There’s a ton of anxiety and outright fear in the world at the moment. I won’t recite all the problems. Because I’m sure you already know them. And yet......as humans we are built to survive, hardwired to continue and made to rise.The economic chaos will eventually lead to a new era of prosperity - though this will take a long time to reach.And life will inevitably become smoother again - though it will never be quite the same as it was previousy. Let's explore how we can convert fear into fuel.

This week we are exploring the principles of Power Meeting to optimize the health and well-being of individuals and organizations.6 Principles:1. Avoid large meetings2. leave a meeting if you're no adding value.3. Avoid the chain of command and communicate directly with colleagues.4. Be 'clear not clever.'5. Ditch frequent meeting - don't waste people's valuable time.6. Use common sense.A great Human Factors resource area is the offshore STEP Change in Safety web site.https://www.stepchangeinsafety.net/resources/topics/human-factors/The £0.00 resources are free on website enrollment. Paid members have free access to all areas - otherwise there is a fee for some materials to non-members.

The Real Values - what does it mean to be true to ourselves? What are your daily behaviors that truly reflect who you are and that you live by?What are the acceptable behaviors that you, your organization considers as an acceptable standard? How do we understand at a deep level what they are? We use reflective inquiry to explore them...Behavioral dictionary example: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AtMRRgiUO6s1guEJZCp5-VUG7tpSfw?e=LWZGfo

"Leadership is the capacity of a human community to shape its future” as described by Peter Senge. Then anyone who takes responsibility for playing their part in creating a resilient future-fit organization is contributing to Leadership So how can we play our own part most effectively?By cultivating a 2D3D mindset is a pivotal place to start with. An individual with a 2D3D mindset operates in line with a fundamental overlooked truth about human perception - that none of us ever sees the whole picture in any situation. WE have "blind spots". (Johari Window)We each come at things from our own particular angle, bringing our unique, individual, diverse, but inevitably partial perspective to situations.It’s from these diverse perspectives that the innovation, agility, and resilience characteristics of future-fit organizations emerge, enabling them to thrive in an increasingly uncertain and unpredictable world.Widespread adoption of 2D3D mindsets enables sense making, decision making & action taking ti become more joined-up, iterated, embedded and distributed throughout an organization.The most systemic contribution to a resilient future-fit organization you can make to shaping a bright future for yourself and the organization you work for is to adopt a 2D3D mindset, enact it in your actions and interactions, and by example encourage others to do so...Johari Window: https://www.communicationtheory.org/the-johari-window-model/2D3D Principles: https://enterfea.com/2d-vs-3d-finite-element-analysis/

This week we are "going with the flow" and embracing our zest, our energy towards our goal(s). Last week we explored being Stuck - "clearing the blocks" and releasing the barriers to enable us to get back on track.Going with the flow is a little different. Going with the flow is not generally seen as a problem. In some ways that is our objective - to go with the flow at all times, making decisions that further support our heading in that direction.The challenge is that many of us "going with the flow" and still end up in a rut, get bogged down or find a 'dead -end'....We're thinking metaphorically - using our intuition to guide us as we follow the river flow to reach the freedom of the ocean, regularly "checking-in" to ensure we follow our primary route....Let's explore in more depth.

Being Stuck - at times in our lives we can find ourselves having a feeling of being "Stuck", unable to move, unable to make a decision. It's a bit like being stuck in sand or mud - difficult to make the next step.Words are so powerful, how about 're-framing', re-naming our situation and see what that sounds, feels and looks like. What does, instead of being stuck, saying I am uncertain about my next move? That implies there is a next move, I just haven't found it yet!I have found that being in harmony with nature can help us "find our next move" - it can be used as a metaphor:Making mountains out of molehillsStuck in a rutCan't see the wood for the treesHead in the sandOut on a limbTreading waterMissing the tide..When we pick a situation that needs some clarity we can walk in nature and "look for options" that can help us pull our feet from the sand/mud which can lead to opportunities.It's about:Knowing where you want to get toKnow where you areUnderstand what may be stopping youPlot a routeTake actionIt's a bit like: Finding a rut, or standing in mudStand in the rut/mudStep out of the rutNotice what you notice about the situation - what does it sound, look and feel like?Be surprised on what you discover...Let's walk in harmony on a short journey of discovery...Then it's your opportunity to stride solo with joy and a "spring in your step".

