Manage To Engage | Businesses Grow When People Do

Shame is dangerous because, in our efforts to avoid it, we often end up distorting reality so that we don’t feel accountable – like, as we’ll discuss more in this episode, the man who sued United after HE knocked out a passenger – but confronting our negative feelings and the realities that cause them is a healthy and important part of personal development.   So in this episode, we will take our first step towards healing from shame and building our shame resilience. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Today, I want to talk about what makes the whole world go ‘round – not money, not love, but shame.   It’s always been a huge factor, and if you look through a history book, you will pretty much find a list of times powerful men tried to cover up their shame. But today, social media magnifies the role that shame plays in everyone’s lives. We’re practically spoon feeding it to ourselves every time we pick up our phones.   So over the next few episodes, we’re going to examine our relationship with shame, the important differences between shame and its cousins like remorse and embarrassment, and how you can start healing from shame. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Are you doing the best that you can?   What if I give you a million dollars to do better... were you still doing the best that you could? Or does your best change?   The more aware you are of your discipline and engagement, the more difficult it is to accept the excuse that “you’re doing the best that you can.”   We naturally shrug off a challenge, striving to do the minimum required to get by – but we only improve when we embrace challenges, acknowledging that we have the potential to grow. So I want you to challenge yourself today, and then I want you to challenge the people you manage. It won’t be comfortable for anyone, but the continuation of the human race depends on us transcending mediocrity. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

If you haven’t already, take some time right now to do the exercise I described in the last episode:   Consider what you want that you don’t have, and frame it as an engagement problem; the source of the gap between what you want and you don’t have lies at the level of your engagement.   After you give this some deep thought, please continue with the episode and join us as we start surrendering to accountability. Because dedication and commitment don't come without accountability. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

In the last episode, we discussed the first step towards finding our resolve and becoming more engaged: acknowledging just how disengaged we usually are.   With that awareness, we can now start flexing our engagement muscles and practicing this skill, as both managers of others and managers of ourselves. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

When in your life have you wanted something so much that you were willing to do whatever it takes to attain it?   For some of you, the answer might be never, or at least not recently. Because we can have almost anything we want whenever we want it, and as a result, our society is collectively losing its resolve; commitment and dedication are dying... and this could be a dangerous trend.   So over the next few episodes, I will help you engage with life and find your resolve – if you are willing to join me. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Zero looks like nothing – but it’s NOT nothing, and something magical happens when you learn to let go and embrace zero.   Because all of our suffering is dependent on an initial assumption about the kind of experience we’re supposed to be having; a vain attempt to control reality by projecting something onto a situation.   So today we’ll examine the power of zero and what it looks like when you embody nothing. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Have you ever said to yourself or out loud, “You’re driving me crazy?”   This is a really common saying, but it’s never true. No one else has the power to control your emotions. And when we say this, we’re diminishing our own role in what we’re experiencing – and our own power.   It’s definitely not easy to remain peaceful when we are challenged by other people and difficult situations, but learning to do so will help you manage yourself and others. So today we’re going to talk about the importance of practicing radical responsibility, even when it’s difficult, and how this will help us embrace reality. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Anyone can lay in a sensory deprivation tank and find peace – but what about when someone cuts you off in traffic, when you are in line at the DMV, or an employee makes a mistake? Then, finding silence is hard work.   But like Dorothy in Oz, you’ve had the power all along. Today I’m going to teach you how to find it. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

In our increasingly noisy world, an industry has popped up selling silence by the hour through things like sensory deprivation tanks and a variety of meditation practices. These can be useful tools or shortcuts, but that silence is always there – it’s the canvas on which our experiences are painted.   Over the next four episodes, I’m going to explore the power of abiding with that silence, and how you can start accessing that silence whenever you want. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

As a manager, you can’t step in and solve someone else’s problems, but you can hold up a mirror so that someone can see the problem and start solving it themselves.   And one of the best ways to help someone confront reality and start addressing a problem is by asking a question based in genuine curiosity. The danger here is triggering someone’s fight, flight, or freeze response, which will stop your efforts dead in their tracks.   Today I discuss what you need to consider and pay attention to in these delicate situations so that you can manage lovingly, carefully, and successfully. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

When you identify the thing that is really causing a problem in your life or business, it’s usually not very difficult to solve – but many of us waste time and money barking up the wrong tree because there is some uncomfortable aspect of reality that we’re trying to avoid.   However, all the effort we put into avoiding reality causes disproportionately more discomfort than just looking reality in the face and accepting it as truth.   Consider this episode your invitation to stop resisting the process and start solving real problems before they eat away at your life or business. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

We’re often more committed to things in our life being nice and cozy than we are to reality, even if that coziness is causing problems in our family, our relationships, or our businesses. However, there’s a real danger here because lacking a commitment to truth obscures real problems and creates obstacles that hinder personal embodiment and organizational success.   So in this episode, I want to share a self-awareness practice that will help you identify embodiment gaps in your life and management deficiencies in your organization. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

What are you resisting?   If you need help tracking it down, first find the most significant chronic pain in your life.   So often, we are unconsciously resisting some aspect of reality that we don’t want to accept as true until this frustration causes so much pain that we can’t ignore it anymore and we are forced to either change or suffer.   Today we’ll analyze where this resistance comes from, including our shared assumption about solving problems that, ultimately, causes us to experience shame – a feeling that only dilutes our problem-solving efforts. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

The role of leadership can make you feel unappreciated, lonely, and exposed – but it does get more comfortable if you learn to BE a leader. The process isn’t easy, but nothing in life worth doing is.   So today we are going to explore the ways you can practice embodying leadership and the care you have to give yourself so that you don’t end up compromising during the learning process. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

A few episodes back, we discussed how subjectivism became extreme in our society, which is apparent when we see the popularization of terms like ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news.’ And we can thank Descartes for that.   However, even with this subjectivist approach to life, people are not living in accordance with Descartes’ philosophy and examining their perception of the world. Instead, we settle into our beliefs in early adulthood and steadfastly resist being anything different, even for a little while.   Today I present to you a different model for living life; a model characterized by the embodiment and sampling of different philosophies and ways of being. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

As we mentioned in the last episode, our education system is not designed to teach us how to embody what we learn and change at the level of being. It’s a formulaic system of tests and regurgitation. Then by the time we reach early adulthood, we tend to crystallize and never change again.   That’s not what we offer at Clear and Open. We offer you the opportunity to try on and use different forms of being, and perhaps break free of the system of doing that you have settled into over time.   Why is this important? Well, we don’t learn how to do great leading – we have to learn how to be a great leader. So let’s get started. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

In this four-part series, we will reframe and expand our definition of learning. To start, we will focus on the difference between learning to become something and learning a set of knowledge in order to do something.   Traditional schooling and education invite students to find the formula that works and then regurgitate specific information at the appropriate times. So from a very young age, we are primed to look at learning through this formulaic lens where knowledge is collected and used at the prescribed times but never embodied.   I invite you to learn with an orientation towards embodiment – because by doing so, you will find it easier to change and evolve who you are. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Subjectivism has, in many ways, caused the steady decay of the economy, the news, and our shared reality – But there is a common solution to all of those problems.   To conclude this series, I will outline the one brave step you can take to help yourself and the people you manage to escape the distortions of our subjective reality. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)

Over the past couple episodes, we’ve discussed how the United States has developed a dangerous relationship with reality.   Today we’ll be talking about why businesses are responsible for bringing our society back into truth, and how framing management and leadership as a spiritual practice, like meditation, can help us create companies that can accomplish this. I’d love your feedback. http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1234688298 (Click here to leave a rating & review for the show on iTunes.)