Food for Thought No. 7
This week we focus on counterbalances to our new technological advances, the rise of breathwork, and owning our impact, not our intention.
Hi,
Here is your weekly GC Food for Thought newsletter - curated insights to help you thrive in a world grappling with uncertainty and exponential change.
Every Sunday morning this summer, you'll receive GC's 3-2-1 newsletter with 3 ideas to explore, 2 things to read, and one question for you.
Labour day is somehow here. We are back to school and back to work (not that it ever stopped). I can’t believe it, but the coolness of the weather this weekend must mean its true.
This is our last weekly newsletter. Enjoy!
EXPLORE
I. Counterbalances to technological advances and societal constraints.
I have always been fascinated by why certain things come en vogue or into the cultural zeitgeist. Marshall McLuhan, famous for "The Medium is the Message" and "The Global Village", left a lasting impression.
He understood that new technologies accentuate paradoxically, he distilled the concept into two sentences back in 1957:
"As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of 'do it yourself'."
- Marshall McLuhan
And so it is interesting to understand our cultural counterbalances to the unintended consequences of the technological advances we are making. Here are four I see:
In an attention-starved economy, screen usage averaging 6.5 hours/day with an abundance of content and media, I see…
The counterbalance as the undeniable rise of meditation, yoga and mindfulness practises during this same period of time. According to CDC, in 2012 only 4% of Americans used meditation, in 2017 this jumped to 14%. Yoga usage grew over 50% in a similar time period. And since March (when COVID struck), mindfulness apps like Calm and Headspace, have reported double digit growth in usage and downloads.
In a society obsessed with the advances in AI to create instant gratification, automate rote jobs and deliver predictable experiences, I see…
The counterbalance as the dramatic rise of creators, creator tools, the passion economy, craftsmanship, eq and coaching as a career, and entrepreneurship. For more on this, go back to the rise of creative agency in Food for Thought No. 5.
More recently...
In a society experiencing the momentous technological shift to enabling remote work and virtual live experiences in business, healthcare, and education (caused by COVID restrictions), I see…
The counterbalance being the exodus of many people who once enjoyed the network effects of cities, especially NY, choosing to move to less inhabited, nature-filled settings. Within a matter of months, real estate in the county-side and in cottage country are at all-time highs with demand reaching unprecedented levels and prices up 15%+.
And the fourth"technological advance" is the mass adoption of COVID masks. You may think masks are not a technology, but according to this definition, they indeed are. Coming this fall, mask usage will be taken to a new level as children go back to school and are required to wear them for hours on end.
I have been ruminating on what the counterbalance will be. More below.
II. Breathwork
Let’s go deeper on this fourth one first. I am struck by the the significance of breath (and the lack thereof) this year.
The very reason we are in this new normal is due to the nature of COVID being exponentially spread by BREATH,
Anxiety and stress due to the impact of COVID causes our BREATH to constrict,
COVID itself causes shortness of BREATH.
Even the systemic racism and racial tension is linked to BREATH. The deeply disturbing and tragic death of George Floyd and his forced constriction of breath. "I CAN’T BREATHE" became a slogan associated with the Black Lives Matter movement,
And, now as a positive way to suppress the spread of COVID, we are requiring everyone to wear masks, which inadvertently restricts BREATH.
It hit me like a brick.
As a counterbalance to mask technology and COVID spread, I see our focus on the very thing that’s being constricted - our breath.
The world is becoming more aware of how we breath and its impact on our health. Learning how to breathe deeper, how to let breathe guide the body into calmness and peaceful states, how to let breath reduce anxiety and stress.
"Breathing is intimately linked with mental functions. In the millenary eastern tradition, the act of breathing is an essential aspect of most meditative practices, and it is considered a crucial factor for reaching the meditative state of consciousness. The breath is called “Prana,” which means both “breath” and “energy”
-Zaccaro et. al in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience Journal
Focusing on deep, slow breathing - can make a material difference to our physical wellness, emotional states and mindset.
“The greatest indicator of life span wasn’t genetics, diet, or the amount of daily exercise, as many had suspected. It was lung capacity.” - James Nestor,Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art"
Research is showing that this slow deep breathing is having a positive impact on all sorts of ailments - asthma, insomnia, pain management, anxiety, blood pressure, and more. Breathwork, taken to the extreme, is even being used to access subconscious states otherwise only induced by drugs for "healing purposes", you can read more here.
Breath is definitely in the cultural zeitgeist, O2 Awakening, Frequency, Kundalini yoga, Wim Hof and experiences like these, (coupled with meditation, yoga and mindfulness already) are going mainstream.
