Biography
Biography: Uvinie Lubecki
Abstract
Statement of the Problem: A recent survey on 1,000 leaders across 800 organizations has shown that while 91% of leaders believe compassion is important to their leadership, 80% do not know how to lead with compassion. Researchers have shown that mindfulness and compassion can be trained and when applied to interactions, they can improve wellbeing, resilience, and interactions with others. However, mindfulness and compassion have thus far largely been applied to personal wellbeing and stress reduction. Few tools have been developed that translate and apply these techniques to leadership.
Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: Building on the curriculum I developed at Dalai Lama Fellows, which applies universal values championed by the Dalai Lama to leading social change, we’ve created a new secular training program for seasoned leaders in the corporate and non-profit sectors. Thus far, leaders from organizations such as Macy’s, Eileen Fisher, Celgene, and Pachamama Alliance amongst others have participated in these training. The training is 2-day intensive workshops followed by 5 weeks of practice and a concluding 1.5-hour webinar.
Conclusion & Significance: Leaders demonstrated improvements in self-awareness, ability to regulate emotions, ability to extend caring and compassion to others, improvements in their ability to interact with others, and the ability to provide constructive feedback with compassion. Additional questions on how to apply compassion to top-down processes to influence culture are being explored.