition (March 10, 2015)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 10, 2015
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1243 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 306 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 0544705254
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 out of 5 stars 162

About the author

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David Gelles

David Gelles

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David Gelles is the “Corner Office” columnist and a business reporter for the New York Times. Since joining the Times in 2013, he has written about CEOs, finance, technology, media, and more. He was part of the team that covered the fallout from the crashes of two Boeing 737 Max jets, work that won the 2020 Gerald Loeb Award for Breaking News Reporting. A student of Buddhism and a meditator for more than twenty years, David is an authority on the intersection of mindfulness and the business world. His 2015 book, Mindful Work: How Meditation is Changing Business from the Inside Out, was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Before joining the Times, he was a reporter for the Financial Times

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
162 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Steve Gladis
5.0 out of 5 stars Mindful Minds
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
Mindful Minds
David Gelles has given us all a gift--explaining both the state and practice of mindfulness in his readable, accessible narrative. Here's an overview: Mindfulness meditation is like taking your brain to the gym for a workout. In fact, I believe it will become as popular as running has become for fitness. Sit quietly and focus on your breathing—that’s meditation in a nutshell. When thoughts come—about an argument you had yesterday, about a deadline that’s looming, or about the lawn to be mowed—simply acknowledge the thought and go back to concentrating on your breathing. The more you practice this, the stronger your mind gets. It’s like doing mental pushups—you get more resilient and stronger over time. The clinical findings have proven its effectiveness: mindful meditation helps reduce heart disease, cancer, diabetes, depression and anxiety, fatigue and muscle pain. In experiments, it has reduced cortisol levels, aided immune systems, increased happiness, and even calmed kids down. Many companies, from Google to General Mills to Goldman Sachs, have significantly invested in mindful meditation for their employees. ~Steve Gladis
2 people found this helpful
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Ian Mann
4.0 out of 5 stars Improving your workplace
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2015
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Mindful Work, by David Gelles

The author, Gelles, has been a business reporter for two of the world’s best papers, the Financial Times, and the New York Times where he currently covers U.S. mergers and acquisitions. With the same thoroughness as one expects from a financial reporter, he addresses mindfulness in the workplace, and has produced the most intelligent, compelling and thorough contribution to this subject.
Mindfulness, put simply, is paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. It is responding from a place of clarity and compassion, rather than fear, insecurity, or greed. Mindfulness is about being fully present, in meetings, on the telephone, while doing work, and being fully present with family and friends.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, an MIT PhD in molecular biology, and the doyen of academic programmes on mindfulness, developed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). There are now over 720 clinics teaching this approach, making it one of the fastest-growing forms of meditation, with more than twenty thousand people trained at the Massachusetts centre alone.
The success of Kabat-Zinn’s method is in no small measure because he secularized it. If a meditation technique can reduce stress, improve concentration and general well-being, and produce a sense of compassion, it carries considerable weight. Tens of thousands of graduates of MBSR over decades attest to it being a reliable method to achieve these results. Presented in this form, mindfulness can’t be considered Buddhist, any more than the law of gravity can be considered English, just because Newton discovered it.
The focus on stress is a valuable entry point with increases in stress levels of 18 percent for women and 25 percent for men over the past thirty years. “Stress finds you. You have to go looking for relaxation”, explains Dr Mark Hyman.
Mindfulness also helps practitioners grow more compassionate through the “Loving-kindness” meditation. It hones one’s ability to “conjure up feelings of compassion, goodwill, and caring on demand.”
“I began to hear about mindfulness being practiced in corporations and I knew it was something I had to investigate,” Gelles explains.
What he found was that companies such as Monsanto, General Mills, Google, Goldman Sachs, Apple, Medtronic, and Aetna all had their own mindfulness programmes.
Phil Jackson, the most successful professional basketball coach ever and a Zen practitioner, used mindfulness to get the most out of his players for 20 years. This included the likes of Michael Jordan. In a study of employees at a bank in Johannesburg, university researchers found an inverse correlation between mindfulness and job burnout.
Green Mountain Coffee Company offers “Mindful Stretching” to its 5,000 employees. Though meditation is no guarantee of a rising stock price, Green Mountain’s market capitalization did increase fifteen-fold in the five years after it introduced this mindfulness program.

