About Mind & Life
The Mind & Life Institute was co-founded in 1987 by His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Francisco Varela, a neuroscientist/philosopher. Through convenings and grant-making, the Institute essentially created a new field of research: Contemplative Science.
OE’s work with Mind & Life
OE performed three months of research in order to:
- Understand the complex history of this global organization
- Trace the evolution of organizational strategies over thirty-five years
- Assess the operational and cultural state of the field of contemplative science
- Speak with and understand the many organizations that have emerged since the field’s emergence
- Form a basis for revisioning MLI’s longer-term theory of change and strategic framework
This study entailed nearly 80 days of travel in eleven states and four countries. Given the complexity of the work and the many contributors across neurology, philosophy, and practice, we knew that a Zoom strategy would render shallow results. These scholars, thinkers, writers, and practitioners required multiple, personal conversations if we were to synthesize such vast, intricate people and concepts.
Having established a baseline understanding, we were able to create a long-term strategic outlook, and then hire a President fitted to this purpose.
Client Outcomes
As an executive committee member told us in January 2025, our work helped so rekindle hope and enthusiasm in a fairly demoralized organization that was struggling with identity and purpose, having created a field that now stood on its own. He credited OE with bringing clarity and relative unity to a diverse group, and with locating a highly strategic, sensitive, and determined leader in Suzanne Bond.
