One thing we can be sure of, both as individuals and as a society, is that however much we think we know about the way life works, there is more that we don’t know.

Holding this essential humility gives us the opportunity to learn and negates dogma.

The existence, or otherwise, of what we might consider to be exceptional is independent of whether we understand it, or believe in it and of the opinions of others.

There are many things which cannot be seen or touched, but have to be experienced. Even with experience their form can be hard to quantify or explain, but this does not mean that they do not exist.

I have worked with thousands of people to help them to articulate their life’s purpose. One of the things I have seen in this experience is that people have a kind of energetic compass. We know what the right thing to do is.

This energetic compass is like “The Force” in Star Wars, it can help us to achieve amazing things and it also has a dark side. Our energetic compass helps us to find motivation, energy and passion.

With motivation, energy and passion amazing things can be achieved. But the compass points in two directions and we have have a choice which direction we take.

We can choose “The Dark Side” and be motivated by fear, greed and anger or we can choose the positive side and be motivated by love and compassion.

We make this choice every day. In the way we relate to friends and family, in the way we run our lives, our businesses and our society. Our challenge and our opportunity is to increasingly make decisions based in on “The Light Side.”

From what I have seen in the people I have worked with, we only learn to be motivated by fear through negative life experiences. When we notice feelings of fear or anger motivating our choices we can take action to change it.

In order to make the shift to being motivated by love we need to legitimise our feelings and responses to those negative experiences. We do this by revisiting the experience with a higher level of understanding (perhaps with some help) and applying that to our response retrospectively.

We may then need to go through a process of healing with those who were involved in the experience or with ourselves.

If we do this every time it happens we learn how to positively focus our motivation in all things even when things look scary or bleak.

If you would like help in moving motivation to “The Light Side” for yourself or your organisation lets have a chat.

Take a look at my new Motivational Coaching web site at www.neilcrofts.com

With love

nx

Neil Crofts

Inspirer

authenticis

inspiration innovation motivation

+44 (0)7775 658534

neil@authenticis.com

www.authenticis.com

From a mainstream media/political/business perspective recession is definitely a bad thing. But, is recession a bad thing from a global evolution perspective or an authentic business perspective?

From a global evolution perspective this particular recession is necessary.

There was a growing awareness that the model of business currently crunching, was out of date and no longer in touch with society. An awareness that society is moving to a different level where innovation is required and required to benefit wider society in a sustainable way.

It is difficult not to be persuaded by the innovation limiting idea “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. So while business was booming and the money was rolling in it was difficult to persuade people that their success was a problem.

This recession will be a clear out and will help us to shift society one step forwards towards more sustainable and authentic business practices.

The real loser through all of this has been societies trust in banks, in particular, and business in general. Rebuilding that trust is going to involve many businesses developing a level of integrity that they have never known.

The kind of integrity that authentic businesses enjoy.

Authentic businesses are likely to be somewhat protected from the worst effects of credit crunch and recession by the closeness of their relationships with their customers and their long term sustainable approach to profitability.

Charles Middleton the MD of Triodos Bank in the the UK spoke about this in a recent article in The Guardian.

Through the challenges of recession some conventional businesses leaders will decide that authenticity might be the way to rebuild trust and confidence in their business and their brand.

Authentic businesses generate their profit through the pursuit of a profound and positive purpose. Profit is required, but it is not the reason for being in business. Whatever the specific purpose is, it is a passion shared by customers and employees.

From a business perspective it generates tremendous customer loyalty and word of mouth recommendation. On average authentic businesses spend 80% less on marketing than their conventional counterparts.

Authentic businesses provide a platform for their staff to achieve their personal life purpose, because they share it with the business. So these businesses also enjoy high levels of motivation and loyalty from their staff.
Conventional businesses can become authentic by understanding and articulating their true purpose and then using that authentic purpose to redefine the brand and culture.

I would love to discuss these issues with you. Please comment here or e-mail me directly.

Take a look at my new Motivational Coaching web site at www.neilcrofts.com

With love

nx

Neil Crofts

Inspirer

authenticis

inspiration innovation motivation

+44 (0)7775 658534

neil@authenticis.com

www.authenticis.com

All of the conflict we see in the world is simply a reflection of our collective inner conflict.

