Be Here, Now.
Ah, the ’70’s. The good ol’ days of, well, all the things we can never admit having done.
The book Be Here Now arrived in the early ’70’s. Many of my friends read it, preached it, tried to practice it. Hitchiking through California in Spring of 1974 I landed in Berkley where the author, Ram Dass, was going to speak. Unfortunately, we arrived late. There were no seats.
I found it easy to make those three words a punchline working in the fast-paced chaos of a telecommunications call-center operations. Being naturally impatient and prone to sarcasm helped, too.
Roll forward a few decades and the chaos of a telecommunications call center has been replaced with 24 x 7 distractions. Bright, shiny devices and 100-meg connections entice us to share everything and skim everything so we don’t miss the latest OMG moment. The constant access these tools provide lured us with the promise of working from anywhere, anytime that fits our schedule. The reality is we work all the time. The line between personal and professional is not blurry. It’s non-existent.
Journalism’s been dumbed-down to talking heads reading each other’s headlines. No one asks why that story matters, how it connects to them or even if it makes sense.
Sounds like too many companies and their strategic plan. Did you know that only 29% of employees at high-performing companies with “clearly articulated public strategies,” ... can correctly identify their company’s strategy out of six choices. Would you consider your company as ‘high-performing?’ Could they spot your strategy from among a list of six?
The next time you’re in a cafe close your shiny, digital device and look around. Everyone’s checking their phones, their laptops, their notebooks ... anything but what or who is in front of them or their own thoughts and feelings and ideas that circulate just beneath the surface.
Next time you’re in a meeting, do the same. See how many hide out in their digital devices so’s to:
- appear busy and, by defacto, important;
- avoid engaging with those around them.
In the preface to her book, Leading with Intention: Every Moment is a Choice, Mindy Hall, PhD and CEO of Peak Development Consulting LLC, updates Be Here, Now for leaders circa 2015. Read this:
No matter what level of leader I am working with or what part of the world I am working in, once leaders begin to intentionally choose who they want to be and the impact they want to have, their effectiveness exponentially rises, both in their leadership and their lives.
As I read that quote I wondered how it would sound if you changed leader with employee. Would it still ring true?
No matter what level of employee I am working with or what part of the world I am working in, once employees begin to intentionally choose who they want to be and the impact they want to have, their effectiveness exponentially rises, both in their [work] and their lives.
Yes, it does.
Leaders lead by example. Be here, now, engaging with yourself is the example by which you’ll lead others to do the same.
I leave my smartphone off for long periods of time. That allows me to give undivided attention to my work. I find solutions faster, execute them faster, deliver better results - often ahead of schedule. I am more patient, a better listener, less critical. Being more patient I’m willing to listen longer, wait for the full story before leaping to fix something or someone. My friends appreciate my listening to understand not just waiting to for an opening to jump in. That saves misunderstandings, miscommunications and the regular eye-contact insures a deeper level of trust. I sleep better, too. Go figure.
Here’s one warning. You may find yourself impatient with those unable to take this step. Be prepared for unusual reactions should you ask them to take it. However, that’s how you find people who want to engage with you.
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