Career Tip 003: If it Doesn’t Exist, Create it. Consciousness is Queen.
Nothing in this post is a recommendation.
Each of these blogs coincides with a topic inspired by each podcast guest. This blog goes together with Anahita Moghaddam’s episode. If you haven’t listened to her episode yet here, it’s really a must. And even if you have listened to it, it’s actually one you should re-listen to..regularly. She is onto some major keys that tune us into life.
Success is often created by thinking outside of the box. Wellbeing is often a matter of gaining control of your thoughts and harnessing them. As a person who has also spent much of my life not fitting in boxes and working on my mentality, I loved learning Anahita’s story. Part of her story involved Anahita working in NYC working as a Chief Mindfulness Officer. I had never heard of this term before. I wondered once I heard it, why every single company I was spending money on didn’t have one at their helm and in their C-suite owning their failures and mistakes and reminding the team of the duty we have to be mindful in all that we create.
In the book People Over Profit, Dale Partridge, founders of Sevenly, explains the cycles we find ourselves in the business scaling world. That how we build businesses is broken. It often results with companies having to earn back their customers trust after starting off with a good mission but losing MINDFULNESS along the way. Why can’t we stay conscious while we scale and grow business? We can. We just need people in the c-suite who remind the builders that this is the most important part of our process. What if we create companies from now on that don’t have to scale themselves out of trust?
The idea of Conscious Officers instead of Communications Officers is not new. But what if Mindfulness, Sustainability, and Ethics/Fair Trade were all part of the c-suite as well? What kind of world would we be building then? As women, it is our right to come up with new roles, when we see a gap in the systems we are a part of.
In the article The New CCO on PR Week.com, written in 2018, the conversation of transformation from Chief Communications Officer to Chief Conscience Officer is real and something that is now undeniable even to all male c-suites. This excerpt explains the mindset being adopted into even patriarchal systems now. “Drops in trust in every global institution result from people’s belief that the officials they elect, the companies they work for and buy from, and the media that inform them are putting their own interests above those of their stakeholders and, in essence, betraying their core mission and values.
Against this backdrop, it's no surprise to see the rise of social and media echo chambers and more basic tribal instincts. When the truth is up for grabs, everyone will claim it as their own or retreat to the version with which they are most comfortable.
This is a pivotal moment for the communications profession. We have come a long way from the days of press stunts and endless pitching. In an environment where facts are malleable and "controlling the narrative" is paramount, we can either risk being relegated to our prior spin-doctor status, or use this moment to elevate our roles and the organizations we serve.”
I believe that we have a duty to be Mindful when we create, especially when creating new companies and especially when we decide how to devote our lives in career. I wonder what other roles we can come up with out here in highly patriarchal systems that we are already a part of. What can we come up with when we decide it’s time to grow within the firms we work for. If we already have a company we are entwined with and want to be a part of these organisms growing up and into more conscious businesses, how can we place ourselves in better positions to serve where we already sit. If they won't listen, how do we dare to leave and really create roles made for our awareness levels? I dare you to think outside the box. I double dare you to go one step further and be an inventor. See our blog on Women and Funding in Lesson 4 for the statistics on female inventors. We matter when it comes to creating new ideas and systems and professions and sectors. The world needs female minds to go to work now. We are liberated, now let’s use it to the world’s advantage. Think, and think some more, think hard. We don’t always have to say yes to the systems we see in place. We can create, it is our nature.
If you are working your way up the corporate ladder or jungle gym and you feel like the company you work for needs a Chief Mindfulness Officer, maybe you should make that suggestion and throw your hat in the ring when you do. If you think there should be a different Chief that hasn’t been named yet, speak up. Can you offer a skillset that no one else has provided to the firm you are at yet, with data to support you. Use the data in People over Profit. Use the internet to support your missions within your firms or the companies you build. What is the worst that could happen? They say no? You then feel the urge to start your own company that will think about having a Mindfulness Officer or Sustainability or Fair Trade executive? Who will build companies that have these needs as a priority if not us? The craziest part is that these are the companies that then take part of that market share from the firms you left - because you’re willing to do business with a spine and use it as not just greenwashing but an ethos? Look at Zappos, Patagonia, all the other B Corps out there who believe in being good humans first and foremost in business. There is proof that doing good is good for business. Look at the B Corps blog. Look all around you for opportunity. If you see a whole, fill it. That’s how people “win the business lottery”. Not because they are smarter than everyone else but because they pay attention and aren’t afraid to commit to ideas. Niches are there for the taking, and a business hole is shining in your direction for a reason. Pay attention. Remember that an entrepreneur fails on average of 7 times before getting to a company that they sell. You will need grit if you step outside of the institutions and corporations to build, but there is more support out here than ever before for ideas coming from women. If we don’t do it, who will? Our daughters, nieces, god daughters? Let’s be the change, for them and pave the way and enjoy living in our purpose along the way.
I believe we can do better and are doing better. We are in a great shift. This shift needs more women, and minorities, willing to step up and make these moves. I think Chief Mindfulness Officer is a role that all companies need. I think there are enough qualified people to take those roles and make major impacts in each sector by having them involved, both profit wise but also spiritually. At what point does spiritual equity matter for companies we build and jobs we do? I think there’s room for more Chief roles centered on female principles and qualities. Pay attention to how much spiritual equity you have in your life and career. It matters more than anything, because this is what gets you up and excited to work each day.
