Shifting Perspectives: Escaping the limitations of our linear minds
We are living in perilous times. The global community met in September at the United Nations Global Assembly in New York, to check on the progress of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the halfway mark towards the 2030 deadline, it’s clear that we are well off track. Governments, the UN and the non-profit sector must do more -but I also believe that the global business community has a critical role to play. Specifically, to drive the breakthrough innovations that are going to tackle some of the social and environmental challenges. That’s not a challenge confined to the corporate R&D departments. The most successful organisations will tap into the innate human ingenuity of their entire workforces.
We know that Gen Z care. Not only are they the fastest growing demographic in the workforce – they would be highly motivated to step up to this challenge. The problem is that too many of today’s brightest and best employees are too busy or distracted to think out of the box for new solutions to these pressing problems. They are trapped in the linear mind, constantly in reaction mode which inevitably will restrict us to incremental change. Indeed, it can sometimes feel like this “change” means we’re in fact going backwards.
As the TASC platform reminds us, we do indeed need to “Think Ahead on Social Change”, but we shouldn’t restrict that thinking to just our minds. What if our minds were just the tip of the iceberg that represents a much fuller, broader form of intelligence? I believe that we need to develop far more conscious leaders, who are able to tap into not just the power of the mind, but the broader reservoir of intelligence and energies contained within their bodies and their emotions.
To explore these concepts in more detail, TASC generously allowed me to host a program called Shifting Perspectives through Whole Body Intelligence that ran from October through to December this year and involved both physical in-person as well as online sessions. At the heart of the program was a meditation practice that provided the stillness and awareness to tap into and align mental, emotional and physical energies and put them under our conscious control. Each session focussed on a different facet of intelligence ranging from Improv Theatre techniques to help get out the linear mind, dance and movement to connect with our bodies and also a range of sensory awareness techniques that connected participants to their emotions.
Cynics may suggest that trying to blend Sustainable Development with “inner development” all sounds a bit too “woo-woo”. I’d suggest that what we used to call “woo-woo” is now better known as neuroscience. Indeed, many studies have proven that the power of being still and connecting deeply and mindfully to a creative activity stimulates the Default Brain Network. This in turn leads to breakthrough innovation which is so badly needed, and yet, currently lacking in today’s business world.
The Shifting Perspectives cohort consisted of over 20 individuals from a broad range of backgrounds, all living in and around Geneva. Results are still being evaluated, but the feedback has been incredibly positive so far. The hope is that many will see the world and their role within it, in powerful new ways and will now be equipped with the tools to tap into and harness the intuition and intelligence of their entire bodies.
Based on the success of this pilot, my team and I are considering more such events in 2024, and I would encourage you to sign up to the newsletter of the Craigberoch Business Decelerator to keep up to date.
Gib Bulloch. Author, The Intrapreneur: Confessions of a corporate insurgent
Founder, The Craigberoch Business Decelerator
www.craigberoch.org