Scott Shute means business when it comes to bringing your whole self to work. As the Head of Mindfulness and Compassion Programs at LinkedIn, Scott develops and delivers programs that assist in the well-being of leaders, teams, employees, and customers. On the podcast today, he shares his story of growing up as a small town kid from Kansas, with a dual capability in both engineering and the arts. Scott details his own personal experience with meditation and mindfulness practices, and how he has now made a full-time career of normalizing it and advocating for it at LinkedIn and in the larger tech and business world. We talk about compassion as a leadership quality, why it’s so important at work specifically, and how LinkedIn is leading the movement. Scott is committed to changing work from the inside out.
Key Takeaways:
[10:20] Scott grew up in Kansas, and was raised to have confidence in his many abilities, both in the arts and business. This exploration of dual interests now supports him today when developing mindfulness programs as a business executive first. [16:09] As the former VP of Global Customer Operations, Scott led a very large team, and was a resource of wisdom and counsel. [22:34] The demand for Scott to share his mindfulness exercises grew in number, and he saw big success in a 30-Day Challenge when 1,600 people signed up. [32:34] Scott sees his role under the Learning Development Team at LinkedIn as it serves to develop curriculum around compassionate and conscious choices. [33:02] Since Scott comes from a business background, he has a drive for LinkedIn to be a leader in getting hard, quantitative positive results with his programs. [33:53] Scott’s new role took some getting used to. Going from a team of over 1,000 to a team of two was liberating, exciting, and uncomfortable all at once. [37:45] The same way we exercise to stay healthy, both Scott and I see mindfulness moving in the same direction. In a few years, it may not be uncommon for someone to say they are going to a mindfulness class, the same way they would to a spinning or a yoga session. [42:46] We have a free and always available meditation tool inside of us built it in — our breath. [43:18] Compassion at work is fully expressed when an individual works to serve their team, the team serves the company, and the company serves the greater good of mankind. [48:42] We are in the dawn of a new era, where success will be more about service and love, rather than just achievement and winning.Resources:
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