Last November, the School of Business (SOB) began a mindfulness initiative by teaming up with a meditation company, Headspace, to offer all students, faculty, and professors of the SOB free accounts. Mindfulness has been a topic of discussion within the school in recent years, but talk of a partnership with Headspace began in the summer of 2020. COVID-19 brought mindfulness to the forefront of the agenda due to the challenges students and faculty were and are still facing.
Headspace has offerings targeted towards groups and organizations, so the SOB wanted to pilot it.
This initiative was spearheaded by Professor Peter Dominick who was assisted by Beatrice Wilson, Executive Assistant and Project Manager for the Dean of Business. Dominick teaches courses on leadership, mostly at the Graduate level and believes that being a strong leader is derived from positive psychology. He emphasized that authentic leadership implies that “I’m going to lead best when I understand what is meaningful to me.” Through mindfulness practice, one can take a moment to clear their head and remove the stress from their lives even for just a few minutes. The most fundamental leadership skill is self-awareness.
Before one can lead a group, the individual must acknowledge how they feel and process it. By better understanding yourself, you will be able to understand others. Dominick said, “Leadership is about directing attention, sometimes it’s inward, outward to people, the environment … Mindfulness is a way to develop that capacity.” Business programs want to offer a more holistic experience to help students be better prepared for the workforce, and this is one way to do so.
The initiative was not just for students, faculty and staff also have access to free accounts. Dominick stated that he and his colleagues have been starting meetings with a short meditation to take a moment to pause and slow down before diving into presentations or discussions.
Dominick wanted to implement mindfulness because he wants to help his students and colleagues grow from their experiences. Mindfulness is a way to reconnect with one’s self as well as with others on a deeper level. About 200 people offered the Headspace service are active users. Full involvement is not expected, but the SOB hopes there will be increased use in the future. By granting students access to Headspace, they hope that it’ll encourage them to prioritize their health and wellness. It is unknown if the Headspace initiative will be expanded to other schools within Stevens at this time.
There are also numerous other mindfulness and wellness offerings outside of this initiative. Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) hosts Meditation Mondays weekly in Bissinger Room at 11 a.m., CAL Professor Lindsay Swindall offers 30 minute meditation sessions on Wednesdays from 1-1:30 p.m. over Zoom (https://stevens.zoom.us/j/304188577), and the SOB hopes to host webinars in the future to promote health and wellness.
LinkedIn offers many mindfulness practices through LinkedIn Learning which all students have free access to. Mindfulness is being implemented in corporations across all industries; students can highlight their mindfulness/meditation practice during interviews to show recruiters that they have the interpersonal and leadership skills that will make them successful in the working world.
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