Plan & Let Go

Rhızomıng the planεs oƒ rεsılıεncε . .Originally uploaded by jef safi

Fundamentally, planning is about creating the steps between a current situation and a chosen future.  To paraphrase Julia Cameron, who so brilliantly addresses our creative urge in The Artist’s Way …we are compelled because we are ourselves creations; infused with an indwelling creative force. Creative energy is a gift – we are meant to design new creations as a gift back. Refusal to do so is counter to our true nature.

We intuitively know how to form creative energy into a structure that has the potential to attract what we need and desire. Steps are taken; energy turns into form i.e. a spider spins a web, an entrepreneur writes a business plan.  Often, frustration occurs when as soon as the structure is designed, we continue to expect specific linear results (hello ego!) and become lost and identified with goals and the structure itself. How can we relax when our structure demands that there are customers to capture, products to be sold, and bills to be paid?

One option is to go after our targets no matter what – stomping over competitors and employees, short-changing or deceiving customers, destroying the planet and ignoring our values.  Another option is to recognize and get over the fact that after we plan what we want, the specific linear results from specific actions phase is over.

Evolving business concepts proactively interweave attention and action.  When we design frameworks, it is natural that not only will some success show up, but external resistance and internal doubt will also arise.   Once the structure is intact, it is imperative to to be attentive, enthralled, fascinated, and non-judgmental about EVERYTHING that shows up in our web.  We must then be willing to intervene if necessary, let go and modify external actions with the feedback we have received from the universe / environment.  We also must be willing to acknowledge and clean-up, to the best of our ability, fear and doubt that may arise within ourselves and our team.  Planning and letting go is the equivalent of ego and sacred attention working together- ensuring honorable, joyful, and sustainable bottom-lines.

Read more about how to plan & let go in the eBook Becoming a Source of Good 

The World Needs More Big Hairy Missions

#96. 365. Help! A big Hairy Ape!!Originally uploaded by hawhawjames

Your loving alertness is a lantern.  Keep it protected from wind that makes it crazy.  Instead of that airy commotion live in the water that gently cools as it flows.  ~ Rumi

In the OCT/NOV issue of Fast Company, Nancy Lublin CEO of Do Something, shares an article about mission statements …..why they are dumb and how to write one. Basically she suggests that using a specific target such as a BHAG aka Big Hairy Audacious Goal (hey! I just blogged about BHAG’s!) as a mission statement is a good idea because it is clear and precise ~ a quantifiable goal everyone can get behind.

I agree with her that companies should take any “wonky mission statement and rip it to shreds” – I don’t agree that mission statements should be BHAG-ish.  Mission statements, an integral component of core ideology, should be enduring – if the environment changes, the statement remains the same. For example, Microsoft’s well-known BHAG, as referenced in the FC article, “a computer on every desk and in every home, all running Microsoft software” is a goal/BHAG, yes – but is this really all the company is up to? As stated on the company website, “at Microsoft, our mission and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential” ~ now that is one Big Hairy Mission ~ one that is enduring, non-limiting and inspiring to most people reading it.  So, let’s keep our BHAG’s distinct and start creating and working from Big Hairy Missions that compel us all to act from our highest selves.

(Lublin is obviously up to some good stuff ~ her company Do Something “uses the power of online to get teens to do good stuff offline” ~ now that is one big hairy commitment!)

 

Back to the Core

2 of Force: IdeologyOriginally uploaded by Arenamontanus

…Split the sack of your culture…stick your head out…look around…reach up…a voice speaks to your clarity. ~Rumi

When I was in grad school, we spent a lot of time on a popular book called Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies (BTL). Published in 1994 by Collins and Porras, the book outlined visionary habits of successful companies. BTL made a strong case for a focus on core ideology (mission, vision, and values) and BHAG’S (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) that go beyond profit.  With the further support of an ongoing body of business literature, the next 15 years of management consulting instilled core ideology and organizational culture development just as strategically necessary as quality products.

The main thrust of core ideology is that it is enduring ~ the eighteen companies on BTL’s “best list” have all been operating for over 100 years with the same ideology intact. Ultimately, core Ideology provides “higher thinking” and guide posts from which to make decisions ~like a beacon reminding you of what you and your company are all about when things seem dark or confusing. The core remains intact regardless of circumstances (very much like spiritual principles that endure over time, resonate when we hear them, and bring us back to center).  A powerful core ideology will speak to anyone who hears it and supersedes individual personalities.

