[MUSIC]
4:30 PM on a Thursday afternoon in Johannesburg, South Africa.
It's 2008, and we're in the midst of a global financial crisis,
the largest one since the dot-com bubble in the year 2000.
Rumors are swirling about the global economy collapsing,
about banks going bankrupt, about people losing their jobs.
I'm a commodity trader in an investment bank, and
with only 30 minutes to go until the market closes, I can't wait,
because phones around me are ringing uncontrollably and
computer screens are flashing non-stop.
It's a tense environment in one way,
everybody's trying to manage their profits to keep their jobs.
Suddenly, I hear a voice.
The S&P is falling, where can I sell $50 million?
It's a chaotic environment,
my heart beats rapidly as I desperately try to keep my cool.
Finally, the clock strikes 5 PM, and I breathe a sigh of
relief as I manage to leave the trading floor in one piece.
As I sit in traffic on my way home, I feel anxious, and
struggle to focus as my mind wanders off.
And after sitting there for a couple of minutes, I notice a well-dressed
middle-aged man trying to cross a one way road with no traffic lights in sight.
And, I think to myself, how strange, what's he doing in the middle of the road?
I observe as he makes his way.
And as I get closer, I notice that he has a cane.
I notice he's actually blind.
So I immediately jump out of my car and offer my assistance and
ask him whether he needs a ride anywhere.
And to my surprise, without any hesitation, he smiles at me,
introduces himself as Eustace, and gives me his destination.
It wasn't a very long ride, but one with interesting conversation.
I asked the man,
how do you manage to keep your composure when in such a tense environment?
And then he proceeded to tell me a story about how he had not always been blind,
and how losing his sight led him to pay more attention to his surroundings.
He told me it had been a long journey for
him letting go of the resentment that he had towards the world and
towards the circumstances that led to him losing his sight.
And through that process, he learned how to remain calm,
especially when he felt lost or insecure.
I had to learn how to focus on what was happening now.
How else would I find my way?
That's what he told me.
In that moment.
In that very moment, I came to a sudden realization.
Let go, focus, and listen.
You see, like that man, I was stuck in my past.
I let my anxiety take control of me as I imagined worst case scenarios for
my future based off previous economic downturns.
Do you ever feel as though you're the person in the middle of the road with
tons of cars honking at you?
I said, me too.
Life's events often approach us in the form of fast-moving cars on a busy road,
leaving us feeling lost and insecure.
And these feelings are amplified as we ruminate on our past or
on uncertainties in our future.
How are we able to navigate through the noise that life presents unless we're
better able to manage our thoughts and focus on what matters most to us?
As I gave more thought to the man's words,
I reflected upon a concept called mindfulness.
Mindfulness is by no means a new topic.
In fact, it's been around for many, many years.
It's letting go of our thoughts on the past and
future and being in increased awareness to the present moment in our everyday lives.
It's been shown to have a number of benefits, and
it's practiced by some of the largest companies in the world.
General Mills instituted a seven-week mindfulness program for its employees.
The program aims to get its leaders to develop their mind's capacity,
to pay attention both to themselves and to others.
The program is usually successful.
In fact, 80% of senior executives have reported improved
decision-making skills after taking the class.
Google has a now-famous mindfulness course called Search Within Yourself.
It's a rock solid, business friendly,
mindfulness program composed of practical ways to develop three traits, train your
attention, develop self-awareness, and create useful mental habits.
The program's oversubscribed and
has a minimum waiting time of no fewer than six months.
But how does mindfulness make us better leaders?
Well, there are many ways, but what Eustace learned that day was how to not
let his negative thoughts from his past affect his present moment or
his perceptions of the future.
Better managing our thoughts extends to a business context through a phenomenon
called sunk cost bias.
This is a bias that occurs when one has invested so
much into a hopeless project that they cannot bring themself to stop for
the fear of losing all that was invested.
Sunk cost bias leads to future irrational business decisions.
Let's think about that for a second.
Imagine you enter an ice cream shop and purchase an expensive,
elaborate double chocolate peanut butter ice cream.
>> [LAUGH] >> Halfway through eating it,
you start to feel sick.
>> [LAUGH] >> Do you throw the remainder away?
Or do you feel obliged to finish it?
>> [LAUGH] >> Only because you spent so
much money on it already?
Devouring that remaining bit of ice cream won't bring your money back.
In fact, you might have more to lose in the form of lost pleasures or
increased glucose levels.
>> [LAUGH] >> Sunk cost bias is a thinking trap,
and practicing mindfulness reduces the tendency to allow prior unrecoverable
costs to affect future decisions.
The consequences of not better managing our thoughts extends beyond a individual
or corporate level to a country level.
I grew up in an apartheid-troubled South Africa where segregation was rife.
The effects of this environment were damaging to the emotional state of
the population, with the consequences still prevailing today,
21 years after democracy.
South Africa's population is worried that its future will end up like its past,
leading to a mindset that promotes social divide and impacts economic performance.
Ever since I met Eustace, to me being more mindful has meant being able to let go,
focus, and listen.
It's the ability to let go of my regrets in the past or
my anxiety in the future and to take a moment to focus and listen,
truly listen to myself and to others.
Think about the last time you were in conversation with someone, but
you struggled to focus or listen to what they were saying.
Maybe you were thinking about what to say in response,
judging what they were saying, or maybe you were daydreaming altogether.
Sometimes we're even too busy to listen to our own inner thoughts, needs, or beliefs.
When was the last time you listened to yourself?
Fast forward a couple of months, I'm back on the trading floor, but
this time with a different mindset.
Let go, focus, and listen.
I let go of the anxiety that I had towards the uncontrollable events in my life.
One tool that I found useful was that I started reframing certain situations
as opportunities to grow rather than as chances to fail.
So instead of thinking a poor performance today could lead to me losing my
job, I thought,
I have a fantastic opportunity to help my clients through difficult economic times.
I found I was a lot more energized for the task at hand, and
I was actually better at my job.
I started to focus more on the positives in my life,
including those little things that we sometimes take for granted.
So for example, when driving home from work,
I thought of a few things that I was grateful for, as opposed to replaying
the frustrating moments that I experienced throughout the day.
This increased my levels of happiness and made me a better colleague.
And finally, I listened to myself.
As I reflected, I realized that throughout my life I'd been too results-focused,
especially on the trading floor.
And I never really took the time to fully appreciate what I learned
throughout the journey.
I started putting mini pauses between my actions, which cleared my mind and
allowed me to focus more on what I was doing in that moment.
I will likely never meet Eustace again, but
I'll never forget the lesson that I learned that day.
Life rarely resembles walking on a clear or straight path, but
rather looks like being blindfolded on a busy road.
That's scary.
So the next time you find yourself in the middle of the road with dozens of
cars honking at you, remember.
Let go, focus, and listen.
Listen to those around you, and listen to your heart.
Thank you.
>> [APPLAUSE]
[MUSIC]