By Michelle Maldonado
Associate Vice President of Corporate and Strategic Relationships, American Public University System
In part three of our three-part discussion on mindfulness in the workplace, I speak with Janice Marturano, former Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at General Mills and Founder and Executive Director of The Institute for Mindful Leadership. As the first person ever to be invited to speak on mindful leadership training at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland this year, Janice is a visionary trailblazer paving the way for employees at Fortune 500 and other organizations including Target, Medtronic, Intel, the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and the American Red Cross by teaching them how to discipline their minds and find the space to collaborate, innovate and lead with excellence.
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Q: Every journey is a personal story—how did you discover mindfulness?
Janice: My journey to mindfulness really began at the turn of the 21st century. It was a time when I was juggling everything and wearing many hats: executive, spouse, mother, daughter of aging parents and community volunteer. I was a vice president at General Mills charged with leading the FTC clearance of a high-profile merger. I was in charge of a wonderful team of people working 12 hours a day, seven days a week. What was supposed to take a few months became a nightmare process that dragged on for 18 months. We were all carrying an enormous amount of extra responsibility. Then six months into the merger, my mother passed away. Six months after that, my father passed away. Their loss was deeply felt. At the end, the deal would close, which meant that many thousands of employees would not lose their jobs, which I was told at the outset could happen if the deal did not get clearance. I finally had a little more space to go back to my normal juggling and to grieve the loss of my parents.
Read on to learn more about Janice’s insights on mindfulness in the workplace as part of the APU Authentic Leadership Series, “Leading with Excellence: Mindful Leadership Training to Focus Your Mind and Grow Exceptional Organizations“.
About Michelle:
Michelle Maldonado is a former corporate attorney with more than 17 years of leadership experience in strategic planning, operations and partnership development across the e-learning, technology and online media industries. She currently serves as Associate Vice President of Corporate and Strategic Relationships for American Public University (APU) and is the creator and editor of The Authentic Leadership Series. Michelle is passionate about talent development, coaching and the mentoring of professionals to support organizational success and sustainability. Utilizing an authentic and consultative approach, Michelle collaborates with industry organizations to form education alliances that support overall talent and institutional growth strategies. She also represents APU in conferences and other venues on the topic of leadership authenticity and its convergence with emotional intelligence, mindfulness and other “conscious leadership” practices that inspire culture transformation. Michelle’s work has been featured in Chief Learning Officer, Human Capital Insights, Leadership Excellence, and Training magazines.
To learn more about how American Public University’s programs and services may help you with your talent development and retention strategies, please visit: www.StudyAtAPU.com/Solutions or contact Michelle at mmaldonado@apus.edu.
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