Leadership Development and Mindfulness Workshop
On September 25th, HHHP Director Jack McCarthy and colleague Eliza Lay Ryan, Head of Acting for the New York Film Academy at Harvard University and a graduate of the MFA Program at BU’s College of Fine Arts, led Fellows through a dual workshop on mindfulness and leadership.
Prof. McCarthy began with a lecture on leadership development. He emphasized key concepts such as the shift in 21st leadership priorities from Controlling, Ordering and Predicting (COP) to Acknowledging, Creating, and Empowering (ACE). He underscored how listening and inclusion are today much more important than directing and enforcing. He also introduced Boyatzis’s research on the ideal self as the driver of intentional change.
Ms. Ryan then led a stimulating professional development workshop on what she has branded as “Supermindfulness“—a combination of science, mindfulness studies, and the tools actors use to stand in other people’s shoes that promotes agility, creativity, communication, and efficiency in work, school, and life.
In one activity, Fellows paired up and mimicked one another’s walking styles. The poignant message of the exercise was that, by adjusting oneself to others, one can better synchronize with them. As Ryan explains, the physical, mental, and emotional aspects of the self relate in a kind of feedback loop. If you furrow your brow and think “life is good” you’ll notice that you are at odds with yourself. If you crinkle your eyes and raise the sides of your mouth, you’ll notice that you feel happiness. In this way we can give ourselves the experience of different ways of being. If I move the muscles of my body to walk like you, then I can feel like you.”