Corruption, crime, war, aggression in business and politics, bullying, fundamentalism, exploitation of people and nature are all conflicts that cannot exist when we are at peace with ourselves.

The path to world peace requires enough of us to find inner peace that the conflict ends - that is all.

It is an individual process and, if we seek world peace, we must each take responsibility for our own inner peace first. To be clear - it is not possible to fight for peace, we must simply find our own peace and then help others to find theirs.

A map is helpful in making any journey, so what follows is my best current understanding of the map of the path to peace. If you believe in peace and if you believe in this map, please share it with as many people as you can, we urgently need to move on from conflict.

“Legitimise” - We first need to accept that we are where we are. There is no blame. Whatever has occurred to get us to where we are was valuable. No matter how painful our experiences might have been, if we can let go of the blame, they will contribute to getting us to where we are going.

We need to accept that fear, confusion and weakness are inevitable at this stage and that we can move on from them, if we choose to.

“Visualise” - The second step is to articulate our potential and our purpose. To create a vision for how our life can be. To do this we must let go of societal limitations and soar.

My free life purpose e-book can be helpful at this stage.

For our vision to be effective it must be fully present for us. It must be more present in our daily life than distractions. Think how present distractions, like media or an unloved job, are in your life - how can you make your vision more present than them?

“Release” - Our true purpose will happen if we let it - we are held back by baggage and tensions, once we have articulated our purpose and vision we need to let go of the junk in order to get there.

As you articulate your vision it is very likely that all sorts of negative thoughts will swamp your mind. Write them down. The real work of the path to peace is releasing these tensions.

Common ones are:

Parental relationships that need healing

Who am I to… - who are you not to?

Money issues - see my free Authentic Wealth e-book

Confidence/fear of failure - practice, practice, practice

Location - we need to be in a place that inspires

Releasing these tensions may need some help. Find a friend or coach who can help you through this.

No world class athlete would expect to achieve top level performances without the help of a coach - why should we? Why should any of us settle for less than our top level performances?

“Come out” - at some point the pull of the possibility overcomes the inertia of the baggage and it is time to declare our truth to the world.

Ideally this is done in a way which will sustain during the dark moments that will follow. A way which is so committed that we have to work things out and going backwards is not an option.

“serve/teach” - the sense of liberty, peace, clarity and unlimited possibility of the breakthrough to authenticity comes with a responsibility to share it with others. As we make the breakthrough we discover how much more there is to learn and that learning is best done through teaching and service.

This is my work. I help people, both as individuals and within organisations to live at their highest potential. I am profoundly grateful for this gift. If you feel I could help you or your organisation - lets have a chat.

“Transcend” - at some point we can make the shift from doing to being. We have learned and contributed so much that all we need to do is to be.

Take a look at my new Motivational Coaching web site at www.neilcrofts.com

With love

nx

Neil Crofts

Inspirer

authenticis

inspiration innovation motivation

+44 (0)7775 658534

neil@authenticis.com

www.authenticis.com

The world is changing. The old solutions are no longer appropriate or acceptable.

War and competition are no longer adequate or acceptable ways to allocate resources. We are learning that ultimately the cost of simply taking resources from people is too high.

We are learning that in a globalised world the cost of failing to understand people and cultures is too high. We are beginning to see that much of what has been considered “normal” social, business and political practices amount to little more than bullying and intimidation.

We are learning that the cost of bullying by individuals, businesses and governments is too high, economically, environmentally and socially.

But where does bullying come from?

Bullying is a symptom of insecurity and fear and it only creates further insecurity and fear.

There is a growing movement of cultural innovation that is about building the self confidence of business people, public servants and the next generation. With a population confident in their own worth and their own abilities, bullying at all levels would end.

Self confidence does not lead to arrogance. Arrogance is just another symptom of insecurity. The truly confident feel no need to prove themselves, the truly confident only want to help others to grow.

