CEO CEO CEO

Do you know a Jack(ie) Welch?

She oversees a complex set of finances and even with razor thin budgets, never misses Plan. When there is a large home improvement project she relentlessly brands the overall vision with the contractors and much to their dismay is a shrewd negotiator. She handles highly matrixed household logistics with ease. And I’m pretty sure she’s gone so far as to set annual performance objectives for the person who cleans her home, as she thoughtfully weighs the pros/cons of a job elimination. When asked what keeps her up at night, she’ll tell you she worries most that she is not doing enough to create an environment where her children feel safe to be creative and take risks amid the pressures of an increasingly competitive world.

No doubt, she is a Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

But then again, we concluded, aren’t we all CEOs? At the very least of our own lives, and then as leaders of companies, teams, class rooms, families, book clubs, bands, etc.

This class was inspired by an article in Forbes magazine entitled, “Yoga Made Me a Better CEO”. The opening quote of the article: “Blessed are the flexible for they will not be bent out of shape.” So we in turn practiced being CEOs on our mats.

Executive Summary

• Accept the CEO role, pour your heart into it (*)
• Set your intention
• Unwavering focus on mission v.s. short term gains
• None of us alone is as good as all of us together
• Inspire a shared purpose
• Strive for continuous improvement
• Push to try things you never imagined
• Yet manage the risk, you’re not a renegade, always have a plan B
• Use yoga to reorient your outlook on life, renew your sense of play
• Have fun!

Examples

I. Are you artificially inflating your short term stock price at the expense of long term gains?

In Virabhadrasana (Warrior) I, we practiced steadfastly infusing your back leg with your “mission” statement. Using the see saw principle, the shins of your back leg moved in (down) so that your thighs moved out (up.) Now the hard part, as you kept your back leg straight (true to your “mission”), you bent your front knee directly over your ankle angling toward your 4th/5th toes, and resisted the temptation to bend your front knee so much to "get" the pose(a.k.a short term inflation of your stock price) at the expense of buckling your back leg (a.k.a. compromise your long term “mission”.) While you may not have gone as far in the short term, trust me, this alignment was better for the long term health of your hips and knees (a.k.a your "company".)

II. Test your limits, take risks to go farther than you did before. Yet always have a plan B.

We challenged ourselves to (3) consecutive urdhva dhanurasana (back bends.) However, just like a CEO has business continuity (BCP) plans, we also had a plan B on our mats, whether setting up blocks on a diagonal at the wall, entering into joint ventures to use another’s ankles or staying with bridge pose.

Now...I’m not so sure about the CEOs who suggested their “mission” statements called for going to lunch after the first urdhva “d”;)

III. Create a culture which inspires inclusion and a shared purpose. We're better together.

We used eka pada rajakapotasana prep (pigeon) to test the culture created by our inside voice when the stakes were raised and the pressure mounted. To set up our organization structure, we held our “mission” in the core of the belly to inspire security and inclusion and then created the space needed for collaboration to flourish by taking the sides of the waist back without constricting the environment (collapsing the hips.) After several minutes, when the intensity began to build, you answered for yourself whether your internal words that ultimately create culture were admonishing or uplifting? As a CEO under duress did you take full accountability or project it onto someone else, like me? (I know, I take class too!)

In closing…

Simply stated, yoga makes all of us better.

To stepping fully into the role of CEO in all that you do both on and off your mat, namaste!

(*) After class I was reminded that Starbuck’s CEO Howard Schultz’s first book is similarly titled, “Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time.”

Link to the article: http://www.forbes.com/2011/03/25/yoga-meditation-better-ceo-leadership-managing-kawer.html