Holly Duckworth With American Mindfulness Association

Intro: [00:00:02] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for Association Leadership Radio. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:20] Lee Kantor here another episode of Association Leadership Radio, and this is going to be a good one. Today on the show, we have Holly Duckworth with the American Mindfulness Association. Welcome, Holly.

Holly Duckworth: [00:00:32] Hi, Lee. Thanks for having.

Lee Kantor: [00:00:34] Me. I am so excited to learn more about your work. Tell us a little bit about the American Mindfulness Association. How are you serving folks?

Holly Duckworth: [00:00:43] Well, it’s such a great question. And some people might out there in association and recognize my name from my years as a keynote speaker, trainer and author in the association space. During the pandemic, like so many of us, we expanded our work in the world. And so I took my passion for mindfulness and leadership and my background as a blended those together to create the American Mindfulness Association. And the vision and mission of our organization is really to address the ethics and the credentialing and the advocacy work that the mindfulness industry needs right now. I’m sure you’ve heard this word mindfulness, Lee, but what is that and what does it mean? And just like the American Dental Association or the Exercise Association needed to come together to advance their professionalism, I’m shepherding that initiative in the mindfulness space.

Lee Kantor: [00:01:37] So what kind of spurred you in this direction? What got you excited about mindfulness and, you know, kind of help put together an organization that serves it well.

Holly Duckworth: [00:01:49] I’ve been teaching mindfulness and leadership for, gosh, almost 15 years now, and I kept getting that little, little knock on the door that it was it was time to to expand that into creating this association. And finally, during the pandemic, right, we had everything to do and nothing to do all at the same time. I sat down to the bylaws, the policies, the procedures, all the the 501 c paperwork. And it really is that that merging of my my background in association leadership filled with this idea of mindfulness. And for those of you listeners who may have heard of it or seen mindfulness on a on a magazine, the work that I do is the neuroscience and secular practice of mindfulness. So our association connects all of the corporations that are doing mindfulness, maybe have a mindfulness app on your on your phone. All of the mindfulness training, education and universities out there that are doing such great research and then connects the practitioners. There’s an entire group of people that are out there teaching people mindfulness. And so I’m looking to really bring all those folks together and say, What are the key things we need for our credentialing? What are the key things for the ethics of the organization? And then how can we advocate for this work in Washington, D.C.? And certainly, although the Association of the American Mindfulness Association, we’re certainly open to to branching out and serving leaders that are advancing this practice around the world.

Lee Kantor: [00:03:21] Now, mindfulness, like you said, has been kind of used in conversation for a long time. How is mindfulness doing when it comes to kind of research that backs up kind of the value of mindfulness? Is that come as far as you’d like it to have gone?

Holly Duckworth: [00:03:42] You know, Leah, absolutely. Fantastic question because I have been studying this work for so long. It’s interesting, when I first started ten or 15 years ago, there was really only maybe 50 or 100 research papers out there. Now there’s 50 or 100 research papers coming out on a regular basis. So there’s literally thousands of research studies around the world. In fact, we have a complementary organization to us called the American Mindfulness Research Association that specifically catalogs all of that information from around the world. And so we just need an organization that’s continuing to speak about this topic from that neuroscience, secular research background, people like Amisha Jha out of the University of Miami or perhaps Judson Brewer. There’s a lot of research out there, but because this work kind of came to us from a spiritual point of view, people are often biased toward that. And so the more an association like ours continues to speak to the neuroscience, the more acceptable this practice is in workplaces around the world.

Lee Kantor: [00:04:54] So now how is it kind of entering the workforce? In what ways are you seeing mindfulness kind of be legitimatize as a way that people can utilize through corporate wellness programs?

Holly Duckworth: [00:05:10] Well, again, another great, great question. And that’s one of those things that our association is working on is there’s really kind of two individual paths. The main path, of course, it can come through might be through human resources, leadership development, and that generally has a 1 to 1 focus. So it’s teaching mindfulness that way. My company that many of you maybe have met me through. Leadership Solutions International also focuses on the other arm, which is that work place mindfulness, and that’s that collective mindfulness. How do we use visioning stress reduction techniques, focus and attention techniques that are found in mindfulness to create greater productivity in our groups, in our teams and our executive organization. So it can come into an organization in either one of those ways. But the most important thing for any workplace is that it comes in again from that neuroscience and secular point of view. While some people may enter it from a spiritual point of view, that’s not appropriate for the workplace.

