Is there a place for Buddhism in Business?

Yes. In a word. But to make this posting more interesting I will expand on this response. My sense is we are ignoring the elephant in the room in the business world. It feels to me like the emphasis is on accumulation of personal wealth. How can we make the most for us and the most for the company bottom line?

But our accumulation has to come from somewhere else. In just the same way that when we throw some thing away we should be asking "Where is away?" There is no such place as away, it is just somewhere else where we can't see it but it hasn't gone. So when we get something somewhere there is always a loss somewhere else, be it money, resources, time but on this little planet of ours if we ignore the simple fact that there are finite resources available we will accumulate our selves into our own demise.

At the heart of this is our insatiable use of hydro-carbons or oil based things which is everything you can see from right where you are sat right now. I don't think there is anything that isn't produced using oil and it will run out.

Buddhism is the teaching of suffering and how to bring an end to suffering. Our suffering or dis-ease at things or events is based on our reaction to them rather than the events them selves. We are all born, we all get sick, grow old and die so everything is impermanent. Understanding impermanence is at the heart of understanding Buddhism.

When I truly accept everything is impermanent I am able to see things come and go with less worry or dis-ease or suffering. The pain or discomfort we feel as we go through our daily lives is due to attachment or avoidance, clinging or aversion, wanting something or not wanting something.

When we can recognise that everything comes and goes including possessions, people, relationships, jobs, emotions, thoughts and feelings then we begin to develop a healthier relationship to those things.

Take my new VW van bought in February this year. I'm very proud of my van and have had one for 12 years previously but when I dented the new one in August by dropping my kayak on it as I lifted if from the roof I saw the impermanence of my wonderful new van. New vans do not stay new forever and now I have a newish van with a dent in the side which tells a story of my summer holiday. Impermanence.

If we can maintain a sense of equanimity in the face of good moments and bad moments we are finding a truth and sense of ease which so often escapes us.

Back to business; money and accumulation of personal wealth sit at the heart of the western business or economic model. If we apply the rules of impermanence and suffering to money it makes perfect sense. Money is impermanent, it comes and goes. Our clinging to money or avoidance of times when we have no money cause much of our modern day worrying and pain.

Businesses who are only successful based on profit and loss accounts, bottom lines and monthly sales targets are in a state of dependence, a state of clinging to money as the source of happiness. What if business was able to see their success need not be based on this. That there are other more important and ultimately satisfying ways to feel at ease or happy.

Dr Roger Watts has highlighted 8 therapeutic lifestyle choices or TLCs which lead to healthy happy people and societies.

Diet and nutrition

Relaxation and stress management

Time in nature

Service to others

Religious or spiritual practice

Exercise

What if business was all about creating environments a where these TLCs were the output for the employees not accumulation of personal and business wealth?

Ever onwards

Piers Carter

When did you last remind yourself of something you learned?

I'm trying something new here folks. In my coaching and facilitating I regularly draw and explain models of leadership or management and personal development models so that people can understand a situation or problem they are having through another lens. It can help people contextualise their thoughts and find a more skilful or helpful way of working with issues.

On the back of this I am trying to create a series of youtube clips of the theories and models so that people can refer back to them. Each one is around 5 minutes long mainly because my attention span won't last much longer so I figure other peoples won't either. I’ve used a simple app on the iPad to create the tutorials which looks a little like a chalk board.

If the background is black it is a management or leadership model and if the background is orange, it is a personal development model. Look out for a new series in a different colour, which will be looking at extreme teams – success factors for teams in challenging situations.

I hope you enjoy these and do let me have any feedback that might improve them.

Ever onwards

Piers Carter

Can you teach an old dog new tricks?

Yes, so get on with it!

That’s what I felt like saying to one of my clients last week. She was moaning about her staff, moaning about her boss, moaning about clients etc etc. Now I know I’m supposed to be a non-judging, listening ear as a coach but, man, did she wind me up! I wanted to shake her and say “Stop bloody moaning and get a grip. There’s people dying in Syria!”

She’s a newish client and has been put forward for coaching because of performance issues around her attitude and I can see why.

Negativity seems to be the main issue about pretty much everything. She tells me with a certain degree of satisfaction,

“That’s just me, that’s the way I am, I’m not going to change now”

And she won’t if she sticks with that mindset.  BUT, and here’s the thing, we can change, we can change all sorts about how we think, our minds and our brains and how they function and are wired. What is emerging in the field of neuroscience is that we have a huge potential to massively change our brains and develop new skills, change old habits and create totally new ways of thinking which we might previously thought not possible.