Every single emotion we experience in every single moment of our life conditions the very substance and wiring of our emotional body. Hence, the quality and purity of our emotional nature is directly determined by the emotions we express. We literally build our emotional body by the emotions we go through. Let's explore how we can choose to change our automatic reactions to "people pushing our buttons"...

It's easy to get caught up in the "thick and thin" of things. It can prove to be seductive that you spend your finest hours climbing mountains that turn out to be "the wrong ones"...The authentic heart leaders concentrate on the few priorities that will deliver their greatest aspirations.

We live in strange and gorgeous times. Tons of challenges. Dazzling opportunities. I have distilled 10 of the most valuable and practical ZeLeadership insights to leverage these times and help you fly...

The art of moving from Force to Power. The fruit of realising that you are no one, have nothing and are going nowhere, are the shifts that occur naturally in all walks of your life. The gradual, yet sometimes sudden, occurrence of those shifts are also signs you are moving in an 'accurate' direction..When we attempt to maintain the idea in the minds of others that we are someone significant, perhaps someone with substantial possessions (material wealth), we try to 'force' our way through life. Grasping, holding tight and seeking to acquire 'more' of anything are forms of force....

The practices and the art of becoming real. There are seven invisible creations within our consciousness every day:1. Thoughts2. Feelings3. Evaluations4. Decisions5. Actions6. Memories 7. HabitsEach is shaped primarily by who we believe we are, what we believe we have and where we believe we are going or want to go.....

How do our insights translate into the practicalities of daily life?We certainly don't go around telling people I am 'no one' and I have nothing for obvious reasons. These realizations happen silently and subtly within our consciousness..As they do, you continue to play your role(s) as you have up to now. That doesn't mean being cold, separated or distant. It means outcomes matter less to you, people's words and behaviours no longer upset you. You are no longer motivated by acquiring 'things', you lose the neediness from your relationships. You start living from the inside out, instead of from the outside in......

Consciousness - going nowhere and being present in the NOW. Being present in the NOW is and Art. It's the art of being present in every moment of our existence, being grounded in reality. Have you ever noticed how your anticipation of and event is far greater than the realisation? You imagine how great the holiday is going to be, to find that it didn't meet all your expectations. Your imagination was only a temporary relief from your current circumstances. Physically you are still 'here.'Realising you are going nowhere doesn't mean you stay in bed all day. You do set your self free from the habit of creating the feeling, 'some times a pressure feeling', that you need to be somewhere other than where you are. Going nowhere doesn't mean you have no future. It does mean you live in the present, as you do, you become more present with others, and therefore a powerful presence for others. You are being an authentic Heart Leader living in the NOW.

Today we explore the concept of having nothing and the art of being free. Have you ever noticed how every 'thing' and everyone comes and goes? No 'thing' stays forever. No one stays forever. Coming and going are the the primary and most natural patterns of change in our Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) World...The illusion of 'possessing' things and people originates within our consciousness - not our hands. It's the relationship we have with things, people and ideas 'within our self', that constitutes our belief in possessions or not...

Cultivating Character is not part of a process formula, it's not a skill set that you learn and then add to your armory. We are all different in that we have different ways of using the power of our consciousness when it's restored to its true and accurate nature. That's the key - restore the awareness of your true nature and the ability to to express the appropriate character traits follow... naturally. No one can teach that - but, they can trigger your memory of the deep states that are prior to all the stuff that you've learned and developed up to now.. That deep state is the real you. it's more about unlearning years of institutionalization...

Have you ever had the sense of watching yourself doing something? Even while you're speaking, even when you're thinking. Somehow 'you' are watching your self speking, thinking and doing. The one who is watching, who is aware of being the watcher, is you. The real you. The authentic you. Not the you that you 'think' or 'say' you are. When you cultivate 'observational awareness' you begin to realise the great freedom of being no one and being an 'observer'.....

The Natural Expression of Authenticity are not traits or abilities that are unique to a few. They are not skills or even competencies. They are the natural characteristics of someone who is being authentic while in the presence of others.They are not 'learned' - so you can't be trained to demonstrate such attributes in an genuine manner. The emerge naturally form a person who is being their natural self. We explore the inner journey of returning to our authentic selves...

