16 M C K I N S EY Q UA RT E R LY - - - - - - - - - Outlook THE BENEFITS OF MEDITATION Developing greater inner capacity requires focused and concentrated effort. It must be cul tivated intentionally and consistently. I practice a form of meditation called Vipassana. I meditate in the morning and the evening. Once a year, I go on a silent meditation retreat, easily the hardest and yet most rewarding thing I do. Practices vary, of course, and other introspective practices such as journaling and reflective walks in nature can also help center the mind and heart. Many of the benefits that have enriched my life have enriched the lives of people with other kinds of inner practice. Meditation offers so much that AI can’t give us. It also offers so much that can help us grapple with AI’s disruption and develop its potential. These benefits can include energy, internal and external clarity, a sense of purpose, a realistic and open hearted perspective, wisdom, openness to new ideas, balance, and grounded ethical judgment. These are all critical leadership capabilities that manifest in different settings. From my experience, meditation strengthens three essential foundations of wisdom: awareness, flexibility, and equanimity, each giving rise to a dimension of personal growth from the inside out. If companies want a supportive environment for people to innovate with AI, they need an equanimous CEO. Reclaiming Attention We live in an era of infinite inputs and finite focus. AI only exacerbates this. This is a great challenge for leaders, who must decide where to focus their atten tion at a moment when AI is scrambling expectations and furthering the sense of perpetual change. Meditation helps me reclaim my attention. Small mindful habits, such as pausing between calls, taking a few intentional breaths before difficult con versations, and putting my phone away well before bedtime, anchor me in the present moment. It’s the difference between reacting on the fly to the sense of urgency created by the rapid current of data and seeing and acting on what really matters. Meditation can help you direct your attention where it is most meaningful, both professionally and personally. For instance, one CEO came back from a short medi tation retreat understanding that he’d allowed his attention to be diverted from his wife for too long. His need to deal with everything at work had distanced him from his most important relationship. The adjust ments he made to his personal working model helped him appreciate its deep, enduring value. The immer sive meditation experience cleared his mind to steer attention to what truly mattered most. Strengthening Cognitive Flexibility To keep pace with the rapid change brought about by AI, leaders must continually learn and adapt. They face transformative questions: How should the company shift to make the most of AI? What is the right operating model? What can a leader do to rally a workforce behind a technology that makes employees fear for their jobs? As large language models develop, they are likely to present new opportunities and risks. But these are hard to predict. Meditation enhances working memory, mental agility, creativity, and open-mind edness to new possibilities. These capacities help leaders understand new tools and navigate shifting environments. This is the kind of flexibility that cre ates opportunity and sensibly dismantles risk. Developing Equanimity Meditation trains the mind to observe before reacting—to create space between stimulus and response. That ability helps me handle pressure and uncertainty with balance ( most of the time). When I am able to act with equanimity, I can