A well meaning head hunter called me “Hey, did you leave IBM? Why didn’t
you tell me so I can place you?” “No, I have not left. I will definitely tell
you if I am looking out. Do you know something I don’t?” I laughingly replied.
He replied, “Your LinkedIn job title changed to “Mindful
Ledaership” so I thought you quit.” That
was just one reaction, among many connections that reacted to my profile change
in surprise, happiness, curiosity, cautiousness and even disapproval.
What garnered these responses was just a change in my profile to
“Mindful Leadership”. I had decided to integrate my career self and my
spiritual self into one. I had
previously kept two separate identities – one professional identity as “Anne
Phey – Innovator” as a kick-ass Marketing Director at IBM and another identity “Anne
Phey – Mindful Meditator” that I shared about my journey of self discovery in
holistic practices.
Here are the Top 5 reactions and my response:
“Won’t your boss think you are spending time to blog about non-work stuff and affect your career?”
I am grateful that IBM practices work life integration and I have
understanding bosses. We recognize that
team members need a healthy balance of work and private time. While many employees may spend their week
nights or weekends with their parents or children, I choose to spend my time on
holistic practices and sharing them on social media. The employee is evaluated on the results, and
not how they spend their time. So,
sharing about mindfulness does not make me any less effective as an employee.
“You are a social advocate, why a title on mindfulness and not IBM?”
As LinkedIn’s top Social Seller, I am an advocate of social media as a
medium for corporates to reach out to partners and customers. Being an advocate does not mean talking only
about one’s company all the time. Often social media becomes a bombardment of
corporate jargon. People trust people.
We earn that trust by being genuine and having an opinion. I am an IBM
ambassador, not one that blindly drum-beats corporate messages, but a human
that one can relate to and have a conversation with. I can share both about mindfulness and
corporate content.
“Don’t you think it is unprofessional to share about mindfulness on corporate platforms?”
Mindfulness is an attitude, an approach and a holistic practice. It is not contrary to corporate work. In
fact, it adds to a better person, environment and work outcomes. In the tech industry, disruptions are
changing the way industries and customers are behaving. If one practices mindfulness, one can
navigate these disruptions with ease.
Personally, I have gained from mindfulness with calmness in my
approach, better clarity by being able to observe alternative perspectives on
situations, confidence in handling obstacles, positive encouragement to team
members, motivation to do good and tenacity to outlast the issues.
Our Human Resource Director Craig Stewart too writes about mindfulness
in his blogs. (See more at
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/mindfulness-isnt-just-fancy-way-saying-yoga-stuff-craig-stewart)
“Recruiters can’t categorize you if you put mindfulness into your job title.”
Human Resource as a function no longer relies on job titles and
abilities on CVs but about how a person’s intrinsic qualities such as
mindfulness and leadership can take the role and job scope to success.
Here is an example of incorporating mindfulness into your profile.
Techfucius is a CIO (Chief Information Officer) who is a seeker of salvation
from IT woes. Instead of seeking
salvation atop a mountain somewhere, he has to practice mindfulness with deep
reflection within to manage a tech world riddled with disruption and
uncertainty. His blogs talk about the power of strengthening what lies within
(See more at
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/power-strengthening-what-lies-within-techfucius-say)
“Have you quit your job to go full time into holistic work?”
Changing my job title to “Mindful Leader” gave many the impression
that I am no longer working in the corporate world. Most people believe that you have to either
be a corporate warrior or a peaceful holistic practitioner. I choose to be both. I love my job at IBM and I love what I do to
help individuals transform their lives. And I love showing by example to
transform my life to a better person, boss and team mate at my workplace.
Corporate and Mindfulness
Merge As One
We sometimes draw such well defined lines around areas of our lives –
our work, our home, our children, our recreation club and our spiritual
practices. As I discover more about
myself, I become more of who I truly am at home and at work. There is just one
me, I am who I am.
In fact, several social advocates have contacted me to ask how I
managed to integrate mindfulness, corporate and social media. Many have asked for further discussions and
tips as they see social media and social selling cross the chasm of regurgitating
corporate jargon to sharing from the heart of what matters to the person be it
personal, professional or corporate development.
So here I am, on this path of integration. I will be blogging about
mindfulness on how it has helped become better persons in the corporate world,
and also about the tech industry with mindfulness.
Join me, be bold and shine as who you are. Be
authentic.
