At last week’s “Mind and its Potential” Conference in Sydney, Ruth Ostrow interviewed Gordon Cairns, 63, who in the past has led Lion Nathan, Arnotts and PepsiCo. Gordon is a former non-executive board member at Westpac and is now chairman of David Jones.

Ruth interviewed Gordon about his path of self-reflection and mediation and the impact of this on his life.

Gordon turned to Buddhism training and retreats to address feedback he had received from people he worked with. This included addressing his competitive and autocratic behaviour.

What actions did he take?

• He took on a coach
• Embraced Buddhism and meditation

Gordon described the benefits of his practice to include:

• Having to be in the moment
• Being calm in the moment
• Developing a practical wisdom

It has also benefited his leadership. He said: “I’m a better human being, so I am a better leader. People want to work for me and with me”.

Through his practice, Gordon has become a leader who is tough on the issues and compassionate with people. He defines success in terms of happiness.

Here are some tips from Gordon on being an effective leader:

• Because people spend most of their life at work, we need to provide them with a vision and values
• We need to define leadership

“No hippy, trippy movement. It is how you lead a better life”

• We can choose to be empathic when dealing with difficult things, rather than being objective and uncaring
• Remember the power of teamwork; it means we can take people beyond what they think capable

For further information, watch Ruth Ostrow’s video from her documentary success series “Total Success”:

Total Success - Video Documentary

Final Tip – try mindfulness mediation today because…

“…a human mind is a wandering mind, and a wandering mind is an unhappy mind. The ability to think about what is not happening is a cognitive achievement that comes at an emotional cost.”― Harvard University