Leading Mindfully @ Darden School, University of Virginia

In spite of a hurried, 24-7, technologized, global and competitive environment, "You cannot manage other people unless you manage yourself first," according to Peter Drucker. Leading Mindfully enables you to grow your capacity for centered leadership that leads to more effective personal and organizational results. You will leave the program with practical tools you can apply immediately to your work and life.

THE PROGRAM
Grounded in academic research in neuroscience, psychology, rhetoric, and performance, this course will help you identify and transform personal triggers and habits of attention that influence your ability to take action. Research shows that more mindful leaders enjoy higher quality of life, have teams that perform better, and sustain themselves over the long run. With consistent practice, leaders can connect within themselves, with others, and with their organizations and stakeholders with a greater sense of clarity, flow, and effectiveness.

The program features a signature exercise that is designed for observing your own leadership in action. Additional exercises inspired by meditation, yoga, improv and acting are woven throughout the programs. Much of the program underscores the reality that when you are a leader, you are always "on stage."

Serving as your own case study in Leading Mindfully, you are the lead character in your own leadership story. Participants will be asked to bring their own leadership challenges to work on during the program. Participants will leave with a mindful leadership action plan and immediately applicable learning.

Leading Mindfully is a blended learning journey that begins with an online group meeting before you travel to Charlottesville, followed by the residential program held at the beautiful Morven Farms- a secluded, yet accessible retreat gifted to the UVA Foundation to to be a destination for critical thinking and reflection. Located just 15 minutes from Charlottesville, Morven is the ideal setting for participants to learn together in one of the historic houses, as well as spend time on their own in the gardens. After the residential program, we will follow-up in a few weeks with an online group meeting to help sustain your learning and behavior change.

WHERE YOU'LL EXCEL
Discover the link between quality of attention and quality of results
Understand your automatic reactions and shift to more intentional responses
Learn to take centered action and interact more effectively
Lay the groundwork for improved well-being and relationships
Fulfill your leadership potential and support your organization's purpose
TOPICS
In Leading Mindfully we'll specifically focus on:

How to See Your Leadership Blind Spots
Why You Show Up the Way You Do as a Leader
Centering Yourself: Putting Your Own Oxygen Mask on First
Walking Your Talk and Embodying the Role of the Leader
Words Perform, Actions Speak: Key Messages that Connect and Move Mountains

The Leading Mindfully program is for high-potential and experienced senior managers and leaders. The program is especially well-suited for those who need to not only reduce stress, increase resilience and better manage themselves, but for those who also want to improve their performance by becoming more self-aware, engaged and effective. Participants should be capable of participating in gentle restorative yoga practice; no prior experience is necessary.