— Inner Mastery, Outer Impact —
Master Your Inner Core with our 9-day Reflection Journey
On a crisp fall morning in 2008, I stepped into an elevator on my way to the 43rd-floor office of a well-known corporate leader, Andrew*. Another executive, Terrence, had suggested I meet with Andrew to discuss a business partnership Terrence and I were exploring.
As the elevator began its ascent, something struck me.
I was feeling quite cynical and critical of Andrew’s character. I had had one past interaction with Andrew and found him rather self-centered — very focused on his own agenda. A friend later told me Andrew had a reputation for being quite brusque. “Hitendra,” I had been telling myself, “life is short. You want to work with people you like. Andrew isn’t one of them. You’re wasting your time here. Keep the meeting short, and then exit.”
But I realized I was passing judgment on Andrew based on very few impressions. I remembered a Columbia student telling me that Warren Buffett had once said to him, “I believe that 10 percent of every human being is very inspiring. When I meet someone, my focus is on finding the 10 percent of this individual that is truly inspiring.”
So, I told myself, “Andrew must possess a beautiful inner core. My goal today is to discover and connect with it. I am going to walk out liking Andrew.” By the time the elevator reached Andrew’s floor, my energy had shifted. Instead of being guarded, skeptical and disengaged, I was friendly, open and interested.
I discovered during our meeting that Andrew and I had a shared interest in advancing certain social causes, and that he was taking major periods of time away from his corporate ambitions to selflessly support those endeavors. I learned that he, like me, was very fond of animals, and had started a shelter for injured animals. Whereas earlier I had found him self-centered, I now recognized that he was focused in a laser-sharp way on the causes he believed in.
Even his purported brusqueness now came across to me as refreshing candor, as he flagged certain political issues in a C-suite that Terrence and I were dealing with. By the time I left his office, it was clear we had established a warm connection.
My relationship with Andrew has blossomed over the years. I smile sometimes and wonder what would have happened if, on that day in the elevator, I had not made the choice to reset my energy so I could meet him with an open, appreciative heart.
Take a moment to reflect. Have you had a similar first encounter with someone who is now a cherished connection?
When you take on a task or walk into a meeting, don’t just focus on your speech or behavior. Focus on the energy you’re bringing to the room — the thoughts, feelings, beliefs and intentions that are percolating within. If you have the wrong energy, you’ll behave the wrong way and get the wrong result. If you have the right energy, you’ll light up the room, and good things may unexpectedly materialize.
In my research, I’ve found that at our core, we possess five energies.
We experience a powerful shift when we start to activate and express these energies in everything we do.
For example, in that moment in the elevator, I shifted my energy from being cynical about Andrew to wanting to connect with him in a loving manner (Love); from being judgemental about him to discovering a more balanced truth about his nature (Wisdom); from feeling like a know-it-all to being curious and open to new learnings about him (Growth); from being dismissive about the meeting’s value to being committed to discovering his inner core (Purpose).
How can we activate these energies in ourselves and others in the theater of life? That’s what we will discuss in our next newsletter, where we will learn about an incredible incident in an American school where a would-be mass shooter was miraculously dissuaded and disarmed.
* Names have been changed to preserve anonymity.
Note: Parts of this newsletter are excerpted from my book, Inner Mastery, Outer Impact: How Your 5 Core Energies Hold the Key to Success.
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