Firstly I want to put a HUGE public thank you out into the ether for my 33 primary research contributors to the book and a BIG thank you to all of you that are still here following this book evolution.
I have hyperlinked the names of all research contributors in case you were interested to follow them and their work as well including hyperlinks to books and/or podcasts that they have created for ease of access:
Minda Harts - Author of The Memo, speaker, and host of the Secure the Seat podcast
Garry Ridge - CEO of WD-40, author of Helping People Win At Work & speaker
Kimberly Davis - Author of Brave Leadership, TEDx & keynote speaker
Jane Adshead-Grant - Master coach, author of Are you listening or just waiting to speak? & Thinking Environment teacher
Mark C Crowley - Author of Lead from the Heart, speaker & host of the Lead from the Heart podcast
Aga Bajer - Culture strategist, author of Building and Sustaining a Coaching Culture and host of The Culture Lab podcast
Arlene Mendoza - Innovation strategist and human-centered design advocate
Bart Scholtissen - WimHof Academy instructor, neuroscientist and breathwork teacher
Nadine Steingruber - Student & Ignite Movement leader
Cornell Thomas - Positivity Summit creator, host of the Population Unplugged podcast, motivational speaker, and social entrepreneur
Crocetta Brucato - Sustainability & organisational resilience advocate
Lara Plaxton - Co-Founder at GotDis, agile working advocate and progressive HR leader
Margaret Ochieng - Founder of The Inclusive Village & organisational psychology expert
Whitney Johnson - Multiple author including Disrupt Yourself, host of the Disrupt Yourself podcast & speaker
Mike Vacanti - HumansFirst movement founder, author of Believership and speaker
Rishita Jones - Progressive thinker & agile HR leader
Jo Menon - My current coach & global programme change leader
Toby Mildon - Author of Inclusive Growth & host of the Inclusive Growth show podcast
Debra Ruh - Author of Inclusion Branding, host of the Human Potential At Work podcast, speaker, and disability inclusion advocate
Perry Timms - 2 x TEDx speaker, agile HR advocate and author of Transformational HR
Heather Younger - Author of The 7 Intuitive Laws of Employee Loyalty, TEDx speaker and host of the Leadership with Heart podcast
Hilton Barbour - Marketing Provocateur, VP of marketing, culture, change & people-centered design advocate
Helen Amery - Innate brilliance coach, author of Lets Get Honest About Work & co-host the What You’ve Been Looking For podcast
Jo Hompstead - Progressive thinker, believer in people and founder of ConnectUp
Juliana Kossler - Marketing project manager & emerging leader
Samantha Suppiah - Sustainability strategist & incredible thinker
Tom van der Lubbe - Co-founder of Viisi, the leading best place to work in the Netherlands and passionate believer in unleashing human potential
Susanna Bronnimann - Junior consultant and recent Masters graduate with an incredibly sharp mind around the people agenda
Lodewijk Mellema - Progressive people-centered leader, colleague & MD of IMCD Benelux
Rich Cooper - Stealth job-crafter, coach and believer in people
Olga Piehler - Founder of MyWy, Programme Director & bright mind
Nuria Rojo - Holistic Organization Transformation Champion & Hacking HR Zurich chapter lead
Rob Baker - Author of Personalisation at Work & positive psychology advocate
I have been very intentional about seeking insights and experience from a mix of in-house and out-house peers across an intentional blend of skin hue, lived experience, and intersectionality. I truly hope that this comes through in the book.
Please do check out the above amazing human beings, they have all enriched my life so much over the past few years and I believe that they would enrich your social feeds also.
Will the book title change?
The beauty and interest for me thus far of this book-writing and research process is truly being IN the change and growth process.
This was brought sharply into my focus by the 33rd and final interview that I reviewed, that of my friend and founder of MyWy, Olga Piehler, when she shared two key reflections for me when sharing what comes up for her when thinking about the book title, Change Is An Inside Job:
“My first inclination was ‘but of course it is.’ Then as I thought a little more about it, I thought, is growth the inside job and change a consequence of being a live organism?”
Going further, when she shared her view as to the potential correlation between change and growth she shared:
“In some ways change could be the catalyst for that growth. If you are not exposed to that deviation or something different, then you can’t make that growth”
Think about COVID-19, right now. If you are reading this, this change was forced upon us, BUT, have you grown as a result? Whatever your thoughts, please reply to this email and share if you were open, I would love to hear from you.
So I am really sitting in the question of should the title be:
Change is an inside job
or
Growth is an inside job
The result is the same, it is an internal-first process, but I am pondering the last word/message.
