Embrace your Journey #31
“Wisdom is not knowledge, but evolving states of consciousness. Wisdom arises through understanding beyond knowledge that continues to evolve and elevate the state of your consciousness. Wisdom develops with your ability to question, to ask the most potent questions that lead to greater understanding. The wise person is always asking questions." ~ Yasuhiko Genku Kimura*
After exploring a shorter version for a while, we are back to the original format of this newsletter with great insights around wisdom and leadership.
Abundant inspiration from the 2-day learning experience we hosted in Miami with the presence of renowned and inspiring speakers challenging the audience to think transcontextually and to reach higher states of consciousness as explained by Yasuhiko in the quote above.
Yes, "wisdom functions as the cornerstone of innovation, enabling us to strategically disrupt and foster diverse coherence for people and organizations" as one of our illustrious participants highlighted in her comments after the experience, and also is crucial for humanity as artificial intelligence swiftly takes us to new possibilities in the way we live and relate to each other and to this gorgeous planet we are all part of.
As Yasuhiko also reminds us,
Ready to ask more potent questions to acquire greater understanding and develop higher wisdom? Here is one more quote from Yasuhiko:
Count on Briyah Institute to provoke you to develop this desired leadership ability.
Cheers!
Founder at Briyah Institute
In numerous editions of this newsletter, we have shared the work of Janine Benyus and others on #biomimicry. During the recent Briyah course we had the privilege of learning directly from Tina Hanae Miller to develop the ability to see the world through bio-inspired lens and practice our observation skills, looking for patterns and life's principles.
What does biomimicry have to do with innovation? As Janine explains it herself: "Biomimicry is the conscious emulation of nature's genius. After 3.8 billion years of research and development, failures are fossils, and what surrounds us is the secret to survival."
Actually, there are many success cases of nature-inspired innovation to learn from in the business world today.
From the classic case of Japan's Shinkansen bullet train, which became quieter, faster and more efficient after the engineering team lead by Eiji Nakatsu based different components of the redesigned bullet train on the aerodynamic features of three bird species — the serrated wings of an owl, the rounded belly of the Adélie penguin, and the pointed beak of the Kingfisher, to the more recent case of Amphico's clothing technology inspired by the natural defenses of microscopic arthropods like springtails, which allows fabrics to have nano, micro, and macro-level texturing that repels water, dirt particles, and harmful bacteria, as well as to become easier to recycle and to reduce the consumption of freshwater during the coloring process by over 80%, the path to challenge ourselves and our organization to promote wiser types of innovation has become clearer.
Check Amphico's website as well as the resources provided by the Biomimicry Institute and start questioning your R&D team's ability to take your products and services to the next level of positive impact and nature-positive disruption.
We also recommend listening to an episode of a podcast called ReGeneration Rising, which explores how regenerative approaches can help us collectively re-design our communities, cities, and economies, co-hosted by Philipa Duthie and Daniel Christian Wahl in conversation with Biomimicry pioneers Janine Benyus and Dr Dayna Baumeister about the practice of learning from life’s enduring patterns and wisdom.
In closing this section, listen to Janine Benyus 's call to action during Brazil's largest innovation summit hosted by the National Confederation of Industries (CNI) and its Business Innovation Movement (MEI) and get inspired to bring new disruptive nature-positive innovation to life.
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How are you practicing your observation skills and grooming yourself as a leader who asks more potent questions?
We strongly recommend a very pragmatic and yet expansive start of bringing biomimicry practice to your toolbox as a leader with Erin Rovalo, Ph.D.'s transformational book iSites: Nature Journaling for Biomimicry. Her goal is to connect designers and problem solvers with the natural world as a source of inspiration and optimism.
Another good practice we touched upon during Briyah's leadership course has to do with incorporating the spiritual dimension of life to business.
Guided by Dr. Lisa Miller, Ph.D.'s extensive work as a psychologist, which has led her to write the book The Awakened Brain: The New Science of Spirituality and Our Quest for an Inspired Life and go beyond, we invite you to view spirituality as innate to humans and to focus on challenging your assumptions and improving your questions instead of jumping to rushed conclusions.
Why not start by asking yourself what spirituality means to you and how do you express it in your decision-making process as a leader?
Keep working on your transcontextual thinking by incorporating different approaches and perspectives to your worldview on a regular basis, and stay tuned to Briyah's on-line version of its High-Tech, High-Wisdom: Igniting Leaders for Transformation Program to be launched soon.
In the meanwhile, follow Dr. Miller's work at Columbia University's Spirituality Mind Body Institute, which is committed to generating and using science to guide a more spiritually supportive society. They develop evidence-based science that examines the effects of spirituality across the lifespan, including spirituality as a protective factor against mental illness, a source of resilience in cultivating relationships, and as a gateway to personal fulfillment.
Here is a great video to get familiar with Dr. Miller's work on neuroscience and spirituality.
What is life? Why are we here on Planet Earth? What is the future of humanity? What are the implications of all this to leadership?
During the recent Briyah course, we had the honor of listening to a stelar group of thinkers, including futurist Edie Weiner, the President and CEO of The Future Hunters, one of the world’s leading futurist consulting firms.
In her talk, she called our attention to the fact that we are seeing our civilization transform drastically due to "templosion", a term she coined to express the implosion of time with life speeding up faster and faster. In this important moment, it is expected that leaders apply critical thinking to be able to lead through complex situations.
She explained how we are already redesigning the future with high-tech, and pointed to the benefit of moving beyond smart, since artificial intelligence is already able to do better than humans in that regard, but also to move beyond intelligent and develop high-wisdom.
This is indeed the quest of our times! You may learn more from Edie by watching her episode at Briyah's podcast:
"Having wisdom is being in a state of consciousness in which you know, think and act, or more precisely speaking, you understand, reason and execute with a holistic intelligence." ~ Yasuhiko Genku Kimura
Looking for further insights? Subscribe to this newsletter, follow Briyah Institute on Social Media, and join us for our leadership development programs.
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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* Yasuhiko Genku Kimura -- is a Philosopher, Reality Theorist, Transdisciplinary Researcher, Author, High-Tech High-Wisdom Leadership Consultant. He is an expert in facilitating leap and transformation through the innovative use of the Zen-inspired Socratic method designed to produce breakthrough thought and insight. You may find more information at Genku World.