CWO Diary, Summer 2023

Hello and welcome to the summer vacation edition of the Chief Wellbeing Officer newsletter on LinkedIn. I've been taking time off this platform over the summer break, just posting again recently, but have maintained a regular beat with my email newsletter, out every Friday.

I've spent the past 5 weeks back in Scotland which has inspired me to post on the theme of community. More on this soon..

In this month's digest we look at Gratitude, Connection with Nature, Mindful Practice, the work of Réka Deák, the Chief Wellbeing Officer series with the Spanish newspaper Expansión and a brief look ahead to an exciting Autumn speaker schedule.

New Writing

My time home has resulted in some very reflective and personal writing, with giving thanks being one of my main feelings. This theme always lands well in my talks and workshops, with discussion often turning towards gratefulness for all life's experiences, both good and bad. This links to issues of re-framing, for example, how would you answer the following?

Think about a really bad day in the past few weeks or months. Now, looking back, is there anything in that day you can be grateful for?

Vacation is also a time to (re)connect with nature and I found personal value in reminding myself of the 4 elements of nature that I included in The Daily Reset. I do love a good quote, such as this one from Bruce Lee:

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless— like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; you put water in a bottle it becomes the bottle; you put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

And in some personal reflections around mindful practice I referenced the wisdom of Thich Nhat Hanh in drinking that water. Such a simple, everyday practice but if we can find the meaning and magic and presence in the everyday, it will transform our wellbeing. I also highlighted some monastic practices that each of us could implement:

What monastic practices could you implement today? De-cluttering? Listening without judgement? Learning something new? Taking on just one task at a time? Letting go of what you can’t control?

Community Spotlight

It's been great to see the growth of the work of Réka Deák the past several months with her Wellbeing Designers initiative. I love the focus on building community, with a great first season of her podcast focusing on corporate leaders in the wellbeing space. Being from a design background I like the intent of 'designing' wellbeing too. Stay tuned for an upcoming season 2 of the podcast and subscribe to her monthly newsletter here.

Back Catalogue

I'm pulling together a lot of previous material for my new website with one of my fond recent memories being a series for the Spanish business newspaper Expansión. Under the Chief Wellbeing Officer banner we recorded 6 episodes of around 3 minutes each for their TV channel. You can watch the episode on empathy for leadership (in Spanish) below. All episodes, as well as the English versions, will find a home on the new website soon.

CWO Programs

I spoke to the leadership team at the Glasgow School of Art over the summer but am excited to get going in earnest during September and October, including keynotes and multi-day programs with Workday in Arizona, Alfardan Group in Qatar and On in Zurich. In general, I'm focusing on building the speaking part of Chief Wellbeing Officer, which I announced recently on LinkedIn with this short trailer from my recent keynote in Bangkok.

That's it for this digest. Wishing everyone a happy and productive full return to work and see you in the September diary.

Steven