Research on Minding as Management Approach

Minding has systemic dimensions that open up perspectives beyond self-development and personal meditative practices. In 2025, the Humanistic Management Journal publishes a special issue titled Awakening to One Another and the Planet: Awareness Practices and Systems Change. It includes an original-research, peer-reviewed article by Juan Humberto Young, the author of the MBSAT manual and the MBSAT Comprehensive Workbook, on minding as a radically new management approach (HumanisticManagement Journalhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s41463-024-00197-5).The article shows how minding Free Energy is a crucially important complement to shareholder value maximization and presents examples of practical implementation in management and management decisions.

To read the article, please contact the author at j.young@bluewin.ch.

Abstract

Based on a condensed historical overview of management as an artifact, the article argues that management is still suffused by an implicit paradigm of value extraction that is ideologically and culturally tinted and that we need to find a new foothold in theory and practice, a more universally valid approach with an encompassing awareness of societal well-being and long-term impact. The radically new approach proposed is based on free energy minimization, a concept from computational neuroscience, as a universally valid principle derived from the biological imperative to survive that holds true for individuals and social systems alike. In order to reduce harmful free energy from entropy and stochastic adversity, an amplified way of perceiving and being aware of reality is required that needs to be cultivated. This is achieved through the guiding principle of Minding, an ongoing process of inner and outer awareness and caring consideration of oneself, others and the world around us, routed in a comprehensive consciousness including awareness of Body sensations, Emotions, Thoughts and Action impulses (BETA). This comprehensive, strategic awareness is proposed as a unifying, contextual framework for individual and collective well-being rather than a categorical imperative, and therefore may, when and where indispensable, include value extraction and value maximization if required for the overall objective of shared, long-term flourishing. The article also presents examples of implementation of the proposed approach for both individuals and organizations and briefly introduces MBSAT- Mindfulness-based Strategic Awareness Training, a training protocol designed specifically to enhance the competence of Minding, the guiding principle.

MBSAT Research Study in Switzerland

As part of ongoing research endeavors, a research study has been conducted by a research team under the supervision of Professor Jochen Reb at Singapore Management University (SMU), MBSAT’s academic partner.

The team members were Dr Eva K. Peters, Dr Monika Young-Elser, Dr Samanta Sim, and Dr Juan Humberto Young.

The study assesses the effects of the MBSATprotocol on two groups ofworking adults in Switzerland with a total of around 50 participants.

This research study scientifically validates MBSAT as a training program for healthy individuals to increase flourishing.

The study provides evidence for the effects of MBSAT on human well-being by reducing worrying and stress and increasing positive states such as relatedness, work engagement, and fulfillment of competence needs.

More research is planned to increase data on MBSAT’s effect on strategic awareness, decision-making, minding, and suave living.

The following graphic presents an excerpt of the results of the first two groups participating in the research study in Switzerland from 2022-2024.

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