The Business Case For Meditation

http://www.fastcompany.com/3044344/agendas/the-business-case-for-meditation

BY DAVID ZAX

HOW MINDFULNESS TRAINING HELPS SOFTWARE COMPANY YESWARE "BE MORE EFFECTIVE, BUILD BETTER SOFTWARE, (AND) SELL MORE OF IT."

Matthew Bellows dropped out of Brown his sophomore year in 1988. His father had gone to Brown; Bellows had a rebellious streak, and this was his rebellion. Bellows wandered the country and wound up living in an intentional community north of Phoenix called Arcosanti. He stayed about a year. He calls this his skirt-wearing, hippy, commune-dwelling phase. He looks back on it with mixed feelings: "I was struggling, I was being . . . but I wasn’t really growing up," he says.

Bellows soon learned about another groovy-sounding place: Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, which had been founded by a Tibetan meditation master. Bellows enrolled, and began a sitting meditation practice. Soon after, he decided to deepen that practice at another Colorado institution called theShambhala Mountain Center. "That was the year where I really feel like I grew up," he says. "I became an adult there."

He spent between 4 and 12 hours a day meditating. He sat on a cushion, legs loosely crossed, and focused on his breathing. Sometimes—oftentimes—his mind would wander; he’d get swept up in thoughts—on conflict with his parents, or how a girlfriend had wronged him. Catching himself, he’d simply think the word, "thinking," and then imagine bursting those thoughts, gently, like a feather might pop a bubble.

"There’s nothing like sitting in a room, doing nothing for hours on end, for you to get to know your mind," says Bellows. "You start to get your patterns of thought, you have time to think about what your life is about, and what you want your life to be. And a strange ambition awoke in me during that year—the desire to accomplish something with my life."

Though meditation, Bellows discovered that, at heart, he was an entrepreneur.

He moved to the Boston area, took out a phone book, and cold-called computer startups. He learned a trick: always ask to be connected to investor relations, since they’ll take any call. Finally, the work paid off, and a startup hired him. And now, 20 years later, Bellows is CEO of a tech company called Yesware, a digital-sales toolkit. Ultimately, he says, it was meditation that brought him to this place. He was disconnected from society: meditation reconnected him.

Meditation remains a big part of Bellows’s life, he says, and he encourages contemplative practices—be it meditation, yoga, or something else—at work. Yesware teaches in-house classes on "mindfulness at work," which he says means "instead of being swept up in the crazy rush of activities we have, running from an email to a meeting to the coffeepot and back, we actually maintain some perspective on the flurry, the rush, and the activity. We’re still really busy, but we have some sense of perspective on it. We pause, take a breath, realize we’re alive, we’re human, we have feelings, and we relate with each other."

But does it help the bottom line? "Definitely," he says. "We’re a software company, and software is the most abstract product in the physical world. Software is a completely creative thing," and ultimately the best software will be created at a company whose culture minimizes "stupid meetings, people freaking out, and a toxic managerial environment." Mindfulness training helps prevent all those things. "Then people can be more effective, build better software, sell more of it, and charge more money for it," he says. He is proud that one of his investors refers to Yesware as "a monastic startup," due to the contemplative vibe that pervades the place.

Whether or not meditation is for you—and it’s not for everyone, says Bellows—Bellows advocates for some form of contemplative practice in your life. "The reason why it’s good for business people, for people who want to accomplish things in their lives, is twofold," he says. First, it helps you get to know your own mind, its habits, its glitches, and whatever is preventing you from getting to the next level. Secondly, contemplative practice can "help you navigate your relationship to the world," says Bellows: it gives you perspective on the ecosystem of partners, customers, suppliers, coworkers, investors, and bosses, and equips you to navigate these relationships gracefully.

This is the bit that might be most surprising about meditation, for those who haven’t tried it: the notion that it can connect you with others, rather than cause you to become withdrawn. By observing your own flaws and faults through meditation, says Bellows, "you suddenly become more connected to other people because you realize they have flaws and faults, too. You see other people in the street wrapped up in their thoughts and trapped in their patterns, and you have a sense of connectedness to them."

Amazon Gets Green Light From U.S. Regulators For New Drone Tests

https://www.faa.gov/uas/legislative_programs/section_333/333_authorizations/media/Amazon_com_11290.pdf

April 9 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has won approval from U.S. federal regulators to test a delivery drone outdoors, less than a month after the e-commerce powerhouse blasted regulators for being slow to approve commercial drone testing.

