This past weekend I went to a general meeting for 350PDX, the local chapter of the climate change activist organization founded by Bill McKibben and others. My teens, twenties and my early thirties were filled with activism, and the last 10 years or so, not so much.
Now that our boys are just about 5 years old, it’s time for us to re-engage, and of the many incredibly important causes, climate change is where we want to put our energy.
After having spent a lot of time in activism, I’ve noticed that many heart-centered businesses have intentions similar to activist movements: the transformation of others. It was this similarity that drew me to start Heart of Business in the first place, and keeps me inspired in the work we are doing.
Unfortunately, the other thing heart-centered businesses have in common with activist movements is a key mistake in marketing. Although the mistakes look different for each, because activists and transformational agents can tend to go in different directions, the mistakes come from missing the same ingredient.
Before I tell you about the mistake, let me tell you about the relevant Sufi teaching.
What Has Rights Over You
I was checking in with one of my teachers the other day, in tears because there were certain spiritual practices I haven’t been able to keep up consistently due to parenting commitments. To be clear, I wasn’t beating myself up or in shame, it’s just that I missed how I felt when I did those practices.
He reminded me, with a lot of tenderness and compassion, of the spiritual teaching that certain things have “rights over you,” that you owe commitment and care to certain things.
Among these are caring for your children and family, caring for your physical body, caring for your work and livelihood. The sense behind this teaching is to keep us living in the real world. We don’t do a “spiritual bypass” and use spiritual work as an escape, but instead engage with spiritual work as we can be more loving, wiser, stronger of heart in how we live our lives and help others.
When he reminded me of this, it brought a great deal of compassion to my heart, and allowed me to be with what is. It also reminded me exactly how full my life is these days. I love my life, and there’s not a lot of laying around watching the paint dry kinda time.
The same is true for the people you want to help transform
The people you are trying to reach have busy, full, engaged lives, and they are engaged with what has rights over them. And their lives matter, what they care about matter a great deal to them.
Unfortunately, both activism and transformational work often look like “extras” (even though they really aren’t) that they’ll get to after they deal with all the other things in their life first. This happens because the connection between the daily lives of the people you want to reach and the work you offer isn’t made clear.
Activists do this by going into philosophical, fact-filled rants about how wrong something is. Transformational heart-centered business owners do this by talking about “the soul” and trying to capture elusive transformational experiences with fluffy, metaphor-filled language.
I agree with the fact-filled rants, and my heart loves to soar in the soul as much as any other seeker, but neither of those approaches move busy people to show up at a protest, or make it clear how much your people really need what you’re offering.
Stand in your strength and make the link
At the 350pdx meeting I joined the Communications Committee (of course), where a guy named Greg made the compelling point that “We’ve got to reach out to the unions, and to the working class, and let them know that climate change is about jobs, more jobs than there are people for, doing weatherization and other kinds of efficiency work that can’t be outsourced because it has to be done here.”
It’s so true. In fact, this past year we had our house insulated and a heat pump installed to get off natural gas, which contributed to local jobs right here in our community. The more our communities take a stand for doing something about climate change, the more we’ll see what jobs need to be done, and need people to actually get them done.
Did you notice that? He made the connection between climate change activism and the real need local communities have for jobs and paychecks.
I’ve worked with clients who do amazing healing work, and yet are… afraid? reluctant? In any event, not making the connection between the transformational work they do, and the actual differences clients see in their day-to-day lives, in health, in changed relationships, in the ability to succeed in work.
When you make those connections, in grounded, real-world ways, then your best clients can bump your offer up in priority, from, “Well, that sounds like a great thing to get to after I (get the raise at work, deal with my parenting challenges, get my health on track)…” to “Wow, your work can help me (get the raise at work, be better at parenting, feel healthier and more vital). Sign me up!”
In fact, I’ve watched more than one client make the shift, and then sell out a program or service, because they’ve dared to take something precious and sacred, and make it relevant to the daily lives of the people they most want to reach.
Everyone in this world of ours has commitments in their daily life that, rightfully, take a great deal of attention. If you show how your work is relevant to those commitments, then you are truly helping them, and you will start bringing clients in much more easily.
