This is an article I wrote years ago to document our team's experience. It demonstrates an example approach to attending the Conscious Capitalism Conference.
Why We Were There and How We Prepared
In April 2015 I had the privilege of attending the Conscious Capitalism Conference in Chicago. 15 people total went from our teams across our family of companies: Beyond Blue Holdings, Inc., Emerios, and VMBC. Most of the attendees were from our management team and many had flown in from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Our key purpose to attend was to radically participate in Conscious Capitalism, learn as much as we could, and bring back content to share with our teams at home. We spent the week prior to the event preparing to make sure we all had questions we were seeking to answer which would apply to our specific teams, picking out a schedule of topics that was appealing to us individually, and engaging on the online platforms.
The questions I sought out to answer were:
1. As we define our culture as an organization, what techniques can we adopt to genuinely engage our team, inspire each to find their purpose, and encourage growth for everyone?
2. How can we apply these techniques as best practices for coordinators to make a positive daily impact on all teams?
My Experience
Most of us arrived on Monday. Michael Kovach and I were the last to arrive and had flown out on the same plane together. We met the rest of the team at Billy Goat Tavern – the restaurant famous for the SNL skit where Jim Belushi says “Cheeseborger Cheeseborger Cheeseborger”. J It was this little hole in the wall from outside – the entrance was underground. We had a great time together eating cheeseburgers and chips. We walked for about 20 minutes in downtown Chicago and took a lot of pictures. It was beautiful!
Tuesday around noon our team met up to each record the questions we were seeking to answer on video. Austin from Round Table Companies joined us for the entire event to create a write up of our experience. She managed to score us a private boardroom to use for the event so we all met there.
The conference kicked off on Tuesday afternoon. One of the quotes given by a host of the event immediately resonated with me, “The world is full of beauty when the heart is full of love.” I instantly felt excited for what we were about to experience.
Tuesday was mostly keynote speakers.
· We heard from author Tony Schwartz who helped bring awareness to the fact that stress is good for us when it is balanced with renewal. I was heavily hit with the realization that I have plenty of stress in my life but need more balance when it comes to renewal. My takeaway from this was to start sleeping a little more each night (at least 7 hours) and to schedule in a couple of 20 minute breaks during my day.
· Another key point that Tony made which stuck with me was about opposites. He said that each opposite has a positive balanced opposite. For example, compassion when overused becomes indulgence. The positive balanced opposite is self-care. We should seek value in the opposites we undervalue. “The best leader is the one who holds opposites most gracefully.” They see deeper and exclude less; they become more conscious.
· Next up was author Simon Sinek. Everyone that I spoke to was very inspired by his talk. He has a way about him that is very intriguing and straight forward. He’s refreshing. He talked to us a lot about behavior, what makes people feel good, and leadership. What stood out most to me were his points about leadership. He shared the idea that leadership is not a rank, it’s a behavior that some of us have. Leadership requires the practice of putting the lives of others before our own interests. Consistency is way more important than intensity. A safe environment for your team is key. “Be the leader you wish you had.”
· Bob Chapman closed out the day with an amazing talk. He is the CEO of Barry Wehmiller and brought real life experience to share with us which was really inspiring. He also focused a lot on leadership and highlighted communications as being a key part of people care. “Leadership is the stewardship of the lives entrusted to you.” He told us how with communications training and caring about how he touched people’s lives, he is able to lead an organization of over 8,500 people in a way that is deeply inspiring. He has merged over 70 small companies to become one big happy family by using a formula that has proven successful. He highlighted the power that business has to be a force for good. When people spend over 40 hours per week at work, making this time fulfilling for them is critical. He told us how he has managed to truly accomplish that.
· Bob shared his 10 keys to a people-centric culture:
1. Begin every day with a focus on the lives you touch.
2. Leadership is the stewardship of the lives entrusted to you.
3. Embrace leadership practices that send people home each day safe, healthy, and fulfilled.
4. Align all actions to an inspirational vision of a better future.
5. Trust is the foundation of all relationships – act accordingly.
6. Look for the goodness in people and recognize and celebrate daily.
7. Ask no more or less of anyone than you would of your own child.
8. Lead with a clear sense of grounded optimism.
9. Recognize and flex to the uniqueness of everyone.
10. Always measure success by the way you touch the lives of people.
Tuesday night we all had dinner in the hotel together. It was rainy outside and I felt tired so I went back to my room and typed up my notes. I knew too much information would be lost if I didn’t!
Wednesday morning a few of us woke up super early and did yoga in a class lead by Manduka. The class was super packed and a little too challenging for me since I was pregnant. I hung in there and felt amazing that morning!
For a full day on Wednesday we were able to attend a lot of practicums. We were able to select from about 5 topics at any given time. Each one that I attended was absolutely amazing. Here are some highlights:
· I was sure to catch more from Tony Schwartz. The results from Tony’s energy audit were kind of depressing to be honest, but also gave me clear insight on what exact adjustments I need to make. I realized I was depleting my energy too much and the motivation to improve my behaviors was one of my key realizations of the day.
