A lot of the ideas we are talking about go back far in time.
Short-summary:
“In Ancient Greece, the philosopher Socrates famously declared that the unexamined life was not worth living. Asked to sum up what all philosophical commandments could be reduced to, he replied: ‘Know yourself.’ ”
…
“The key bits of self-knowledge we’ll be interested in are:
– what kind of person are you characteristically attracted to in love
– what difficult patterns of behaviour are you prey to in relationships
– what are your talents at work
– what problems do you have around success/failure
– how are you about feedback
– what do you do when you have been frustrated by life
– what kind of taste do you have
– can you distinguish between your passing bodily-based emotions and your more rational thoughts”
…
“Self-knowledge is important for one central reason: because it offers us a route to greater happiness and fulfilment.”
….
“There are many ways in which a shortfall of self-knowledge is an obstacle to flourishing around work:
We only have a few short years in which to come up with a convincing answer about what we want to do with our lives.
Without self-knowledge, we are too vague about our ambitions;
We are too modest: we miss out on opportunities: we don’t know what we are capable of.
We are too ambitious: we don’t know what we shouldn’t attempt. We lack a clear sense of our limitations, wasting years trying to do something we’re not suited to.
We don’t grasp the ways in which we are difficult employees or bosses.
We don’t perceive our hidden attitudes to success and failure. ”
George Pór Victor, the quotes you selected from “Know Yourself” make me think that Teal for Startups is as much a part of your own developmental journey as anything else. What a generous and generative act to invite others to co-evolve with you and this group!
Teal organisations (startups or not) co-evolve with their members in a web of mutually supportive relationships. The privilege of the startups is that they can shape a culture of appreciation and co-learning from the moment of their inception.
Knowing really your self is knowing: that “self” is changing, transforming, evolving. Same is true for some collective selves, such as startups conceived from a Teal perspective.
The closer entrepreneurs get to the essence of the Teal way of being (“sensing, thinking, acting beyond the small ‘self,’ with increasing frequency”), the closer they align with evolution itself and discover that it’s not a bad thing to have as “business partner.”
Gertraud Wegst Yes, you can’t go Teal, if you are unwilling to develop yourself. And you don’t have to be Teal all the way before considering the startup this way. If this future is inspiring and pulling enough we can’t help but evolve into it.
