Why I Started Naluna
When I was 15 years old, in the year 1988, I learned about the value of dancing in clubs by connecting to my body and feelings. To my surprise, I often had great, fresh ideas while dancing. I felt complete and beyond my rational mind, which was overly stimulated as I was a quick learner, skipping two classes.
Later on in life, I learned about the value of being in nature on my first trip to Asia. For the first time in my life, I embarked on a 2.5-month journey filled with hiking, birding, rafting, scuba diving, and rainforest trekking, among other activities. I will always remember the awe, wonder, alignment, and happiness I felt during these experiences in nature. It also opened up access to my intuitive state more.
A few years later, around 2003, I learned about Eckhart Tolle with his stunning book The Power of Now. I delved deeply into it, reading it five times, exploring meditation, and attending various satsang sessions. I was amazed by the power and beauty of silence and emptiness while by myself and especially collectively, even with 300 people. Going inside was a challenge at times, embracing not doing anything, accepting vulnerability, and all thoughts and emotions passing by like clouds. All these awareness practices deepened my intuitive capabilities.
After that phase, I moved back to my rational mind again, focusing on my professional career which took off when working with Singularity University and after my book Exponential Organizations. It was amazing to live through both successes at the same time. However, my extremely busy schedule led me to lose touch with my intuitive senses. The relentless flights, performance pressure, complexity, intensity, and dynamic environment pulled me deeper into a mental state characterized by rapid yet superficial interactions, overthinking, deteriorating health, and a dearth of groundbreaking ideas.
After this hectic phase, I moved back to nature and dance as well as explored many facets of mysticism through the beauty and nature of Vision Quest, Sun Dance, as well as different Nature Walks across the world.
My personal journey of transformation and innovation took me from the realms of dance and nature to the boardrooms of multinational corporations, and then back to the realms of nature, dance, and mysticism. I believe that by integrating intuition with logic, leadership can be transformed into a more holistic approach that can redefine success in the business world.
This synthesis of mysticism and practical decision-making underscores a fundamental truth: that the essence of effective leadership transcends the conventional, and in my view, false dichotomy of reason versus intuition. The intuitive or mystical is the basis for bold, radical innovations while the mind makes it real.
Intuition is the master while the mind is the servant, a tool to manifest.
My experiences, from the metaphorical dance floor to the literal exploration of nature's depths and heights, embody lessons that are universally applicable yet often overlooked in the corporate sphere. These lessons on intuition, resilience, and most importantly interconnectedness highlight the potential for a leadership paradigm that is not only more adaptive and resilient but also more humane and insightful.
At Naluna, we firmly believe in the essential role of curiosity, beauty, personal growth, transcendence, immanence, resilience, truth, wisdom, and the inner journey within the corporate world. We believe in a leadership style that is reflective, empathetic, and visionary, suggesting that the path to true innovation and sustainable success is through acknowledging and nurturing the human spirit.
My call to action for leaders and organizations to embrace this integrated approach is timely. In a world grappling with unprecedented challenges and complexities, the need for leadership that is both insightful and inspired, grounded yet visionary, has never been more critical.
The potential for creating environments where innovation, wisdom, and well-being flourish is not just an aspirational goal; it's a necessary evolution in how we define and practice leadership.