Authentic Leadership - many of us have been consciously or unconsciously wearing a mask. We've been pretenders, pretending most of our lives. It's about what we are all taught to do. It seems that only a few catch-on to the reality that almost everyone is pretending to be someone that are not. It's killing us and killing the world. But we can't see it!It's only on realizing your own pretentiousness (the quality of trying to make yourself appear or sound more important or clever than you are) that you can help other free themselves from its many constraints.When your pretentiousness is no more then you fulfill the oldest description of leadership, which is being an example of exemplary behaviour.It's not what you say, it's what you do. It's what's both visible and invisible in your deeds that touches and inspires others, or not, as the case may be....

Leadership. Love that word.Makes me think of Gandhi. Edison. Mozart and Beckham. Bono and Bieber (grin)It’s a word I’ve passionately built around for the past 30 years of my life. Empowering so-called 'ordinary people' that they are destined to lead. And create. And contribute. And be their true selves.These are strange and gorgeous times. Tons of challenges. Dazzling possibilities.I want you to leverage these times to fly. To express your talent. To do your dreams. To make the world better.To help you Lead Without Title, I’ve distilled 10 of the most valuable and practical insights on leadership that I’ve shared with delegates around the world in my Behavioural Safety Leadership workshops These ideas have helped passionate people do some wonderful things. My deep wish is that they deliver the same results for you......

I am sharing my insights on what I’ve found that acts as a catalyst to release more in your life, what pursuits it would be good to strip out and what moves you may need to experience your next level of craft, fire in the belly and of service. With this main aim in mind, I've deconstructed 20 powerful tactics to promote your personal greatness. To feed your inner hero. To fuel the history-maker within and inspire you to Dream Dare and Dazzle your world.

Each person has a mental atmosphere. This atmosphere, from which we can’t separate ourselves and which necessarily goes with us wherever we go, is the result of all that we have ever thought, felt, done and said.

To be heart Leaders that inspire Courage, we have to be conscious. We must awaken from the spells that our autopilot modes have cast upon us.From the place I have called spirit, our passion and enthusiasm allow us to be leaders because people have been empowered, inspired, influenced and impacted by us. From this place of being our true self we can come to live the integrity of leadership that demands that we be true to others because we speak from our hearts. Spirit is our place of inspiration...

Globally, many organizations are managed largely from an unacknowledged and unspoken fear. This fear is non conducive to bringing forth our spirit to its full glory to guide our organizations, our communities and those within them to be their very best.To be our very best requires us to take the path of Courage. To be our very best requires us to try new things, to transform and challenge our behaviors and beliefs from our old ways of thinking. It demand moving forward when we know we are on the correct course even though we may not exactly know what lies ahead. Being our very best invites us to accept riskas part of life that can energize us rather than paralyze us.

When we choose to lead a spirit-respecting organisation, our first job is to learn To BE a leader. Regardless of where we are in an orgnaisation, what our formal role may, or may not be, or where we are on the organisational chart. We are Leaders Without Title with the ability to Influence, Impact and Inspire those we come in contact with. It's removing "the game face mask" by being the people we uniquely are.All the insights shared in these Podcasts describe the path to a way of being that grows closer and closer to our real selves. Our maturing Wonder Child shines brightly with all our natural qualities rather than wearing the masks our egos may have created to protect us on the Path of Fear. We have the Courage To BE Heart Leaders in everything we do.....

Work is a spark that bridges a critical gap. It is a gap between two essential places: the spiritual place deep within each of us that is the source of our uniqueness, our creativity, and our courage, and the rational, thinking and productive world that we live in.Where we develop our mental and physical abilities and produce things that we need to survive. Work is the bridge that brings wholeness and balance to life. The spark that ignites and sets us on fire with passion for work and life. The workplace we create is one that not only allows, but encourages us to be wholly present in our work, with passion in all aspects of our lives.

If we want to build a spirit respecting community and workplaces , the answers to these questions inevitably lead us to transform the role of the executive leader. We shift our thinking from focusing on the product, the task, or the tangible outcome to being in service of those who make the product, perform the task, or produce the tangible outcome. We shift from being responsible for the production on one million widgets generating a multi million dollar/pound profit to being in service of those who do. We shift our role from sustaining a system to being in service of the vision. Heart Leaders have the consciousness, the commitment and the courage to see what they envision become a reality!

Continuous Improvement requires leadership at all levels with out organizations and communities. It needs Leaders Without Title to inspire, impact and innovate. We all have that capability if we have the faith and courage to take the first noble step....

