Mindful Work audiobook cover - How Meditation is Changing Business from the Inside Out

Mindful Work

How Meditation is Changing Business from the Inside Out

David Gelles

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Categories:
Mindfulness & HappinessCorporate Culture

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Mindful Work
The Core of Mindfulness+
Scientific & Brain Benefits+
Workplace Productivity & Focus+
Cultivating Compassion+
Corporate Social Responsibility+
Mindful Leadership+
Pitfalls & Future Standards+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 8
How does mindfulness primarily benefit individuals in the workplace, according to the text?
  • A. By teaching employees how to multitask more efficiently.
  • B. By allowing people to step back from problems and address them more objectively.
  • C. By encouraging employees to take more frequent vacations.
  • D. By eliminating negative emotions entirely.
Question 2 of 8
What effect does mindfulness have on the amygdala, as demonstrated by fMRI scans?
  • A. It stimulates the amygdala to improve our fight-or-flight response.
  • B. It gradually relaxes the amygdala, helping to keep stress at bay.
  • C. It increases the size of the amygdala to enhance memory function.
  • D. It permanently disables the amygdala to prevent all feelings of fear.
Question 3 of 8
What is a key characteristic of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) method?
  • A. It is deeply rooted in traditional Eastern religious beliefs.
  • B. It focuses exclusively on increasing workplace productivity.
  • C. It trains self-awareness by emphasizing the impermanence of physical sensations and thoughts.
  • D. It requires practitioners to ignore physical pain and focus only on positive thoughts.
Question 4 of 8
Why does the text argue that multitasking is a counterproductive habit?
  • A. It creates a false sense of productivity while actually causing the brain to frantically jump between tasks.
  • B. It requires too much cortical thickness, which depletes the brain's energy reserves.
  • C. It prevents employees from taking advantage of company-provided meditation rooms.
  • D. It causes the prefrontal cortex to become overly relaxed, leading to apathy.
Question 5 of 8
How does the practice of 'metta' (loving kindness) meditation typically progress?
  • A. By focusing first on global peace, then narrowing down to one's own community.
  • B. By wishing happiness upon oneself first, and then gradually extending those wishes to others and the world.
  • C. By concentrating solely on the well-being of one's enemies to build emotional resilience.
  • D. By mentally detaching from all human relationships to achieve a state of pure objectivity.
Question 6 of 8
What is a common outcome for companies that successfully cultivate a mindful work culture?
  • A. They tend to focus exclusively on maximizing shareholder profits.
  • B. They develop a broader sense of social responsibility toward their employees, society, and the environment.
  • C. They eliminate all management structures in favor of self-governing employee teams.
  • D. They stop selling their products entirely to prevent environmental damage.
Question 7 of 8
How do mindful leaders typically handle urgent, stressful tasks?
  • A. They personally take on all stressful tasks to protect their employees from burnout.
  • B. They pass the urgency and stress directly to their team to ensure quick results.
  • C. They separate the task from the stress and delegate it to an appropriately skilled employee.
  • D. They ignore the urgency and wait until they are in a fully meditative state to respond.
Question 8 of 8
What does the term 'McMindfulness' refer to in the context of the book?
  • A. The practice of meditating while eating or performing other daily routines.
  • B. A highly regulated, certified form of mindfulness training.
  • C. The emotional struggle that occurs when suppressed feelings surface during meditation.
  • D. A diluted form of mindfulness used merely as a tool for productivity, stripping away the element of compassion.

Mindful Work — Full Chapter Overview

Mindful Work Summary & Overview

Mindful Work (2015) provides an introduction to why and how mindfulness is practiced in the West today, on an individual, as well as professional level. Using examples from well-known companies, it explains the benefits that mindfulness can offer you, the people around you and the environment.

Who Should Listen to Mindful Work?

  • Anyone working in a stressful environment
  • Executives who want to be better leaders and establish a more compassionate company culture
  • Anyone seeking more focus, emotional strength and kindness for themselves and others

About the Author: David Gelles

 

David Gelles has been practicing mindfulness for over 15 years since learning about the technique in India. He has also written on mindfulness for the New York Times, Financial Times and Forbes.

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