Finding the Space to Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership

by Janice Marturano

The complexity and relentless pace of our world places exceptional demands on leaders today. They work incredibly hard and yet feel that they are not meeting their own expectations of excellence. They feel disconnected from their own values and overburdened. By the thousands, they seek out books on leadership skills, time management, and “getting things done,” but the techniques these volumes offer, useful as they are, don't often don't speak to the leader's fundamental sense that something is missing. Janice Marturano, a senior executive with decades of experience in Fortune 500 corporations, explains how Mindful Leadership training integrates the practice of mindfulness-meditation and self-awareness-with the practical tools of management, enabling leaders to bring a wider range of their capacities to the challenges at hand. We already know from scientific research that mindfulness practices enhance mental health and improve clarity and focus. FINDING THE SPACE shows how this training has specific value for leaders. This is not a new “leadership system” to add to the burden of already overworked people. It brings the concepts of mindfulness into the everyday life of anyone in a leadership role, through specific exercises that address practical issues-the calendar, schedule, phone usage, meetings, to-do list, and strategic planning, as well as interpersonal challenges such as listening and working with difficult colleagues. Leaders who have experienced mindfulness training report that it provides a “transformative experience” with significant improvements in innovation, self-awareness, listening, and making better decisions. In FINDING THE SPACE TO LEAD , Marturano masterfully lays out her proven techniques for promoting mindfulness in the busy executive's working life.

Genres: Leadership, Business, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Self Help, Psychology, Meditation

208 pages, Hardcover

First published January 7, 2014

About the author

Janice Marturano was for many years a senior executive and deputy general counsel at General Mills, a Fortune 200 corporation; she has also worked at Panasonic and Nabisco. At General Mills she initiated the company’s program in mindfulness for leaders, which has helped earn it the #1 ranking among American businesses for executive training. She is now the Director of the Institute for Mindful Leadership, which she founded and which offers this training to leaders from corporations, nonprofits, and other institutions. She lives in New Jersey. She has been profiled in the Financial Times and now blogs for the Huffington Post. She was invited to speak on Mindful Leadership at the 2013 World Economic Forum in Davos.

Reviews

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I was hoping for: a book that deepened my mindfulness practice and potential for leadership by combining the two, assuming some knowledge on both already

What I found: a book introducing basic mindfulness practices to people already in leadership, a focus only on corporations (one day these leadership texts will include other types of jobs, maybe), a lot of repetition of concepts widely covered in other leadership texts, some of them not even attributed (urgent vs. important must be from Stephen Covey but he isn't credited), guided meditations and reflections

In other words, far more basic than I would have liked.

I found some of the quotes from other people to be the best part:

"A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project on other people his or her shadow, his or her light." -Parker Palmer

Four fundamentals of leadership - focus, clarity, creativity, compassion

Gregory Kramer's Insight Dialogue:
1. Pause
2. Open to what is here, actually here
3. Listen deeply
4. Speak the truth with intention to do no harm

[Daniel Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the past decade, mindfulness has moved into the mainstream. It's a core part of the psychological approach Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and others.

In Finding the Space to Lead, Janice Marturano teaches people how to practice mindful leadership.

Her definition of a mindful leader: someone who “embodies leadership presence by cultivating focus, clarity, creativity, and compassion in the service of others.”

To achieve this she insists on two daily habits. The first is a meditation practice of at least two 10 minute sessions a day.

The second is making time in your day for purposeful pauses. This is where you create the space in the whirlwind of your day to “intentionally pay attention.”

Finding the Space to Lead will help you gain greater awareness as you read it, even if you don’t do the exercises (not recommended).

You’ll learn how to switch off autopilot and move through your days with intention. Greater attention means you’ll have an accurate picture of reality. You’ll have increased capacity to choose how to respond in the present in the most appropriate way.

Developing your mindful leadership skills will make you a more effective leader.

[Sebastian Coe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good insights on how to integrate a mindfulness practice in the corporate world. It does have its good bit of business book fluff, but, nevertheless, provides a number of practical examples that can be used right away.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really resonated with me, and it has been really helpful. I listened to the audio book and bought a hard copy for my desk. But it was, after a certain point, very repetitive. I think it could have been edited and laid out better. Nonetheless: highly recommended. A cross between a yoga class and professional guidance.

[Dax · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am thoroughly convinced that mindfulness will separate the good from the great in the future of leadership. The myth of multi-tasking compounded with constant digital distraction is the single most destructive barrier to the productivity needed to solve the current global issues. This book offers a practical guide to pressing pause and learning to be present. This is required for us to be the best leaders we can be.

[Aldene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am grateful for my free copy of finding the space to lead I won it from Goodreads. I really enjoyed Janice Marturano ideas on cultivating emotional inteligence and compassion. If we are compassionate and mindful of our own emotions then we enable an inovative and creative environment that bussnesses need to thrive.

[Vishvapani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basically sound, well written, but light on content. A users manual, not a teacher's handbook.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm sending my thanks to Janice Marturano, author and Goodreads First Reads Giveaway for the hard cover copy of Finding the Space to Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership that my late mother won in the Giveaway. I inherited Find the Space to Lead after she passed at 102.

Find the Space to Lead was very interesting, although I am retired from my career as a professional Early Childhood Educator and it fits right in with my style of leadership and teaching. The attention to listening fully is the only way to communicate with preschool children or they will call you on it right away so it wasn't a new concept. The ideas to develop these skills were very helpful. I felt that this book could benefit educators and business professionals alike.

