1: Life can change in a minute.
It was February 18, 2004. Mark Bertolini, a senior executive at Aetna, the giant health insurance company, was skiing with his family in Killington, Vermont.
Mark lost control of his skis, crashed into a tree, and then fell into a ravine, breaking his neck.
While Mark healed rapidly from the fall, he was in constant pain.
“His doctors prescribed traditional painkillers that Mark knew could have turned him into an addict,” Fred Kofman writes in The Meaning Revolution: The Power of Transcendent Leadership.
So, he decided to try alternate medicine instead, including yoga, stretching, and meditation. Soon enough, he felt better and returned to work.
2: Then, Mark was named CEO of Aetna.
He “took to wearing a shiny metal amulet around his neck instead of a tie,” Fred writes. “engraved with the Sanskrit characters “soham,” which means, ‘I am That,’ a mantra used to help control breathing in meditation. It signifies a spiritual connection with the universe.
“Everywhere he goes in the company,” Fred notes, “people take notice of the amulet and admire the fortitude of their leader.”
Based on his successful recovery, Mark believed what had worked for him would also benefit Aetna’s team members and customers. So, he decided to run an experiment.
Two hundred thirty-nine Aetna associates volunteered to participate: one-third practiced yoga, another third took a mindfulness class, and the rest were in a control group.
“At the end of three months,” Fred shares, “the employees in the yoga or the mindfulness class reported a significant reduction in perceived stress and sleep difficulties; their blood work also showed a drop in stress hormones.
“The biostatisticians were beside themselves,” Mark reported.
When Mark and his team reviewed financial performance the following year, they noticed something unexpected: Paid medical claims per employee had decreased 7.3 percent, saving roughly $9 million in costs.
“Because productivity grew,” Fred writes, “the company raised its minimum wage for hourly workers from $12 to $16 an hour, and the company reduced out-of-pocket health-care costs, too.”
Mark told Aetna associates: “If we can create a healthier you, we can create a healthier world and healthier company.”
3: Fred writes: Mark “has a much greater understanding of leadership than most leaders have because of his brush with death. He is no longer detached, nor is he beholden only to the financial numbers. He’s thinking bigger—much, much bigger.
“‘I am That’ means that we—all of us, from the CEO to the janitor—are expressions of ‘That’—an enormous, vital, animating force,” Fred notes.
“When we learn to tap into that realization, as Mark has done—we become what I call a transcendent leader.”
“What would it be like to be such a leader,” he asks, “breathing this rich understanding of the meaning of the world, translated in a way employees, managers, and customers can understand?”
More tomorrow.
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Reflection: What lessons do I take from Mark’s story? What can I apply within my organization?
Action: Journal about my answers to the questions above.