The collective personality of a company is the culture and is distinct from core ideology ~ not separate, but distinct.  The core ideology is operating within the culture, sometimes more obviously than others, but always operating. When things seem “off kilter” and/or the next evolution is necessary, the core is consciously brought to the forefront to smoothly guide the company to the next level.

A strong, effective culture is in love with the ideology, is responsible for it’s growth, and organizes around it. Consciously smart companies understand that supporting the vital connection between culture and core ideology leverages profit and the difference their entity will make in the world.

Read more about Core Ideology in the eBook Becoming a Source of Good

Related Posts:

What is a Vision Statement?

Face Your Brilliant Creation

Lean Your Graceful Plan Towards Spirit

The World Needs More Big Hairy Missions

Love is the Bottom-Line

This week has seen a rally on Wall Street ~ bottom lines and company outlooks are improving as costs are cut and jobs are lost  ~ those who hold shares in public companies are seeing an increase in their wealth …..on paper for most.  We are shaking off the collective madness that it takes to whole heartedly accept that this is good for all without looking deeper and more attentively.  The fundamental frameworks by which we relate to each other and the world is being recreated. We are awakening to our deep interconnection and interdependence with each other and all living things.

Business is a far-reaching, powerful vehicle through which to apply conscious practices based on basic tenants that we are all connected and that our well-being is the well-being of all.  Principles that focus attention on love as the ultimate bottom line assist in the conscious awakening and rebirth of “business-as-usual” and can decrease the likelihood of decisions made purely by metrics:

Love is the Bottom-Line Principles

1. Business is a vehicle thru which to manifest our creative dreams.
2. We are ourselves creations.  And we, in turn, are meant to design new creations.
3. Our creative dreams and yearnings come from a divine source.  As we move towards our dreams we move towards our divinity.
4. The ability to create is a gift to us.  Using our ability is our gift back.
5. As we open our creative channel, many gentle but powerful changes are to be expected.
6. It is safe to open ourselves up and give attention to greater creations and possibilities.
7. As we open ourselves, we are present to deep interconnection and interdependence with each other and all living things.
8. We understand that our well-being is the well-being and joy of everyone.
9. Actions to be taken and transactions to be made are by-products of our focus on joy and sacred connection.
10. Our day-to-day experience of business is the experience of the ecstasy of love.

Sources Love’s Guide to Business

Rip-it-to-Shreds

Paper in Peril ll

Originally uploaded by nat_olly

The poem “Tired of Speaking Sweetly” by Hafiz inspired me to look deeper into how important it is for entrepreneurs and business owners to examine and rip to shreds any erroneous notions of truth that may have crept into their business.  Business can and will take on a life of it’s own and begin to run us –we may, for example, start to live by the measures of others or shoot for goals and targets without examining unexpected collateral damage. We may have evolved consciously, but our old models and beliefs, unchecked, can hold us in a stagnant default pattern.

One of the directives contained in Love’s Guide to Business methodology is “Break Down Illusion/Delusion” ~ the directives are like stages, yet they must be revisited on an ongoing basis. Breaking down illusion/delusion involves uncovering ourselves long enough to see where habit and protection are smothering business creation.  Taking the time to re-examine such things as objectives, motivations, and unexpected impacts (good and bad) keeps an enterprise alive, vital and PASSIONATE.

Once in a while, drag yourself around by the hair and give yourself a good talking to –hold yourself upside down and shake all the nonsense out.  Remember that creation and letting go serve the same end -in this case, the unfolding of powerful conscious business.

Tired of Speaking Sweetly ~ Hafiz

Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup talk of God.

If you had the courage and
Could give the Beloved His choice, some nights,
He would just drag you around the room
By your hair,
Ripping from your grip all those toys in the world
That bring you no joy.

Love sometimes gets tired of speaking sweetly
And wants to rip to shreds
All your erroneous notions of truth

That make you fight within yourself, dear one,
And with others,

Causing the world to weep
On too many fine days.

God wants to manhandle us,
Lock us inside of a tiny room with Himself
And practice His dropkick.

The Beloved sometimes wants
To do us a great favor:

Hold us upside down
And shake all the nonsense out.

But when we hear
He is in such a “playful drunken mood”

Most everyone I know
Quickly packs their bags and hightails it
Out of town.

Why Hafiz?

