There Has to Be a Different Way (Or: Why Naluna)

I knew there had to be a different way.

There had to be a way that didn't only rely on huge effort and the hyper rational approach I had seen used, and used myself so many times. Even in the venture-backed companies I helped to build and sell, environments that thrived on rigorous conceptual and rational thinking and super-human effort, some of the key insights and innovations did not come from rational thought and linear thinking.

I had experienced that different way with top engineers and, at times, whole engineering teams standing in front of white-boards coming to a common understanding and then creating radically new, non-obvious, and elegant solutions, seemingly out of nowhere. Incidentally, I don't recall any examples where that same thing happened in board rooms or executive meetings.

There were many other situations with similar feelings earlier in my life for example when I was part of competitive 6-person volleyball teams that moved like a single organism while playing what seemed like real-time chess on the court. A similar experience happens when getting deeply into states of flow, when surfing or paragliding. Something innate takes over and aligns the body with the energy of the ocean or the movement of the air.

But even in business it wasn't just me. I had been present when individuals were getting into states like this, seemingly at will, causing my hair stand up on the back of my neck just being present and experiencing the acts of creativity and innovation that became accessible.

Those were states of creation and, at times implementation, that had little to do with the conceptual or rational mind following a linear process, and everything to do with something that felt like intuition, like knowledge that was accessed. And all the times this happened, it felt like fun and, at least in the moment, effortless and often joyful.

Everything Changed

But effortless and joyful was not what it felt after just having sold our company. As amazing as the experience had been, the last year had pretty much exclusively been "efforting": using the rational mind, mostly linear processes, and often stress to force an outcome. Mind you, I don't believe there is anything wrong with efforting. I love the the rational mind, linear processes, and within reason, pressure and stress.

But I knew there was another way, a way where innovation, solutions, and new perspectives and results are available, while at the same time creating fulfillment, joy, and allowing for a healthy body, mind, and relationships. This had become obvious to me because during that stressful time I had started a meditation practice initially underwritten by the desire to cope with the stress involved in leading a venture backed startup through rough times, and the hopes that it would help me sleep at night.

Early in my meditation practice I got a glimpse of other possibilities. It was about 40 minutes into a mindfulness meditation, focusing on my breath, when all of a sudden everything in my perception shifted. Where for the previous 45 years there had only been the familiar sensation of breathing, my body, and my thoughts, there all of a sudden was a vast, clear, beautiful, black space in which my feelings and emotions visually appeared as beautiful colors. Everything else had disappeared. After a few minutes I came back to the real world, sitting on my chair as I opened my eyes. My world had changed, yet everything was still the same.

Once we sold the company, I knew I had to learn more about these states that had come into focus during that meditation and subsequent ones. It was too compelling to ignore and wanted to incorporate what I would find into my next endeavor.

Flow and Beyond

At the time I was familiar with work around flow states, group flow, and its application by top athletes, elite military teams, and in business. However, I was certain that at if anything, flow was merely the beginning, and that the playing field reached far beyond what had been described.

Since then my quest has led me on a journey to engage with masters and teachers of meditation, movement, breath, ancient Asian practices, ceremonies with shamans, traditional Lakota Vision Quests, and more. What I've found is that, despite often stark differences between those traditions, there are many similarities in experiences and underlying patterns. And more importantly, much of what is taught and transmitted through those traditions has direct applications to business and modern life.

The executive coaching practice I have been building since has allowed me to validate much of this. My coaching is deeply rooted in supporting leaders to grow their business and, at the same time, themselves. And while my original coaching toolset was largely based on my first-hand experience as an entrepreneur, executive, and board member, I have since deeply integrated tools and techniques I've learned on my quests. The results and feedback of my clients strongly demonstrate that my coaching has become the richer for it.

So yes, there is another way. And that is why we have created Naluna - to help leaders, and also leadership teams, and their companies access completely different levels of innovation, insight, and performance.

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