The Hero is You. Learning to Work Your Values.

Hero Bridge took a lot of years to become a viable mission. Certainly part of it was allowing the digital transformation to shift the paradigm, but mainly it was being able to focus on its development in earnest. COVID provided that opportunity to slow down and work my values. As a corporate social responsibility professional, it provided time to reflect on how our own busy professional lives can get in the way of finding our own greater value to society. Together this could be equitably transformative to the entire way we do business. From this came the philosophy of Working Your Values and then Hero Bridge. Here’s how:

A lot of times I'm asked how one can go about working their values when there are demands like bills, kids, bosses and other real world pressures that make do good decision making feel limited.  The fact that those things are seen as mutually exclusive tells us a lot about the society we've created for ourselves.

Notice first my choice of words. I don't blame some external "they" or Wall Street or government or anything for the lifestyle we view as normal. We are all individually and collectively accountable - and guess what - that's great news. That means it is in our individual and collective capacity to do something about it. At it's core Working Your Values has to do with enough of us behaving a certain way that those collective behaviors become custom and culture. Ultimately a business ethic that will change the way we see work and our role in the family of humanity. Let me be straight, I'm not saying you won't still have the pressures of bills, bosses and conflicting soccer practices - what I am saying is your mind will see these differently, you will react to them with confidence and not fear and anxiety and others around you will start to do the same.

Here, let me give you a great example. In my book I describe one of many villages in India that I was blessed enough to be accepted into and live among its residents. One thing that was palpable in these villages was the care they had for one another. Essentially interdependence over independence. Mind you these common observations were of villages sometimes thousands of miles apart with far different customs, religions and backgrounds. There was a common similarity of interdependence on each other and community resources. Every child in those villages called everyone else in the village aunty and uncle. Partially out of respect (I'll get into that in one second) but mainly out of a sense of communion.

One time I was talking to a group and I was describing the innate happiness that one finds in these villages. a kind of happiness that many parts of the "developed" world lack. One of the group members recounted a trip to Africa where she saw a small child playing happily in the dirt with a stick. She said "I was amazed how happy that child was with just a stick while our children always want more stuff. Why can't our kids be happy with what they have?"  This is a values trap. While living in these villages I came to realize it's not the stick the child is happy with. It's the security of knowing that there's an entire village that has your welfare in mind. You don't have two parents and four grandparents, you have a whole community of parents and grandparents. Further, it's not what our developed world kids "have" it's what they don't have - the security of a loving nuclear community - and we placate them with stuff to replace that sense of security. Those kids grow up into us, detached and wanting with a very small vision about what it means to be kindred and part of a larger family. It’s also exactly why building hundreds of thousands of home -by itself- will not solve the awful blight of homelessness in America.

It's a part of the American Dream that got left out in the 20th century V.2.0 definition, in large part due to blind commercialism and individualism. As an optimist I believe consciousness is on the rise to depolarize and allow us to realize our full potential as an American family . Our individual and collective “cause”. People will once again identify with being American instead of a political party. It simply won't be that necessary because we will all be Working Our Values for ourselves and each other.

MEDIA: The Great Amplifier of Good:

So how in the world do we accelerate this process? Answer: The mind's garden amplified through media technology. We all have one of these gardens in us. Don't beat yourself up yet, Working Your Values is a journey approach. You have a whole lifetime to work at it like a practice.  But it is through this path that Working Your Values is going to change your life, and others will sense it, benefit from it, and want to do the same. Thereby,  politics and its interests will be less important, less divisive. America - the people- will become more sustainable.  This is not theory this is fact and it happens in many parts of the world today, everyday.

Again, I'm a complete realist - this is not some perfect fantasy, but a whole new undaunted impact-minded approach that puts personal will power forward/ fear and exclusion backwards. No positive social change has ever happened without will in the face of prejudice.  The mutual exclusivity of making a living and doing good works is something we've convinced ourselves. However, like any bad social habit it takes time and perseverance to change. It requires a mind set, a business plan, however lean. It requires an action plan, a market plan - how do you bring the new you to the world?  Here's how:

First you have to believe - truly- that every thought matters. All of them. Not just at home and with family - all of them - particularly in the place where you spend the most waking time - your profession, your workplace. This is why I eyeroll at the "random act of kindness." phenomena. How many businesses work on the principles of randomness? Have you ever heard of a farmer who randomly plants his field? Never sure what's going to come up or if it gets along with the plant next to it? Or how hard harvest will be with random crops scattered about? Nonsense. Like in business you need a purpose strategy. With heart and information, you build a plan for your mind garden. Every thought you have is a seed. It must be planted. In good soil or bad. There's no getting around it. Suddenly you feel accountable for your thoughts and actions. Planting good seeds and pulling up weeds. Making your mind an increasingly healthy sustainable place. Managing your professional business impacts starting with you. And like a seed that grows, it will bear fruit in your exterior world where it will flourish in others, your works and career. Guaranteed. 

In the next installment we'll talk about why marketing your “produce” is so important. We've been tricked into believing that some sense of humility requires we do good deeds in private. That being the greatest story never told is somehow a good thing.  We will explore the rise of the conscious consumer and self congratulatory brands that have changed the consumer and visa versa. Working Your Values includes telling your story of good, not only for yourself, your career, your business but for the entire community who is relying on you to move the needle of progress toward an equitable economy! Working Your Values is real social and economic value. Fact! As a first step, if you are interested in how we leverage your experience into a media technology that directly impacts and inspires transitioning adult youth, please go here. See you in the next edition!