As we enter September, rife with uncertainty, stress, and breath constriction (especially for our kids in school), I invite you to get curious about your breath.
III. Intention vs impact.
“You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.”
- Jane Goodall
As leaders and parents, we all have great intentions. In truth, often our intentions don't always equal our impact.
While context of why we act the way we do is relevant, it's really our impact on others we should care most about. This involves regulating our "emotional contagion", the emotional toll you have on others.
Especially in times of extreme uncertainty, stress levels are at an all-time high, this awareness of our own impact matters even more.
“We judge ourselves by our intentions, others by their impact.” - Unknown
My advice to folks is to reverse this statement above, have more room for understanding other’s intentions and more accountability for your own impact.
Many people have never learned how to give good feedback and this skill is directly related to owning our impact.
“A good apology is’t about intentions. It’s about impact”
- Adam Grant
It also helps to be calm and not in fight or flight mode to minimize our impact on others. The good news? Being calm under pressure is a skill that can be learned.
The single biggest difference in my personal leadership from my 30s to 40s was not in strategy or IQ but in finding ways to be more calm under pressure, and having the courage and humbleness to let go of my ego and own my impact.
READ
I. Technological advances in media and its effect on society
The impact of the shift to virtual live participatory experiences may be even bigger than the impact of mobile phones or social media. A new medium transition from digital asynchronous communication to synchronous, live participatory communication - with far-reaching effects to our "global village".
You just need to look at Zoom's unbelievable growth over the past 6 months. Zoom's share price soared from $68 in January to a peak of $462 in Sept, with revenues up to $665MM, a 355% increase Y/Y and net income up to 185.99M, a Y/Y increase of3256.6%. Zoom grew its subscriber base from 10MM meeting participants/day to over 300MM/day in May 2020, 30x!
On this topic, it is interesting to read the Laws of Media, which Marshall McLuhan co-authored with his son.
It’s just the beginning - Live, participatory virtual experiences will advance even more to enable deeper human connection, spontaneous collisions, active participation and greater learning and collaboration.
How do these four questions from the Laws of Media apply to virtual, live, participatory experiences: What does it enhance or intensify? What does it render obsolete or displace? What does it retrieve that was previously obsolesced?What does it produce or become when pressed to an extreme?
Side fun fact: I actually had the pleasure of discussing these laws of media on stage with Eric McLuhan a long time ago!
II. Conscious business, parenting and breathwork.
On conscious business:
“Power is the prize of responsibility; accountability is the price”
- Fred Koffman
Fred Kofman's Conscious Business, explains that consciousness is the main source of organizational greatness. A conscious business seeks to promote the intelligent pursuit of happiness in all its stakeholders. It produces sustainable, exceptional performance through the solidarity of its community and the dignity of each member.
On parenting:
“The more we hone this ability to meet life in a neutral state, without attributing “goodness” or “badness” to what we are encountering, but simply accepting its as-is-ness, the less our need to interpret every dynamic as if it were about us. Our children can then have their tantrums without triggering us, and we can correct their behaviour without dumping on them our own residual resentment, guilt, fear, or distrust.”
- Shefali Tsabary
Shefali Tsabary Ph.D’s, The Awakened Family: How to Raise Empowered, Resilient, and Conscious Children shares insights on how to cultivate a relationship with your children so they can thrive; moreover, so you can be transformed to a state of greater calm, compassion and wisdom.
On breath:
“More than sixty years of research on living systems has convinced me that our body is much more nearly perfect than the endless list of ailments suggests,” wrote Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi.Its shortcomings are due less to its inborn imperfections than to our abusing it.
― James Nestor, Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art
Other books on breath released this year are: Breathe Well, The Power of Breathwork, Exhale, by Richie Bostock, AKA The Breath Guy, and The Wim Hof Method by Wim Hof.
REFLECT
I. Conscious awareness
“The most fundamental aggression to ourselves, the most fundamental harm we can do to ourselves, is to remain ignorant by not having the courage and the respect to look at ourselves honestly and gently.”
― Pema Chödrön
We are at the end of summer. What a gift it was. Our new normal of school and work begins in less than 48 hours for most.
How can you choose to be highly aware of your thoughts and actions?
How can you take responsibility for your impact not just your intentions on those you love?
How will you lean into healing counterbalances, especially your breath, to bring your best self to your leadership at work and home this Fall?
Thank you for spending the summer with me - for allowing me this deeply reflective and vulnerable experience of sharing my thoughts weekly.
I sincerely hope you have enjoyed this Food for Thought newsletter series.
Next week, we will announce our new livestream series launching Sept 21st - Mondays at noon. We have some incredible thought leaders joining us so look forward to seeing you in our live participatory format sessions again!
Best,
Candice
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