The Global Wellness Summit 2017 – Day 1

The year, the Global Wellness Summit is being hosted by the Breakers Resort, West Palm Beach in Florida. This is a truly magnificent old building and the business is a genuine testament to the power of a Workplace Wellbeing Program.

The Breakers first opened for business 122 years ago and is one of only 1100, one-hundred-year-old companies still under the guidance of its original ownership. Among those it is the only luxury resort in this category.

Early in the day, we enjoyed a panel discussion featuring Denise Bober, VP Human Resources at the Breakers, Garrett Kirk JR, Owner and Executive Committee Member, and Paul Leone, CEO.

Garrett, an elderly gentleman who is still obviously sharp as a whip, gave a passionate introduction. I wish I could share all that he said, but his passion captivated me and I found myself listening and forgetting to take notes.

He said, “Our A Game today is our B game tomorrow. First, we make our people better. When they are good we make them even better. Then we keep going until they are extraordinary. We have to see possibility.”

He went on to say that, “An effective workplace wellness program is the toughest challenge for a company today but the most important benefit a company can give is employees.

Denise shared how the Workplace Wellness Program was her project. She commenced the project 12 years ago and shared the success came from their decision to start at the top first and get all of the executive team on board. Once that happened, the program had the full support it needed to make it happen. She even shared that some of the executive team had to face the humiliation of where they were with their own health, and take ownership of that and decide to make change.

Paul then shared. He said they decided to measure results with a balanced scorecard. They found that when they placed significant attention on team satisfaction, there was a noticeable increase in customer satisfaction and with that came growth and achievement of income targets.

After fending off attempts by the big chains, including Marriott, to take the resort over, the company has experienced stunning results. It is the top earning hotel of its type in the country achieving extraordinary returns on investment.

Paul also shared that he believed that 70% of people go to work every day and hate their jobs. “Invest in your people” he said, “It is not only the right thing to do but it is a terrific economic decision.”

The resort employs 2000 people. My experience of them is that they are genuinely happy, fully engaged and incredibly skillful in their roles. A simple example came last night at dinner. I was dining with a good friend and she asked if one of the options was vegan. The waiter replied that it was not because there was a small amount of honey in the dressing. Very few people know that vegans do not eat honey. I was very impressed, not just by his knowledge, but the fact that I could feel his care in his service to her.

Ok, that is enough about the Breakers, but I did wish to share it because if you are an employer and you are reading this, it is really worth the stretch to go even further with your efforts to care for your employees and enhance their love of their work.

The Morning was opened by the wonderful Louie Schwartzberg, founder of Moving Art in the US. If you have read my Global Wellness Summit reviews in the past you will be familiar with Louie. A film making genius and a dedicated student of nature with a heart big enough to cradle the future of mankind.

Again, when Louie speaks, I find it hard to take notes.

He opened with some beautiful footage of his work in nature, showing flowers of all kinds displaying their daily routine using high resolution, high speed film, capturing in a serenely dynamic display, events that in real time are barely noticeable.

Louie shared that Flowers are a love story, the sexual organs of plants that feed us. He talked about the incredible networks in nature that support all of this profound growth that often ends as food on our table. He said, “There is no life without networks.” Probably true in all areas of life.

He went on to tell us that he is completing the finishing touches on his latest work on mushrooms. I personally cannot wait to see it. “Mushrooms” he said, “are not a vegetable or animal. They are somewhere in between. Fungus is a kingdom all on its own.”

He went on to share with us that plants need soil and that soil is made from mushrooms. They can devour rock and turn it into rich soil. They are the largest organ on the planet. This is fascinating to me because the Microbiome, the bacterial population in and on our bodies, is now being referred to as the largest organ in humans.

Louie shared that the research with mushroom is only just getting started in terms of their healing properties. The Lions Maine mushroom, for example, is proving extremely effective in healing Alzheimer's disease. There are elements in this fungi that enhance and preserve neurogenesis.

He also went on and talked about Mushrooms containing Psilocybin, once adored as a preferred psychedelic drug of a hippy generation. Be he said that we need to ask, “Why do these mushrooms create a molecule that can give us a glimpse into the Devine?” Regulatory authorities fearing a drug outbreak a limiting the research around this and other molecules, but initial research shows incredible impact on changing a person’s capacity to self-heal.

There is so much more to learn here. There is no doubt that with Mushrooms, as with the Microbiome, we are merely scratching the surface.

I could talk about Louie all day, but I do not want to simply focus on his work with Mushrooms, because he really does share his passion for the nurturing powers of mother nature. I first started to learn about this as a documented health science over 20 years ago from my wonderful friend and globe-trotting Yogi, Neal Hoptman.  

Louie shared 6 clear benefits of connecting with Nature.

