By Laurel Donnellan — 2019
I recently interviewed Scott Shute, Head of Mindfulness and Compassion at LinkedIn on his thoughts about compassionate leadership.
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When it comes to supporting employees to thrive despite the emotional fallout of the pandemic, leaders (and mindfulness) have a critical role to play.
LinkedIn’s vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. You might be surprised that one of the biggest skills needed to achieve that vision is compassion, and especially compassion in leadership.
According to the dictionary, to forgive is to stop feeling angry or resentful toward yourself or others for some perceived offense, flaw, or mistake. Keeping that definition in mind, forgiveness becomes a form of compassion.
Compassion gets a lot of attention in positive psychology, and for good reason – it’s a major concern of many religious and philosophical leaders, including the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis.
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LinkedIn’s head of mindfulness and compassion programs says, “Compassion is a strategy for long-term success.”
Scott Shute, the head of Mindfulness and Compassion at LinkedIn, shares a few simple gestures that can help foster compassion in our workplaces, families, and communities.
Research has found that incorporating compassion into your leadership strategy can increase productivity and happiness.
One of the most in-depth meditation studies to date shows that different practices have different benefits.
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In 1989, at one of the first international Buddhist teacher meetings, Western teachers brought up the enormous problem of unworthiness and self-criticism, shame and self-hatred that frequently they arise in Western students’ practice.
At a weekend workshop I led, one of the participants, Marian, shared her story about the shame and guilt that had tortured her.