What does big business have to do with brain-based wellness? You wouldn’t think much. In fact, you’d think the two were polar opposites and in a lot of cases they are, but if you read Steve Jobs’ biography, you’ll find that one of the world’s most successful businessmen practiced mindfulness. Could that be the secret to Jobs’ massive success and how one of the most innovative thinkers of our time broke away from the pack and created his own way of doing things?
In the decades before the 1980s, the concept of business emphasized being part of a team culture, stewardship of the company, partnership with fellow employees and being part of your community at large. In the ‘80s with the boom of the stock market and bigger business, the world subscribed to the “greed is good” mantra. The life of excess is what everyone was looking for, more money, more things, more lavishness–work hard and play hard. In management, this wasn’t a life philosophy as much as it was a theory of business that demanded busy executives become self-involved for the good of the planet. Unfortunately, things didn’t really work out that way.
However, Steve Jobs was a little different. He subscribed to the concept of mindfulness in business and in life. Biographer, Walter Isaacson, quotes Jobs in his biography, Steve Jobs:
“If you just sit and observe, you will see how restless your mind is. If you try to calm it, it only makes it worse, but over time it does calm, and when it does, there’s room to hear more subtle things–that’s when your intuition starts to blossom and you start to see things more clearly and be in the present more. Your mind just slows down, and you see a tremendous expanse in the moment. You see so much more than you could see before.”
In the middle of the chaos and greed of the 80s, Jobs practiced mindfulness, focusing on the internal and paying attention to the details. Given his success, maybe he was on to something. Neuroscience agrees. Brain scans have recently proven that mindfulness meditation can make you more creative and a better manager of people.
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