Entrepreneurs - wizards of the business world

By Paul Hunting, entrepreneur, author, leadership coach, horse whisperer

‘To receive you must be active. You will receive in direct proportion to your strength of purpose, clarity of vision, steadiness of faith and depth of gratitude.’ - John-Roger

I’ve been hunting all my life. For thirty years I’ve been pursuing my dreams disguised as a business person - but secretly practising alchemy. My role model?

Merlin.

While I find coaching people challenging at times, it’s also very simple. All I really do is share what works for me and support clients in aligning themselves and their organisations with the four ‘magic’ keys in John-Roger’s quote above. The keys I also use to open myself to life’s treasures.

Merlin was a master at transforming nothing into something that matters. When I say ‘nothing’ I mean an idea. Of course it was God who started this process. In Genesis it says when he created ‘heaven and earth’ it was without form and void. In the very beginning it was just an idea. Then he set in motion a process that created mankind and the universe. Pretty good wizardry for a beginner, eh?

I don’t have such grandiose aspirations, but it seems the principle of creation is what we all have inside us as part of his ‘image’.

Let us play:

Merlin’s four magic keys.

1. Strength of purpose.
2. Clarity of vision
3. Steadiness of faith
4. Depth of gratitude

Strength of purpose.

It’s critical not to confuse ‘purpose’ with ‘vision and goals’. Although our understanding and expression of our purpose may shift, deepen and even elude us, it is unchanging. In a world where the only true constant is change, this is the exception.

It is an abstract statement of who we really are and what we deeply value. Only when ‘on purpose’ can we truly experience the joy of being alive and the satisfaction of achieving goals. Once we fathom this, we are free to express it in myriad ways. As long as we are in alignment we’re (relatively) stress free and moving forward effectively. When we’re not on purpose, life has a way of giving us feedback designed, not to punish us, but wake us up. Stress, fear, depression, illness, addiction, etc - all these conditions are telling us we’re off course with our life’s natural pathway.

We ignore strengthening our sense of purpose at our peril. While I remind myself of mine when I stray, it’s very personal and I don’t tend to share it with anyone I don’t completely trust.

Clarity of vision.

While purpose is the answer to the questions ‘who am I and what do I care about?’, vision is the answer to ‘what do I really want?’.

Again, this is not to be confused with goals. It’s still more abstract and general. Goals are symbols of what we really want. They are important but intrinsically they cannot satisfy. Suppose I say ‘I want an old E-Type’? (I do, there’s a guy in our village who zooms around in a red V12 Roadster. I am green with envy!). But what I really want is the experience it will give me. Apart from looking well cool and making others green, it’s about exhilaration, freedom, and well-being. These are vision-level qualities I can get in any number of ways right now.

The essence of the vision qualities I want in my business are around outrageous, creative expression and making a massive difference. These are still not goals because while I am achieving this now on one level, there is unlimited expansion built in. It’s an aspiration. I won’t achieve world peace, but I can hold the vision as an inspiration - and do my bit.

Steadiness of faith.

This not the same as ‘religious faith’. This is about taking risks. The real competition we face is inside us. It is our false self that continually undermines us by saying ‘I can’t do xxx, because it’s impossible…therefore I can’t.’

Each time we hear and feel that voice blocking us we have a choice - contract or expand - take the easy option or take a risk.

If we are in touch with our purpose and vision, it supports us in taking that risk. Only those who are willing to risk defying the negative imagery that plagues us can possibly truly succeed on all the levels.

Steadiness of faith is what characterises the Merlins and the Bransons of this world. ‘Can’t’ is simply not in their dictionary.

Depth of gratitude.

Shit happens. We’re going to be tested. When we’re up to our neck in it and there’s no way out, we still have choices. The magic choice is the attitude of gratitude. Gratitude transforms manure into fertiliser. ‘At least it’s only up to my neck’ may seem like a Pollyanna attitude. But it’s not only the truth, it also leaves us open to possibilities. If I complain, I am pretending I had a better choice that I did not make or there’s a risk available I’m not brave enough to take.

Scientifically conducted psychological studies show unequivocally that people who keep a ‘gratitude’ journal are significantly more successful and less stressed.

If you would like some help putting these principles into practise, I do just happen to have a magic wand.

You can contact me via my website: www.horsejoy.com or email me at paul@horsejoy.com

The importance of regenerating your purpose.

If your corporate purpose is not about learning - then it’s not your purpose.

One of the biggest problems, when the good ship corporation sets sail with you proudly at the helm, is the notoriously confusing distinction between purpose and goals.

Those who do not get and keep this clear are inevitably going to be dragging their anchor - probably without realising it. What you will begin to notice though are the effects.

