Janice Marturano, How to Be a Better Boss
Janice Marturano, former VP at General Mills and founder of the Institute for Mindful Leadership, discusses her journey bringing mindfulness to corporations and its transformative impact on leadership, focus, clarity, creativity, and compassion. She shares practical ways to integrate mindfulness into daily life.
Deep Dive Analysis
13 Topic Outline
Using Mindfulness to Navigate Frustration
Balancing Presence and Future Planning Mindfully
Janice Marturano's Journey to Mindfulness Amidst Crisis
Early Experiences with Mindfulness Retreats
Pioneering Mindfulness at General Mills
Founding the Institute for Mindful Leadership
Defining Leadership and Mindful Influence
The Four Fundamentals of Mindful Leadership
Self-Compassion and High Standards
Mindfully Navigating Toxic Work Environments
Mindfulness and Addressing Busyness
Addressing Criticisms of Corporate Mindfulness
Reflecting on Qualities of Great Leaders
5 Key Concepts
Noting Practice
A meditation technique where you make soft mental notes of whatever is happening in your head or body (e.g., 'thinking,' 'anger,' 'movement,' 'seeing,' 'hearing'). This practice helps you observe thoughts and emotions without getting carried away by them, directing attention to direct experience.
Constructive Anguish vs. Useless Rumination
This distinction highlights that while some worrying and planning are necessary and useful for problem-solving or preparedness, there's a point of diminishing returns. Beyond that point, continued worrying becomes 'useless rumination' that is not productive and only adds to suffering.
Mindful Leadership
A form of leadership focused on cultivating innate capacities to strengthen focus, clarity, creativity, and compassion, all in the service of others. It emphasizes influencing for the better by understanding one's own filters and acting in alignment with principles, rather than reacting to stress.
Four Fundamentals of Mindful Leadership
These are focus, clarity, creativity, and compassion. Focus is the ability to sustain attention; clarity is knowing one's own filters and biases; creativity is fostered in mental spaciousness; and compassion is deep understanding that often leads to acts of kindness, including self-compassion.
Reflection (Mind Capacity)
Beyond analysis, reflection is a mind's capacity to cultivate spaciousness, allowing for greater creativity, innovation, and access to one's innate wisdom. It involves intentionally creating mental space to process experiences and connect with deeper insights.
7 Questions Answered
You can use a 'noting practice' by making soft mental notes of what's happening in your head (e.g., 'thinking,' 'anger,' 'movement'). This helps you observe thoughts and emotions non-judgmentally, reducing suffering by being mindfully aware of the experience.
It's crucial to distinguish between 'constructive anguish' (useful planning) and 'useless rumination.' Ask yourself, 'Is this useful?' to identify when worrying becomes unproductive. Additionally, use meditation tools to occasionally pull yourself out of your head and back into your body, even for nanoseconds, to reduce being lost in thought.
Lead by example. Instead of talking about mindfulness, demonstrate its positive effects through your own behavior. People will notice the difference in you and be more receptive to learning about it when they see the benefits firsthand.
No, self-compassion is about nourishing yourself to do your best work. Understanding your needs, like getting enough sleep when exhausted, makes you more likely to excel, as you can't access your best self when depleted.
You cannot change others, only your relationship to the situation. Experiment with practices like 'kindness practice,' sending well wishes to the difficult person, which can shift your internal state from defensiveness to calm and openness, potentially changing the dynamic of the interaction.
Regularly reflect on your calendar, looking at each item as if for the first time, and notice your thoughts and body sensations. Ask yourself, 'Is there one place today where I can make a conscious choice that is more personally nourishing or efficient?' This can help you identify what's truly important and create space for it.
Corporations are made of individuals who make choices. Mindful leadership training aims to help these individuals connect with their best selves, touch their principles, and find 'win-win-win' choices that benefit the organization, employees, and the community, especially when not overwhelmed and reactive.
20 Actionable Insights
1. Question Useless Rumination
When engaged in extensive planning or worrying, especially about worst-case scenarios, ask yourself “Is this useful?” to discern between constructive anguish and useless rumination, and avoid diminishing returns.
2. Set ‘Is This Useful?’ Reminder
Set a recurring reminder (e.g., on your phone’s home screen or hourly pop-up) to ask “Is this useful?” to prompt self-reflection and prevent excessive worrying throughout the day.
3. Practice Mental Noting
When experiencing strong emotions or thoughts, make a soft mental note (e.g., “anger,” “thinking,” “hearing”) to non-judgmentally observe your direct experience and how it manifests in your body, which can reduce suffering.
4. Model Desired Behavior
If you want to introduce mindfulness or other positive practices to others, lead by example rather than talking about it excessively, allowing your positive changes to inspire interest in others.
5. Cultivate Leadership Fundamentals
Develop your innate capacities for focus (sustaining attention), clarity (understanding your filters/biases), creativity (allowing spaciousness for new ideas), and compassion (deep understanding and kindness) to influence for the better.
6. Prioritize Self-Nourishment
Practice self-compassion by finding ways to nourish yourself (e.g., getting enough sleep) to ensure you can access your best self and perform your best work, rather than viewing it as “going soft.”
7. Transform Relationships with Kindness
When dealing with a difficult or toxic person, practice loving-kindness by mentally repeating phrases like “May she be happy, may she be healthy, may she live at ease” to shift your internal state and approach the interaction with more calm and openness.
