French Business Schools Bring Mindfulness to Management

Students studying macroeconomics at French management school ESSCA are learning a new skill: meditation. Based on a secular practice inherited from Buddhism, the semester-long exercises were the brainchild of economics professor Stéphane Justeau.

French universities, medical schools and business schools on the hunt for the latest innovations are increasingly offering mindfulness workshops to both students and staff. The practice can help students gain perspective and make better decisions regarding their academic and professional paths.

Yet, meditation is still seen as an esoteric exercise. Initially, Justeau scheduled the short mindful breathing exercise, which he purposefully renamed “attention training,” for the end of class so that students could opt out. To his surprise, “Not only did students stay but after the third session, they asked if we could do the exercise at the start of class.”

At Kedge Business School, meditation made its debut in 2014 during the Two Weeks of Wellness event. Since then, Kedge has held an annual ten-hour-long breathing and meditation workshop. Additionally, trainer Amanda Schmitt has launched Thursday lunch sessions that have likewise been popular with students and staff. “It gives them a real break and the chance to reconnect with their bodies and the present moment at a time when we are inundated with information,” notes Schmitt.

For Christelle Tornikoski, management professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management, “One of the main problems at companies is that employees have a hard time hearing the signals their bodies send them.” With 20 years of experience using mindfulness in the classroom, the school is still a trailblazer in France. Now it offers a 27-hour-long mindful leadership master class.

Tornikoski explains, “The idea is to help students understand that in the working world, the most important thing is not just getting the job done but your ability to listen to yourself, to others and to what’s going on around you in order to build strong relationships, whether that’s with your coworkers, contractors or clients.”