Seemingly Balanced – Work & Life

Color

Originally uploaded by aknacer

Old school, hard-core balance is about finding an optimal-point between two opposite forces; balancing the scale. Remember the term “work/life balance”? First of all it is, of course, bizarre that work and life would be considered opposing forces. Second, it is fundamentally unbalanced to consider work as one side of a scale, while the other side is LIFE where everything that is not work fits – exercise and family and friends and romance and spirituality and all the other ands. Logically, you would have to take stuff off the life side of the scale to have it “balance.” That sucks and is simply frustrating. We are becoming more and more aware that what we are really “working” towards is a seamless life with absolutely no seemingly opposing forces.

My husband sent me this excerpt from Sacred Hoop Magazine that describes Q’ero Inca Shaman principles of, what I would call, seamlessness…I like it because it initiates with the importance of action. Also, the term “balance” is used in relation to inner and outer work only…  ”The way of action is called llank’ay in Quechua (pronounced ‘yan-kay’). The literal translation means ‘to work.’ The spirit of llank’ay, however, goes beyond physical labour and includes mental and creative work, as well as performing ceremonies and healing. Ceremonial life imbues work with meaning and, to the Q’ero, balancing outer activity with inner work is the key to survival.  Ceremonial work is not isolated from physical work. The planted field is holy ground just like the mountains. Love and beauty, munay, make daily life pleasing and soften the hard edges of difficulty; but without initiating right action, llank’ay, nothing gets done and things stagnate.  Action for its own sake can lead to conflict, however. The best outcome of actions proceeds from knowledge, yachay. Munay becomes impersonal love that embraces all things.  Yachay becomes the superior consciousness one arrives at through the proper cultivation of love and work, and llank’ay becomes right livelihood.  A way of living that is ecologically sound, promotes the welfare of others, and encourages service performed in the spirit of lovingkindness, is central to the higher form of llank’ay.”

This is a truly seamless life.

Programs & Services

Courageous Dreaming

We are what we think.
Everything we are arises from our thoughts.
With our thinking we create the world.
–Buddha

If the world is what we think it is, then we all have the power to dream our world into being.  As Alberto Vill0ldo writes in his book Courageous Dreaming – How Shaman’s Dream the World into Being, “…when…you awaken to your power to dream, you begin to flex the muscles of your courage. Then you can dream bravely: letting go of your limiting beliefs and pushing past your fears. You can begin to create truly original dreams that germinate in your soul and bear fruit in your life.”   OK great..this is very inspiring and spiritual AND as Raain Wilson says, “I am sick of spirituality being airy-fairy, hippy-dippy, and precious.”  I personally like some of the airy-fairy, hippy-dip stuff…but my job is to take spiritual principles and express them in the linear form of business.

In business there are usually some goals and some type of plan.  It may all be in your head, or you may have an elaborate plan with detailed goals on special software on your business computer, but there is an end-point, a vision of the future..a DREAM you are bringing into being.  Ready? Now, assume that your initial plan is NOT your Courageous Dream (CD)…..this is the seed of your CD, but not your CD.  Your CD germinates in your soul when you get into action and get slammed a few times, when you review your motives, when you have exposed every (OK probably not every) excruciating limiting belief and fear that you have. The key is to adjust your plan as you go….flow with the go…it will be ready to bear fruit much quicker that way.  How precious.

Programs & Services Plan & Let Go

Shamanism: Its all about Connection

Update: 6/28/11 : Look for new website coming soon strategystream.com 

I met the blogger of Soul Lab, Jennifer Hill Robenault, at the Writer’s Conference in Austin a few weeks ago…I told her about my book, Shaman’s Guide to Business (now Love’s Guide to Business) and her response was “What is up with all the Shamans?” She proceeded to tell me that in two days she was going to go to her first session with a Shaman. When I talked to her later that week she told me it was “life changing.”   Now Jennifer and I are working together….my husband and I are meeting the Shamanic Practitoner, Gerry Starns, next week!  Its all about connection………..

I come from “beginners mind” when it comes to Shamanism and view it as a powerful context from which to talk about connectiveness. Following is an excerpt from the Q & A session with Gerry I particularly resonated with:

SL: You essentially help people reconnect to the spiritual in everyday life. How do people’s lives change as a result of your work?

GS: I believe that if we can infuse our everyday life and experience with spirit, we will naturally become more whole and more connected with that huge context that we call Nature. If we can stop compartmentalizing family from work, from spiritual practice, from parenting, from play, and so on, we will become stronger and feel more fulfilled moment by moment.   To read the entire Soul Lab Interview…….

About the pic

shamanism and ayahuasca art (53)  

Originally uploaded by Howard G Charing