· Bob’s Chief People Officer, Rhonda Spencer, spoke about how they do what they do and it was incredible. They walked through challenging leadership situations and how to turn them around. She was a great example of a successful woman which I really enjoyed seeing. I left really wanting to take their communications training ASAP!
· Finally I watched a session where Simon and Bob spoke together. We learned more about leadership and left feeling more inspired. “Practice being the last to speak.”
That night there was a dinner exercise. After we ate, each table opened up a donut box filled with supplies. We were challenged to make a stakeholder model in groups of 8 or so. We had a blast being creative and competitive. We cheered louder than we should have and were extremely proud of our creation. We ended up getting second place. We definitely were the most creative but the winner had a standout idea – all stakeholders were connected with each other as well as us.
Thursday was the final day of the conference and it was just a half-day through lunch. The day started with a touching keynote from Melissa Reiff, CEO of the Container Store. She spoke a lot about communications. She moved me to the point where I got emotional. It was a pleasure to hear her experience and see how she’s made an impact on so many.
Here are her 15 characteristics of a leader:
1. Security – Know you deserve to be seen as who you are. Have the security to see the best in others.
2. Confidence – Ability to dig deep and not be intimidated. Humility.
3. Positive attitude – Make the choice to be happy.
4. Maturity – Life isn’t the way it’s supposed to be – it is the way it is. The way you cope with it makes the difference. Listen, learn, and then react.
5. Focus – The ability to zero in and focus on one thing. Prioritize accurately.
6. Courage – Never be afraid to show vulnerability. Work hard to understand and figure out how to bring others with you.
7. Sweet – Sincere, thoughtful, generous at heart. Put others first. Be caring enough to connect with different types of personalities.
8. Communication – Open, transparent, caring enough to be thoughtful with approach. Anything can be solved with dedication to communication.
9. Tenacity – Never give up. Take responsibility whenever you have the opportunity to do so.
10. Humor – One of the brightest lights in lie. Never forget to laugh. Laugh with others. Be adventuresome. “Laughter is an instant vacation.” –Milton Borough
11. Agility – keeps us alert and nimble. Challenges us to be strong/on edge. Trailblazer.
12. Creativity – Ignites our passion. Keeps us youthful.
13. Commitment – Without it we sit in limbo. One of real dangers in life is lack of commitment. As soon as we commit, the universe conspires to assist you.
14. Inspiration – One of the greatest gifts can give self and others.
15. Passion – For life and all you do.
Thursday afternoon my team met for several hours to debrief what we learned. At this point we were exhausted and were getting stir crazy in the hotel. I think most of us were reluctant to go into another meeting room, but we were all surprised at how amazing we connected. We shared what stood out to us most and collaborated in a way that I never have experienced before. We talked about how we can apply what we learned and how we can share it with our teams back home. We all connected deeply and although we had different opinions, ended up coming to common ground. You can view a full copy of our team notes here.
That night we were eager to go out. :) We all went to dinner at Mike Ditka’s Restaurant and had a great time. We continued to talk about what we learned and connect with each other. After dinner, some of us walked back to the hotel so we could have one last view of downtown Chicago. I walked through Millennium Park and saw the famous bean as well as the beautiful architecture of large buildings.
Friday morning we continued going through what we learned and our CEO, Jesse Crowe, called in to join us. He had to fly out Thursday morning to attend an interview for the ACG Corporate Growth Awards. Our company was nominated for most innovative company in Orange County! After Jesse joined the call, we all focused more on an individual level about how we would apply what we learned starting Monday when we returned to work. We continued to detail out our action plans until we had to hop in our taxi’s and head for the airport.
Summary
The entire experience was amazing. I gained even more appreciation for the beautiful culture our team already has. We also have so much capability and potential. By having so many people attend, we achieved a critical mass to integrate the core components of Conscious Capitalism fully into all of our systems. We were also able to bond, connect, and collaborate on a whole new level. It has been incredibly exciting to experience and we continue to enjoy growing with the Conscious Capitalism movement.
Answers I Found to My Questions
1. As we define our culture as an organization, what techniques can we adopt to genuinely engage our team, inspire each to find their purpose, and encourage growth for everyone?
a. Share with the management team where we are at in our culture journey and invite their ideas for our action plan.
b. Invite each manager to submit ideas about our purpose.
d. [I learned a lot of details about how we should modify our culture action plan and made those adjustments.]
2. How can we apply these techniques as best practices for coordinators to make a positive daily impact for all teams?
a. Create Project Management best practices that help create structure and balance for projects to reduce the amount of time they take and make them more efficient.
b. Make calendar changes that build renewal periods into our schedules as well as for the managers.
c. Create meetings improvements which encourage playful participation to follow our golden rules and find creative ways to free up time.