We have 100 billion different neurons in our brains and each one has up to 10,000 possible synaptic connections and each one of those is responsible for our thoughts, actions, emotions etc and the brain is ultimately plastic in that it is capable of creating an almost infinite number new connections well into old age. We just have to begin the process of making that happen.

Each thought we have, be it positive or negative, is like a seed that if cultivated will continue to propagate and grow. So if we have negative, angry, stressed out thoughts then that’s exactly the type of mind or brain we are creating for ourselves for the future. Like a garden, the seeds we cast will be the plants that grow.

If you have a propensity to road rage, that anger outburst will be a synaptic connection you’ve developed and become ‘good at’. So. That means you can learn a new response, more thoughtful and considered if you practice.

It all takes time but consider that you are creating the mind you are going to live in, in the future and that might change how you think.

Here’s a little thought pattern you can use;

Pause – Challenge – Choose

PAUSE when you have an unskillful thought. Take a breath and ask if this is the thought you want to cultivate.

CHALLENGE your assumptions about the situation, about yourself, about what you think you know and what is truth.

CHOOSE a more skilful way to respond. Think about forgiving the perceived wrong doer, the late direct report, the annoying boss, the awkward client.

As Donald Hebb postulated in 1949, Neurons the fire together, wire together. So if you want to change your thoughts, change your thoughts. Its accumulative and I’ve tried it so, empirically, I can vouch for it.

So, can I teach that client of mine she can learn new tricks? Let’s wait and see.

Piers

Are you paying attention to the right things?

I've seen and heard this parable in other forms before and I like its message. The animation is nicely done on this. It reminded me of some important questions

• When is enough enough?
• What is it I am working for anyway?
• Is the answer out there or in here?
• Am I paying attention to the right things?

Watch and reflect folks

Enjoy

Piers 

How attached to outcomes are you?

Recently I have been very attached to some outcomes and its been limiting me. I have been running a series of courses, which I had designed and planned and then executed. I had a clear idea of how I thought they should be set up, how many participants I wanted and how the 3 modules would run.

As it turned out events conspired to challenge me on this somewhat. Because they are quite in depth courses I wanted no more than 8 participants and I wanted various groups to stay with each other through out the programme and not move groups. In the event I got 12 on one event and 5 on another and often different people juggled around onto the modules they could get on and didn’t stay consistently with their starting group.

I was convinced it would be a disaster and adversely affect the quality of the course.

And do you know what?

It did change the course but not for better or for worse. It was just simply different. 

The bigger group numbers created a breadth of exploration and understanding and the smaller group sizes meant we went deeper into areas of interest. The people swapping groups simply added the dimension of a new perspective and all involved enjoyed the different mix of people.

These were just 2 changes of many to my ‘plan’ and as Field marshal Von Moltke said “No battle plan survives contact with the enemy”.

So I began to look at my attachment to certain outcomes, I’d find myself saying “It should be like this…” or “This is how it needs to be…” and things invariably don't turn out how I ‘wanted them’. But that has been OK - in fact its been more than OK, its been great because the new outcome has been … well, different.

Now, I set out my thoughts about something and then say to myself “And maybe things will change and that’s OK”. I go into things with far less need to know how they will turn out.

My attachment to the outcome was causing me stress and worry and when I let go of that need for certainty all sorts of creative alternatives arose, often which I never expected. Now I’m not saying don’t plan and have objectives but hold them lightly and be prepared to change them. In fact, set them up with the intention of changing them and notice the outcomes are not better or worse, just different.

So, what out comes are you attached to?

What could you let go of?

How would it be to set things in motion without knowing where they will end up?

Piers Carter

When did you last fail?

If you're not failing, you're not learning. Words from Derek Sivers and featured on his video below. It's quite a striking thought really, the idea that everything is only and experiment and the greatest folks in any walk of life have failed so many times it has made them great.

Hard when you have a reputation to uphold and an image to protect but what would it be like to let go of the need to protect that image, to be free of the pressure of maintaining a reputation? 

The milestone for me came when I let go of the need or desire for certain outcomes. When I stopped prescribing how or what I thought the outcome should be and accepted whatever it was as just different - not better or worse, just different.

Watch his video and let me know your thoughts.

When did you last fail?

Piers Carter

Do you need a pep talk?

I've changed the video bar on the side of my blog and there is a selection from the next internet sensation, Kid President. Check him out especially his pep talk which I've put in below. Wise words from one so young - he's only 9.

Piers Carter