Embrace your Journey #24

"The world is my responsibility. Everything that happens is driven by me." —?Monica Berg*

As we experience the energy of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, a good reminder from Monica and Michael Berg, who spoke at the cerimonies of the Kabbalah Center, is to step up and to choose to lead in life knowing that we are responsible for whatever happens in our life, and growing our desire to be a ruler who chooses life.

Does it sound too big a task? What if you start allowing to see yourself in the driver's seat more often than not, and start shifting your perception?

We often talk about self-leadership at Briyah, and the message from Monica and Michael Berg resonates so well with this innate potential we all can develop. And it starts with desire, with believing that you have the strength to handle discomfort and get going.

Another aspect we join them in inviting you to be more aware of is questioning more rather than staying comfortable with assumptions.

You will find more of this precious insight in one of their podcast we share below.

This is what self-leadership is all about: staying curious, growing the desire, asking more questions, becoming aware and asking better questions all life long with humility to admit that we haven't learned it all yet. The key is in how we respond to contrast, so raising awareness through asking better questions definitely helps. Are you with me??

Keep enjoying the material we share in this newsletter and at the Briyah Institute's page on LinkedIn and step up!

Cheers and Shanah Tovah,

Adriana Machado

Founder at Briyah Institute

At Briyah we are big fans of Prof. Clayton Christensen's work on innovation. He, unfortunately, has passed, but has left such a legacy on thinking about innovation, understanding that not all innovation is created equal, and driving it in a way that truly promotes prosperity! You may follow his institute and watch some of his many lectures that are available in YouTube and you will find so much wisdom!

Prof. Christensen** researched innovation and used to say that theories, which are statements of causality, can be used to look into the future and help people express what needs to be understood and acted upon.

Here is a slide that we created at Briyah to try to demonstrate the systemic approach he often talked about (please feel free to send us your feedback in the comments and start a conversation around it):

To learn more about this amazing thinker and researcher and his work around innovation, here is an old, but still relevant and thought-provoking video from the Edison Awards for you:

At Briyah, we firmly believe that having the ability to see systems, acknowledge the existence and dynamics of patterns, be aware of the properties that systems have, and know where to best intervene to innovate and promote positive change is a critical practice for leaders.

With that in mind, we suggest learning from the work of the late Donella Meadows, who has left us great lessons captured and shared by the Academy for Systems Change, and asking yourself where it makes the most sense to put your energy and focus if you are looking to promote transformation.

Here is a slide that we created at Briyah based on Meadows' article entitled "Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System" (please feel free to send us your feedback in the comments and start a conversation around it):?

We also recommend you read the article "Dancing with Systems" to be aware of the truth about prediction and control, about the fact that "self-organizing, nonlinear, feedback systems are inherently unpredictable."

We organized the information for you in the following slide. Make sure to take time to reflect upon the concepts she graciously left us with, specially the part of challenging assumptions by welcoming other people's views, and the willingness to learn from each other.

Despite being unpredictable, a good dose of awareness is always welcome! Specially towards our actions! As the late Chilean systems thinker Humberto Maturana*** used to say, there is always something we are conserving as we innovate, and having clarity about it is certainly a very good practice for responsible leaders.

In Kabbalah there is a constant reminder of the benefits of receiving to share with others, as opposed to receiving for the self alone.

Monica Berg has explicitly set herself with the mission of sharing with others what she has discovered in her personal journey. Among other activities, she co-founded a podcast series, called Spiritually Hungry, with her husband, Michael Berg, where they answer pressing questions, offering sage advice for the modern world.

Here is a taste of their podcast with Episode 108. Ask, Don’t Assume: 5 Ways to Stay Curious, in which they discuss how to end the trap of making assumptions.

In closing, some more great inspiration from Clayton Christensen's TEDx on how to measure life and success.

We hope you have enjoyed this edition and look forward to your comments.

"The future can’t be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being. Systems can’t be controlled, but they can be designed and redesigned. We can’t surge forward with certainty into a world of no surprises, but we can expect surprises and learn from them and even profit from them. We can’t impose our will upon a system. We can listen to what the system tells us, and discover how its properties and our values can work together to bring forth something much better than could ever be produced by our will alone." —?Donella Meadows****

Looking for further insights on how to apply systems thinking to work and life???Join us for the CEO Meet & Master Program. Registrations for the October cohort are open!?

We look forward to seeing you there!

At?Briyah Institute?we bridge innovation, practice and purpose to ignite leaders to transform organizations co-creating an impact economy -- that which pursues financial returns alongside positive impact for people and planet.

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*Monica Berg -- ?is the?author of Fear Is Not an Option and Rethink Love. She also serves as Chief Communications Officer for Kabbalah Centre International with her mission of sharing with others what she has discovered. Monica is a fresh voice that channels the powerful internal spark of Light living within us all. Authentic and fearless, she reminds us of our extraordinary potential and pushes us onward with compassion and understanding. While informed by her many years of kabbalistic study, Monica also draws heavily on her own personal life experiences. She battled and overcame a debilitating eating disorder at a young age, and as a mother of four children, one of whom has special needs, she has become an outspoken advocate for him and others struggling to find their voice. She is the co-author of the podcast "Spiritually Hungry". She lives in New York with her husband Michael and their children David, Joshua, Miriam, and Abigail.

*?Clayton Magleby Christensen?(April 6, 1952 – January 23, 2020) was an American author, academic and business consultant who developed the theory of “disruptive innovation”, which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. Christensen introduced “disruption” in his 1997 book?The Innovator’s Dilemma, and it led The Economist to term him “the most influential management thinker of his time.” He served as the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School (HBS), and was also a leader and writer in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Christensen was also a co-founder of Rose Park Advisors, a venture capital firm, and Innosight, a management consulting and investment firm specializing in innovation. For more, see the?New York Times obituary?of Christensen, which describes his lasting impact on business.

***Humberto Maturana, Ph.D.?(September 14, 1928 – May 6, 2021) was one of Chile's best known author, biologist and philosopher.?Maturana?created the term "autopoiesis" about the self-generating, self-maintaining structure in?living systems, and concepts such as structural determinism, structure coupling, and natural evolutionary drift.?His work was influential in many fields, mainly the field of systems thinking, cybernetic and the biology of cognition. He co-authored several books with Francisco Varela, including?Autopoiesis and Cognition?and The tree of Knowledge, where the quote in the beginning comes from. He co-founded?Matríztica?with Ximena Dávila.

***Dr. Donella H. Meadows, Ph.D. (March 13, 1941 – February 20, 2001) was an author, environmental scientist, educator,?and an inspiring leader. A Pew Scholar in Conservation and Environment and a MacArthur Fellow, she was one of the most influential environmental thinkers of the twentieth century. After receiving a Ph.D in biophysics from Harvard, she joined a team at MIT applying the relatively new tools of system dynamics to global problems. She became the principal author of?The Limits to Growth?(1972), which sold more than 9 million copies in 26 languages. She went on to author or co-author eight other books, including?Thinking in Systems, from where the quotes in this newsletter were taken.