Meditation, more than anything in my life, was the biggest ingredient of whatever success I've had.

—Ray Dalio

We're all looking to get better at something. When it comes to performance, I've found that most leaders are looking to be happier and get more out of life versus be Super‐Boss or experience some spiritual awakening.

Better at What?

Companies want employees to be better at a range of things, mostly work‐related. Employees want to be better in many areas of life, many not related to work. It's an age‐old friction point that contributes to more employees feeling that a work/life balance is BS.

Good companies tend to provide expectations and their own definitions of performance. This requires them to make big assumptions, including that most employees are looking to advance, they want to qualify for rewards (pay increases, bonuses, recognition, and so on), and that their corporate culture is enjoyable enough to continue working under the company's norms.

Over the past year, we've surveyed more than 3,500 leaders. Here's what we learned about stress, disruption, and performance.

“Doing More With Less” Is the Language of Business

Whether we like it or not, every business has to compete in the global economy. Doing more with less is table stakes. If you look at the P&L as the usual report card, too many companies are struggling with rising costs and declining productivity. Much of this relates to rising healthcare costs, growing employee absenteeism, and increasing turnover rates. As an employee, if I understand that “faster, cheaper” is the way of the world, I may be open to the idea that my company didn't create the “do more with less” game. But they do have to play in it. It's not good or bad, right or wrong. It just is what it is.

Innovation and Productivity Expectations Aren't Going Away

Companies have to run to keep up with the pace of modern business. Just about every corporate conference in the past two years included the words disruption, transformation or innovation in their title. The “performance” required to keep up with the Joneses is taking on new meaning in both for‐profit and not‐for‐profit organizations. The World Economic Forum estimates that five million jobs will disappear by 2020 due to robotics.² Just robotics. Innovation and productivity trends will continue. Without ongoing communication, these stats rightfully make employees worry—and that impacts performance.

It's All About Helping the Individual

There are many reasons that people practice mindfulness. Just about everyone wants to be better at something. The majority of employees that we speak with are interested in getting more out of life. They want to stress less, deepen relationships, improve their sleep, be a better parent, and enjoy their hobbies and downtime. And yes, most people would also like to be better at their jobs, too. Living well and doing your job well is all performance. The point is to recognize and enable the individual. What does performance mean to you?

The best companies (most mindful, even) understand that company performance starts with taking care of the individual employee. The following are the most frequently selected goals (performance areas in this context) that our members set when using Whil's digital training.

• Relax and stress less: For many of us, stress impacts every aspect of our lives. Science suggests that our brains are actually wired to remember bad things more than good things.⁴ Worse, our brain's natural negativity bias tends to reinforce just how bad things are. People want to be better at focusing on the present more and worrying about the past and future less.
• Sleep better and feel rested: All that worrying follows us to bed. When things are quiet, bad things can happen in our minds. We worry, and start judging ourselves and others. As you learned earlier, we make our brains highly efficient at the things we process most. Laying your head on the pillow is the perfect way to trigger the mind that it's time to worry, especially if you practice that. All. The. Time.
• Be happier and enjoy life: Your colleagues are just like you; they are hungry for a more fulfilling experience, laughter, and purpose.

As leaders, we have the interesting challenge and responsibility of balancing the performance needs of business with the interests of our employees. If we get it right, we'll create unstoppable businesses where people love to work, find human connection, give their all, and find fulfillment in their performance.

Whether you're looking to be a better athlete or artist, parent or partner, executive or employee, mindfulness can help. Anyone who practices solely with the intention of improving their “performance” will also find a more open, joyful, curious, and compassionate approach to life—a great side effect.

What Benefits Can I Expect as A Leader?

I travel the world training leaders on mindfulness and emotional intelligence skills. When I survey professionals in our CML Workshop on the question “What does mindfulness mean to you?” the list is inspiring and routinely includes the following:

I was recently training 75 leaders in New York City, hosted at J. Walter Thompson's global headquarters. We had a running list of 40 to 50 items. We ended when a doctor attending the training yelled out, “Saving Lives.” This is what mindfulness meant to her. She went on to explain to the audience, “Hospital shifts can mean 14‐hour days. Doctors and nurses suffer from illness and injury at a rate 30% higher than the next closest industry—manufacturing.⁵ We serve patients who wait too long to address serious health issues. By the time they come to us, they're unwilling and unable to participate in their own recovery. Without the right training, compassion fatigue takes years off the average healthcare worker's life.” She had tears in her eyes and thunder in her voice. It was a drop‐the‐mic moment. It was touching, real, and everything else on the list felt cute in comparison. I couldn't have agreed more. We all need this in our lives. And mindfulness is about saving lives. Starting with your own. I've borrowed that sentiment in every live training since then.

This is a powerful list and another reason that leaders and companies are so interested in bringing mindfulness and emotional intelligence skills into their culture. Imagine the kind of leader you can be, and the kind of life you can enjoy, with more of this in your personal arsenal. Let's pause, take a breath, and set that intention. This is happening.

Notes