The Positive Energy Workplace

A couple of weeks ago, at the Inc 500 Conference in DC, I was having dinner with my good friend and colleague Ari Weinzweig (co-founding partner and CEO of Zingerman’s Community of Businesses and early adopter of Bootist Leadership) when I felt like I was going to choke. It wasn’t the company (—or the company :)—) but rather a delicious fresh piece of organic spinach that had lodged itself halfway down my throat and halfway in my mouth. You may know the feeling – halfway down, half way up – and you have to make a choice, take another bite, swallow it and hope for the best OR pull it back up and spit it out. I felt like I was going to gag, but instead of choking it up all over my dining partner, I opted to gulp it down and hope for the best. It went down, but with tears in my eyes, and recovering from my “near death” experience, we started to laugh at how swallowing fresh organic spinach and almost choking is a lot like organizational change…well any change for that matter.

First off, it’s uncomfortable. At first you feel like you’re gonna gag, your eyes may tear up, it may be hard to communicate to your peers, and your gag reflex makes you want to choke it up, spit it out, quit. Problem with that is that if you do any of these, you gave up too fast, the spinach doesn’t get digested, the organizational change doesn’t happen, and you’re back to square one – possibly having to gobble it down again (and maybe with a better strategy, but who’s to say?) Second off, it’s green – organizational change is green for a couple of reasons – 3 that I think of now are – it’s new for everyone, it’s got to have time to grow like grass, and it’s not always a pretty color. Third, if you throw it back up, you’ve made a big mess, and it’s probably better not to have started eating it in the first place, plus your dinner companion and employees may be less likely to believe you’ll follow through the next time.

The past couple of weeks have been very busy over here. First off, I moved into a new office - with an official "client retreat space" - which we’re calling "Bootist Headquarters". Here I can work with my clients and small groups in a very comfortable and productive setting. I'll also be able to host clients when they come into town for their private retreats with me. (In fact, the first one is coming in from the East Coast next week! She's a very special client and I'm thrilled to have her be the first in the new digs!) The new pad is in downtown St. Charles, right by the river, and surrounded by things that make me very happy; so far, so good.

I woke up this morning feeling grateful. Appreciative of everything and everyone I have in my life. Good things. Great things. Even challenging or "hard" things. Grateful for all of it. Little things, big things; a hot cup of coffee (good coffee, not crap), Ugg boots on a chilly Fall weather morning that's here in August (go figure, and grateful for the break from the heat), my messy office that's going to get cleaned today (ahem!), leadership (cuz it makes things happen - and gratefully so!), engaging relationships, family, friends, little sisters, clients, colleagues, my business, life lessons (which gratefully repeat themselves over and over again until we "get" the learning!), and the list goes on. Basically all of it.

Is your organization “healthy”? How about your team? If you knew that the beliefs you held and the actions you took today (even small), would positively impact the health of your organization tomorrow, would you do it? I'm guessing you would.

While many think of "health" in the more traditional sense as "health & productivity," or fitness and wellness, it actually goes much deeper than that, offering tremendous opportunities for impacting your organization's emotional, energetic, and fiscal well being. Just like with attending to a personal fitness program, where you do something for your health every day to move you towards greater wellness, you can do little "somethings" everyday to move you towards organizational wellness. It doesn't take a lot, but it does take intention and focus.

This short article is about creating organizational health from the "inside out." Having a somewhat eclectic background in kinesiology, health & productivity, energy management, and leadership development, this is a topic near and dear to my heart, and one I find that provides lots of opportunity to help leaders stay on their "edge."

I’m happy to announce the release of my most recent paper “Leading With Boots On: The Art of Bootism™, 12 Hugs and Cupcakes in Leadership” available to the public today. “What IS ‘Bootism’?” you may ask…In a nutshell think Eastern Philosophy (wellness, spirituality, joy, peace) meets Western Philosophy (business, great results, leadership, bottom lines, growth), add in "boots, hugs and cupcakes" as core secret ingredients, and you have a way of creating sustainable results, authentic leadership and joy in the process.

I’ve been doing this work for 8 years now, having a heck of a time explaining it, and finally after a bumpy and somewhat “forced” path of “elevator speeches” and coached “descriptions”, lots of “branding coaching”, and lots of client feedback, I’d finally let go of “naming it appropriately.” Which is just about exactly when realized I was standing in the name all along when I stumbled into it on a long run with a dear friend, client and colleague. (Which, btw, just reinforces my belief that the most congruent aha’s come when we’re “unattached”, exercising and hanging out with good people. But that’s another post!)

There are 7 core Tenets of Bootism. The "Tenets" are the guiding beliefs and principles, the "Toes & Heels", not included here, are the behaviors and actions, and the "Darecteristics™" (also not shown), are the values and charecteristics that support Bootist Leadership™.

For more information on these, register on the right hand side of this page in our “opt-in box” to download a copy of the paper, and for how to apply them and make them work for you, come to my retreat in July.

For a sneak peek of the Tenets themselves, read more here…