The Cruel Charade of the Personal Development Industry & Why it’s Bad for the Environment

Posted on by Martin Murphy

Wouldn’t it be great if hard work really did enable you to achieve your goals?

In order for it to be a possible you would need to be motivated and have the resources. If that is the case, a good performance coach could help you achieve those goals.

If I’m coaching a business owner, they will usually achieve their success because they’ve got the resources and they’re motivated. But there can be a downside.

Somebody can achieve goals and realise it wasn’t worth the effort and neither is it worth keeping up the charade of ‘being seen’ as successful.

French chef Sébastien Bras, having achieved three Michelin stars, realised it wasn’t worth the effort to maintain them and so handed them back. The Michelin stars were not aligned with his motivation or values. They were not ecological.

The personal development industry probably started as far back as the Axial period which occurred around 500-300 BCE. This is when humanity experienced a cognitive shift from a narrative style and acceptance of what happened as being beyond our control, to one which was more reflective and analytical.

It also helped us focus on longer-term meaningful goals as opposed to short-term materialism. This was enabled by the invention of symbols and writing which we used as memory tools but also helped us reframe our own lives.

It was now possible to understand the effects we and others have on the systems around us. Which, given the situation within the world presently is obviously not being utilised effectively by the winners of this paradigm.

As the agrarian revolution became established, we see that warfare increased as the already powerful people grasped for more land and power. This was the beginning of capitalism.

A good performance coach would have been useful then because not only do wealthy landowners have the resources to achieve all the goals they desire, they’re also highly motivated being infected with greed and self-importance. So, a performance coach appearing as a Machiavellian bureaucrat could help them identify strategies and opportunities to increase their wealth.

However, at what cost?

As chef Sébastien insightfully realised, the goal is not WISE.

Worthwhile – Is the goal worth the effort in terms of resources and impact on your health and wellbeing?

Inspiring – Is it a long-term goal which will be a positive benefit to the world?

Stretching – Will the goal stretch me personally making me a better person?

Ecological– is it ecological? What do other people and the planet think about it?

We have to think more in terms of ecology. The universe and nature do not move in straight lines powered by simplistic philosophies, which is where the pseudo-scientific world of personal and professional development world abound.

For example, if you were to examine any business from an ecological perspective and ask

“Is your business profitable?”

Then you would, if you were to add back into the equation all the external costs such as pollution and waste which occurs, realise most businesses are not.

We work in a world which is unfair and unequal. The rich don’t play by any rules that the rest of us abide by. They have armies of accountants and lobbyists to keep it unfair.

Being told you’re not winning because you’re not motivated enough, not in possession of the right skill set or got the right coach, is only half the story. That philosophy plays right into the hands of the winners to keep them winning.

The system isn’t able to operate on everybody being successful in a way which suits the status-quo.

Only some people are in the right place and time to be competitive enough to be successful entrepreneurs. Not everybody can or wants to be a tech-digital superstar.

The world of capitalism is based on compete and control, so is only designed to suit some winners. If you’re being coached on chasing somebody else’s version of success then you might want to think again.

Setting goals that are not ecological are usually bad for you, your connections and the environment. We will not transform the world overnight, but by becoming more eco-system literate, we can shift our thinking to when compassion, collaboration and meaning mattered more than material success.

As a rebel, maverick, coach or leader, you can learn to become better at setting more ecological goals. You might not achieve success based on other people’s version of success, but you might be able to see more of reality and perhaps gain insights on how you can make a positive impact in the world.

If you’d like an introduction to Eco-Coaching join me here: https://tinyurl.com/EcoCoaching

The Power of Community in Nature with Freshwalks & Michael Di Paola

Posted on by Martin Murphy

Rebels chatting….

“The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members.” – Coretta Scott King

What is Freshwalks?

In its simplest form Freshwalks is a community of people, primarily business owners and freelancers, who meet on regular basis to tackle peaks and traverse dales around the UK and Europe.

They’re an enthusiastic, inclusive and supportive group and a great example of what the human spirit is capable given the opportunity. The power of community should not be underestimated when it comes to helping you find business connections, expertise and boosting your wellbeing.

Michael Di Paola has always been a keen advocate of communities. Moreover, he realises that for a community to be successful, it must enrich the lives of its members and that Freshwalkers feel a shared sense of trust, connection and compassion for one another.

Just some of the benefits of taking your networking with clients and also your team and leadership learning outdoors includes:

Confidence to push against your limits as you climb hills and so building greater self-belief

Collective Wisdom – New ideas are generated on walks due to the conversations and neurotransmitters flooding your system

Being with the crowd allows you to be infected with their motivation, even if you’ve had a tough week

Mutual accountability- if you say you’re going on the group’s WhatsApp, you’ll feel a sense of responsibility for your comrades.

With the craziness of the world at the moment, it pays to not walk alone.

Listen to Michael’s journey here: https://youtu.be/5MBOK9U7tVs

The Power of Gratitude and an Indomitable Spirit in Leadership

Posted on by Martin Murphy

In order to have the mental fortitude to take on big challenges, one has to be able to shift your mental and emotional state towards a more positive attitude, otherwise the task you face is perceived as overwhelming.

You’ll feel that the challenge is too big for what you can contribute. But although you’re one person, you’re part of a building tsunami of other stoic pilgrims awakening, realising that paradigms have to transform.

So, the next step is to be grateful for the moment you have, right now to make a positive difference. Be grateful that we still have a liveable planet, relationships and radical hope to maintain us.

When you feel truly grateful for what you have now, then you can go forward knowing that what you’re doing to create a brave new world…. Is worth the effort 😊

DEAD vs LIFE Leadership

Posted on by Martin Murphy

Dr Kathy Allen made many excellent points when I spoke to her about her work at the intersection of leadership, system change and innovation.

One point was that old paradigms get really ‘loud’ before they fall. I noticed that in 2008 with the last bank crash. Paradigm winners get really greedy as they try to exploit as much as possible before the collapse, because they know they’re not going to be able to keep extracting so ruthlessly for much longer.

I’ve noticed it this time as well. Disaster capitalism loves war and now pandemics because again, the crony politicians and greedy corporates have ruthlessly exploited the situation. There would be no wars if there was no profit. More and more research is being uncovered to show that our earlier ancestors didn’t engage in war until hierarchy and exploitation became the main drivers of colonialism.

This leads to another well-made point by Kathy.

People are often coming up with ‘types’ of leadership such as adaptive, transactional and transformational.

Business owners and managers are often taught them on institutional leadership programmes.

These ‘types’ reflect people’s personalities and/or they described what was happening at a certain time and place in history.

You usually find that ‘great’ leaders emerged from society to overcome the challenge that society was facing i.e., they were the right person, with the right skills and attitude, at the right time and place.

When that time passes, we then find there is another type of leadership required and invented.

Kathy suggested a new way of describing leadership.

How about describing the outcomes of traditional leadership such as polluting, exploitative, cronyism or, as Kathy described, leadership that ‘makes places unliveable’.

At the end of the day, leadership is leading to our demise or it is liberating and life affirming.

#leadership #leaders #regeneration #society #climatechange #socialjustice #sustainabilityleadership #sustainability #businessowners #change

Fascinating talk here: https://youtu.be/8-9fX2uX9hY