I enjoyed the exercise to walk slowly with contration. It made me realize that now I walk with arthric pain and by concentrating, standing just a bit straighter and relaxing muscles the pain lessoned. Now when I walk to the mailbox or just across the house I concentrate and it is helping me become more aware of my movements and good practice in concentrating on the little things that make a difference in connecting with others in all part os life.

Great Book!

[Ryan Barretto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps because of the amount of reading I have done, especially on Emotional Intelligence, Leadership, mindfulness and Team Management, I was not so enamoured by the content.

Things I felt were critical and insightful were the reflection exercises, and the chapters on managing the urgent and Reduce the noise, capture the signal. I particularly liked the articulation of what Leadership Presence really is. The examples that explained mindful leadership were good, but sometimes didn't seem to be complete, possibly due to reasons of confidentiality.

For the rest of the book, I thought it was a lot of repetition of the important points in the first section.

Should you read this? You decide.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

Some good information on pairing mindfulness with leadership, but a lot of the content was specifically directed towards large scale corporate leadership and was very introductory. At times I felt like the book was one long endorsement for her mindfulness Institute. There were way too many examples of how people or corporations did things that showed leadership and mindfulness, and these anecdotes didn't seem to add much to the story.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in this book. I was hoping for some new ideas based on her model but it didn't really have new ideas in mindfulness or leadership. And the book seemed unfocused -- some telling of clients, of her history or of information but it didn't come together for me in an interesting read.

[Brian Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Janice Marturano is a first time writer, yet she brings all of her business savvy and experience to bear on a subject she is passionate about, and it shows. I would recommend this book to just about anyone who needs to work a little more peace and focus into their day.

[Fenesha Hubbard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good beginners guide to incorporating mindfulness into the traditional, corporate workplace. This is a good read for managers and people with too much busyness (back to back meetings, email distractions, no time built in for debrief and reflection) in their workdays.

[Shawna LeBlond · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I would give this 3.5 stars, but I did like the practical meditations so I’m going to round up. A lot of this book is focused on background of mindfulness and meditation and less on leadership.

[Vairavel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good for career beginners.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Thanks to Janice Marturano and Goodreads First Reads for my copy of Finding the Space to Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership that I won in the giveaway.

Finding the Space to Lead: A Practical Guide to Mindful Leadership sounded like an interesting topic that I had little knowledge about when I won it. I liked how it presented ideas to deal with difficult people and although I do not work at age 94, like everyone Ihave to deal with difficult people. I found the techniques could be applied to all people in our lives. Controlling how I feel and not letting others control us by reaction is powerful.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit I scanned a good part of this book rather than reading in detail because I found it repetitive and largely unoriginal. The author lays out the idea of stopping multiple times a day to do various types of meditation in order to focus the mind and allay the stress of leadership. Actually as a Christian, I would say that most believers would say this is just part of daily life - we call it prayer or daily time with God - and I would argue it's as effective, if not more, than any other type of meditation. It certainly helps me with the stresses of work and the demands of leadership. So I didn't get a lot of new ideas from this myself.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who has been personally impacted by meditation and mindfulness, I was interested to read a book that tied mindfulness to leadership. While, to me, the book read redundant and somewhat disjointed, I did appreciate the various meditation and purposeful pause exercises included in the book (and featured on the book's website). Finding the Space to Lead will not convince a skeptical leader to give mindfulness a try, but I do believe it would be helpful to leaders already familiar with--or with an interest in--meditation.

[Jan Daker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marturano's work is one of the simplest, most effective I've run across. Her teaching was chosen for the Davos leaders in 2013 so she has quite the global audience.
Having brought emotional intelligence training into a company, I find that this is the next logical step.
Definitely the way to bring more creativity into the global economy.
I also see this as a viable method to use in one's private life to enhance encounters with all.

[Sharon Summerfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a beautiful book. I really enjoy the journey that the author takes us on in looking at how we can be more mindful in our lives. This was my first introduction to meditation. One of the reflections in this book when I first read it in 2014 was the calendar reflection. It is far to easy to fill up our day with the non-essentials where it takes us far away from focusing on the important. Highly recommend this book.

[Gabby-Lily Raines · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the book, the author mentions that a mindful leader embodies leadership presence by cultivating focus, clarity, creativity, and compassion in the service of others.

Finding the Space to Lead embodies that and strives to show how leaders in various corporate positions can do just that.

Good read that certainly gave me food for thought.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and the methods presented. I took my time and read a little on several mornings at my desk before starting my day. I can already see an change in the way I approach my day and what is presented to me. I will be utilizing this book regularly and leave it on my desk for easy access. Bravo Janice Marturano. *** Please note I received this book for free from Goodreads First-reads.

[Ebert Márquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellents insight to apply in the daily professional or personal life. Enjoy it

I recommend this book to everyone Who is looking to understand purpose in his life and leadership with high level of excelence

[Dorothy Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will likely become one of the most personally influential books that I have read. It is a life changer.

[Twolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book with a different perspective on leadership

[Kathy Cowie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. I am reviewing this, along with Centered Leadership for the November/December issue of Global Business and Organizational Excellence.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful. Why didn't I know this stuff in my 30s? When we know better ... we do better (paraphrasing Maya Angelou)

[Sanford Chee]

http://findingthespacetolead.com

[Matt Tenney · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a clear explanation of the benefits of mindfulness for leaders and great guidance for beginning a mindfulness practice.