What comes up for you when you think about those two titles? I would be grateful if you hit reply and let me know.
Speaking to publishers
I, honestly, never, thought I would type the above three words into any media, EVER!
As somebody that was brought up in the UK with English as my first language, I got an E in my English Language GCSE. Grammar is not my strong point! so to be starting conversations with publishers just seems the oddest thing.
However, I guess the point of using a professional 3rd party is that they can tidy up my dogy East London cockney accent in readiness for publication :-)
I am grateful to Toby Mildon for kindly recommending the publisher that he used, ReThink Press, and I will consider another couple of options also.
They work on a hybrid basis i.e develop a fully professional book but keeps a lot of the essence of the writing, whereas big publishers tend to squeeze the soul out.
This appeals to me personally as I am writing a highly emotive and personal exploration and I will keep you updated with what occurs. It is a 3-month process from when the agreement is made so we could be looking at the book being done by year-end. #eek
Will it be hard or a flow experience?
It is interesting for me when reflecting about the title of this post, ‘now the hard work starts.’
Social entrepreneur and motivational speaker Cornell Thomas shared during our interview that:
“We should always be evolving. For me evolution is growth. Who you met months ago in Switzerland should pale into insignificance to who I am now. It is a constant evolution, it is a constant growth, that is what I think change is. However you can change and learn nothing, because if you are stuck in ‘how it was,’ the old relationship or the old job, you’re going to miss all of these beautiful lessons that come with change.”
To that end, it could be seen that to encounter adversity/challenge is fuel for growth, what do you think?
I would concur with this as when I burned myself out, the realisation a few years later that I did it to myself via months of successive overthinking was actually very freeing! I spoke about in on this podcast previously with Piers Thurston.
That said, Olga Piehler also shared that when speaking about when change is effective:
“It feels that I am more congruent with myself and with the goals that I have set for myself, as an individual or within an organisation. If I can see that I can show up as myself, for example if introducing new tools at work, if I can see that those tools can help me be more congruent with myself, as an employee, as a team member, it helps reduce resistance and increase flow, as you go through that change”
Being in the flow, I would assert, directly correlates with what you think and feel about yourself, regardless of what is happening in the outside world? I wonder how that sits with you?
Ideas from the breakfast table!
This morning I was having breakfast with my wife Jackie and we were talking about spheres of influence, something that came up when I was listening to Mark C Crowley’s recent podcast with Francis Frei after my run this morning.
following this chat, I have pulled together a proposal to offer to run a virtual knowledge & experience sharing hackathon for 7 of the most open-hearted and open-minded, progressive leaders at my work organisation.
Using a mix of Miro & Zoom, these virtual hackathons can super-charge innovation and employee voice with one recent example that I led in-person hacking 502 data points and over 40 co-created ideas in less than 6 hours.
Should this idea pique your interest, please do get in touch.
The Interpersonal Catalyst EcoSystem
I am getting clearer and clearer on how and whom I am here to serve with this latest iteration of my envisaged EcoSystem:
The thing I am most excited about is that my two non-negotiable core values of connection and growth are golden threads throughout all of these different communities and activities, as are the numerous connections and friends that I am grateful to know and be surrounded by.
Aequip - A mobile-first double feedback & listening loop
In case of any interest to you or those that you serve/work with, the tech startup that I am advising, Aequip, have developed this 2 mins explainer video to bring to life the opportunities that they are seeking to realise within an organisational setting which includes:
1. Quickly surfacing and actioning process improvements;
2. Improve organisational listening at all levels;
3. Solve day-to-day problems from the bottom-up and middle-out
HumansFirst community
Mike Vacanti’s HumansFirst community continues to evolve with open and inclusive weekly hangouts taking place every Mon at 1200pm UK / 1300pm CET, Thursday and Friday at 1700pm UK.
The Monday 15th June call can be found here and the Monday 22nd June call can be found here.
All of the links can be found here and please know that we are still targeting to hold the first-ever 2-day retreat in Dorset across 12th & 13th Nov 2020, with tickets being available here.
If you are seeking to diversify your social feeds or network, please hit reply and let me know why and how you wish yo achieve that aim, and I will help you in any way that I can.
The book writing process will only be as hard as I THINK and feel it is, yet let’s see what I am saying in future newsletters !!
I hope that you are keeping well and if I can support you in any way, please do get in touch and/or take a look at my website at www.garryturner.life.
Cheers
Garry
garry@garryturner.life