Traveler’s Mind: A Narrative-Based Account of Working and Living Mindfully

Abstract

Traveling to novel destinations can give rise to a state of attention referred to here as a “traveler’s mind”—a state in which two forms of a popular concept in management and organization studies, mindfulness, occur in tandem. In this essay, written as a personal narrative, I explore the nature of a traveler’s mind, discuss the conditions under which this state of attention is most likely to arise, and consider how this state connects to and informs our understanding of related concepts of note (e.g., mindfulness and sensemaking). I also propose that a traveler’s mind can be achieved not only through travel but also on a more mundane basis and highlight practices organizations and their members can adopt to foster this state of attention. Together, the observations provided here suggest that cultivating a traveler’s mind is as much a matter of mind-set as of geography.