On the path of Courage, leadership is seeing "things as you would have them be" and then have the courage to be the change you would create.On the path of Courage, there is an instant in which the Heart Leader comes to know what is possible. With spirit as guide, the leader believes all things are possible, and from spirit the leader knows that "if I can think it, it can happen"...

When our organizations choose to lead from the heart in the Path of Courage and build self-respecting communities/workplaces, there are also prices to pay as well as the rewards to reap.We choose to:* Give up being driven by events and accept being guided by our vision and values.* Give up money today to invest in our guiding principles.* Give up our negative beliefs in our people and accept our role in creating circumstances and outcomes.* Give up our need to control people and outcomes and empower others.....

What is the Cost?The ability to lead from the heart and live from spirit is the result of choosing to live consciously. Being committed to living consciously in a society that largely muddles through on autopilot isn't easy. There is a price to pay for choosing to live consciously, and sometime it's a hefty price tag.Our Wonder Child was born with spirit, and living from spirit is free... from birth before all the insulating walls, roadblocks, coping strategies are set in place. The price to be paid for returning to the Wonder Child spirit is the price of personal restoration.

Fear is going to be there; if we are to grow and learn as individuals, as organisations, as communities, it is essential to accept its presence.On the path of Courage, Heart Leaders consciously acknowledge fear as a warning sign for what is a caution, not a stop sign. When we are able to look at fear consciously, we can talk about whether our fear is rational. When fear is rational, we can exercise caution and prudence merited by the situation.; when we are in denial of fear we often can't act prudently.Acknowledging fear allows us to examine possible outcomes and discuss how we can turn each scenario into a winning situation.

If we wait until something is absolutely safe, we do nothing. safety in decision making is only an illusion. The safety that most organizations seek in rules can be accomplished more simply by accountability, accepting the organization's role in creating its problems - practicing prudence and good judgement that is achieved by organizational learning.

Why live by these rules anyway?When we are being our fear we need crutches to lean on to ensure us we will survive and protect what we've come to believe must be protected. our rules enable a set of strategies which we use to psychologically delude ourselves into thinking we are secure. Perfectionism, self-judgement, judgement of others, righteousness, cynicism and resentment are all fostered by our rules. They are so much of us on the Path of Fear that we are not even conscious of them, yet they have licked our behaviors into permanent unquestionable autopilot....

Avoiding Fear creates what we Fear the Most. Many believe that all human behaviour is motivated either by fear or desire. As I've said previously, I believe that fear and desire are almost always related. With almost every fear, there is an implied desire.Attached to virtually every desire there is an associated fear. I believe that until we name the associated fear and make peace with it, we never achieve what we desire in a sustainable way. Often, when it's unnamed, fear actually causes us to create what we fear. The truth is that over attachment to any end, whether it's getting what we desire or avoiding what we fear, takes us from a place of spirit where we live consciously and are able to open ourselves to new possibilities. Either fear or desire can cause us to leave "our river of peace".

Making friends with the dark side. All that we have to accept about ourselves isn't just love and beauty. In each of us is a dark side. Fear, Righteousness, Judgement, Perfectionism, Resentment, Confusion, Regret, Blaming, Guilt, Cynicism, Worry, Control mania, Arrogance, Victim-hood, Greed...Just as all the good qualities we see in others are a reflection of those positive qualities in us, all the things we dislike about others are reflections of those qualities in ourselves. All of these are part of me. All of these qualities are part of you. We can recognize those qualities in others only in the mirrored reflection of ourselves....

Love ourselves? Accept Ourselves? Be kind and peaceful with ourselves? Starting our spirituality with loving ourselves is difficult. There we stand alone and naked with no one to blame or lean on. Until e love ourselves, we always depend on others to love us, to give us approval, and to give us positive feedback.. We are forever drawn from our spiritual centre by the desire to please others or by the fear of not pleasing them.What does it mean to love myself?

Peace is an essential part of our spirits. When we live and lead on the Path of Courage, we come to know a deep level of peace that pervades our whole being. We may still be afraid, angry, frustrated, or irritated at at event of the day, but guiding us like a rudder is a deep sense of peace that tell us we are on the right track. This peace is generated by a a spiritual connection made possible by self-awareness and conscious living.

For most of us, going mindlessly through the day on autopilot is so habitual that it takes a lot of practice to being truly present.Millions of hours are wasted each year in organizations with CYA (Covering Yous Ass). memos that rehash how we handled the past or aim to control the future. yet people regularly relate how their best management performances come when they are focused on being completely present in the present..When leaders have self trust and faith in their ability to handle whatever develops, somehow the answer they need to know emerges.