Your progress will be a lot slower than you saw in your vision of possibility - and the symptoms of stress and dissatisfaction will be leaking through the hull. These are the vast portfolio of trust and loyalty issues we know so well - from mutinous internal politics to good folk abandoning ship.

If not attended to, long periods in dry dock or a tragic sinking will show up. Life’s a bitch. It doesn’t care about our good intentions - only our clear ones.

Whether we’re the CEO or the cleaning lady, if we’re not on purpose we cannot feel satisfied. We always have that nagging feeling eating away at our guts. It seems life is set up that way. Pain is the price we pay for resisting our purpose. Pain (or stress) is thus our inner coach, guide and friend. It is our inner success mechanism giving us feedback called - get back on track - or else!

But we humans are notoriously stubborn and have the most amazing capacity for adapting to stress - until we keel over and wonder why.

Why? Not often a good question - but this time it could be. Why do we ignore our best inner advice and head instead for the rocks and certain catastrophe?

The two selves

Because we have two very different selves - the true self. And the false self pretending to be the true self.

The false self is motivated primarily by insecurity. It does not know the true self and cannot understand it. It is filled with a primal kind of fear and self-doubt. It wants us to make it feel secure by achieving things that prove it is OK. It therefore drives us into seeking symbols of success and love. It wants everything material or sensual in order to gain power and authority. It wants to be recognised. Made to feel important. It’s our ego.

The irony is - we are OK. We are important. The true self knows this. The ego cannot. The ego drives us to focus on goals, achieve symbols of success and never really knows the experience.

Your mission statement

Does your mission statement say anything about learning how to generate unlimited joy and bliss? No. of course not. But these higher states are there for the picking if we have the courage - or even the desperation - to look.

So what is it to regenerate?

I love looking at the root meaning of words. It tells us how to navigate a true course for fulfilling our destiny. Looking within the word ‘regenerate’ we find the word ‘gene’. A gene is part of our DNA - the very building block of who we are. It’s also the root of the word ‘Genesis’ - the ancient story about how life began.

For many, it’s not cool to consider the Bible as a leadership text. I disagree. I think it’s not cool not to. Not from a religious perspective but from a symbolic one.

Genesis tells us a couple of interesting things. God made man in his own image. Do you think the image of God is the wrinkly old hairy thing staring at us in the mirror? Or could ‘image’ be a word that is a symbol for intention or purpose? I do. Man is here to fulfil a higher purpose. What could that be?

Well, at the risk of being uncool again, and while we’ve got Genesis open at page one, isn’t the first thing God uttered ‘Let there be light.’? Again, does that mean he reaches over and flips on the light switch for the universe? Or could ‘light’ be a symbol for awareness, knowledge, experience? What we mortals call ‘learning’? I do. We are here to have experiences - and learn from them. That’s all. That’s our purpose. Not that there’s anything wrong with having loads of money, it’s just that we’re not here to play ‘he who dies with the most money in the bank wins’!

The paradox is, when we follow our purpose like the North Star, then all the goals like money, stuff and symbols follow in our wake. If we focus on the money, power games and stuff, we can get so distracted we hit the coral reef lurking beneath. Because I say so? You gotta be kidding. Look around. Look at the Gulf of Mexico right now. Those guys at BP are (hopefully) learning a lesson and we’re paying the tuition fees - whether we like it or not. I don’t. But hey - no man is an Island and all that.

Regenerate your purpose, then.

How to regenerate? Does this mean throwing everything away and starting again? No. What you have already built can either be your life boat or your yellow submarine full of holes. Regeneration is largely a matter of attitude and altitude. You need to sit down (or stand up) and talk with someone who is (a) outside the issues you are dealing with and totally detached from any outcome of yours and (b) as clear inside themselves about who they really are. Then have the courage to really look within and act on a greater truth.

As we say in the coaching game, ‘If you don’t go within, then you have to go without’.

The most cost-effective human resource - ever

Ever since man began to conquer his environment, vanquish his enemies and explore the world, there has been one, invaluable, powerful, indispensible human resource - the horse.
The horse has always been the most cost-effective human resource since God created woman from Adam's rib!
It is a foolish man who believes this amazing creature is now redundant.
It is the wise leader who is open to the possibility that the horse can now bring out the very best in a human being, a team an organisation.
Only the very best will do to get humanity out of the appalling financial and environmental crises it now faces.

www.horsejoy.com

Be the best you can be

There's an apocrypahal tale about Henry Kissinger - former Secretary of State to the USA.
An aide cameto him one day for his reaction to his proposal.
Kissinger says 'I think it could be lot better'. 'Yes, sir' said the aide and off he went to 'do better'.
A few days later, the same scenario played out. Off went the aide again to do better.
This went on for several weeks.
Finally, the aide said 'I'm sorry sir, this is the very best I can do. There's no way I can improve on it.'
'Good' says Kissinger - 'now I'll read it'.