Pandit Dasa

The Urban Monk

Categories: Change, Communications, Leadership, Performance, Personal Growth, Productivity

Pandit Dasa is a Mindful Leadership Expert. He has spoken on Mindful Leadership and conducted workshops at Google, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Citi, State Farm, Bank of America, Nationwide, Intel, Novartis, The World Bank, UBS, Royal Bank of Canada, AMC Theatres, UNICEF, Bank of Montreal, Harvard, Columbia University, and many other institutions. He has also presented at the World Government Summit in Dubai, the national SHRM convention, SHRM Arkansas, Oracle HCM conference, ATD, LEAD and the WorkHuman Conferences.

At his workshops, Pandit presents the research on Mindfulness and explains the importance of leading by example, appreciation, communicating mindfully and managing one’s emotions. He also engages the audiences in various breathing and focusing exercises that individuals will be able to implement at work and at home. Through these workshops, Pandit helps individuals develop positive leadership qualities, lower stress and anxiety, increase focus and productivity, and boost emotional intelligence. Pandit has spoken at a TEDx conference and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, PBS, NPR, The New York Times, Psychology Today and writes for The Huffington Post.

In his book, Urban Monk, Pandit writes about the turning point in his life that came after his family lost their multimillion-dollar business, which ultimately led him to living as a monk for 15 years in New York City. He uses his training and experiences to help corporate and student audiences manage stress and develop a work-life balance.

Mindfulness and Resilience During a Time of Social Distancing

During our current time of change and uncertainty, our stress and anxiety levels can go through the roof. It is absolutely crucial for us to be able to maintain our physical, mental and emotional health so we can take care of ourselves, our family and remain productive in our professional life. This talk combined with writing exercises will address the following items:

Importance of Positive Relationships
The myth of multitasking
Healthy Eating
Unplugged Sleep
Regular Exercise
Maintaining a Personal Hobby

Participants will also learn the science behind mindfulness and will be virtually guided through a variety of mindfulness practices for reducing stress, improving productivity and emotional intelligence. Some of practices are as follows:

Breathing – for stress reduction
Focusing – for improving one’s ability to concentrate and focus
Gratitude – to shift to a more positive mindset
Appreciation – develop appreciation for the contributions of our colleagues
Personal Development – reflection on ways we can improve our character

Principles of Mindful Leadership

Format: 60-90 minute keynote with breakout group work

This program is perfect for:

Managers and all levels of leadership
Those aspiring for leadership roles
Can be tailored to meet the needs of the audience

Inspired by Gandhi’s quote, “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” this presentation will encourage the audience to reflect on how they can become better leaders in whatever leadership role they are in, whether personal or professional. It will address the importance of creating an environment where ego battles aren’t driving the company down and where individuals are willing to put aside their own self-interest for the sake of the greater good. It encourages an environment where individuals are willing to appreciate the contributions of their co-workers instead of feeling threatened by them. A few of the traditional and non-traditional qualities that will be explored are:

Leading by Example, Appreciation, Communicating with Compassion, Humility in Leadership and Maintaining Balanced Emotions

This talk will present the scientific research on Mindfulness and how it can be used by companies to create a more positive work environment. Participants will also learn mindfulness breathing and focusing techniques that can be used at work and at home.

The audience will leave with:

Leaders and the workforce will understand the importance of appreciating each others’ contributions.
Techniques on how we can be more mindful about our communication, how it might be received and the manner in which we deliver that message.
How to manage our emotions during heated situations.
Audience will understand the value of leading by example to inspire others.
Leaders or those aspiring for leadership will understand the strength that comes with humility.

Developing Resilience During Change

Change breaks us out of our comfort zone and disrupts our routine making us feel uncomfortable. However, change is the biggest constant in our life. Most external changes are out of our control and can’t be avoided. What we can do is build resilience and begin to recognize that change is actually the most powerful thing that can happen to us to help us grow, mature and become stronger for the future challenges that are sure to come in our personal and professional life.

This talk will help the audience understand practical ways in which our mindset can be shifted to see change as positive and not as a negative and help us accept the inevitability of change.

Stress Management for Work-life Balance

Format: 60 minute keynote with mindfulnes practice and group discussion

This program is perfect for:

All levels of leadership
General workforce

We spend more than half of our waking time doing work related activities. Workplace stress is costing businesses over $300 billions dollars and is leading to absenteeism, turnover and increased healthcare costs. Mindfulness is being employed by companies such as Google, General Mills, Salesforce.com, Novartis and many others because the research is showing it can reduce stress, anxiety, depression and can improve focus, productivity and enhance employee happiness. This talk will present the research on Mindfulness and how it can be used by companies to create a more positive work environment. Participants will also learn mindfulness breathing and focusing techniques that can be used at work and at home.

The audience will leave with:

Importance of Positive Relationships
The myth of multitasking
Healthy Eating
Unplugged Sleep
Regular Exercise
Maintaining a Personal Hobby

This talk will present the scientific research on Mindfulness and how it can be used by organizations to create a more positive work environment. Participants will also learn mindfulness breathing and focusing techniques that can be used at work and at home.

Communicating with Compassion

How does it feel when you receive an email or text message that wasn’t very thoughtful or compassionate? Communicating with compassion can build trust and positive relationships while rushed or reactive communication can have a completely opposite impact. While working in teams, it is natural for disagreements and conflicts to arise and these are the times when it’s crucial to be able to manage our emotions so we don’t act out of anger and frustration. This workshop will discuss the four keys to thoughtful and productive communication. It will help us to understand the value of learning to listen with an open mind and demonstrate how mindfulness practices can build our emotional intelligence which will help us sympathize with another’s perspective.