At the 2013 World Economic Forum in Davos, world leaders from all sorts of arenas attended the mindfulness training session. It had standing room only.
Harvard Business Review’s article on Mindfulness was their most-shared article of the year and Gelles’ Financial Times story about meditation, “The Mind Business”, went viral.
Bill Ford, the former chief executive and chairman of the Ford Motor Company, told Galles how practicing mindfulness meditation had changed his life, and the fortunes of his family’s company.
Mindfulness meditation requires only that you assume a comfortable position which could be sitting, lying, or even standing, and observe your thoughts, emotions, and sensations. This can also be achieved by following the movement of breath in and out of the nostrils, and focusing on it.
Through the use of FMRI brain activity measuring machines, we have evidence that a person’s neural circuitry can be rewired to make mindfulness and compassion as instinctual as breathing. Mindfulness appears to increase activity in parts of the prefrontal cortex, the region of much of our higher-order thinking – judgment, decision making, planning, and discernment.
All these higher-order benefits probably explain why one of the most popular meditation courses targets the development of mindful leaders.
A Massachusetts General Hospital study showed that meditation reduced the size of the amygdala after just 8 weeks. The effect makes the meditators less likely to overreact, and less likely to let their anger get the better of them. It also showed that “emotional regulation” increased by meditation endures long after the meditation.
The growing academic interest in meditation is evident in the number of academically rigorous, “peer-reviewed papers”, that deal with mindfulness. Meditators have been shown to perform significantly better than non-meditators on all measures of attention, processing speed, and inhibitory control.
People’s lack of focus has always existed, but was more visibly evident in “channel surfing” a few decades ago, and then in Web browsing. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter followed with their ever-refreshing bits of easily digestible nuggets of news and gossip, further decreased our span of attention. What has been left out of the observation of the negative impact of these technologies and multi-tasking, is any mention of an antidote.
Enter mindfulness.

I have read a number of books on mindfulness and work. I believe in the personal, social, and financial benefits of mindfulness.
The author, Gelles, has been a business reporter for two of the world’s best papers, the Financial Times, and the New York Times where he currently covers U.S. mergers and acquisitions. With the same thoroughness as one expects from a financial reporter, he addresses mindfulness in the workplace, and has produced the most intelligent, compelling and thorough contribution to this subject.
Mindfulness, put simply, is paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally. It is responding from a place of clarity and compassion, rather than fear, insecurity, or greed. Mindfulness is about being fully present, in meetings, on the telephone, while doing work, and being fully present with family and friends.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, an MIT PhD in molecular biology, and the doyen of academic programmes on mindfulness, developed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR). There are now over 720 clinics teaching this approach, making it one of the fastest-growing forms of meditation, with more than twenty thousand people trained at the Massachusetts centre alone.
The success of Kabat-Zinn’s method is in no small measure because he secularized it. If a meditation technique can reduce stress, improve concentration and general well-being, and produce a sense of compassion, it carries considerable weight. Tens of thousands of graduates of MBSR over decades attest to it being a reliable method to achieve these results. Presented in this form, mindfulness can’t be considered Buddhist, any more than the law of gravity can be considered English, just because Newton discovered it.
The focus on stress is a valuable entry point with increases in stress levels of 18 percent for women and 25 percent for men over the past thirty years. “Stress finds you. You have to go looking for relaxation”, explains Dr Mark Hyman.
Mindfulness also helps practitioners grow more compassionate through the “Loving-kindness” meditation. It hones one’s ability to “conjure up feelings of compassion, goodwill, and caring on demand.”
“I began to hear about mindfulness being practiced in corporations and I knew it was something I had to investigate,” Gelles explains.
What he found was that companies such as Monsanto, General Mills, Google, Goldman Sachs, Apple, Medtronic, and Aetna all had their own mindfulness programmes.
Phil Jackson, the most successful professional basketball coach ever and a Zen practitioner, used mindfulness to get the most out of his players for 20 years. This included the likes of Michael Jordan. In a study of employees at a bank in Johannesburg, university researchers found an inverse correlation between mindfulness and job burnout.
Green Mountain Coffee Company offers “Mindful Stretching” to its 5,000 employees. Though meditation is no guarantee of a rising stock price, Green Mountain’s market capitalization did increase fifteen-fold in the five years after it introduced this mindfulness program.

Gelles’ Financial Times story about meditation, “The Mind Business”, went viral.
At the 2013 World Economic Forum in Davos, world leaders from all sorts of arenas attended the mindfulness training session. It had standing room only.
Harvard Business Review’s article on Mindfulness was their most-shared article of the year.
Bill Ford, the former chief executive and chairman of the Ford Motor Company, told Galles how practicing mindfulness meditation had changed his life, and the fortunes of his family’s company.
Mindfulness meditation requires only that you assume a comfortable position which could be sitting, lying, or even standing, and observe your thoughts, emotions, and sensations. This can also be achieved by following the movement of breath in and out of the nostrils, and focusing on it.
Through the use of FMRI brain activity measuring machines, we have evidence that a person’s neural circuitry can be rewired to make mindfulness and compassion as instinctual as breathing. Mindfulness appears to increase activity in parts of the prefrontal cortex, the region of much of our higher-order thinking – judgment, decision making, planning, and discernment.
All these higher-order benefits probably explain why one of the most popular meditation courses targets the development of mindful leaders.
A Massachusetts General Hospital study showed that meditation reduced the size of the amygdala after just 8 weeks. The effect makes practitioners less likely to overreact, and less likely to let their anger get the better of them. It also showed that “emotional regulation” increased by meditation endures long after the meditation.
The growing academic interest in meditation is evident in the number of academically rigorous, “peer-reviewed papers”, that deal with mindfulness. Meditators have been shown to perform significantly better than non-meditators on all measures of attention, processing speed, and inhibitory control.
People’s lack of focus has always existed, but was more visibly evident in “channel surfing” a few decades ago, and then in Web browsing. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter followed with their ever-refreshing bits of easily digestible nuggets of news and gossip.
What has been left out of the observation of the negative impact of these technologies and multi-tasking, is any mention of an antidote. Enter mindfulness.

