Did you know mindfulness reduces anxiety and is strongly linked with creativity? Mindfulness has many benefits, especially if you are a business leader. Reading some of the top mindfulness books will undoubtedly elevate your problem-solving and can improve your leadership in a variety of ways.
Having trouble finding the right book to get started? Don’t worry. You’ve come to the right place. I’ve compiled a list of the top five interesting mindfulness books for business leaders. If you’re looking to embrace mindfulness as part of your leadership style – or even if you aren’t – I strongly recommend these books to get started on your path to mindful leadership.
What Is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a state of mind – or mental workout if you will – that enhances your brain and increases your capacity to cope with daily stressors and emotional upheavals.
Why is this important for business leaders? It’s simple, really. A mindful leader is present, self-aware, and approaches their workday calmly.
Mindful leadership has been found to inspire and motivate team members more so than traditional leadership methods.
While this list is by no means exhaustive, it’s a great place to get started on your journey to mindful leadership.
5 must-read mindfulness books for business leaders
“The Mindful Way Workbook” by Zindel V. Segal, Mark Williams, and John Teasdale
It is common for business leaders and entrepreneurs to suffer from anxiety, stress, and other mental conditions. The mindful way workbook uses a proven cognitive therapy program to help executives cope with daily stressors.
Written by three experts, it helps people understand mindfulness and the reasons why people get stuck in stress and a vicious cycle of negative emotions.
Even if you are not going through any complex emotional situations, this book can still help you. It can help you develop the skills to be more focused and relaxed while performing tasks and prevents stress and anxiety. After reading this book, you will be able to respond to feelings and thoughts in a more thoughtful way.
“Wherever You Go, There You Are” by Jon Kabat-Zinn
This book is an excellent tool to help you practice, learn, and apply mindfulness strategies in your daily life. It helps you understand how you can become mindful without doing anything extraordinary. You can achieve an enhanced level of mindfulness simply by improving and bringing small changes to your everyday life.
Kabat-Zinn, a professor of medicine emeritus, beautifully explains that every heartbeat and every breath is a new opportunity to try to live again. After reading this book, you will learn how to practice generosity, patience, judgment, concentration, humility, and simplicity.
Kabat Zinn is on a personal mission to connect science and mindfulness, and his book is proof of his great work. He highlights the best practices – based on science and mindfulness – for business success.
“Creating Mindful Leaders” By Joe Burton
In the age of disruption, Joe Burton, an entrepreneur and CEO of a well-being training platform, Know How to Thrive, has written a book: Creating Mindful Leaders. Burton’s book helps you learn resilience, emotional intelligence, and mindfulness skills and is full of practical tips to implement these skills.
The practices mentioned in this book are based on positive psychology, neuroscience, and brain training that put forward a roadmap of greater happiness, performance, health, and success for you.
Did you know? Outstanding leadership depends upon emotional intelligence. Various case studies and research show that emotional intelligence is increased by mindfulness, which enables leaders to solve challenging and mind-boggling problems.
“The Mindful Leader” by Michael Bunting
Michael Bunting’s book is considered the best reading choice for business leaders because it provides training for becoming mindful and enhancing leadership. It encourages and shows different perspectives and methods of mindfulness to the leaders to lead in the competition.
This book helps you understand the relationship between mindfulness and leadership. It hones in on the specific disciplines of mindfulness that will impact your leadership style. It will also help you make changes that will transform your organization, team, and whole life.
Michael Bunting has practiced mindfulness for more than 22 years and teaches it at Sydney University in a leadership context. He knows from experience how mindfulness can transform the life of a leader.
“Finding The Space To Lead” by Janice Marturano
Finding the Space to Lead is the best book if you are looking for something that offers a pragmatic and well-written approach to mindfulness. It contains various practical exercises that will help you significantly change your attitude towards your business operations and routine life.
It includes tools that you will need to develop leadership strength. As a senior executive, Janice Marturano writes from a position of personal experience about mindfulness.
This book will help you understand how your emotions affect your leadership and why mindfulness is essential, especially for business leaders.
Alternative books on mindfulness, especially for business leaders
While the above-reviewed mindfulness books are our top picks, I have a list of some extra great reads if you’re looking for more. And while they didn’t make the top list, these additional books also help people become great leaders and assist leaders in achieving greater success in their businesses.
- The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Hanh
- Practicing Mindfulness by Matthew Sockolov
- Altered Traits by Daniel Goleman and Richard J. Davidson
- 10% Happier by Dan Harris
- Whole Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn
Final words
I hope this list of mindfulness books helps get you started on your path to mindful leadership. Even if it is just a nudge in the right direction, I know it can help. Reading really is a great way to master new skills.
Find a great piece of advice from one of the above-mentioned books that genuinely resonates with you. And use it to steer your leadership technique in a better direction.
As Max Depree said, “we cannot become what we want by remaining what we are.” So, why not follow his advice, choose a mindfulness book today and start working to become what you want to be in the future.
Have you read another mindfulness book that you feel I may have overlooked? Share it below in the comments so others can benefit from the same wisdom.
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