iMBA Spring Leadership Workshop Held

College of Business
 

entire imba groupFocus on mindfulness was the primary theme of the iMBA Spring Workshop, held March 28 in the Montpelier Room. Led by Mark House and Maureen Blackwell, the attendees discussed Scott Eblin’s book “Overworked and Overwhelmed,” which offers practical insights for the executive, manager or professional who feels like their RPM is maxed out in the red zone.

Eblin is the co-founder and president of The Eblin Group, a professional development firm that supports executives and managers in exhibiting leadership presence by being fully present. As an executive coach, educator and author, he works with senior and rising leaders in some of the world’s best known and regarded organizations.

Mindfulness may be described as a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations.

This approach is increasingly showing up in business school graduate curriculums. Mindfulness has two components, awareness and intention. People who are self-aware are better able to monitor and control their reactions to events.

During the discussion on stress and reactions to everyday events, Blackwell shared a Viktor Frankl quote with the group: “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.”

Over the course of the day, Blackwell and House posed several questions to the students: “What difference would it make if you were clear about how you are at your best? What does a successful outcome look like? What are the stories in your head that are preventing you from achieving your goals?”

The attendees worked through these and other thought-provoking questions during the rest of the workshop, and spent time completing individual personal planners.

The iMBA program offers a leadership work each spring, bringing in outside speakers who are experts in their fields. Plans are already underway for next year’s workshop. 

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Published: Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Last Updated: Thursday, November 2, 2023

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