Soul at work

David Whyte, Poet

David Whyte grew up among the hills and valleys of Yorkshire, England. The author of four books of poetry, he is one of the few poets to take his perspectives on creativity into the field of organizational development, where he works with many American and International Companies. He holds a degree in Marine Zoology, and has travelled extensively, including working as a naturalist guide and leading anthropological and natural history expeditions. He brings this wealth of experiences to his poetry, lectures and workshops.

In organizational settings, using poetry and thoughtful commentary, he illustrates how we can foster qualities of courage and engagement; qualities needed if we are to respond to today's call for increased creativity and adaptability in the workplace. He brings a unique and important contribution to our understanding of the nature of individual and organizational change.

In addition to his four volumes of poetry, David Whyte is the author of two best-selling books of prose: The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America, published by Doubleday/Currency, and Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as A Pilgrimage of Identity, published by Riverhead in 2001. He has also authored an audio lecture series and an album of poetry and music. His fifth poetry book, Everything is Waiting For You, will be available in autumn, 2003. David Whyte lives with his family in the Pacific Northwest.

Soul at work - part I

The language we have in the corporate world is too small for the territory we inhabit

It takes a lot of attention to hear a voice that is not our own

Poetry is an act of forcing yourself to say things you didn't know because you've not yet articulated them.

We need to shift our understanding of leadership to conversation; not about work - conversation is the work

Instead of saying, if I'm in a leadership position, what do I do? We need to be saying, what is the conversation we are not having. As a leader it is my job to begin that conversation and sustain it. Not having a certain difficult conversation can cost an organisation millions, but often the conversation is a step too far; it raises issues deemed too difficult to tackle, so it is buried - deep.

Key themes

• Story telling succeeds because it embodies truth
• How do you identify and overcome demons and turn them into fairy tales?
• What are the darker sides of the organisation?
• Masculine courage will not allow us to have the deep conversation
• What is the conversation we are not having?

Summary:

The origin of the word 'Management' is mediaeval Italian: 'the care and feeding of a horse'. Now we can get hold of the beast, point its head in a direction we want and dig our heels in its side and say, 'Giddy up there!' but now that's not enough. Now, while there is a place for telling people what we want, we need even more to be creating and sustaining relationships in the organisation and we can use poetry to enhance our narrow world of corporate language. But, it's difficult to act on relationship unless you have self-knowledge for I'll get a different future according to the different face I form for myself.

Quoting from Robert Frost's poem 'Two Tramps in Mud Time':

'Yield who will to their separation'

From a young age we put a lot of effort into trying to find the thing in the world which we might do in life. Our miracle job might be to be paid for what we love best. We seem to strive to discover what will fulfil us, yet from day one at work we start the process of forgetting what it's for and who we are. Humans forget what we're about; we forget the big picture; we forget our own story.

'My object in living is to unite my avocation in my vocation'

Vocation from vox - voice: to use your voice to call the world to you. A priest's vocation can be an attempt to call your god to you. Avocation: something to do with the way you're made, your own nature and the way the world is made so that each conversation makes sense when you hear it - when I'm walking everything always makes sense, when I'm gardening everything always makes sense - this is your avocation. Think of the way you use your voice every day. In the world of work there will always be another meeting because at each meeting, you didn't quite explain and they didn't quite explain and next week there'll be another meeting on the same issue. You must cultivate your voice - who's in here and what you're about combined with a voice in the world that's calling you.

'My two eyes make one in sight'

Frost is saying, to bring those two together (vocation and avocation) you bring dimensionality into the world. If I only listen to my own voice I will become the bully. Others speaking back to me are speaking in their own voices and if I only listen to their voices, I will become bullied by others.

Our great mythologies and stories are about your identity adventured in the world. In Little Red Riding Hood, a girl on the verge of adolescence is about to meet the dangerous elements of the world. Fairy Stories represent the challenge of us facing the reality of that transition. The question the Child asks the Elder: 'What do I do when I'm lost in the forest?' (See David Wagoner's Poem, 'LOST') is relevant today to the manager facing difficulties. It can be hard to admit we are lost. This manager can be heard: 'nowadays the level of complexity is so high I don't know when to place myself in that world but I'm driven by the strategic necessity to place things in quadrants but I suspect that's no longer sufficient.'

The Elder replies:

'Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,
And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,
Must ask permission to know it and be known.

You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows
Where you are. You must let it find you'

It takes a lot of attention to hear a voice that is other than your own. For many, others' voices are just a background to your own, or in the way. Or even, the 'others' are highly paid extras bussed in to take part in your career drama.

The traditional view of leadership is that, I'm a discrete person who I will simply fling at reality. Discrete 'I's' are for our safety. On the one hand, the world will look after you and nourish you, on the other, it will kill you as soon as look at you. It's a fierce and powerful place and we have to ask permission to know it. Witness: examples of top figures who have found themselves bounded by a small dimensionality in which they feel they have ultimately failed and commit suicide. The original person that you once were gets lost at the door of work. So the Elder to the Child: Stop trying to make your identity all by yourself: make your identity by listening to others' voices.

It's one of our great traditions: build Zen enlightenment: If you go out and confirm ten thousand things it's a delusion; if the ten thousand things come and confirm you, this is enlightenment. Then you have a basis for reality. Substitute the word 'safety' for 'enlightenment' and it all still makes sense.

Enlightenment has something to do with being 'in the conversation'. If you've helped to create the conversation and you are in the conversation you are emboldened by it, whereas traditionally the manager's objective has been to 'get the conversation out of the way then I can get the real job done.'

