The Mindful Journey to Disruption
The frequency of disruptive technologies changing our lives and our businesses is on the rise. So much, that embracing a tried and tested solution that fits neatly into the present context could mean a missed opportunity. What does that mean for this generation of business leaders? The future belongs to those who can dream, disrupt, rebuild, stabilize and repeat — mindfully.
“Your brain is a record of the past.”
I remember the moment I heard that line for the first time. I was panting my way through the last few steps of my run, watching the sun starting to set. I had allowed YouTube to autoplay and keep me entertained that evening. Somehow, I was now listening to a talk by Dr. Joe Dispenza. His research on neuroscience was fascinating. He inspired listeners to overcome their personal conditions — disease, depression or any other form of not feeling ‘whole’ by changing the way they use their brain. Creating new life rhythms through a series of mindful practices. It all starts by realizing that the brain is a record of the past; and to create a new reality you have to change what is hard-wired in you. I liked this thought, I was going to keep it.
The next afternoon at work, a couple of my co-workers and I were with a client. We provided an overview of a solution that solved an age-old problem with intelligence, speed and significant cost savings. It had just one flaw — it had never existed before. It didn’t fit neatly into a pre-existing bucket or budget. No one had ‘performed’ it before. Our client patiently heard us out, smiled and then said ‘I really like the solution; great job. I just don’t know how to fit it into my current structure’. There it was — the record of the past.
As I thanked her for her time and walked back to my car I was reminded of the numerous times I had heard the exact same thing from business leaders over the years. Earlier, I was a consultant and now I bring disruptive people-tech to businesses. Which basically means a lot of my conversations have been about the new and unfamiliar. There are four directions these conversations typically go: a) we go back and forth and agree on a more consumable ‘silver-medalist’ solution; b) we decide to phase it out over a couple of years and start with a small sliver of the solution; c) we agree to stay in touch and never discuss the solution again; or d) we evolve the solution further and make it a story we love to tell anyone who will listen.
So what was it about all of the times I experienced option ‘d’? Did I explain the value proposition better? Was the solution I proposed better than the others? Had I built more trust with the client? Was it the right time for the business? Perhaps it was a little bit of all of the above. But the one indisputable factor that was common across all of those stories was a business leader who had broken out from his/her record of the past.
- Forget the Past and the Predictable Future
Several mindfulness practices tell you to start by forgetting your current reality and focusing on just being present. When you bring such a beginner’s mind to the problem, you’re able to be more creative in solving it. It’s no different for businesses. Visionary business leaders are able to zone out of their current reality and seamlessly imagine a future where the process, technology, people, structure, metrics and culture may all need to evolve and interact differently to deliver on that ultimate outcome. If you’re only looking to move the pieces of the puzzle as they exist today, it’s an adjustment. Not disruption.
2. Gain Clarity of Intention
Everything is made twice. The first time in a person’s mind, and then as a new reality. Another classic mindfulness practice that finds application in business. Unless business leaders are able to clearly visualize their new business reality with a high degree of detail, they won’t be able to inspire action from their teams and partners. In today’s reality, successful businesses take this concept a step further and balance clarity of intention with agility in execution; so, it is the roadmap that is iterated to serve the market. Not the intention.
3. Generate Coherence
Dr. Joe Dispenza tells a very visual story about gaining coherence. Imagine a group of drummers that are beating their drums but completely out of synch. If your intentions, energy and emotions are not in synch, you’ll be misfiring just like the drummers. On the journey to disruption, setting an intention and following through on it cannot be a one person show. Gaining collective clarity on the intention across the leadership team is critical. True potential is unleashed when each leader, aka energy center, knows exactly what part they play in the journey and what outcomes they need to drive.
4. Create Resolve
This step of the practice is about making firm decisions on your future with a level of intensity that you will never forget. It is about translating your intention to real actions and behaviors and learning to watch out for old habits that can drag you back into the past. Business leaders do an amazing job with vision workshops, organizational structure changes, process transformations, renewed metrics, incentive programs and even change measurement. But there’s one last ingredient that keeps those changes from being meaningful — the culture. If your business is a record of the past and the people in it are records of their past, the journey to disruption cannot be made. People need to feel a deep sense of purpose in transitioning to the future. The good news is it has been done before. The key is in finding out what it would take to create the same resolve in every person working with you.
5. Feel Gratitude
I’ve been amazed at how many different mindfulness teachers, styles, practitioners and philosophies are out there today. Some are similar and some have contrarian views. Irrespective of which continent the style originated from and how many centuries old it is, the one thing that’s common across all is gratitude. It is about feeling grateful for what you have, and as though your goals have already been met. I don’t see an easy parallel on this one in business but I wish I could. What would it look like if leaders could bring the positive energy of their goals being met even before they’re met? What would it feel like to value people based on what they are about to accomplish? Would we be able to drive better results than the tried and tested management styles that exist today?
Mindful or not, businesses will continue to disrupt and do amazing things as they always have. I’m excited to be here and see how the age of AI unfolds. This is just my two cents in favor of picking a more consciously mindful path to disruption. One that enhances both emotional top-lines and bottom-lines. Top-lines that make us break out of the record of the past, set a disruptive intention and feel a limitless resolve to collectively go get it. And bottom-lines of achieving great things without spending days in anxiety but feeling happy, grateful and whole.
