Zen in the Office (Buddhist News Network)

ZenWise: You see your coworker close their eyes for a minute. Are they dozing? Pondering lunch? Or could they be meditating? Mini-meditation breaks are gaining in popularity at work and at home. The benefits of these brief time-outs, according to author and Zen-at-work expert Lee Godden, include reduced stress and improved productivity.

Godden says, “From Feng Shui’s art of design to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, many people have already applied some sort of Eastern approach to their daily lives. Zen in the office is a natural next step. It teaches business professionals how to refocus on making money in an ethical manner.”

A longtime Zen practitioner, Godden is a former sales executive with Compaq and other Fortune companies. “In my twenty years in sales I’ve heard all the jokes and slurs,” says Godden. “Salespeople can’t be trusted, they have no ethics and they’ll do anything for a dollar.”

“Doing business with a Zen mind,” Godden says, “helps people sell passionately, succeed financially and grow personally.” Godden speaks at business conferences and trains corporate sales teams. His ‘Sell More Using Zen’ classes at The Learning Annex in Los Angeles will be held March 30, April 29 and May 26.

“You build long-term customer relationships by focusing on trust, credibility and ethics. The first step is to reflect on why you chose selling as a job, what you value, and how similar you are to your customers. Meditation can help. Mindful salespeople sell more and suffer less stress. They also enjoy their jobs more. The bottom line is that customers prefer to buy from mindful salespeople.”

Several Fortune 500 executives have praised Godden’s approach. Leslie Des Georges of EMC Corporation says, “This takes relationship sales to a whole new level.” Harry Silverglide of Extreme Networks, Inc., says, “This is something a salesperson could proudly share with their customers and say, ‘This is the way I do business.’” Oregon University business professor Dr. Fred Phillips says, “I want to deal with salespeople who have read Lee Godden’s ZenWise Selling.”

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