OREANDA-NEWS. November 16, 2015. In a Huffington Post blog, Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic, senior fellow at Harvard Business School and one of the early pioneers of mindful leadership, noted that, “mindful leadership has indeed come of age” since he first started meditating daily over 40 years ago.

The following is an excerpt from his blog, Mindfulness is Transforming Leaders:

Becoming a mindful leaders requires daily practice. It is easy to say, as I did back in 1974, that you don’t have the time to fit this practice into your busy schedule. In fact, the opposite is true — you don’t have the time not to pursue it. A recent study by Aetna and Duke University proved that mindful practices can increase productivity by an hour a week. Just think what you could do with an extra hour: Play with your children? Take a walk with your spouse? Organize your life? However you use that extra time, mindfulness can help you accomplish it. More importantly, you will become more effective and satisfied in your work.

George noted Aetna’s use of yoga and meditation programs to help employees manage stress and improve wellbeing while increasing productivity.  To read more about Aetna’s work in this area, check out these posts:

The journey of personal and organizational wellness

Forget multitasking. Try mindfulness.

Five tips for employers thinking about mindfulness programs

Aetna CEO: Let’s invest in our people

Aetna building a case for ‘mind-body’ approach to stress management