Mindfulness and Leadership - A Conversation with Dot Proux

"You will have bad times, but they will always wake you up to the stuff you weren't
paying attention to." - Robin Williams

Welcome back, community!

After a brief summer hiatus,  our hosts Adrienne and Tom are excited to return with a special

episode focusing on mindfulness and leadership. This episode builds on our recent

sprint of panel discussions covering a wide array of leadership topics, including two

panels on wellbeing at the individual, team, enterprise, and global levels.

 

In the introduction to this episode Adrienne Guerrero and Tom Rosenak set the stage for our guest interview:

• They discuss the constant pressure on leaders to "keep going" without adequate time for strategic thinking and reflection.
• They emphasize the interconnectedness of individual well-being, team performance, and business outcomes like retention and engagement.
• The co-founders liken self-care to maintenance in a mechanical system - neglectingthe "human machines" inevitably leads to decreased productivity.
• They stress the importance of open conversations about stress and well-being, even when additional resources aren't available.
• Adrienne and Tom highlight the need for personalized approaches to stress management, acknowledging that everyone experiences stress and VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) differently.

We're thrilled to welcome back Dot Proux our featured guest, who previously joined us on a panel about self-leadership. Dot is an executive coach and leadership development advisor who teaches an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course.

Highlights from our conversation with Dot:

1. Dot's background: Before becoming a coach, she was a partner at a Big 4 accounting firm, experiencing high stress and burnout firsthand.
2. Personal experience: Dot shares her journey with "cliffing" - pushing herself too hard until her body forced her to stop and recover.
3. Empathy in coaching: She now uses her personal experiences to connect with and support her high-performing, high-stress leadership clients.
4. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) benefits: Research shows that MBSR can improve focus, present moment awareness, and overall well-being.

Course structure: Dot's 8-week MBSR program includes:
Formal and informal mindfulness exercises
Accountability and support from a cohort
Gradual building of the "mindfulness muscle"

 

Opportunity to join Dot's Fall MBSR Cohort

To enroll in the upcoming fall program or learn more about mindfulness, visit:

 https://aleadershipbeyond.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/

Join us as we continue to explore leadership practices that keep the human front and center in the face of the sometimes dehumanizing modern leadership challenges.

A Leadership Beyond is led by Change Management Consultant Adrienne Guerrero and Leadership Communication Strategist Tom Rosenak, and exists to support the alignment between business strategy and people strategy - to drive results with people not at the expense of people (Talent Optimization). 

Subscribe to our podcast to join the Leadership Beyond Community of Conversation and hear insights from thought leaders and human development experts leading the way in the field of Talent Optimization. 

As always, we’d love to hear from you about your insights, challenges, and successes around leading (self and others) through transitions.

To learn more visit https://aleadershipbeyond.com.

Tom & Adrienne