Yoga Made Me a Better CEO?

BUSINESS;The meditative practice can strengthen a chief executive's--and an organization's--mind, body and spirit.

Stanton Kawer

Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.

I never imagined I'd be writing an article about how yoga makes me a more effective CEO. I don't even know if I'm more of an authority as a CEO or as a yoga student. I do help run a successful organization, and I drive to and from work with a yoga mat and towel in my car (though it's not the "green" vehicle you might expect of a yoga student). And I now wear fewer ties and more bracelets when conducting meetings than I would have ever thought (not as midlife crisis or new age attire, but just for fun and self-expression). For kicks I have started off meetings asking employees to take a deep breath and to "live in the moment." But I promise I am not some counterculture contortionist opposed to standard business practice. Quite the contrary. I love business. I am passionate about growing companies. Still, I can share that since I started practicing more than two years ago, yoga has profoundly influenced my life in every aspect. It has redefined my sense of self. I have changed as a husband, father, friend and leaderI proudly serve as the CEO of Blue Chip Marketing Worldwide. Even before I started practicing yoga Blue Chip made a clearly articulated pledge to all of our stakeholders. We call it "The Promise of Uniting." It embodies a philosophy that none of us alone is as good as all of us together. It recognizes that a culture that unites the best of heart and mind will achieve remarkable results. Little did I know that many consider the definition of yoga to come from the Sanskrit root "yuj," meaning to unite, or the practice of uniting body, mind and spirit. At Blue Chip we have always communicated that we have a social contract. We expect all of our talented professionals to deliver at the highest intellectual level (mind), and in turn we offer a nurturing environment (body) that respects them as human beings and professionals (spirit). We were yoga, and we didn't even know it. The result has been nothing short of remarkable. Like a yoga studio, we have built an organizational culture that encourages employees to contribute and astound without fear of judgment or failure. Ultimately yoga has encouraged me to build a corporate environment that is less constricting and more community.

On a personal level yoga has been instructive in helping me redefine my expectations for achievement. Perhaps the most salient lesson I've learned is that there are no scorecards to define success. In the yoga studio there are no winners or losers. No umpires. No victory measured against the loss of another. In yoga success emanates from within and is defined by self-mastery.

As a CEO I have learned the same goes for effective leadership. We all have quantifiable scorecards in business. We look at our numbers every day. Revenue, stock prices and market share all provide indicators of the success of our organizations. But as CEOs, we have other attributes that gauge our success as leaders, including establishing vision, creating an affirmative corporate culture, demonstrating emotional intelligence, displaying the courage of our convictions, assessing risk and offering buoyancy of spirit.

So how does yoga bring success for a CEO

source:forber.com

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