When I first went to Johannesburg some 40 years ago, I asked my local guide, “How many people live in this city?” and I will never forget his reply: “Oh, about 650,000 – over 2 million if you count the blacks as well.” I was stunned, and thus began my immersion course in the horrors of the separateness of South Africa at the time and the many ways we have invented to make another person feel inferior.

As coach of the University of Texas–El Paso (UTEP), the late Don Haskins was the first coach to start five black players in a championship. In the 1966 NCAA title game, Texas Western, as his University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) team was then known, upset an all-white Kentucky team. After he passed on September 7th. Bob Knight, “the winningest coach in Division 1 basketball history”, said of his friend:

“There’s a myth, perpetuated by the press and the 2006 Disney movie “Glory Road”, that it took exceptional courage for Don to start an all-black team. Not really. It took a guy who didn’t care about colors. He would have started five white kids or five Chinese kids if that gave him the best chance to win. Don’s legacy is that he played the game the way he thought it should be played, without prejudice.”

Now, that is the sort of values system we need to encourage throughout our society – not just in organizations. I prefer the term “inclusion” because is says what we mean – we intend to include everyone, regardless of their color, race, religion, demographic or any other label that we might use to separate people. Exclusion hurts. Inclusion inspires.

So, for those who were similarly disappointed, I offer a brief refresher:

Fact 1: Our systems of leadership, corporate governance and organizational theory are seriously broken and out of date.

Fact 2: Tinkering with the existing system will not lead to the wholesale change we all (or most of us, anyway) are yearning for.

Solution: We need to turn our attention to becoming as effective at inspiring people as we have become at managing metrics. We can do this by learning to be leaders who value compassion, caring, encouragement, mentoring, growing, learning, and respecting and honoring others and their gifts. The kind of leaders that others LOVE to work for. In short, nurturing the spirits of people.

Notice the word “love”. Often, when I mention this word to corporate leaders, they roll their eyes or tell me I need to change my language and that “our people are not ready for that yet”. But people are ready – we want to love our work, we want to love what we do and the people with whom we do it. And, contrary to popular belief, we want to be loved by everyone – not just those at home. Anyone who doesn’t believe that isn’t a member of the human race.

I am privileged to work in the senior reaches of large organizations. But I find the sheer pace and scheduling frenzy appalling. Senior leaders have little thinking time and almost no time for social exchange – no time to be interested in and learn about the lives of those who have chosen to join their community. Some of my clients schedule their spreadsheet and PowerPoint-packed meetings every 30 minutes – some even 15 minutes! In some cases, I realize that the pace is so torrid, that I am talking with someone who has either not prepared for our discussion or – even worse – has no idea who I am or why we are talking together!

In these conditions, it is difficult to create a corporate culture where dreams are shared, where passion is the juice that fuels excellence, where customers rave about their experiences, where employees are so enthusiastic about where they work that they become the organization’s major recruiting machine.

Today, pause for a moment. Take the time to inspire someone who works closely with you and – wait for it – tell them you love them. Yes, it will take courage, but the results will amaze you. Then think about how you could change your entire organization into a place that others loved so much they wanted to work there and do business with you. Now that would be inspiring!

We moved in and lived and worked in this oasis, inviting one other employee to join us. Our business took off and soon there were people working in every nook and cranny. The stream of trucks delivering and collecting products and urgent items grew so intense we had to pave the drive. We added wings to the building but these spaces too, were soon filled with people, technology and skids of books, DVDs and CDs. Eventually we surrendered, giving over the entire building to the business. We added more facilities, technology and office equipment and made it one of the most inspiring corporate locations on the planet. Our employees sometimes brought their cameras to work so they could take pictures of the workspace beauty to show their envious friends. The mothers on our team gave birth to five babies over the years, making our soulspace their daycare center. Dogs were always welcome at the office too. And some team members even lived there while transitioning their lives.

Then gas prices increased and technology improved and most of us were spending more time away from the office than we were in it. We soon began asking whether we needed an office at all in this day and age. When we discussed this with our team they became both enthusiastic about working from their homes (most of our faculty and coaches already do) as well as sad at the thought of leaving this glorious place.

And so we decided that it was time for someone else to steward our treasure -and it was snapped up in three weeks. As we pack up a quarter of a century of history, the memories and milestones are making this a very emotional experience, and on August 16^th, 2008 we will be holding an Auction in Caledon.

So thank you and goodbye dear soulspace, where so many ideas have been birthed, books written, clients inspired and careers launched. It will become a home of a different sort and a continuing inspiration and source of joy for a lucky couple. It’s progress I know, but my heart is being tugged nevertheless. Thanks to all of you who have visited us, brainstormed in the pool, heartstormed on the Morning Deck, been comforted by the wonder dog Spirit, shared Spirit@Work Cards with us daily, helped clients define their ONE Dream™ and helped us to change the world. We are all still there, as powerful a team as ever, but just in different places!

There is a very special place, unlike any other in North America called Hollyhock. It is a not-for-profit retreat center located on Cortes, a small island off the west coast of British Columbia. The minute you step off the ferry you know you have left the hectic world behind. This is a serene, beautiful and healing place – ideal for deep learning.

When my wife Tricia and I first visted Hollyhock in the 1980′s, we were so taken with its splendor and powerful energy that we began teaching there – the breakthrough personal results we were able to achieve in these incredible surroundings was a gift for us and our students. Hollyhock is blessed with giant redwoods, 39 feet in circumference, in old growth forest where we hold our sessions in log meeting rooms in the midst of sacred nature, and where we can rise early to breathe in the morning sunrise on the ocean, or laze with our new friends while eating fresh-caught oysters over an evening campfire on the beach. And during the week one can luxuriate with meditation or massage, take a hottub and feast on some of the finest vegetarian cooking (mostly grown on Hollyhock’s land) that I have ever tasted.

Tricia and I will be leading a retreat over five days in June which will draw from leading-edge corporate philosophy, deep personal reflection and growth as a leader, astrology, religion, wisdom teachings and energy healing and everything in between.

Hollyhock is an unparalleled centre of learning and connection that exists to inspire, nourish and support people who are making the world better. A visit to Hollyhock, Canada’s Leading Educational Retreat Centre, is the start of a journey, often a journey of a lifetime. Come and join Tricia and me for a remarkable learning experience and a journey of a lifetime.

If you met 26 year-old Derek Paravicini in the street, you might be drawn to judgment. He is blind, has the intelligence of a three-year old, and cannot dress or feed himself. But if you listened to him on a concert hall you might be speechless – he has the musical mastery of a genius and posesses “universal absolute pitch”.

It’s all in how we see it, isn’t it?

In my corporate work with top executives, I see so many people judging others – not smart enough, not producing enough, not leadership material, not agressive enough, not good with people, not this, not that. And in addition, we judge silently on a series of hidden tracks – by race, color, gender, religion, beliefs, looks, weight – the screens we use are endless – and they are the cause of the majority of dysfunctional behavior I see in teams.

Leadership is about reducing the circle of those we exclude and widening the circle of those we include until there is only one circle. As Howard Winters remarked, “Civilization is the process in which one gradually increases the number of people included in the term ‘we’ or ‘us’ and at the same time decreases those labeled ‘you’ or ‘them’ until that category has no one left in it.” Inspiring others requires that we include them, not exclude them. As Edwin Markham wrote, “He drew a circle that shut me out; Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in.”

Watch these two remarkable videos and think about how we could all be more inspiring if we judged others less. After all, we might be standing in the presence of an overlooked genius.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kwjDLHX92w

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGOH1xzNCOU