In this issue:
Business: Meeting people's needs
Grow your Business, Grow Your Life seminars
Warriors at Work
Good reading
One Challenge After Another
Seven Factors of Awakening
Upcoming Workshops
Z.B.A. Zen of Business Administration; How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life
"You must learn one thing.
The world was meant to be free in."
- David Whyte
Dear Friends:
I'm often surprised at the looks of skepticism I see when I state that businesses and non-profits exist to meet the needs of people. This may sound obvious, but this fact is often obscured or completely lost in our culture of "me first", and "get rich quick" thinking. Businesses provide goods or services that people need. Businesses must, of course, act in a way that is financially sustainable. The reason that businesses exist and the fuel for business growth is finding and developing strategies for meeting people's needs.
I sometimes think that the most useful class I had in business school was an entrepreneurship class in which our weekly assignment was to write a one-page description of a need that we had noticed during the week and how meeting this need could be the basis of a business. I began looking everywhere for what was needed - on the subway, while in my car, at work, and at home. I became obsessed at seeing needs, and equally obsessed with imagining how these needs could be turned into businesses. (While on the New York subway on a rainy afternoon, I thought of developing some kind of umbrella racks: while struggling with my first Excel spreadsheets I envisioned ways to ease the pain of teaching financial skills to the non-financially inclined; and I perceived a need for inspirational paper products made from recycled paper, which became the seed for Brush Dance...).
In my coaching practice much of my work is helping people uncover what is most needed in their lives -- to ask questions and hear answers from different perspectives, to move beyond habits and patterns that are not useful, and to take actions and make decisions that come from their heart and highest calling. We can all become too close to our businesses and to ideas of ourselves and can benefit from the help of others. Ultimately, coaching is helping people find real freedom, through work, relationships, and through living from a place of appreciation and vitality. These are needs that I am drawn to meet - in myself and in others.
Grow Your Business/Grow Your Life - Monthly Group - beginning January 2006
Who is this group for?
Coaches, Entrepreneurs, Consultants, Small Business Owners
What is it?
This is a group of up to eight people that meets for three hours one day per month, (9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m., 3rd Wednesday of each month) from January through December. During this time we address your most pressing business issues - sales and marketing, strategy, cash flow, managing people; we also address issues of balance, integrity and spirit. This group is like taking a hands-on experiential small business class combined with the support of a Board of Advisors for your business.
We begin each meeting with 20 minutes of meditation. These groups combine problem solving, with warmth and support. (And I provide tasty snacks!) In addition to this monthly meeting, I meet with each person for a one-hour individual monthly coaching session. The cost is $275 per month; register by December 1st and the cost is $250 per month. Limited to 8. To register send me an email - mlesser@zbaassociates.com, or 415 389-6228.
I hope you enjoy this Newsletter
Wishing you peace,
Marc Lesser
Warriors At Work
What if we understood, re-framed and stepped into our lives and our work as being the path of a warrior - I would define a warrior as someone gentle, straightforward, open-hearted, responsive and at the service of others. What is the path of a warrior?
I've always been fascinated that "Returning to the marketplace" is the last image of the "ten ox-herding drawings" a series drawings and poetry from Chinese Buddhism of nearly 1,000 years ago, intended to describe the stages of the spiritual path. Though I've never been a proponent of seeing one's spiritual practice in terms of stages, I do find it useful and intriguing that the final stage is not only a sense of returning, but of returning to the world of work, to the marketplace. From another perspective this is where real practice takes place, by combining service and spiritual practice. Here are descriptions of the ten drawings, which can also be described as the path of a warrior, at work or anywhere:
1) Noticing the path; beginning to wake up
2) Starting out on the path
3) Making connections, with ideas and people
4) Letting go of ideas and confusion
5) Developing stillness; beginning to bring meditation into activity
6) Engaging in effort and struggle
7) Finding calm within the struggle
8) Selfless activity - putting others first
9) Experiencing deep appreciation
10) Returning to the marketplace
Good reading
As usual, I have stacks of books everywhere - in my office, bedroom and kitchen. Here are a few books I'm enjoying during these cool Fall days:
Fierce Conversations, by Susan Scott - Terrific book on strategies for "coming out" from the ways we stay safe and avoid exposing our own truth. I particularly like strategy #7 - Let silence do the heavy lifting.
The Highest Goal, by Michael Ray - These are teachings and lessons from Michael Ray's Creativity in Business Class at Stanford. Engaging blend of spirituality and creativity as applied to the workplace.
Megatrends 2010, by Patricia Aburdene - This is a follow-up book to the original Megatrends book from about 20 years ago. Key findings and predictions are the role of spirituality and social responsibility in business. Who would have thought!
One Challenge After Another
One of my favorite Brush Dance cards says: "I know the universe won't give me anything I can't handle. I only wish it didn't trust me so much."
How can we face into, appreciate and learn from things that don't turn out the way we envisioned? How can we let go of our ideas of how our lives and our work "ought" to be, and at the same time stay attuned to what gives us "juice" and inspiration.
Work is a great and humbling and inspiring teacher. It is sometimes said that a Zen teacher's life is "one mistake after another." This can also describe anyone in business that pays attention.
It is said that when Thomas Edison was experimenting with ways to create incandescent light he went through more than 9,000 experiments to produce a bulb. One of his associates said to him, "Why do you persist in this folly, after more than 9,000 attempts?" Edison, with an incredulous expression said, "I haven't even failed once; 9,000 times I've learned what doesn't work."
The Seven Factors of Awakening
These are the practices that lead to being awake, according to the historical Buddha, 2,500 years ago. I think these should be the practices of growing a business and of leading people. How might these practices contribute to our lives at work, the people we work with and the quality of our work?
- Mindfulness: pay close attention, to your body, mind, feelings and emotions; to your work, and the people your work with.
- Curiosity: Approach your work and the people around you with an open and fresh perspective. Inquire. Watch. Listen, without pre-judging.
- Diligence: Stay with your emotions, your feelings and thoughts. Continue to practice, despite all the difficulties and disappointments. Complete tasks. Follow through.
- Joy: When you are not worrying about the past or worrying about the future, notice how joy arises at work.
- Ease: Relax into your work. One task after another; one conversation, one meeting. Be present, aware and relaxed.
- Meditation: Sit quietly each morning before going to work. Just be with your body and breath.
- Letting go: Drop all expectations. Be yourself. Be mindful, curious, diligent, joyful, and relaxed; LET GO!
Upcoming Workshops
I will be giving the public talk at the San Francisco Zen Center on Saturday, November 19th at 10:00 a.m.; followed by a workshop from 1:30 - 4:30 - Integrating Work, Life and Relationships. This workshop will combine spiritual practice, with developing leadership skills and creativity. To register call the SF Zen Center at 415 863-3136.
Z.B.A. Zen of Business Administration: How Zen Practice Can Transform Your Work and Your Life
This book, released in February 2005 by New World Library, is available at your local bookstore or on Amazon. "I love this book. It is profoundly simple. It is understandable and accessible - a profound way to integrate life and work." - Eileen Fisher, president of Eileen Fisher, Inc.
Coaching, Consulting, and Facilitation - To learn more about the services offered by ZBA Associates call me at 415 389-6228; email is mlesser@zbaassociates.com.