Lee Kantor: [00:06:24] And that’s kind of is that a hard distinction for your organization, the secular part?

Holly Duckworth: [00:06:30] It has been an interesting intersection because just like any organization, whether you’re the Automobile Dealers Association or if you’re representing a chamber of commerce, you know, there’s always the those those old school. Thought processes that are rich and have maybe brought your organization or your industry to one point of view. And then there’s this new plateau of learning that we can create. And so leaning toward that secular piece sometimes is a little uncomfortable for those people who did come to mindfulness from a religious point of view. And there’s no right or wrong here. But as an association, we are strictly dedicated to mindfulness, really as it relates to the workplace. So we do utilize that as a as a guidepost for our members.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:24] So now you started this from scratch. There was no association that you built this upon. It was like a blank page.

Holly Duckworth: [00:07:34] Yeah, it was. I mean, everything is an idea, an idea coming into form. So of course, there is a community just like in your in your organization, you probably had five or six different people doing similar work. I brought it all together and brought all those volunteers together and then, of course, did all the legal paperwork to actually found the association. So yeah, it is a bit of a blank canvas.

Lee Kantor: [00:07:57] So can you share some advice for other people who are thinking about maybe going this route of starting their own association or an association to fill a need that they feel needs to be filled? What were some of the things you learned? And maybe you can share that maybe we’re, you know, kind of the the good and the bad of this, that maybe some things weren’t great and some things were like, hey, if I had to do that again, I probably wouldn’t have done this.

Holly Duckworth: [00:08:26] Well, every day I’m learning both those experiences. And I think that any any great association leader listening to this show knows that whether you’re association’s been founded for 35 years or 30 months or three years, but we really try to infuse, again, this live this principle of mindfulness. So the most commonly accepted definition of mindfulness is mindfulness is the practice of being present in the moment without judgment. So working with that through the founding of this organization is really invite us to a couple key things that I think leaders want to really consider. And first is that idea of listening that I’m finding myself in this role asking and listening more questions. And almost. Listening for the moment, the moment of silence in between mindfulness be be fully present. Take the time to be fully present with those people who you think are your key stakeholders. Maybe those people.

Lee Kantor: [00:09:30] Who.

Holly Duckworth: [00:09:31] Are the opposite of stakeholders. Some of those naysayers that I’ve learned a lot about the past, the present, and hopefully the future of where this association can go. By listening and asking questions. So that would be my first key takeaway for anybody looking at starting an initiative like this. Second, of course, is, of course, all the documentation and legal support. You’ve got a lot of great resources here, Lee, on your show and certainly in the association community, but making sure that you dot all the I’s and cross all the TS, that was a great process for me. I’ve had a lot of those resources and tapped into them in terms of creating this association. So that’s kind of two, two tips that I think now is a good time, whether you’re founding a new idea or even a lot of us are reemerging in this post pandemic, having to kind of rebuild on some level from scratch that check, check that documentation, make sure that it’s right up to date, and then ask your stakeholders and listen to what they have to say.

Lee Kantor: [00:10:35] Now, when you were starting out, how did you kind of build the community around yourself? How did you know who the key stakeholders would be and who you needed in order to make this come alive?

Holly Duckworth: [00:10:50] Fantastic question. I had been watching in the background for a long time as a mindfulness practitioner, so I had been tracking what were the big organizations that already had events? Who are the leaders? Obviously I had read an entire library of books and then I also had a podcast by the name Everyday Mindfulness Show, and I’d written four books on the topic so that that research time. And then I did a lot of informational interviews, so I built that community. Then from getting the big pool of, okay, I think these are all the potential people. And then I picked five or ten and I just asked them, Do you want to be on this committee? Do you want to be on the list? Do you want to be on the board so that that courage to stand out there and ask and it’s quite fun now that all that that sometimes that paperwork stuff is less fun for people now that it’s really coming to life, it’s fun to see who’s also showing up. Then I ask those people, Who do you know and who do you know and who do you know? And I learned this tip, too, from another association executive when I was first getting started. She said, You know, why don’t you take the 50 state model? Go find one person that can represent mindfulness in the workplace and all of the 50 states. So I’m currently curating that list as well. I think that’s a great place. You don’t have to get overwhelmed. I need 50,000 people, but I need one. And then that one grows and grows and grows. So geography can play a big role as well as your own Rolodex.