There are real gender differences growing from the different way men and women grow into the world and men have a very real difficulty. A man might say 'I had this conversation last week, and now I've got to have it again', missing the point that it's about relationship. A young man's development processes are about separating himself from others and defining himself as a discrete 'I'. A man driving to work might be saying to himself: 'What's the one conversation I can have which means I don't have to have any of the others?' On the other hand, a group of women at a bowling alley will focus on the conversation rather than the action. Today, by the time the bowl has reached the skittles, the skittles have moved.

The conversation challenge changes during life. In your 40's, the conversation is not about the marriage, it is the relationship; it is the marriage. If you lose the conversation in your marriage then the other person is no longer the person they were; they've moved on and the relationship is lost. As for marriage, so with organisation colleagues, customers, work, self. You can become a stranger to yourself. So, the Elder says, 'Come out from behind the conversation and see what comes to you.

David was present when a CEO brought his son into 'Bring your child to work day' and asked him 'Well, son what did you think of what I did?'

'Well, Dad, I didn't see you actually doing anything. All I saw you do all day was talk.'

Taken aback and after pausing for thought, the father replied, 'There's a story out in this world and it's challenging all the time. And if I'm not out there talking to people about what microchips they want now and might want and how their needs might change, I could miss something and ultimately the whole lot could come down. And there are conversations inside the organisation because if the inside's not in conversation with the outside and not able to listen to the outside… Son, I'm a storyteller.'

Poetry is an act of forcing yourself to say things you didn't know because you've not yet articulated them. Imagination and articulation frees you from the world you're in and the fact you've articulated it means it's incredibly true. Most of you will have left behind the core competence that got you here to this level and are now engaged in speaking, writing, listening, speaking. We need to shift our understanding of leadership to conversation; not about work - conversation is the work itself.

The Sixth century story of Beowulf ridding the Danish King Hrothgar's court of the monster Grendell and digging yet deeper within himself to find the resources to kill Grendell's mother in turn reminds us that an initially brave and tough fight will not necessarily remove the source of the fear. It takes a robust vulnerability to delve to the depth's of one's own innermost fears and embodies both the masculine and feminine. It is the reaching of that level that frees one up to size the opportunity of the moment and come through. The stag in the story represents the traditional masculinity but the stag doesn't save itself by escaping into the water because it freezes in fear at the edge of the lake. The young consultant, Joel, faced with telling the all-powerful CEO, George, that he will not let him off the hook and deliver the bad news for him, makes one tentative attempt then backs off; his mind frozen with fear in a vision of himself as a bag lady out on the streets.

Many managers know that in the darkness of the early hours after the accolades have died down, the nagging doubts and small voices still come 'up out of the lake' like Grendell. The darkness represents whatever area of your life you will not have 'the conversation'. Sometimes we don't want to know what makes us unhappy; 'I can't afford to get the answer back: I'm deeply unhappy. I wouldn't know what I'd do if that's the answer therefore I'm not even going to ask it.

The executives riding the dot.com boom assured interviewers they would put aside their jobs, once they were wealthy, and go back to the real person they left 'at the door'. The danger is that by the time they are 30 they will be afraid of the life they left behind. The old stance of all-knowing and invulnerability has difficulties because it knows it will not survive the conversation in the manner to which it has become accustomed.

Soul at work - part II

I have never come across an organisation with no passion

Every epoch ends with blood on the floor

Imagination is the ability to see a pattern that is not yet visible

Poetry is a language with no defences

I am the rest between two notes that are always in discord

Key themes

• Paradox that to find safety in the decisions you make or the path you set you need to open up to others and accept the risks this brings
• Desire and necessity to keep true to your values and maintain them whilst working in a large organisation - not losing part of yourself nor leaving it at "the door"
• Leader's struggle of achieving balance between individuals' needs and key business drivers/challenges. People desire stability an the "norm" at work not change which is often a key business imperative
• "Stepping out of the boat" (St Peter walking towards Jesus across the lake) leap of faith in what you belong to or passionately believe worthwhile and not knowing if you will "survive" the journey to which you have committed yourself.

Impressions:

• Breaking through a threshold is often key in moving forward and achieving in a number of situations both in a business and personal perspective
• Need to know your fears, by naming them you can build a life around this e.g by using a sense of humour to keep you grounded

David's Poem - The Truelove

There is a faith in loving fiercely
the one who is rightfully yours,
especially if you have
waited years and especially
if part of you never believed
you could deserve this
loved and beckoning hand
held out to you this way.

I am thinking of faith now
and the testaments of loneliness
and what we feel we are
worthy of in this world.

Years ago in the Hebrides
I remember an old man
who walked every morning
on the grey stones
to the shore of baying seals,

who would press his hat
to his chest in the blustering
salt wind and say his prayer
to the turbulent Jesus
hidden in the water,

and I think of the story
of the storm and everyone
waking and seeing
the distant
yet familiar figure
far across the water
calling to them,

and how we are all
waiting for that
abrupt waking,
and that calling,
and that moment
we have to say yes,
except it will
not come so grandly,
so Biblically,
but more subtly
and intimately in the face
of the one you know
you have to love,

so that when
we finally step out of the boat
toward them, we find
everything holds
us, and everything confirms
our courage, and if you wanted
to drown you could,
but you don't
because finally
after all this struggle
and all these years,
you don't want to any more,
you've simply had enough
of drowning,
and you want to live and you
want to love and you will
walk across any territory
and any darkness,
however fluid and however
dangerous, to take the
one hand you know
belongs in yours

From 'The House of Belonging' by David Whyte 1997
Many Rivers Press, Langley, Washington