On The Balcony Dr. Matthias Birk: Mindfulness Beyond Self-Optimization
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Mindfulness has become respectable.
It improves focus. It reduces stress. It helps leaders perform under pressure.
But what if mindfulness isn't primarily about performance?
In this episode of On the Balcony, Michael Koehler sits down with Dr. Matthias Birk—organizational psychologist, executive coach, former Global Head of Coaching & Advisory at Goldman Sachs, Global Director of Partner Development at White & Case, Zen teacher, and founder of Self-Transcendent Leadership.
What unfolds is not a conversation about mindfulness as a productivity tool.
It's a conversation about perspective.
Matthias distinguishes between what he calls within-paradigm mindfulness—using meditation to cope more skillfully within the identity you already inhabit—and beyond-paradigm mindfulness, which loosens that identity altogether.
One reduces suffering within the game. The other questions the game itself.
At the heart of the episode is a passage from Rainer Maria Rilke:
Be forever dead in Eurydice, singingly rise, praisingly rise, back into pure relation. Here, among the vanishing, be—in the realm of demise. Be the pulsating glass, shattered yet of its own vibration. Be—and yet know the non-being's ground, The infinite bottom of your innermost sound. So that you might complete it—this one only time.
For Matthias, meditation isn't an accessory to leadership. It's not like playing golf. It's about being fully alive in the here and now—and discovering what remains when achievement, anxiety, and identity begin to soften.
What You'll Explore in This Episode
Meditation before it was fashionable Matthias began practicing Zen as a teenager, long before mindfulness entered corporate vocabulary.
Within-paradigm vs. beyond-paradigm mindfulness Mindfulness can help you manage stress inside demanding roles. But it can also invite you to question who you are beyond those roles.
Achievement and insecurity From McKinsey to Goldman Sachs to global leadership, Matthias reflects candidly on ambition and belonging—and how meditation shifted his relationship to that inner voice.
Self-transcendence Drawing on Abraham Maslow's later work, Matthias explores what it means to move beyond ego-centered striving toward expression, service, and alignment with something larger.
Leadership as expression What if leadership isn't about constructing a persona—but about listening deeply enough to express what's already there, this one only time?
Quotes from This Episode
"Meditation is not a hobby. It's not like playing golf. It's not something you do on the side. It is about being fully alive in the here and now." — Dr. Matthias Birk
"If you don't brush your teeth, they're going to rot. If you don't brush your mind, it's going to come up with not great stuff." — Dr. Matthias Birk
"The real benefit of mindfulness is that you can live a free life." — Dr. Matthias Birk
"One of the saddest things is to live a life and never hear your innermost sound." — Dr. Matthias Birk
Links & Resources
Self-Transcendent Leadership — Dr. Matthias Birk https://www.self-transcendent.com/
Publications & Articles by Dr. Matthias Birk https://www.matthiasbirk.com/publications
Selected Articles
- Why Leaders Need Meditation More Than Ever — Harvard Business Review (March 2020)
- Now Is a Great Time to Start Practicing Mindfulness — Harvard Business Review (January 2021)
- Why It Is Important (Especially for Leaders) to Feel Their Fear and Pain — Mindful Magazine (September 2022)
- At the Beginning You Hold the Structure, Then the Structure Holds You — Tricycle: The Buddhist Review(September 2023)
Guided Meditation 7-Minute Guided Mindfulness Meditation — Insight Timer
https://insighttimer.com/Matthias_Birk/guided-meditations/guided-mindfulness-meditation-2
Continue the Conversation
New episodes of On the Balcony drop every two weeks. Receive additional reflections and resources at konu.org/balcony
About Dr. Matthias Birk
Dr. Matthias Birk is an organizational psychologist, executive coach, and founder of Self-Transcendent Leadership. He began his career at McKinsey & Company advising clients on leadership development and organizational change, and later served as Global Head of Coaching & Advisory at Goldman Sachs and Global Director of Partner Development at White & Case.
He is an ICF-certified executive coach, trained in family therapy at the Ackerman Institute in New York, and has taught leadership for over a decade as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School and NYU. He is also a long-time Zen practitioner and teacher at New York's Still Mind Zendo.
He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two children—and is an equally passionate and mediocre surfer.