When we are not present and when we are not aware, we also loose connection. When we think about something we are going to do or something we should have dome differently, we rob ourselves of the connection that allows us to build trust, faith, cooperation and community.

When we don't address and resolve conflict in a healthy way that respects everyone involved, misplaced anger almost always results. As human beings, when we keep suppressing the emotions around unresolved conflict pressure builds; over time we become more and more volatile. Eventually a mere spark in the area of our resentment can set off a raging fire of anger. When we want to truly resolve conflicts so that relationships improve and people work together in a mutually spirit respecting way we must operate for our heart in a spiritual respecting manner.Useful Book reference: Have a Nice Conflict: How to Find Success and Satisfaction in the Most Unlikely Places, Tim Scudder. ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006N7RMLO

When we connect deeply with one person or more on a deeply personal level our lives change forever. On first experiencing a deep connection I was made keenly aware on how superficial and empty most of my relationships were. I no longer wanted to live in a superficial world. I wanted deep intimate relationships, which differed from my old ways. When we commit to creating meaningful relationships and to the learning that those relationships require, we commit to the discovery of the 'self' that we bring to it.

If we are to be completely in a relationship, we have to be whole, aware individuals who know what we feel and what we wants well as what we think, and we have to truly want to be in community with others. We have to be full and complete with ourselves. We can't come into a relationship as people who depend on others to provide approval to make them feel whole. When we come into relationships as whole individuals committed to accepting others in our community for who they are, as they are, we are committing to the relationship rather than ourselves, without giving up on ourselves.

When we are in our brains and egos, we believe each of us is a discrete entity, separate from others with whom we live and work. When we are in our spirits, we know we are intricately connected in a web of relationships that makes it impossible for us to take even a single action without affecting the entire connectedness. Our relationships, our families, our companies, our communities, and our world are like a delicately balanced 'mobile'. Touch any part, even slightly and the whole 'mobile' reacts with movement....

I spend a considerable amount of time in organizations helping Leaders discover what they didn't know they knew. Including those things that they believed to be true that were false.The conscious mind has the ability to process 7 pieces of information per minute. The unconscious mind can process 300,000 in the same time. Most of this vast library of information is carried in the unconscious, that part of the brain "we don't know", or the right brain, the non linear, non verbal part of our brains. At any moment we are exposed to 2 billion pieces of information. All of this information helps us, our organizatiosn and communities discover what we don't know. Let's explore further.

We only know what we know - what we have been taught by books, by videos, by audios, by others and by our experiences. That is all we know. Or is it? Is it possible that we don't know what we believe we know? That we know what we don't know we know? Once I was sure I knew how to get ahead: get a good education, find a good company, work hard, do what I am told and be loyal. promotions will come, I will 'move up the ladder' and make more money as I go. I will retire with a gold watch, a good retirement and a few years to live. That is what I knew a few years ago. In less than a generation, most of what and I and others thought what we knew began crumbling....Let's explore in more detail.

Dreams are a good way to receive message, sometimes very important messages from the unconscious. The Bible, Native American Lore and Greek, Roman and other mythology are rich in examples of dreams that provide significant guidance to people who listen to and seek to understand their dreams.Dreams are our most effective source of the information hat we are taking into our unconscious minds at almost 43,000 times the rate our conscious minds can process....

How do we get in touch with Spirit, in touch with our inner self? The answer, I believe, is in being - just being., in self-knowledge, and self-awareness. It lies in listening to our inner wisdom and trusting that we "have the answers." It lies in trusting that we know "what we don't know". We understand our 'safe operating limit" from a physical and mental level. On a spiritual level it lies in giving up the past and choosing to live in the present. It lies in letting negative thoughts and judgement give way to loving and trusting thoughts. It lies in understanding what motivates our relationships and what our relationships really are. Most of all, it is in being - just being.

On the path of Fear, we sacrifice the peace and joy of our current experience as we reach out for the future. When I was on the path of Fear, I didn't know that in my new reality in the path of Courage what others happened to think would become irrelevant.Moving forward I had reached a point of no return. I had glimpsed what it was like to live from the heart in short quiet times. I made a leap of faith when I made a conscious decision to live in the now and operate from my spirit, my heart centre all of the time...