• Improves performance on creative problem-solving tasks.
• Less mental distress and lower incidence of death and disease
• Faster hospital recovery
• Better educational performance
• Decrease Blood pressure, heart rate and level of stress hormones
• Improves short term memory and other executive attention skills.

The next presenter was Dr Richard Carmona, 17th Surgeon General of The United States. He shared a lot of interesting perspectives. Most notably, he outlined perhaps the biggest elephant in any Government room in the Western World.

In the US 19% of GDP is spent on health and more than 75 cents in every dollar spent is spent on preventable diseases that are all caused by lifestyle choices. He said, the future we are leaving for kids and grand kids is unsustainable.

He went on to talk about how our modern lifestyles are giving us diseases that have nothing to do with genetics. He shared that Big Pharma and Big Food are doing everything they can to keep it that way. When a person is diagnosed with high blood pressure, a GP is likely to put the person on a drug for life instead of working with the patient to explore how they are creating their high blood pressure.

It is a self-sustaining loop where fear of legal retribution makes the prescription of a drug the safest option for the doctor. But the patient is not getting the best care.

We then heard from Chris Jordan, director of Exercise Physiology, Johnson and Johnson Human Performance Institute. Chris’s presentation, titled “We don’t need more time, we need more energy”, was interesting.

As he progressed with his presentation, I realised that when he used the word energy, he was referring to what I call attention. He was talking about the things that get in the way of us being able to keep our attention on the things we want to put it on, and what stops us putting our attention on the things we need to be putting it on.

The Key Principles of the J&J program include:

1. Manage your energy not just your time. Invest in the moment to get best value for time. Fix your energy in the moment.
2. Energy is 4 dimensional - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual
3. Oscillation - energy expenditure has to be coupled with energy recovery. Over-training or under recovery for an athlete result in the same problems. This can be done in many ways.       

We then heard from the wonderful Katherine Johnstone and Ophelia Yeung talking about Wellness Communities. This is perhaps the trend for the future where people will live in perhaps smaller communities that nurture health, wellbeing and life.

Katherine talked about living in upper middle class suburban Philadelphia where everyone lives on a large block but living in a way that is designed to prevent connection with neighbours. She said she is more likely to see her neighbours at the bus stop when dropping her kids off than anywhere else. There is a profound lack of connection with other people, something we all need to sustain wellbeing.

Then Ophelia shared that whilst it might seem to the opposite, living in densely populated apartment buildings, 50% of people in Hong Kong are sedentary and disconnected. She also talked about sick building syndrome and a real wake up came when she said that 25% of people who live in urban areas in this world actually live in slums.

A Wellness community is a group of people living in close proximity who share common goals, interests and experiences in proactively pursuing wellness across its many dimensions. Some of their key points about Wellness Communities included:

Passive: is about focusing on a nurturing home environment

Action: is about getting out of the home and focusing on connection and engagement

Hardware: is the real estate

Software: is the programs and services that draw people out

Me to we: Connection, service and awareness of the impact of our choices on others.

There is significant demand in the world for this style of living and people are willing to pay a premium. Katherine and Ophelia shared, “If we want to handle growing health crisis in the world, we have to turn our attention to where we live.”

Then we heard from Frits Dirk van Paasschen, former CEO of Starwood, talking about Wellness in the Age of Disruptors. This was a great talk and I again found myself lost in his words and not taking enough notes.

But his main message surrounded new ideas coming into the world and changing things so rapidly. He said, “We are living in the age of disruption. The Digital revolution has been the catalyst.” He went on, “If I have a phone and nobody else does, it is useless. But if everyone has a phone it is indispensable.”

He shared that the average age of Fortune 500 companies is 15 years. He told us that savvy marketers understand that People are irrational and they are predictably irrational. He said that many companies are successful because they have learned to do a couple of things very, very well, and because of this they are exposed to disrupters. But it does not have to be this way.

Royal DSM - a Dutch company that started as a state-owned coal company. It saw the change coming and adjusted and is not listed Number 2 on the list of top 50 companies changing the world. Check them out at here.

Frits asked the question though. “How do we overcome our own cognitive bias?” This can stop us seeing possibility. He shared that at Starwood they noticed in China that people were beginning to book hotels on their smart phones. We needed to learn what was happing there and learn from them so that if it took on in other parts of the world, we would be ready. So, he moved his executive team to China for a few months to immerse themselves in the learning and it paid off incredibly for them.

He laughed when he said that “Nobody has 20 years of social media experience”. He went on to share his definition of insanity. Doing the same thing and expecting the same result!

We then heard from the wonderful and Courageous Professor Dean Ornish. I have been following his work for over 25 years. He talked to us about the Transformative Power of Lifestyle Medicine. If you have never seen his global best-selling Book from the mid 1980’s, “Dr Dean Ornish’s Program for Reversing Heart Disease”, get a copy. It is still deeply relevant today. That gives you an idea of how far ahead of the curve this incredible man really is.

