It’s Just Good Business #27 – The School of Life

For those of you who groan when you read my surfing metaphors, read no further, unless you want to groan – a lot!

I am heading home after five days in Southern Baja, where I surfed – ate – slept – worked (mostly writing) – surfed – ate – slept – worked – etcetera.

As I said to my friend Garth on the way back to my hotel after our fresh fish taco lunch, “I feel smarter!” Nothing like learning with your body to elevate functioning on every level. Garth, 68, has been surfing his whole life, and began teaching it when I was four years old (too bad I wasn’t his student then!). Whatever I have learned during the past year and a half of surfing is now exponentially increased. Not only did Garth share great insights into waves, surf spots, landforms, wind patterns etc, but he completely reoriented my relationship to the board – positioning on the board both laying down and standing, paddling stroke, hand position while pushing up, movement of feet, shift in weight balance, and on – completely transforming my experience of surfing and radically elevating my ability!

And as much as I learned from his direct guidance and insights, I learned as much if not more by watching him in the water. Positioning himself perfectly in relation to the waves. The seemingly effortless way he catches waves – very few paddles. And the relaxed and fluid way he rides them all the way to the beach. What a thing of beauty! And what a great reminder about the power of positioning, the grace of right effort and the fruits of patience, presence and relaxed engagement. Underneath all of it is deeply embodied awareness and understanding of the forces and factors at play, including the swell, the incoming set of waves, your position, your board, the position and patterns of the other surfers in the vicinity.

I ended the week with a new surf board (which I borrowed, then bought from Garth), countless waves under my belt, a whole new orientation to and respect for an art I am already deeply enamored with, and expanded capacity to engage with it.

But this wasn’t a vacation. I worked for hours almost every day, pulling pieces together for several video shoots for O.N.E. Coconut Water, completing a detailed draft of the schedule for the 2012 Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit, and making great progress on a new book, among other things. Yes, I took time and space from the daily flow, but it wasn’t meant to be an escape from work, but creating space for the work to flow in a more spacious way.

Deep immersion in learning (especially with your body, and warm water sure is a nice feature) and shifting from your routine (which I try to do every day in some way!) fosters new insights and increased energy to apply to the rest of your life.

Have a lot on your plate? Want to move the ball down the field? Try diving deeply into the school of life for a few days (or a few hours or even a few minutes). And I highly recommend surfing with Garth as a great way to do so!

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It’s Just Good Business #26 – Engaging Conversations

“Conversation should touch everything, but should concentrate itself on nothing.” ~ Oscar Wilde

I find myself in countless conversations every day, and recently realized that conversations constitute a significant portion of my most productive and enjoyable time. Through conversations we share insights, information and ideas, connect with ourselves and each other, generate energy and catalyze creativity.

Conversations with collaborators, colleagues and clients resolve tensions, discover solutions and deepen our relationships. My weekly radio program, It’s Just Good Business, features conversations with business and thought leaders in the Conscious Capitalism Movement – drawing out their wisdom and stories about their experience.

Keys to Engaging Conversations

“There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. And questions are the breath of life for a conversation.” ~ James Nathan Miller

Curiosity and genuine interest in what others have to offer are essential to engaging deep, authentic conversations.

Showing up with full presence, taking risks and expressing emotions also foster deep conversations.

Creating a clear and “safe” container facilitates openness, honesty and ease in conversations. Simple things like agreeing on the duration of the conversation, an agenda – if there are specific topics to address, and ground rules (if appropriate), can facilitate flow in conversation.

Meta communications – such as checking in to see if everyone is still present, if anyone wants to change the focus of the conversation, if there is anything “up” for anyone, etc. – also foster presence and deepening in conversation.

The Bottom Line

Conversations comprise one of the essential platforms for human connection and collaboration. Engaging in conversations with our full humanity, brings humanity to life and brings life to our work.

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It’s Just Good Business #25 – Opening

The first three months of this year were jam-packed for me. Producing Being Human 2012, facilitating the activation of the O.N.E. MOVE campaign, deepening my work as a trustee of Conscious Capitalism, Inc., diving into design and development of the 2012 Conscious Capitalism CEO Summit, as well as launching It’s Just Good Business, my weekly radio program, filled up a lot of space. And for the first six weeks, I surfed a lot. Add a full and somewhat tumultuous passage in my personal life, and there was not a lot of breathing room.

But March came in like a lion (with lots of wind and rain – literally and figuratively), and, while it didn’t necessarily leave like a lamb, sunshine, open skies and Spring flowers are definitely showing their colors.

As the saying goes, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. Moving through a gauntlet of sorts, especially if we can do so with a high degree of mindfulness and presence (I’ll let others be the judge of how I fared in that department), tests our ability to care for ourselves, and expands our capacity for focus, perseverance and endurance, among other things.

While the completion of Being Human 2012 did not leave space for a break, it did shift the nature of energy and attention I had to apply, and as the foundations for the other projects on my plate became more solid, stable and their rhythms more flowing and regular, I have felt an opening, which has fostered a different orientation to all of the projects – with similar focus and intensity, but more expansive and spacious. I have also used some of this space to return to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu for lunch – which creates even more “energetic” space and perspective.

The Bottom Line: What do you do when you have an opening? Do you take off? Do you fall over forward? Do you integrate the experience and observe the shifts in your orientation? Perhaps a little celebration is in order, to acknowledge the passage.

Think about it!

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It’s Just Good Business #24 – Tuning in

Take a deep breath… and let it out.

Now take a deeper breath… and exhale completely.

Feel your feet on the ground, your legs and back on the chair. . .  As you inhale again, feel your chest expanding and notice any sensations in your body.  .  .  .  as you exhale feel your body settling into the chair, into the ground…

Continue to breath fully and deeply. And notice any thoughts calling for your attention. As you inhale, just notice them. As you exhale, watch them float through your mind, like a cloud through the sky.

Notice any feelings, emotions that may be arising or other body sensations. And just observe them as you breath.

Bring your attention back to your feet on the ground, your body on the chair. And as you breath, shake out your arms, move your shoulders, your legs, and come back to this blog post.

Question: What does tuning in to our breath, body, thoughts, feelings, etc. have to do with business?

Every week since the first of January I’ve been facilitating a conversation with a CEO or thought leader in the Conscious Capitalism movement under the banner of It’s Just Good Business. At the opening of each program I go through a tuning in exercise something like the one above. When I introduce my guests right after the tuning in and ask them if there is anything on their mind or anything they’d like to begin with, almost everyone begins with an appreciation for the tuning in. “That’s the first breath I’ve taken all day.” “I feel so clear, centered and relaxed.” And such.

The point is, we are human beings, being human at work. And we are either tuned into – aware of – what is going on inside ourselves and around us or we are not. And while there is infinitely more going on inside and out than we can ever track or would ever want to track, there are meaningful degrees of difference of awareness, which can have a profound effect on the way we show up at work – for ourselves and others.

A periodic process of tuning in – to take stock of what is going on and, in the process, to reset our attention, focus and awareness – can have a profoundly positive effect on our functioning.

I make a point of tuning in various times a day, and I encourage others to do the same. Sometimes we hold up (figurative) mirrors for each other, giving each other the reflection that it might serve us to tune in and reset.

Try it!

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