Directed by Ian MacKenzie http://ianmack.com

Produced by Velcrow Ripper, Gregg Hill, Ian MacKenzie

Imagine a world where the aspirations, ambitions and goals of an enterprise were genuinely to serve societies needs, now and for future generations; a world in which business success was measured by the contribution made to community and the development of culture. Imagine a world where businesses were built on the principles of Nature’s wisdom of what it takes to be sustainable and thrive; guided by the rhythm of the seasons and cycles of life.  Such business leaders would honour the winter of business when germination is necessary for the reaping of the harvest in summer.  They would not deplete resources by continually driving for performance and production, always seeking a ‘summer’, but be innately aware of cycles and the necessity for renewal and regeneration of resources and employees.

I’m four years older than my brother Tom and though we couldn’t be more different, he is also my best friend. They say great fighter pilots don’t climb into jets they wrap jets around them, and so it is with Tom and spreadsheets. As a partner in our entrepreneurial start-up, Tom was our ace number cruncher; constantly cranking out the analytics we needed to run the business.

 One day he came into my office and almost shyly said, “I’ve been trying to figure out how you make decisions for six years. I still don’t know how you do it, but I have to admit you’re almost always right. What’s the secret?”

Coming from a younger brother this was high praise indeed, but though I was sincerely touched, I couldn’t help but imagine Tom poring over a decision tree that was six years long and six years wide.

“Tom,” I finally said, “I have no idea. The only thing I know is I know.”

Quantum Leadership
Chris Laszlo, PhD
Professor, Weatherhead School of Management
Case Western Reserve University
www.QuantumLeadership.org

Blessed are the sleepy ones for they shall soon drop off…

                                                                  Nietzsche

I was channel surfing one day when I found myself watching an obviously brain injured young woman being attended to by three nurses. She was in a semi-comatose, twilight condition and the nurses were trying to wake her up.  Propping her limp body into a sitting position, they began poking, prodding, and speaking to her sharply while she, with eyes rolling wildly in fear and confusion, angrily flailed at them trying to get them to leave her alone so she could go back to sleep.  Ignoring her mute protestations, a nurse eventually forced a tooth brush into her hand, and when, with great effort, her patient finally managed to get the tooth brush somewhere in the vicinity of her mouth, one of the nurses remarked that this was a “good sign” while another branded it a “huge step forward.”

In 1973 I dropped out of college and took a job jockeying a jack hammer in order to study full time under a West Virginia hillbilly, family man, house painter, and Zen Master hovering just above the poverty line in Wheeling, West Virginia. A poster child for the anti-guru, he claimed no lineage, accepted no money, and I was his first student. He cared deeply, lived carelessly, and couldn’t care less, and he died in the same obscurity into which he was born. Yet he remains the most successful and remarkable man I have ever met. Everything that is best in me I owe largely to him.

One day I approached him eager for his secret to success. What was the single most important thing he did in his life?

“It wasn’t what I did,” he replied without hesitation, “it was what I didn’t do.” Then he walked away leaving me baffled and a little miffed at what felt a lot like a rebuff…

Video by August Turak