Business Insider, a U.S. business news and analysis website, serves as an aggregator of top news stories from around the web. Their original articles are cited by media outlets like the New York Times and National Public Radio.
The May 9 issue compiled a list of 14 successful business executives who meditate, 9 of whom practice TM. They swear by it. This makes sense as a growing number of business executives have been turning to the Transcendental Meditation program to increase alertness, eliminate stress and fatigue, and enhance their creativity. It’s a major factor accounting for their ongoing success.
This list is posted on the website’s War Room page filed under Strategy. Not all the executives say what kind of meditation they practice, but their reasons for doing so are practical and compelling. The ones who do mention TM are: Bridgewater Associates founder and CEO Ray Dalio, who tops the list; former Medtronic CEO Bill George; Def Jam Founder Russell Simmons; Oprah Winfrey; Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz; Ramani Ayer, former Chairman and CEO of The Hartford Financial Services Group; Steve Rubin, former CEO and chairman of United Fuels International; Executive Management Associates CEO Nancy Slomowitz; Marnie Abramson, of the family-owned Tower Companies real estate firm; and Tupperware CEO Rick Goings.
14 Executives Who Swear By Meditation
Jhaneel Lockhart and Melanie Hicken | May 9, 2012, 2:40 PM
CEOs have stressful jobs, and some have taken to intense hobbies to find solace from the daily grind.
Some practice meditation—or even Transcendental Meditation, a mantra-based technique derived about 50 years ago from ancient Indian practices.
We’ve compiled a list of leaders who say that meditating gives them an edge in the competitive business world. Some have even built it into their company’s culture.
Hedge fund manager Ray Dalio uses Transcendental Meditation to check his ego
Dalio — founder and CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund — has built many of the TM principles into his firm’s culture. According to a New York Magazine profile, Transcendental Meditation informed Dalio’s “belief that a person’s main obstacle to improvement was his own fragile ego; at his firm, he would make constant, unvarnished criticism the norm, until critiques weren’t taken personally and no one held back a good idea for fear of being wrong.”
Click here to read how meditation helped the others become more effective executives. Some even paid for their employees to meditate, reducing healthcare costs and increasing productivity—a smart investment with a profitable return for themselves, and their employees.
For more information on TM for executives, visit this website for the Center for Leadership Performance: Optimizing Wellness, Productivity and Profitability: http://www.tmbusiness.org.
Speaking of Ray Dalio, he’s mentioned in a new book by Maneet Ahuja that comes out May 29, 2012: The Alpha Masters: unlocking the genius of the world’s top hedge fund managers. (ISBN: 979-1-118-06552)
I haven’t seen it yet, but a friend said the first Chapter is on Ray Dalio. In it he speaks highly of TM and is quoted saying it is “the single biggest influence” on his life. He later gives more reasons why he finds it helpful.
Also see: 14 Business Leaders Who Swear By Meditation.
Newer article: Celebs who meditate featured in The Daily Beast.
See Fortune, Forbes, Business Insider report on the beneficial effects of @TMmeditation in business.
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