Mindful Moments: How Putting Away Phones Transforms Experiences
Leadership Center at the Cincinnati Regional Chamber
The Leadership Center uniquely offers participants a way to advance professionally and connect to the Cincinnati region.
Over the last few weeks, we kicked off our Breathe program, my team took a retreat down to rural Kentucky, and I spent an afternoon with a board member and a Chamber team member catching up outside. Each experience was relaxing, exciting, focused, fun, and productive. Looking back, I know what ties each of those experiences together, and it can be summed up with a comment Curtis made to Doug and I during our afternoon outing:??
“You know that none of us looked at our phones once during the last two hours?”?
Preparing for Breathe, I read “The Anxious Generation” by Jonathan Haidt and have since moved on to begin reading “Life is a Four-Letter Word” by Andy Salkeld (both assigned readings for the program).??
Haidt’s take on the Anxious Generation, boiled down simply:?
Reflecting on my experiences over the past few weeks, in each instance we removed phones/social media and included some amount of fun or play in the day. We’re not kids, but it seems to still work. The experience with Doug and Curtis stands out the most because no one ever said, “Keep your phones away,” it just occurred naturally. In the other two people were advised to keep phones away, or to use them from time to time for specific reasons.??
Part of what I appreciate about concepts around mindfulness is that it reminds us to do what once came more easily as children, to focus on the things in front of us without constantly being pulled away. I imagine most people recall the days when you found so much joy in the moment…you totally missed the passage of time…all of a sudden the day was over…you were called back home.??
As we roll out Breathe, and expand our focus on mental health, I see our aim as to help build a critical mass of people who are more interested in losing themselves in the moment, whether it’s at home or work, instead of constantly feeling that pull to something else. Too often something else is in your pocket or sitting on your desk lighting up and drawing your gaze, and what’s vibrating or dinging isn’t all that important. I should admit?to the fact that I have two monitors up, my iPad open, and my phone sitting face up next to me as well as I write this. So, it’s not like I don’t have work to do in this space either.?
The last couple of months of the year offer opportunities to gather, to re-center our approach to engaging with people, and to put our phones away. Perhaps it’s a good time to think about getting a jump on this new year’s resolution(s) so that by the time 2025 rolls around, you’ve already done the hard work of embedding a new habit instead of just giving it a try for the first time. We’re trying that with our team by asking team members to test out new team-building activities and present new leadership concepts and topics at our regular meetings.?
As you work through the end of the year, find ways to put your phones away and lose yourself in the moment at work and at home. And if you’re ambitious, start thinking about building your New Year's Resolutions now. I’m appreciative of my team, the participants in Breathe, and a couple of friends who helped remind me of that in the past few weeks.
FEATURED EVENT
Join us on?Wednesday, December 11, from 8:00 AM - 12:00 PM?at?Music Hall?for the?2024 Fifth Third Bank Diversity Leadership Symposium, the Cincinnati region’s largest annual business gathering focused on diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. This year’s theme,?"Growing Together: Cultural Vibrancy & Belonging,"?sets the stage for an engaging and impactful event. We are thrilled to present a dynamic lineup of speakers and discussions aimed at advancing DEI initiatives across the region and within your own organizations.
The highlight of the symposium will be a keynote address from Emmy Award-winning sportscaster MJ Acosta-Ruiz, host of NFL Network's flagship show, NFL Total Access. As the first Afro-Latina to host a program on NFL Network, MJ has blazed a trail in sports media and brings a wealth of experience from her time covering the San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, and San Diego Chargers, along with her work at NBC 7, Telemundo 20, and WPLG in Miami. She also serves as Executive Producer and Co-host of the docu-series "Like a Girl". Her journey, insights, and dedication to fostering diversity will inspire and challenge us to think critically about creating inclusive environments.
We invite you to join us for this compelling event, where business leaders, policymakers, and community stakeholders will explore key strategies to make the Cincinnati region a place where everyone feels valued and welcome. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and contribute to making our workplaces—and our region—a beacon of belonging.
Thank you to our?Title Investor,?Fifth Third Bank, Presenting Investor, P&G, our?Excellence Investors Duke Energy Corporation ,?GE Aerospace, 富达 , and Medical Mutual, and our?Media Partner Cincinnati Business Courier . Their contributions and commitment to advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging are vital to the success of this event.
LEADERSHIP SPRINTS
?Leadership Sprints aims to equip participants with the necessary skills and knowledge to cultivate high-performance teams within their organizations. Within our first interactive workshop series hosted in Louisville, KY, participants learned to foster psychological safety, cultivate conscious leadership, promote effective collaboration, and enhance communication skills.?
More information coming in January for the next Leadership Sprints. Email Andrea Mersmann to learn more.?
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HELLO CINCY EXECUTIVE CLASS 3 APPLICATIONS OPEN
Know any new executives in the region or moving to the region soon? Hello Cincy Executive is a six-session program designed for c-suite and executive employees who are new to the Cincinnati region within two years.?Participants will gather for unique experiences at premier venues around the region to explore Cincinnati’s assets, history, economic landscape, arts & culture, and much more. Each of the program’s sessions will offer an opportunity to connect deeply with other newcomer and top established executives in an intimate setting – building awareness of the Cincinnati agenda while making business connections and developing elevated external relationships.??
Applications close February 10, 2025?
“This program has been exceptional. It has offered a fantastic opportunity to deepen my understanding of Cincinnati’s culture, business environment, economic landscape, various neighborhoods, and more. It has also allowed me to network with executives from diverse organizations and build meaningful personal connections. I leave each session feeling grateful for the experience and would highly recommend this program to new executives relocating to the city.” - Hello Cincy Executive, Class 2?
NEWS OF INTEREST
Lightcast Labor Market News?
Labor shortages and building a future-ready?Workforce
Neurodiversity at Work: How Inclusion Provides an Edge ?
The Civic Bargain
Democratizing Work
A Best Era of Civic Education
Organizational Culture
Executive Presence
UPCOMING EVENTS
Cincy Blend: Coffee & Connections
Taft Museum | December 4, 8:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Monthly Member Briefing
Virtual | December 5, 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Member Benefits 101
Cincinnati Regional Chamber | December 12, 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
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