Lee Kantor: [00:12:19] So how do you. That’s fascinating to me, that 50 state plan. So how did you attack a state like where you didn’t personally know anybody? Did you just go to your LinkedIn or I mean, you have a lot of experience, obviously, as a speaker. So your network is probably vast and you probably know somebody almost in every 50 states. But how did you kind of attack a state where you didn’t know a lot of folks?

Holly Duckworth: [00:12:42] I’m still growing through that one early. That that’s a great question. And I think that’s where especially a topic like mindfulness, sometimes there are there’s geographic sense to it that people often think West Coast USA people are more more mindful than perhaps East Coast. I haven’t found that to be true. But leaning into that curiosity and discovery piece, I don’t have over 50, 50 states covered yet, but it’s a great goal, I think, to have it in those cases where I don’t have somebody right now, I’m kind of letting it be because maybe, maybe I don’t have to have all 50, but we’ll see how it goes.

Lee Kantor: [00:13:24] So when you got how did you okay, let’s talk about then the first people that you approached about this and said, hey, you know, I’m coming to Illinois and I’m looking for somebody. Do you know somebody or is it you like, how did you kind of frame those conversations to get people excited and want to take on the mission?

Holly Duckworth: [00:13:44] Of engagement and we always talk in associations, right. Y And return on investment. Return on engagement. Our board did make the decision that for those first people in each state that opt in to be an active volunteer for the association, we’re going to give them a discount on their membership that year. We’re going to invite them to make some calls and invite them to cross connect amongst the states. So each quarter will have a state leader, not a convention, not a meeting, not a big thing. So often in associations we get stuck in that whole realm. But we’re going to have we’re going to have a Zoom call and just start growing organically from that place and having so many organizations leading up to the founding of this one, I know that there’s a magic when we start to bring people together, and I think that will fill in some of the gaps. And I will use your Illinois example. You’re on an Illinois set and we have five or six states represented and then it comes up, hey, we’re still looking for somebody in Florida, for example, and that person will come up. And then, of course, with the partnerships with our with our members.

Lee Kantor: [00:14:50] So what has been the most rewarding part of the journey thus far?

Holly Duckworth: [00:14:57] Wow. Sometimes you get your nose down in the weeds and you’re just working on it. You kind of forget those moments, you know? I think it is those moments when I when I say to somebody and I’m standing and they say back to me, oh, my God, I’m getting chills about the possibility. I had one member talk about, you remember the X of fitness movement or the exercise movement when it was leggings and Birkenstocks and people. It didn’t have the structure and the safety and the ethics and some of the credentialing that it has now. They they saw the journey that industry went to to become the trillions of dollars industry that it is today. And that same vibrancy is possible for the Mindfulness Association when we bring in the technology and the human skills as well as all of the research. So that that’s exciting to me when people catch my vision and then start to mold it to their own.

Lee Kantor: [00:15:55] Now what is an activity that you that maybe we can be helping you with that at the end of the week or the end of the month that you and your team will be high fiving. What’s something that you need to be done that you might need the help of others?

Holly Duckworth: [00:16:12] Wow. Right now we I’m honestly in that fundraising mode. So if you have or anyone in in the c-suites of organizations that are looking for sustainability organizations to support see value in getting their logo, their funding and become a part of this conversation on that founding sponsor type level. Those are those are the big rocks we’re trying to move right now and celebrate along the way.

Lee Kantor: [00:16:43] So if somebody wants to learn more, have a more substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, is the website up and running.

Holly Duckworth: [00:16:50] Yeah Holly at American Mindfulness ASEM shortened and the dot org American Mindfulness assist dot org holly at mindfulness isn’t that work? I’d love to to brainstorm with people what they see because it is this collective good that’s growing the seeds of an idea that was planted during the pandemic.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:10] Well, congratulations on all the success and congratulations on all the momentum. You’re doing important work. And we appreciate you.

Holly Duckworth: [00:17:17] Thank you, Lee. I look forward to hearing from all the listeners and hopefully seeing your seeing you at Association Community event in the future.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:25] Absolutely. Well, thank you again, Holly, for sharing your story.

Holly Duckworth: [00:17:29] My pleasure.

Lee Kantor: [00:17:30] All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you next time on Association Leadership Radio.