His program is based on four major elements.

1.     A Whole foods, plant based diet low in fats and refined carbohydrates.

2.     Stress Management

3.     Moderate Exercise

4.     Psychological Support.

Put more simply, this means to Eat well, Move more, Stress less and Love more.

He shared how Western Medicine is totally focused on the symptoms and not asking the question often enough, “What is the cause”. He showed the following brilliant cartoon to demonstrate the insanity of this approach.

In the above cartoon, the characters are frenetically attempting to mop up the water, instead of turning around and shutting off the tap.

Dr Ornish’s program is now being funded by Insurance Companies and Medicare across many hospitals in America. It is a 72 hour program that supports the patient to make the changes necessary to see themselves through re-creating their lives. The results are stunning with an ongoing reduction in risk.

I will write more about his work in another paper.

One stunning outcome though occurred when there were 12 patients needing a heart transplant who were placed in this program as a possibly helpful therapy whilst they awaited heart transplant surgery. These people had all been deemed to have hearts that were no longer able to sustain life and needed to be replaced. All 12 of them got better and no longer needed heart transplant surgery.

His treatment is considered radical. He said, “Which is more radical to you: Taking out a person’s heart and replacing it with one from a deceased person, or changing your lifestyle”. This demonstrates the profound absurdity of Western Medicine.

Finally, another noticeable outcome of the Ornish Program is that genetic testing showed that Oncogenes, the genes that promote prostate, breast and colon cancer were all down-regulated – turned off. More on this later.

Finally, Professor Ornish talked about the major ingredient required to support change of lifestyle. He said that fear, even fear of death, doesn’t work. But love and inspiration do. When people decide to make change for the betterment of others and feel loved and cared for in that process, then they do make change and the change is sustained.

The simple message here is this. If you do wish to lose weight and get yourself healthy, ask yourself who else will benefit, and why they will and what will be the ongoing impact. Are you up for taking the stretch through the hardship and discomfort to deliver these benefits to the ones you love?

Then came the incredible Dr Mehmet Oz talking about – “The Plague of the Modern Era is Insanity”.

Dr Oz, well known across the world for his weekly TV show is one of the World’s Leading Heart Surgeons. My very first impression of this man is someone who just cares deeply. And I feel that it is his care that has made him stretch wellbeing the accepted lines of his profession to educate the world.

He said that in the 19th century the major plague was infection. In the 20th century it was chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease. In the 21st century it is the inability to be happy; Mental illness.

He talked about programs across America treating addiction. He said that Addiction treatment is a highly profitable business. Street programs put addicts into a rehabilitation program that put people on alternative drugs that keep them dependant, then they step out into the world and before long are addicted again, ready for a new bout of rehab. He pleaded that we need more good people to stand up and Shine a light on these things.

He shared the dilemma of people making change. They fear that if they try to change and they it does not work, they will be rejected and no longer loved. In an interview with Charlie Sheen, Sheen stated, “I gotta be different to succeed but I gotta fit in”.

Some solemn advice came from Dr Oz. It was just line among many but it landed like a brick in my universe. He said, “But the way out is to grow by contributing”.

He also said that talking facts does not work. Helping people to get a more flexible viewpoint works then the facts start fitting in. This is true education. He also talked of some other incredible anomalies.

He said, “You can't aim to be average in blood pressure. In America, the average person dies of heart disease.”

He also stated that “Poor sleep is the single most unappreciated problem in the world.”

People are stressed out. They have lost their balance between Ambition and Intimacy. He said people strive through Ambition to make a difference by being uniquely successful, and then seek Intimacy by fitting in and focusing on connection. There seems to be a delicate balance here that is not working for many people.

He shared that what seems to be holding people back are Time, Money, Knowledge and fear of Change. But through Growth and Contribution we can transcend these limitations. He shared his tips for how to change.

1.     Feelings change minds more than facts.

2.     Make it easy to do the right thing.

3.     Adore your solutions.

4.     Live the good life.

What he is talking about here is a major shift in perspective. This takes care, contemplating and vulnerability. So when choosing exercise, an alteration in diet, correcting poor habits that interfere with sleep and curbing addictions, a loving approach is needed. Looking at this as an arduous regime that must be endured takes away all the love and inspiration required to see it through.

Choosing to love it all, brings the program into a new light and gives it life.

Finally, he shared that many people struggling with pain are using opiates and narcotics. He said “Opiates and narcotics are the major cause of accidents. They are addictive and dangerous, yet everyone is scared of medical marijuana which is a powerful pain reliever.

Final Point. During some Round Table Discussions during the afternoon, Dr. Vincent Apicella noted, and was supported by several other Doctors around the table, “Most physicians learn about how to treat degenerative disease, not at University but from a pharmaceutical rep.”

I will leave it on that sobering note.