Readability Light --+-- Serious
Insights High +---- Low
Practical High -+--- Low

*Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy and is the author of Strategy that Works.
5 people found this helpful
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Janet Fouts
5.0 out of 5 stars insightful and approachable yet loaded with data and cases. You have to read this.
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
I listened to this on Audible first and then downloaded in on Kindle just so I could take notes! Waay too much data here to absorb at one listen and so many great insights. By far the best book I've discovered on the topic, written in a very human and approachable voice.
Whether you are looking for ways to incorporate mindfulness in your own life or business or data and use-cases to share with your team and managers to help work mindfulness practices into your work life this book is absolutely a must read.
2 people found this helpful
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Triple J
3.0 out of 5 stars some decent points and things to consider
Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2018
Verified Purchase
This book was required for a class I took at work. There are some decent points and things to consider. Overall, if you are looking for some Yogi/Top of the Mountain/enlightened talk to make you feel like you are not just part of the corporate machine, then this is for you!
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kevshands
4.0 out of 5 stars Mindful way to live
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2015
Verified Purchase
Mindful work is a very useful perspective that creates calm in the mind and therefore the body. Minding your affairs keeps you present and open to a world of possibilities.
One person found this helpful
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zu
5.0 out of 5 stars Very astute and thorough. Gelles takes on the daunting ...
Reviewed in the United States on October 25, 2015
Verified Purchase
Very astute and thorough. Gelles takes on the daunting task of explaining where the mindfulness revolution came from and answering the backlash calims that have arisen in recent times. He explains what mindfulness is, what it promises, and how it delivers and when. I found his book very helpful in putting ideas and concepts surrounding mindfulness in order.
3 people found this helpful
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GerryL
5.0 out of 5 stars Nudful Work - Not Working Harder
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2015
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There are currently many publications on this topic; but, this is one of the better resources and a good buy. Very clear and practical presentation. You will not be disapointed.
3 people found this helpful
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Gman
4.0 out of 5 stars Evidence for value of mindfulness and meditation in the workplace
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2016
Verified Purchase
Chronological description of mindfulness and meditation being practiced in the United States. Many examples and citations of scientific studies of mindfulness improving happiness and productivity of people at all levels in corporations.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
marino
5.0 out of 5 stars Vale la pena leggerlo solo se veramente interessati all'argomento
Reviewed in Italy on January 31, 2021
Verified Purchase
Premetto che leggo esclusivamente ebook e questo fa parte dei tanti che acquisto online, molto spesso in versione Kindle. Poiché sto compiendo ricerche approfondite su Mindfulness in ambito lavorativo, ho acquistato questo libro e ne sono molto contento. Contiene esattamente il genere di informazioni che cercavo. Non aspettarti istruzioni su come meditare o cose simili. Il testo fa la cronistoria dell'introduzione della Mindfulness nelle grandi e medie aziende statunitensi (e spero anche di altre nazionalità dato che sono solo a metù del libro).
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Roy M
5.0 out of 5 stars excelent insight into mindful in business
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 24, 2019
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excelent insight into mindful in business
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Paras Mehta
5.0 out of 5 stars Dr Paras Mehta
Reviewed in India on October 17, 2016
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Amazing book .loved reading it..would prefer gifting this book to dear friends
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E. Tyrie
4.0 out of 5 stars Mindful Insight
Reviewed in Australia on May 15, 2015
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Interesting book providing useful insight into the affect of mindfulness in organisations.
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Gianfranco
1.0 out of 5 stars libro molto interessante. Inenarrabile il comportamento molto scorretto di Amazon nei confronti dei clienti...
Reviewed in Italy on April 28, 2016
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questo prodotto è ottimo, anche la spedizione è stata veloce. Il problema è l'affidabilità di Amazon su alcuni prodotti. Una parte (non indifferente) dei venditori terzi che operano su Amazon vendono articoli e prodotti falsificati. Nel mio caso ho comprato un iPod per mio figlio, pur non costando poco, che è risultato contraffatto e difettoso. Non è stato così facile riavere i soldi indietro (ho perso ore e ore di tempo, di energia e di pazienza) e comunque non mi hanno rimborsato i soldi delle tasse doganali in quanto Amazon sostiene che è un problema legato al mio paese, l'Italia! Quindi ho pagato delle tasse doganali per avere un prodotto contraffatto, che poi ovviamente ho restituito. Ho arricchito un po' le casse della finanza italiana per niente. Tutto questo perché pensavo ci si potesse fidare di Amazon!
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