Mindful Leadership With Marc Lesser

This practice episode centers on 'The Seven Miracles of Mindfulness' by Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh. The episode begins with a brief guided meditation focusing on mindfulness of the breath and body. Marc Lesser shares personal anecdotes from his time with Thich Nhat Hanh, and dives into the seven miracles of mindfulness, which include being present, making others present, nourishing others, relieving suffer...

Join Marc Lesser and guest Abbot Jiryu Rutschman-Byler as we explore Zen teachings and their application to leadership and everyday life. Experience the power of navigating leadership through authentic presence.

Jiryu currently serves as a co-Abbot of San Francisco Zen Center through his role as Abiding Abbot of Green Gulch Farm Zen Center. He is also co-editor of Becoming Yourself a new collection of talks by Suzuki...

In this milestone 50th episode of Mindful Leadership with Marc Lesser, we explore the art of catching sparks—those subtle, powerful moments of connection, inspiration, and presence that can transform how we live and lead.

Marc draws from his experiences as a CEO, Zen teacher, and leadership coach to reflect on how mindfulness, breath awareness, and love help us tune into the energy exchanged between people. With references to Thich...

We begin today's episode with a short guided meditation focused on being present, fully here with nothing to accomplish. I give a short talk on embracing the mind of the poet and the mind of the business person, exploring these distinctions and lack of distinctions and how we can live and work and play with more meaning and connection. 

Today's Zen Puzzler comes from a traditional koan about a buffalo jumping through a window. The ...

Kristin is founder and CEO at Nia Impact Capital. She is a pioneer in the field of impact investing. She is devoted to re-envisioning capitalism, to changing the face of finance, and to promoting inclusion and diversity in leadership.

In our conversation we talk about the importance of understanding money, finance, and investing and the life-changing force that money has. We speak about creating healthy cultures and how Kristin is...

Today's podcast features The Power of Priming. We begin with a short meditation. Then Marc talks about how the world tends to prime us for anxiety and speed. As an antidote and practice, we can prime ourselves to be present, open, curious, and creative. Meditation practice is a form of priming. We can utilize priming in all parts of our days, from waking up to starting meetings.

Today's Zen puzzler is based on a quote about staring...

Henry Shukman is a poet, writer and Zen teacher. He has written a best selling Zen memoir called One Blade of Grass. He is a guiding teacher of the Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. In this episode we talk about grace: the grace of acknowledging and living from the perspective that everything is gift. We address the tension of practicing with money, success and failure and working skillfully with our many motivati...

I'm doing what I can is today's episode. We begin with a short guided meditation. Then I give a short talk about pessimism, optimism, grief, and joy, and address ways of cutting through the dualities of our modern life and doing what we can, with spaciousness and possibility.

Today's Zen puzzler is Pai Chang's fox, a traditional Zen koan, about not avoiding cause and effect, or finding our freedom while being fully immersed in the ...

In this practice episode Marc talks about working with change, uncertainty, and transition. He unpacks the teachings of Zen teacher Dongshan who describes 3 strategies for working more skillfully with change: the bird path, the mysterious way, and the open hand. -- leaving no trace, appreciating the unknown, and living with an open hand instead of a closed fist.

Today's Zen puzzler is about control, and letting go of control as a ...

Dacher Keltner is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center. 

In this episode we unpack the power of awe - seeing the world fresh and new and how it can benefit our well being, our relationships, and help heal the rifts in our culture. Dacher tells heartfelt personal stories about his own life and the role of awe. We touch on the relationship of mi...

Lynne Twist has been a recognized global visionary committed to alleviating poverty, ending world hunger, and supporting social justice and sustainability for more than forty years. She is also the cofounder of the Pachamama Alliance and founder of the Soul of Money Institute.

In today's episode Lynn and Marc explore the power of commitment - on many levels, personal, relationships, work, and most of all the power of living a com...