Mindful Learning: The Role of Imprints, Storytelling and Action Inquiry to Improve Its Practice

The past several decades have seen a strong emergence of mindful learning as a mainstay to facilitate greater learning agility. Originating from Ellen Langer’s work in Western social psychology, mindful learning has been differentiated from other mindfulness traditions, particularly those from Eastern Buddhist practices, by focusing on how attention can be cued and made “conditional” without meditation. Yet, a key limitation is how imprints (i.e., previous learned experiences in what we value) can affect its enactment. We provide three alternative teaching methods (e.g., storytelling and action inquiry) that can surface these tensions along with their implications on management education.