8. Reflect on Your Calendar
Each morning, review your calendar as if seeing it for the first time, noting thoughts and bodily sensations, then ask yourself where you can make a conscious choice to be more personally nourishing, efficient, or less wasteful, often leading to prioritizing what’s truly important.
9. Create “Free Parking” Time
Schedule sacrosanct “free parking” spaces (e.g., one hour weekly) on your calendar that cannot be interrupted, and use this time to explore interesting topics, connect with people, or address items from a running list of things you didn’t get to during the week.
10. Question Internal Narratives
Become aware of the stories you tell yourself (e.g., “people will think I’m not interested,” “so-and-so will talk about us”) and gently hold them as potentially untrue, creating space to ask “What’s called for in this moment?” rather than being driven by fear.
11. Develop Reflective Capacity
Actively cultivate your mind’s capacity for reflection to create spaciousness, foster creativity and innovation, and access your innate wisdom.
12. Ground Yourself During Planning
During periods of intense planning or worrying, occasionally pull yourself out of your thoughts and bring your awareness back to your body for brief moments to reduce feeling lost or overwhelmed.
13. Mindfulness Reduces Suffering
When suffering or bothered, investigate what you are not being mindful of, as non-judgmental awareness of even unpleasant experiences can temporarily alleviate the suffering.
14. Integrate Meditation into Life
Consider how all aspects of your life (diet, sleep, work, family) intertwine with your meditation practice, as meditation aims to improve your overall life, not just the practice itself.
15. Use Frustrating Situations as Practice
View frustrating daily experiences (like shopping at Costco) as opportunities to practice mindfulness and train yourself to be awake and aware of your internal state, rather than expecting annoyances to disappear.
16. Gently Return to Awareness
When your mind wanders during practice or daily life, gently note the distraction and then return your attention to the present moment, without self-criticism.
17. Maintain Respectful Equanimity
In competitive environments, practice compassion by treating people with equanimity and respect, and listening open-heartedly, understanding that this does not mean sacrificing competitive advantage but rather upholding ethical principles.
18. Ensure Voluntary Participation
When introducing mindfulness training to a group, ensure that participation is voluntary, as forcing attendance can lead to a “disaster” due to the challenging nature of the practice.
19. Take Control of Your Time
Recognize that you have the right to control your own calendar; actively schedule time for yourself and what is important, rather than allowing others to dictate all your availability.
20. Reflect on Influential Leaders
Reflect on individuals who have positively influenced your life and ask yourself “Why?” to identify the core qualities (e.g., listener, supportive, respectful, compassionate) that define truly impactful leadership, guiding your own behavior.
6 Key Quotes
If you are suffering, if anything is bothering you, there is something you are not being sufficiently mindful of.
Dan Harris
My whole life has been organized around the principle of protective fretting, just worrying and gaming out all the potential moves to be made in the event of whatever horror movie might arise in my life.
Dan Harris
The worst things that ever happened to me never happened.
Mark Twain (quoted by Dan Harris)
You can't change the people around you. What we can change is our relationship to what is here.
Janice Marturano
The reality is nobody's talking about you. You know, we think people talk about us, but we don't talk about other people and they're not talking about us.
Janice Marturano
Corporations are not corporations. Corporations are groups of individuals. And while that sounds simplistic, it's important to remember that the people are the ones who make choices.
Janice Marturano
4 Protocols
Mindful Noting Practice in Frustrating Situations
Dan Harris- As you go through a frustrating experience (e.g., shopping at Costco), make soft mental notes of whatever is happening in your head.
- If you're walking, note 'movement.'
- If you catch yourself thinking, note 'thinking.'
- If you feel angry, note 'anger' and examine where it shows up in your body (e.g., chest buzzing, ears turning red).
- If you're seeing or hearing, note 'seeing' or 'hearing.'
- Every time you get distracted, start again and make a mental note of what distracted you.
Mindful Approach to Toxic Colleagues
Janice Marturano- Recognize that you cannot change the other person, only your relationship to the situation.
- Notice your physical and mental reactions (e.g., chest pains, negative stories in your head) when interacting with the toxic person.
- Before an interaction, engage in a 'kindness practice' by silently repeating phrases like 'May she be happy, may she be healthy, may she live at ease' with each step you take towards them.
- Observe if this practice shifts your internal state to one of calm and openness, potentially leading to a different interaction.
Calendar Reflection for Finding Space
Janice Marturano- Each morning, turn on your computer and look through your agenda for the day.
- Take a few moments to look at each item as if you've never seen it before.
- Pay attention to the thoughts and body sensations that arise for each item.
- Ask yourself: 'Is there one place today where I can make a conscious choice that is more personally nourishing, more efficient, less wasteful, or allows me to connect more deeply with what's important?'
- Consider putting truly important things that are often missed onto your calendar to create dedicated space for them.
Free Parking for Creativity and Personal Growth
Janice Marturano- Implement a 'free parking' space: a sacrosanct one-hour time slot each week that no one can intrude upon.
- Keep a 'free parking' notepad by your computer throughout the week.
- Jot down headlines you want to learn more about, people you want to connect with, or ideas you wish you had time to explore.
- When your 'free parking' hour arrives, open your notepad and choose from your list to engage in activities that are interesting, nourishing, or help you stretch personally and professionally.