Action step: Right now think about the work you do, and the people you help. Name 3 ways your work improves something they struggle with in their daily lives, a struggle that is a priority to them. Share what you get in the comments, and feel free to ask questions about how to implement this!
Optional Action Step: Get involved, as a local business person, with a cause you care about, even if it’s just a small step.
One option: If you’re in Portland, sign up on the 350pdx.org mailing list and join us in the work on getting Portland, local colleges and communities of faith, and eventually the state of Oregon divested from fossil fuels. Not in Oregon? Check out 350.org and find (or start) a local chapter.
Peace,
Mark
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5 Responses
I read this article shortly after a client had a magical shift in her relationship. As she became honest about what she was bringing to the situation, she felt freer. Spontaneously, the other 1/2 of the relationship approached her (part of the ‘problem’ she felt was he wouldn’t talk to her) about something they had both been hiding from, and in a few short minutes they experienced a whole lot of healing together.
I see these things frequently, but have still held onto a hesitancy to claim it is what happens, because they often seem so fluid, fast and magical. My left brain seems to want to hold onto a more mechanical if this/then that function. It’s as if I believe and don’t at the same time, so hesitate to spell out the connection for potential clients.
Loved this article. Thanks, Mark!
CJ- What a beautiful example, and I get it how you would hesitate! And here’s hoping you don’t hesitate any longer… 🙂
That’s really thought provoking. I want to make sure I understand it well.
When we’re helping people, we must do it in a way that shows them how it will benefit their daily lives? And how they can implement it? That’s going to be hard for mine bahaha because this is not easy.
This particular blog really got to me. I’ve been writing this reply for a week now.
There’s two parts: The first part, “activism” and facilitating global change has many facets and each one of us has a part to play, whether we’re “out there doing something” i.e. joining 360.org or not. In Joanna Macy’s work she makes this quite clear: there are the activists on the front lines who are helping to prevent further damage, there are those helping to create maps for people to navigate the transitions we’re in, and there are those who support the first two kinds of folks. the healers and caretakers who encourage resilience practices for the inevitable burnout from taking on the necessary tasks. I personally fall into the third category. Relieved. Relieved that I can help. Relieved that I have a part to play and that not everyone is called to chain themselves to trees or follow Bill Mckibben. I admire people who do that, but it’s really not my thing. I suffered over that for years til I came across Macy’s work.
Secondly, about articulating the work I offer with more clarity, I can use help in that. I cannot make a direct link between the importance of increasing physiological, psychological & neurological capacity and say “getting that raise” or “getting along better w. the inlaws”. But I know that teaching people how to become more resilient & increasing neuroplasticity is really important. I know that our perceptions are held deeply in place by our core beliefs & that accessing those beliefs which are held in the body, empower us to become more resourceful in our daily lives. I know this. But can I say someone will be sexier, sweeter, richer, or more successful at work? No I can’t say that & feel like I’m in integrity. So there’s my ongoing dilemma. I feel like I’m trying to leap across a large crevasse.
Meg, It’s amazing to me how blind we can be to our own value in the world, how the most intelligent, compassionate people among us cannot see or trust how they enrich others” lives. I’m witnessing this all over, with artists and healers, and struggle with it myself. The funny thing is that when I read this sentence “I cannot make a direct link between the importance of increasing physiological, psychological & neurological capacity and say “getting that raise” or “getting along better w. the inlaws” ~well, my mouth dropped open. You are helping us to stay younger, healthier and productive for more years. You are helping us to expand our mind so that we can come up with innovative solutions for our problems and business. You are helping us be more resilient physically, mentally and spiritually, and that allows us to yes, do better at work, with more vitality and innovation, an increased capacity to address problems in new ways. At a time when creativity is the new currency, when we need to be innovators and recognize our uniqueness, you are the tune-up service for our success. I saw this the minute I read the description of what you do! It was common sense and clear. There’s nothing out of integrity with recognizing how your work impacts our lives. It’s real!
Thanks for allowing me to see so clearly how creative and spiritual workers often don’t see or trust the obvious value of our gifts in the “real world”. I’ll look at this more this week, how I do it and how I can take off my blinders.
I hope that you can receive this in your heart, because you are a beautiful being helping us in powerful ways.