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Activating the Sustainability Mindset: How Mindfulness-Based Training Fosters
Mechanisms and Levels of Responsible Leadership Development
Aline P. Pündrich, Jocelyne Yalenios, and Babak Mehmanpazir
Ecole de Management de Strasbourg, Humanis, France
Volume 18: 2025, pp. 369-402; ABSTRACT
The development of a sustainability mindset (SM) has become essential for leaders
seeking to address today’s ecological and societal challenges responsibly. To better understand how
such a mindset can be cultivated, this study examines a postgraduate experiential training program
(PETP) that integrates mindfulness practice with diverse pedagogical devices. Using a qualitative
inductive design with 20 management leaders, we explore the mechanisms through which
mindfulness-based experiential learning fosters an SM. Our findings show that mindfulness
activates a set of mechanisms across the three original SM dimensions – knowing, being, and doing
– and gives rise to an emergent fourth dimension, connecting, characterized by ethical
interdependence and planetary awareness. These mechanisms translate into four levels of
responsible leadership action: personal, interactional, organizational, and societal. The study
demonstrates that the program’s transformative effects arise not from mindfulness alone but from
the articulation of contemplative, experiential, and cognitive learning modalities. Overall, the
research contributes to the literature on sustainable and responsible leadership by showing how
mindfulness-based experiential training can support leaders in navigating complex challenges and
fostering positive organizational and societal change.
Keywords: sustainability mindset model, responsible leadership, mindfulness, experiential
learning.
