COURSE

Seven Practices Of A Mindful Leader

In this course, you'll receive highly interactive training structured around 7 core mindful leadership practices. These tools will help you to shift awareness, enhance communication, and build greater trust. Together, we will learn how to cultivate leadership presence, thrive in the midst of change and challenges, improve focus and flexibility, increase engagement, collaboration and wellbeing, and ultimately, cultivate greater self-awareness and resilience.

Performance Mindfulness Secular Leadership Mindfulness Meditation Secular Mindfulness Workplace Stress & Anxiety

Meet your Teacher

Marc Lesser

Mill Valley, CA, USA

Marc Lesser is internationally recognized for pioneering work in mindful leadership, creating exceptional business cultures, and supporting profound well-being. Marc founded and was CEO of 3 companies and has an MBA degree from New York University and has led mindfulness and emotional intelligence programs at many of the world’s leading businesses and organizations including Google, SAP, and Genentech. Prior to his business and coaching career, he was a resident of the San Francisco Zen Center for 10 years, and director of Tassajara, Zen Mountain Center, the first Zen monastery in the western world. He is the author of 4 books, including Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons From Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen.

10 Days

9.6k students

4.6 stars

15 min / day

Performance

English

Lesson 1

Appreciate Your Life: Intro To Mindfulness & Emotional Intelligence

Being human is a tough (and amazing) gig! Let’s explore what is difficult and challenging, as well as the possibilities of this life. We are all leaders, since we all have influence. In today's lesson, we will practice with “3 minds” of bringing mindfulness to work, introduced by Dogen, the founder of Zen in Japan, 800 years ago: Joyful Mind, Grandmother Mind, and Wise Mind. We will also take a deep dive into the practices of mindfulness, meditation, and emotional intelligence - the underpinnings that support the Seven Practices.

Lesson 2

Love The Work

The Work, is the practice of self-awareness, and going beyond the self – to move toward helping others, to contributing, to compassion. What does the practice of Love look like? In today's lesson, we will delve into an exploration of how Buddhism describes four practices, called the four immeasurables: Loving kindness, Compassion, Joy, and Equanimity. Understanding how our evolutionary biology (fears, grasping, and the illusion of separateness) gets in the way of wisdom and satisfaction allows us to embrace love and love the work of cultivating awareness and helping others.

Lesson 3

Do The Work

Doing the work is simple (but not always easy). In today's practice we will build on the development of self awareness and key ways of helping others. We will do so by learning the three levels of meditation and four kinds of listening. Come to understand how to develop and sustain a regular meditation practice. Explore your “creative gaps” - the space between where you are now and what you envision.

Lesson 4

Don't Be An Expert

This practice, 'Don’t Be An Expert' means letting go of being right. This can be difficult as a leader or as a parent. We want to be a role model, want to be decisive. And of course at times we do need to make decisions, and have confidence in our way. Paradoxically, it take a good deal of confidence to not know, to question, to be curious and listen. In today's lesson, we come to learn that in meditation practice, you begin to understand and feel that each moment really is new. This moment has never happened before and will not happen again. When we reduce the filters, we see that the world really is magical.

Lesson 5

Connect To Your Pain

Being human is a tough gig. We don’t always get what we want. We get what we don’t want. We feel lonely, left out, hurt. We fail, people leave us, we leave. Then there is change, in politics, environment, technology. And, there is old age, sickness, and death - we know we will lose everyone and everything. In today's lesson, we embrace and learn from the pain that comes with being human. Transform pain into learning and opportunity, satisfaction, and joy.

Lesson 6

Connect To The Pain Of Others

There is a good deal of evidence that the more leadership responsibility a person takes on the less the empathy - the less feeling other’s feelings. And there is evidence that empathy is one of the most important qualities of excellent effective leadership. Let us acknowledge the importance of not avoiding the pain of others. Choose to actively embody a profound connection to all humanity and life.

