Below is an excerpt from my most recent article, published in December 2009 in the NeuroLeadership Journal, and co-written with my friend and colleague Dr. Angela Love. We wrote this article because in our global economy, the future belongs to those with the information, technology and brainpower to create and capitalize on what’s NEXT. However, our brainpower is fast becoming an endangered species, and we are deeply in need of a fundamental shift in how we sustain and grow this precious resource. From the article:
“In terms of brainpower, two factors are waging guerilla warfare on the ability of individuals and companies to compete in the global economy. The first is a drain on the pool of available leadership talent. Global demographic trends are already generating a talent deficit that will continue decades to come. For professionals in the age category between 35 and 49 — the traditional pool from whom emerging and future leaders are sourced — forecasts are for minimal to negative growth. By 2015, demographic shifts are expected to result in a 15% reduction in ready talent.
The second is that talent is being drained – physically, emotionally, and spiritually, in ways that decrease their mental performance at work. Knowledge and creative workers daily face chronic high-stress; increasing complexity; information and communication overload; rapidly evolving technologies; and a hyper-competitive, 24/7 work world. One management study found that even the smartest and most senior leaders are struggling to keep up to the point that they often don’t know what decisions to make or actions to take. Consequently too many of us are trying to achieve more with much less, primarily by defaulting to multitasking and technology (from apps and productivity software to smart phones and laptops). But these tools and techniques only take leaders and workers so far; what is really required is a fundamental re-thinking of how leaders value and use this mental capacity.”
To learn more about how mindfulness can be the breakthrough, inner “technology” you need, email me at julie@juliemaloney.com for your free, electronic copy of Mindfulness as Capacity: At the Threshold of Leadership’s Next Wave?
