This week our guest is Daniel Friedland, MD, author of Leading Well from Within: A Neuroscience and Mindfulness-Based Framework for Conscious Leadership. I expect you will relate to Daniel’s story about how stress and self-doubt nearly pushed him out of medical school until he found the secret that began his journey into unlocking the secrets of neuroscience, mindfulness, and leadership. The conversation was so good that we went longer than usual. The time codes below will help you find specific information. I hope you tune in from beginning till end because Daniel is so good at making neuroscience easy to understand. Throughout the interview, Daniel helps you to apply neuroscience and mindfulness as a leader.
Time Codes
4:00 Growing up in South Africa during apartheid and Nelson Mandela, and the inspiration it brought.
8:40 How stress and self-doubt nearly pushed Daniel out of med school, but ended up being the best thing that ever happened to him.
15:40 On being a leader within from your higher self, so that you can lead well in the world.
19:25 Leveraging stress. Daniel shares a story about winning out over the stress response in front of senior leaders.
26:45 The neuroscience behind being approachable and attractive; why it’s so important for leaders to know what happens when you’re stressed.
32:00 Why knowing the neuroscience of your brain is important as a leader.
33:28 The triune brain and how its design impacts high performance leadership.
36:25 Stress, and how it turns high performance leadership into low performance leadership.
38:30 How awareness of the neuroscience of stress and mindfulness can help in any leadership role.
41:15 Can we and should we avoid stress? Stress and meaning go hand in hand.
45:11 How to use mindfulness and purpose to create balance, integration, and conscious leadership in your life.
52:30 Mindfulness is the foundation of conscious leadership and smart business. Daniel describes practical mindfulness and how it can quickly help you.
60:00 Speed round!
Episode Guest:
Daniel Friedland, MD
@FriedlandMD LinkedIn
Daniel Friedland, MD is an expert on the science of leadership, wellness, and resiliency. He is the founder and CEO of SuperSmart Health, where he helps businesses and healthcare organizations transform leaders and people from stress and burnout into high performing, innovative, and engaged leaders and teams. His programs on Leading Well From Within, Conscious Leadership, Peak Performance and Cultivating Resilience in Healthcare are evidence-based with a solid foundation in neuroscience and mindfulness practice.
Since medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, where he founded the UCSF Medical School Network, Daniel has been passionate about the mental and emotional well-being of healthcare providers and the compassionate delivery of health care.
Inspired by this experience, Daniel immersed himself in the fields of neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and mindfulness, and conducted research on self-doubt to explore how he could help physicians and leaders in business develop conscious leadership skills to enhance not only their personal well-being, but also the well-being of their practices and organizations.
He has also served as President of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine and the Founding Chair of the Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine – the largest association of integrative healthcare providers in the country.
Daniel is the author of three books, the first is one of the first textbooks on evidence-based medicine, the second is The Big Decision, a book he wrote with his then 13 year old son Zach to inspire and empower better life decisions. His most recent book is Leading Well from Within: A Neuroscience and Mindfulness-Based Framework for Conscious Leadership.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- SuperSmartHealth.com – Daniel Friedland, MD’s company. Daniel helps leaders navigate stress and burnout to improve work performance, happiness at home, thriving in life, and making a difference in the world. He teaches leaders and staff evidence-based skills and practices that are easy and relaxing to do.
- Nelson Mandela – Nelson Mandela was the South African activist and politician who, after 27 years of imprisonment, was released and elected President of South Africa. He was the pivotal force who brought an end to apartheid and helped his country become a free democracy. “His life is an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived; and to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.”
- Viktor Frankl – Viktor Emil Frankl, M.D., Ph.D. was Professor of Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Vienna Medical School. Best known for his book Man’s Search For Meaning, where he shared how he survived World War II, when he spent three years in various concentration camps.
- Jack Kornfield – An inspiring teacher of Buddhist-based mindfulness.
- Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine – a global, interprofessional, member organization that educates and trains clinicians in integrative health and medicine to assure exemplary health care. AIHM’s training incorporates evidence-based research, emphasizes person-centered care and embraces global healing traditions. By combining science and compassion, AIHM is transforming health care.
Books mentioned in this episode:
Leading Well from Within: A Neuroscience and Mindfulness-Based Framework for Conscious Leadership
The Book of Joy