The Federal Aviation Administration had earlier given the green light to an Amazon prototype drone in March, but the company told U.S. lawmakers less than a week later that the prototype had already become obsolete while it waited more than six months for the agency's permission.

The FAA granted Amazon's request to test delivery drones in a letter dated Wednesday, posted on the agency's website.

Amazon must keep flights at an altitude of no more than 400 feet (120 meters) and no faster than 100 miles per hour (160 km per hour), according to the letter.

Seattle-based Amazon.com has been pursuing its goal of sending packages to customers by air, using small, self-piloted aircraft, even as it faces public concern about safety and privacy.

The company wants to use drones to deliver packages to its customers over distances of 10 miles (16 km) or more, which would require drones to travel autonomously while equipped with technology to avoid collisions with other aircraft.

In February, the FAA proposed long-awaited rules to try to set U.S. guidelines for drones, addressing growing interest from both individual and corporations in using unmanned aerial vehicles.

Amazon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Sai Sachin R in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/09/amazon-gets-new-green-lig_n_7037816.html

04/09/2015

The Days of Wine and Droning

January 29, 2015   GAIL COLLINS

The case of the intoxicated government worker who flew a drone onto the White House lawn launched a million jokes. Although none was actually better than the straight-faced headline in The New York Times: ''White House Drone Crash Described as a U.S. Worker's Drunken Lark.''

''My first question is whether the guy's going to get a D.U.I. for droning under the influence,'' said Ben Trapnell, an aviation professor at the University of North Dakota. I had a great phone conversation with Trapnell about drones, a.k.a. unmanned aerial vehicles. It led me to conclude that, like so many other things in American society, this is a matter about which people differ depending on whether they live in a crowded place or an empty place.

Empty, like North Dakota, and you think of a flying camera doing crop inspections. Maybe an Amazon drone arriving at your house on the prairie with the espresso maker you just ordered.

Crowded, and you imagine a mini-helicopter crashing through your apartment window. Or hitting a light pole and falling down on a baby in a stroller. Or running into a plane, which has nearly happened on several occasions.

Even the much-heralded promise of drone-delivered pizza sounds awful if you envision hundreds of pies smashing into one another over Brooklyn every Friday night.

But about the drunk droner. This saga starred an off-duty employee of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency who had been drinking at an apartment not far from the White House when he decided, in the middle of the night, to try out a friend's drone. He then quickly lost control of the little fellow, which crash-landed in what is at least theoretically the most heavily protected lawn in the United States.

The public conversation instantly turned to terrorism and whether a maniac could use a recreational drone to drop a bomb, or start a chemical attack. This is a terrible worry. But at least we have multitudes of dedicated, vigilant public servants, virtually all of them totally sober, working night and day to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen.

However, we're not giving enough attention to the threat of normal American idiots. The kind of people who think it's fun to sit in the backyard and point laser lights at the cockpits of incoming planes, or participate in a YouTube challenge that involves trying to snort a condom up one's nose. The folks for whose benefit countless utility companies have written tips that include ''don't look for a gas leak with a candle or lighted match.''

Drones are supereasy to buy in stores or online. Regulating their behavior is the responsibility of the Federal Aviation Administration, which is taking its sweet time. ''In 2011, Congress asked the F.A.A. to come up with rules. Finally this fall they came out with rules,'' said Senator Charles Schumer of New York, who's been complaining about the delays.

But wait, there's more! ''We don't even know what they say,'' Schumer continued. The F.A.A. isn't sharing until more of the bureaucracy gets a crack at its handiwork: ''They won't make them public until the Office of Management and Budget reviews them. O.M.B. then sends them to other federal agencies.'' While we're waiting around, confusion abounds. Commercial drone uses are theoretically prohibited, but there's a widespread feeling that in the absence of rules, anything goes.

Take Representative Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, whose wedding photographer had a drone taking pictures during the happy occasion. When critics accused him of violating F.A.A. rules, Maloney said he ''wasn't up-to-date on the lack of regulations around the emerging technology.'' The same thing was true, the congressman argued, of ''most people who are about to get married.'' Excellent point! Although most people who are about to get married are not serving on the House transportation subcommittee on aviation.

One of the very few drone regulations that does exist prohibits flying near airports. But clearly some do it anyway. And if you catch one, there's no ID number to tell you who owns it. ''The ones being reported in near collisions are (flown by) hobbyists, and they can go up to 55 pounds,'' said a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association, which is deeply unenthusiastic about the whole drone idea. ''These aren't like geese. The ones that can be purchased on the internet can go as high as 7-8,000 feet.''

