Meditation For MBAs: Train Your Mind, Improve Your Game — Part II

In the first article in this series, I mentioned Sara Lazar’s research at Harvard wherein she compared the structures of the brains of long-term meditators with those of non-meditators. In this study, she determined that the parts of the brain that were associated with attention were thicker in the meditators than the non-meditators. Previous studies have established that differences in gray-matter thickness are associated with performance abilities, suggesting that an increase in thickness corresponds to improved functioning in the relevant area. Meditating seems to pump up the attention muscles.

Attentional performance improves as well. Researchers have found that continuity of attention and the ability to process incoming information improve with meditation training. In one study, participants were asked to visually identify two target numbers embedded in a rapid stream of distracter letters. When the second number appeared within a half second after the first number, most participants didn’t notice it prior to receiving meditation training. This phenomenon, known as attentional blink, is believed to result from competition between the two targets for limited attentional resources. After three months of meditation training, participants were better able to detect the second target without compromising their ability to detect the first target, thereby significantly reducing their attentional blink.

Scientists have also begun to investigate if meditation training can help address ADHD proper, which is on the rise. In one feasibility study, adults and adolescents diagnosed with ADHD participated in an eight-week program modeled in part on the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training. Some 78% of those participating reported a reduction in total ADHD symptoms and 30% reported at least a 30% reduction in symptoms, with the most significant changes being the reduction of attentional conflict. While there’s more research to be done in the field of attention, I’m hopeful that meditation will become recognized as a powerful antidote to distraction, allowing us to fully attend to our responsibilities, challenges, passions, and relationships.

Before we continue, let’s just take a moment to come back to ourselves. First, notice what it feels like to be reading this article. When I’m reading online, it can sometime feels like my attention and energy have gone up into my eyes and head and even into my screen—I’m not aware of my body sitting on the chair or anything else in my environment. See if you can bring your attention back down into your body if it isn’t already there. Notice your feet on the floor, your butt on your chair, your overall sense of weight. Feel into your hands, your shoulders, your abdomen, your thighs, noticing whatever there is to notice there. Tension? Numbness? Tingling? Relaxation? Whatever is there, let it be as it is. Take the time to reinhabit yourself. When you’re ready, let’s shift gears.

I’m Innovating as Hard as I Can

Feeling compelled to innovate to maintain a competitive advantage and address unprecedented challenges and opportunities such as climate change and globalization, many 21^st-century leaders have attempted to foster innovation, be it through brainstorming, sticking lots of colored Post-Its on a wall, or offering employees courses in design thinking. In reviewing the research, I believe that meditating could take innovation to the next level.

For one, research suggests that meditation promotes mental flexibility. In experiments regarding cognitive rigidity, or the tendency to overlook novel and adaptive ways of responding to situations due to past experience, researchers in Israel found that meditators had lower rigidity scores than non-meditators. Both groups were first given a task involving a complex problem-solving method; when faced with a second similar task, the meditators, not blinded by their previous experience, were better able to find a simple novel solution. Think of companies committed to sustainability. Having to radically reconsider what to make, how to make it, and how to deliver it to customers, organizations such as these could greatly benefit from cultivating this capacity.

Second, being able to get into your customers’ and other stakeholders’ shoes is a critical competency when it comes to innovating. In a 2009 study performed on previous non-meditators who participated in an eight-week MBSR training, scientists observed that the grey matter in the regions of the brain associated with being able to assume the perspectives of others increased.