Lesson 7

Depend On Others

Let go of a false sense of independence. Empower others and be empowered by others to foster healthy group dynamics. Today, we’ll look at what Google learned about what makes for great leaders and how to create effective, high-performing teams: Skilled Coaching (building trust and care), Empowering (helping others to succeed), Listening (showing awareness and curiosity). We will also explore how to make meetings work better to support cultures of trust and results.

Lesson 8

Keep Making It Simpler

Let go of a mindset of scarcity. Today, you will learn how to shift your relationship with problems and difficulties. Turning toward your discomfort, acceptance, letting go of blame. This lesson is one of cultivating focus, engagement, and spaciousness. Learn how to integrate mindfulness practice, producing immediate results.

Lesson 9

Practices For Integrating Mindfulness Into Daily Life

To study the way is to study the self; to study the self is to go beyond the self; to go beyond the self is to feel your connection with everyone and everything. In today's lesson, we’ll explore a variety of practices aimed at deepening and integrating your mindfulness practice. Work is a great playground, a grand theater for humans to express themselves and to interact with each other and with the material world and spiritual world.

Lesson 10

Finding Your True Power

Learn to cultivate your real power. Become more aware of what power is and ways we give it away or embrace it. Explore your life as a “Hero’s Journey” - following your calling, refusing the call, supporting those around you, meeting difficulties, finding your power and finally, living it. In this last lesson, we will return to and review the Seven Practices: Love the work, Do the work, Don’t be an expert, Connect to your pain, Connect to the pain of others, Depend on others & Keep making it simpler.

Ask your teacher

This course includes 73 community questions and 47 audio replies from Marc Lesser. The community classroom and teacher audio replies are only available via the app.

4.6 (484)

Recent Reviews

Josh

July 10, 2025

This was an excellent course, I enjoyed every session. I feel like listening to the course again to pick up some leads to look into more deeply. Thank you 🙏

Inma

March 10, 2024

Thanks Mark got this wonderful teachings so important and necessary

Valerie

February 1, 2024

It’s a pity I cannot listen it from day one again. 🤔

Ros

April 27, 2023

Very practical and helpful

Domenic

April 24, 2023

Great

Radek

February 26, 2023

Condensed wisdom of accepting, transforming, ang going further with more power. Thank you Marc

Jai

July 14, 2022

Beautiful, thank you for such rich content!

Molly

June 23, 2022

Loved this so much. Super helpful to recognize the hero’s journey within my own entrepreneurial path.

Michelle

June 21, 2022

Thank you Marc, I truly enjoyed this course and found your insight, tools, and tips to be very helpful! I really like the tip to ask myself ‘what is most important right now?’ to gain clarity and set my intentions. Looking forward to more content from you. May you be blessed and happy ❤️

Richelle

May 18, 2021

A very insightful course. I really enjoyed every day!

Matt

March 10, 2021

Great course with tons of nuggets that can be applied daily. The stories Marc shares are insightful and fun. Definitely recommended for anyone looking to develop themselves.

Susan

January 15, 2021

This is a great course for improving self awareness.

Adina

November 28, 2020

Thank you. Helpful in in Kelvin me focused on"doing the work."

Chryssie

November 13, 2020

Wonderful reminders especially if you are a leader. Yes!!!! Thank you

McKenna

October 27, 2020

So helpful for where I’m at in my career transition. This course has been getting me through some challenges in my current workplace and helping me shift my perspectives toward more mindfulness.

Maddy

October 16, 2020

Thank you for sharing your wisdom I will practice with my leadership team Maddy Alfano Marias Italian kitchen Los Angeles

Tatiana

October 16, 2020

❤️

Karmen

October 9, 2020

This was great! It has helped me gain tools to be more mindful at work and to be more present when here. I will take these tools and share with my team!

Sean

September 26, 2020

A surprising amount of down to earth insight and wisdom. Thanks!

Wayne

September 23, 2020

Really excellent course. Thank you 🙏

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