Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons from Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen

Marc Lesser has been a dishwasher and a baker, a start-up entrepreneur, and a CEO. He spent a decade living at a Zen center and then running one. The through line in all these incarnations is the idea that core ideas can help anyone, in any walk of life, thrive. Lesser found himself a leader in any situation he was involved in. He sought a way to concretize his learning by earning an MBA at NYU and was off and running. In clear, inspiring language he shows how to apply principles such as Interrogate Reality, Don’t be an Expert, Connect to Your Pain, and Respond Appropriately in everyday business and personal interactions. He shows how “everything we do and don’t do, everything we say and don’t say, has influence on those around us.” For Lesser, mindful leadership, mindful work, and mindful living are one and the same. The practices outlined here make that kind of synergy not just a goal but an achievable reality.