Convene - February 2016

on the intersection of creativity and mindfulness with fashion icon Donna Karan, whose Urban Zen Foundation’s most recent project was bringing yoga therapy to hospitals. Padmasree Warrior, CEO of NextEV USA, and Larry Brilliant, M.D., founding president of the Skoll Global Threats Fund and former executive director of Google. org, Google’s philanthropic division, discussed the business applications of mindfulness. And actress Goldie Hawn spoke about the work her Hawn Foundation has done to bring mindfulness training to more than 1,000 schools as well as counseling and youth centers around the world. “We were fortunate to get the right lineup of speakers,” Liegl said, “who were each fascinating as a standalone and also worked together in a broader theme.”

S TREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS

As conferences like Dreamforce have begun to build in programming on mindfulness, the last decade has also seen the launch of a number of conferences devoted specifically to wellness and mindfulness. The nine-year-old Global Wellness Summit, which took place most recently at the St. Regis Mexico City on Nov. 13–15, explored how the wellness sector increasingly influences our personal and professional lives. At the beginning of the

2015 conference, Deepak Chopra led a
meditation for more than 470 delegates.
The agenda featured daily workshops
conducted by actress-turned-author
Agapi Stassinopoulos and mindfulness
teacher Felix Lopez.

A week earlier, the Mindful Leader-
ship Summit, held at the Double Tree by
Hilton Hotel Washington DC–Crystal
City in Arlington, Virginia, brought
together more than 750 leaders from
corporations, nonprofits, government,
and education to learn strategies for
incorporating mindful practice into
their work. “We look almost exclusively
for people who have some type of
mindfulness or contemplative practice
themselves,” said Eric Forbis, who co-
founded the conference in 2014. “We
look for a mix of people who can speak
on mindfulness and compassion, share
real-life stories of leading mindfully,
give practical advice on how to be a
mindful leader, and provide guidance
on how to bring mindfulness and com-
passion into organizations.”
At last year’s Mindful Leader-
ship Summit, Mindful Work author
Gelles moderated a conversation on
leadership between author, corporate
executive, and Harvard Business
School professor Bill George and his
wife, Penny George, a psychologist who
has focused her work on integrative
health and healing. “I’m always happy
to give a solo presentation, but really
love moderating and having conversa-
tions,” Gelles said in an interview with
Convene. “I hear from people all the
time — including after talks — about
how mindfulness has impacted their
lives, and it’s always amazing to learn
how varied the experiences are.”
Gelles is quick to note that mind-
fulness isn’t a panacea, and that con-
ference attendees shouldn’t expect
to come back to their desks and be
instantly more peaceful and more
productive. “It takes time, effort, and
isn’t always easy or even enjoyable,” he
said. “It’s like going to the gym, but for
your mind.”
But it does get results. Although the
Mindful Leadership Summit is only
two years old, Forbis says it has already
demonstrated value for attendees. “We
have heard from people who are using
what they learned at the Summit to
begin integrating mindfulness into
their organizations,” he said, “and from
attendees who feel like they are now
part of a community of people who
believe in the importance of mindful-
ness and mindful leadership.”
Yingzhao Liu, director of user expe-
rience design for LinkedIn and a resi-
dent and board member at the Jikoji