OWP liVe Report

69

both resilience and inter-relational competencies in practitioners.

Singer emphasizes that, in today’s unprecedented crisis, people need to equip their brainswith the tools to cope withhuge degrees of uncertainty, foster social cohesion andmove into truly global citizenship. “Although it’s never too late to begin, we should already introducemental practices including social partner exercises in schools to reduce bullying and social stress and increase social skills –which are neededmore than ever in ourmodern world,” Singer said.

“We produced evidence that some of ourmental trainingmodules reduced 51%of the social stress response of our participants,” she said. Explaining the first findings, Professor Singer offers newways to train the brain and develop compassion to lead in business and to develop neweconomicmodels. “Many of our findings show that compassion is not just a luxury or aweak feeling,” explained the neuroscientist, “but a powerful source to improve important social skills, altruismand global cooperation.” Better leaders, better lives Implementingmental training into businesses could help executives better address complex issues by re- introducing secular ethics that promote the idea of taking responsibility through compassionate leadership and responsible actions.

TANIA SINGER

“Many of our findings show that compassion is not just a luxury or a weak feeling.”

Whether you’re under 18 or over 50, training these “muscles” in the brain can build attention, compassion and social cognition to boost your leadership skills – and your life.