And then you've got privacy issues. ''They better beware, because I've got a shotgun,'' said Senator Rand Paul, when asked about drones after the White House incident. This was during an interview, in which CNN was trying to demonstrate that it is possible to communicate with a prominent politician via Snapchat. (It is possible, but probably not a good idea.)

Professor Trapnell in North Dakota wasn't impressed by the privacy argument. ''I'd be more worried about somebody sticking a cellphone on a pole and holding it over the fence,'' he argued.

Like I said, it's crowded versus empty.

Mitt Quits. Again. Probably.

January 31, 2015   GAIL COLLINS

Mitt Romney is out! And we hardly had time to adjust to the idea that he was in.

''I've decided it is best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee,'' Romney said in one of the least private conference calls in the history of communication.

Well, that was certainly gracious. Although a lot of Republicans thought they had an opportunity to become the next nominee whether Mitt was in the scrimmage or not. Really, he didn't seem to be scaring off anybody. There appear to be thousands of candidates, even if you don't count the ones who are feigning an interest in the presidential race in order to promote their cheesy television shows. (This week on ''Amazing America,'' Sarah Palin visited Ted Nugent on his ranch in Texas. Meanwhile, on ''Celebrity Apprentice,'' Donald Trump fired the woman who has a reality series about her eight kids. Celebrities just aren't what they used to be.)

So many candidates, but, sadly, very few good pet stories. The future holds no chances to point out that Romney once drove to Canada with the family Irish setter strapped to the roof of the station wagon. And the other animal options are pretty slim. Mike Huckabee used to fry squirrels in a popcorn popper, but that was back in college. Jeb Bush says he's very fond of manatees, though I don't believe he keeps one in his home.

Ted Cruz recently tweeted a picture of himself posing with what looked like a rug made from a dead, and endangered, tiger. Rand Paul confided to Vogue that he hates squirrels. Maybe we can get a squirrel theme going here.

But about Romney's dropout announcement. It was great, in the sense that within a few short minutes he managed to remind the world of everything that was terrible about Mitt Romney, Presidential Candidate.

Nobody was really expecting to have a Mitt conversation this year. He had famously told The Times's Ashley Parker that his response to any thought of another presidential run was: ''Oh, no, no, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no.'' Political withdrawal, it seemed, had done him a world of good. Guy really knew how to communicate.

Then a few weeks ago, Presidential Mitt suddenly popped back up. Romancing his old donors, reassembling his team, visiting the Republican National Committee. This week, he was at Mississippi State, tearing into Hillary Clinton's foreign policy record and unveiling his new message about fighting income inequality. On Thursday, he was twittering a response to a jibe by the president. (''Mr. Obama, wonder why my concern about poverty? The record number of poor in your term, and your record of failure to remedy.'')

And then, on Friday, he dropped out of the race with a conference call to his supporters in which he insisted that he could win the nomination and bragged about polls that showed he was practically the only person in the race. (''One poll out just today shows me gaining support and leading the next closest contender by nearly 2 to 1.'')

Plus, Romney said, ''I would have the best chance of beating the eventual Democratic nominee. ...'' At this point, it seemed that he was going to have to announce that he had just discovered he only had six months to live. There was no other possible reason he could be depriving his party of all that presidential power.

But, no, Romney said he was making an abrupt U-turn because there might be somebody out there who was even more stupendous and he did not want to get in the way of said candidate's emergence.

That's our Mitt. The man who dropped out of the race for the Republican nomination in 2008 not because he lost too many primaries, but because ''I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.'' (That would be the Democratic Party.)

Romney has mutated a lot in the time we've known him, but the one clear, shining quality that never wavers is his complete inability to make a strong, clear statement. This is the guy who tackled the critical issue of illegal immigration by promoting the concept of ''self-deportation.'' The man who, when confronted with the dog-on-the-roof saga, claimed that Seamus the setter ''likes fresh air.''

And, on Friday, Romney concluded his most recent change of course by predicting that people would ask him if he could ever possibly change his mind. The answer, he said, was: ''That seems unlikely.''

Truly, if you follow up an eleven-no refusal to run with a sudden leap into the fray that does not even survive the month of January, the least you could do is tell your supporters this is absolutely the end of the line.

For all his faults, there are a lot of candidates in the Republican scrimmage who would make far worse presidents than Mitt Romney. Still, it's sort of a relief to see him go.

Although I will miss that dog story.