1 rich Libsyn https://www.libsyn.com 90 600 IN THIS EPISODE: Host Denise Silber sits down with Ellen Langer, PhD, the first woman tenured in psychology at Harvard University, where she continues to teach today, and a best-selling author. Internationally known as the “mother of mindfulness,” her decades of research have shaped how we understand decision-making and human behavior in business. In this conversation, Ellen Langer introduces a key idea in her work: “mindlessness”—the state in which we operate on automatic pilot. She contrasts this with mindfulness, which she defines as actively noticing. For entrepreneurs and business leaders, this has direct consequences: how you lead, how you interpret uncertainty, and how you respond when things don’t go as planned. She applies this thinking to situations founders know well, including pitching to investors—where the pressure to appear certain can undermine credibility. Through concrete examples—from leadership behavior to product innovation—she explains why actively noticing what is new, and acknowledging what cannot be known, can lead to better decisions, stronger teams, and more authentic communication. GUEST BIO: Ellen Langer was the first woman to be tenured in psychology at Harvard, where she is still professor of psychology. She is recipient of three Distinguished Scientists awards, and the Arthur W. Staats Award for Unifying Psychology, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Liberty Science Genius Award, and has published over 200 research articles and thirteen books, including the international bestseller Mindfulness and her most recent book, The Mindful Body: Thinking our way to chronic health. She is known worldwide as the “mother of mindfulness, the “mother of positive psychology” and the mother of mind/body medicine. Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Invites https://www.harvardae.org/ <iframe title="Libsyn Player" style="border: none" src="//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/41783070/height/90/theme/custom/thumbnail/yes/direction/forward/render-playlist/no/custom-color/88AA3C/" height="90" width="600" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/item/41783070