INsight/ Energy for Leaders

Photo by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash.

Manila, 8 December 2021 — What will you learn about energy from the past year?

Story

It happened in 2021. Just a few years ago, the fight to introduce new, renewable forms of energy into our economy and daily life looked like an uphill battle. However, as we come to the end of this year, it feels as if we have seen a tipping point. More people than ever before are now aware that we, the world, are in an energy transition. The media storm around COP26 in Glasgow has rubbed our noses into the reality of climate change. And for the vast majority of actors, the key question is no longer if or how we can transition, but how fast we will do so.

That, however, is not the only transition involving energy that made headlines this year. Normally, at this time of year, we observe that our energy can run low, prompting us to look for ways to replenish it in the hope of starting the new year afresh. This year has been different. I have seen more people feel energetically challenged as the pressures from pandemic lockdowns and disruptions in work and life have kept rising. Some experienced this year how energy that they long took for granted slipped away, leading to anxiety and burnout. In fact, during this year, researchers at the World Health Organization and Gallup, an analytics firm, have sounded alarm bells about what they see as an impending crisis in mental wellbeing.

In both cases, one thing is clear. As we move to the year’s end and ponder how the stories about energy transition will play out, both at the macro-level of climate reality and at the micro-level of our work and life, a message from this year is written clearly on the wall.  It is that you and I, wherever we are, have a personal role in discovering and enacting new solutions to both the macro and micro energy challenges. That is, you and I can lead positive change if we pay enough attention to how we manage our energy and see ourselves as being in a transition. I will say yes to that challenge. What about you?

Challenge

Almost twenty years ago, in 2003, I was in a training about energy practices, in the beautiful Tao Garden resort in Northern Thailand. A moment I remember well was when Mantak Chia, our instructor, burst out laughing when he realized how ignorant we were about being surrounded by different forms of energy. He compared it to an Olympic-sized swimming pool full of energy. And we could not see it. Fortunately, that changed during the week, and the experience gave us new perspectives on energy, together with practices to enact these in our work and life. 

Unfortunately, there is still a lot about energy and how it manifests itself that we don’t see and realize, and for which science has yet to find ways to measure and show us what’s going on from an empirical perspective. So, in order to manage our energy well, we need to pay extra attention compared to other areas of life for which data is now commonly available and shown in our apps. What we do know from the world’s traditions is that we can group energy into gross, subtle, and causal types. Some traditions even point to fourth and fifth dimensions of energy in non-dual states of awareness. However, the first three give us plenty to start working with.

While we can already measure ‘gross’ types of energy in power grids and electromagnetic and gravitational fields, for example, what can we do to become more aware of the energies that we experience (feel) in our lives, which are more of a subtle or causal type? We can’t live our life lying in an fMRI machine, which would show us some of the waves in real-time. However, we do know that these energies can sometimes show up in patterns and cycles and that they can be influenced by activities we do and people we meet and spend time with (or stop meeting). There is more to discover when we put our mind to it.

Question

Working with leaders who saw themselves as being in a transition this year, I saw firsthand how energetic shifts could power a transformation in their work and life. This happened after we took a whole-person approach in their leadership development. All the way from reviewing the leadership hygiene practices of sleep, food, exercise, mindset, and celebration, to how they communicated and built relationships in their work environment.  

When you think about it, nothing is more important to your health, wellbeing, and performance than managing your energy. It’s for that reason that the traditions have, through the ages, emphasized practices to proactively enhance your life force, your élan vital. Some involve body-mind-spirit exercises like yoga, taiji, and qigong which you can do almost anywhere. Others are now available in apps that help you take time out to practice breathing, mindfulness, and gratitude regularly, and proactively. And by proactively, I mean well before your energy might recede on the slippery slope to burnout.

My question for you this week is what you will learn from this year about managing energy in your work and life. What do you need to change to make sure you can live in wellness daily and weekly, and help others do the same? Learning from what this year has taught you, your response may determine if, on a bigger stage, you can become known as a leader of positive change. And that matters a great deal to our world as we struggle with an energy transition to face climate reality.