There is a cycle (Identified by Norman F Dixon in his seminal work “On the Psychology of military incompetence”) where people in responsible roles, who are themselves insecure, see little personal benefit in building the confidence of those they are responsible for. In fact many consider it to be a threat.

It is now vital to break this cycle and to start to focus education and training on real leadership. Leadership that has the courage to tackle the real issues and the wisdom and humility to engage people where they are.

One of the great misunderstandings of leadership is that it is possible to appoint a leader. Leadership is emergent by definition, leaders cannot be appointed.

I meet so many people these days whose “talent” (see my FREE life purpose e-book) is leadership and yet they are reluctant to admit it, because they believe that they need someone to appoint them to leadership.

This is not true.

Leadership is not appointed, nor can it be hierarchical. Leadership is assumed by people who believe strongly enough in something to do something about it.

We need to re-design our businesses and our public organisations to encourage people to lead on the things that they believe in. By doing this we release a tidal wave of motivation, creativity and commitment that will transform the productivity and relevance of our organisations.

The only thing that holds us back is the insecurity of those holding the levers of power.

Do you have the courage to unleash the full potential of those you are responsible for?

Do you have the courage to unleash your own full potential?

Authentic Leadership is one of the key strands of work that we do with Authenticis . We can help to unleash the full potential of your organisation through it’s people, lets have a chat and I can explain how it works.

Take a look at my new Motivational Coaching web site at www.neilcrofts.com

With love

nx

Neil Crofts

Inspirer

authenticis

inspiration innovation motivation

+44 (0)7775 658534

neil@authenticis.com

www.authenticis.com
 

In spite of the current melt down and the views of some, capitalism is not a fundamentally bad system for managing the distribution of wealth in society.

Capitalism has some tremendous strengths; the way that it can reward creativity and hard work, the way that resources can be made a available to promising ideas and in the way that the market defines demand.

It also has weaknesses in that rewards can be completely disproportionate and that the market can demand products that are destructive.

However the fundamental challenge with capitalism that I would like to address here is the fine distinction between gambling and investment and it’s very human counterpart the distinction between passion and addiction.

Of course at the more polarized ends of the spectra it is easy to distinguish between gambling and investment and between passion and addiction. The challenge is to make the distinction in the blurry area in the middle where it is more difficult to tell.

Being able to make that distinction is important.

Money is a human invention which we use to facilitate the transfer of energy (for more detail see my free Authentic Wealth e-bookfor more detail see my free Authentic Wealth e-book). While money is used for fairly transferring energy it is healthy and energising for those involved.

As soon as money is used for gambling or exploitation it is corrosive and harmful to all involved. It is just as harmful to the gambler or the exploiter as it is to the more obvious victims.

Investment contributes energy for the development of greater value and implies a level of care for the process. Gambling simply bets on one, possibly negative, outcome over another and cares only for the result.

The distinction between passion and addiction is that passion leads to growth, learning and wellbeing. Whereas addiction leads to contraction, narrowing and dis-ease.

Some businesses operate on the basis of addiction and gambling. Providing addictive thrills and rewards for their staff while using their resources to gamble for greater returns to feed the addiction. These practices although they might appear successful for some time are ultimately destructive.

This is where authentic businesses show us the way. The success of authentic business is based on the energising foundation of passion and that leads to growth and sustainable success.

If we can take the opportunity of this economic crisis to learn and make the distinction between passion and addiction, between investment and gambling, we will be taking a step towards sustainably profitable businesses and a more sustainable society.

Our new company Authenticis is specifically about working with businesses to engage their people with their own passions. We then work with the business, the people and the brand to enable the business to be a platform for the passions of their people.

When a business is driven by the passions of it’s people it becomes an authentic business and can enjoy the benefits of high levels of motivation and engagement from staff and customers.

Authenticis can help you raise the authenticity, motivation and engagement in your business, lets have a chat and I can explain how it works.

Take a look at my new Motivational Coaching web site at www.neilcrofts.com

With love

nx

Neil Crofts

Inspirer

authenticis

inspiration innovation motivation

+44 (0)7775 658534

neil@authenticis.com

www.authenticis.com