Below are my notes from  Wisdom 2.0 (2012), day two. A follow up post to my notes from day one. Again, I state my…

Disclaimer:  like with all of my published notes from workshops or conferences, these are in no way comprehensive. Nor are they a literal summation of what was said. They are simply my notes, my interpreted, perspectived jottings that occasionally combine my own thoughts with those of the speakers. They are the ideas I connected with and am taking with me on my path…. :) enjoy.

Wisdom –based Practice and Leadership (Padmasree Warrior / Cisco, in dialogue with Soren Gordhamer)

-       Meditation is more about space than time.
-       I am one person but people see different sides of me.
-       When you are making decisions under pressure, don’t forget the long term. And your core beliefs.
-       My job is all about conflict resolution.
-       Women bring the power of intuition, especially to male dominated fields.
-       Women tend to be willing to share power and think about the greater goodness of a company.
-       Women, generally, are not brining as much ego to the table.
-       My job is to ask the right questions, not necessarily know all the answers.
-       At the end of the day you have to make a call and you aren’t going to make everyone happy.
-       It’s about extracting the root of the problem, identifying it.
-       “They more you make people think / feel like it’s their own idea, the better” (this is a great point that is common among successful leader and teachers - I get stuck here… will elaborate in a later post).
-       A person from the audience asked “How do you go about presenting the idea of mindfulness to traditional technology corporations. Padmasree answered “Don’t present it. Just do it.”
-       Find like-minded people and just do it.
-       Don’t try to convince anyone, just do it.
-       What makes a good leader? A really good mind and a great heart.
-       Being in charge but also being approachable.
-       What drives you? “Making a difference and having an impact.”
-       “Right now we are hiring problem solvers. Next we are going to start hiring people that invent their own jobs.”

Wisdom in the Modern World: The Yoga and Dharma of Technology (Gopi Kallayil, Google)

-       Yoga means to join your consciousness to the universal consciousness.
-       Cell phones might be a tool for this.
-       All of us are 15 digits away from 6 billion people.
-       We are leveling the playing field.
-       Sometimes the universe magically aligns to support your intentions, especially when you proclaim them.
-       “Nothing fires up me and colleagues like being a champion of free speech and human rights.
-       Our highest dharma is to serve the world.

An Obvious Intersection: Wisdom and Technology (Evan Williams / Blogger / Twitter / Obvious)
-       Micro Blogging
-       How do we make it better? The usual answer is to add more features. Sometimes it’s to subtract. Like the shift from Blogger to Twitter.
-       The importance of slowing down to speed up.
-       The importance of focus.
-       LOL “…basically, by reducing the company down to myself…:”
-       Twitter is all about how constraint drives creativity.
-       As you get more successful you are inundated with and distracted by opportunity.
-       What leads to less-wise maneuvers? Operating from a position of scarcity. You’ll attract less-good people that way.
-       Being patient.
-       Too much focus on speed.
-       Being comfortable with ambiguity.
-       The importance of focusing and saying “no”
-       The 3 things we HAVE to do (doing only two is not an option): 1) build a great business, 2) change the world, and 3) love our work.
-       Anxiety does not lead to great decisions, great leadership, or great culture.
-       I want to work with people that embody calmness, compassion, confidence, and humility.
-       Pay attention to what you’re doing. It sounds obvious but it’s not a given.
-       “This generation is much more connected and aware of what’s going on in the wider world.”

- Video of Evan Williams: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeytoor/6927399989/in/photostream/

The Role of Mindfulness in Growth and Learning: John Kabat-Zinn (Mindful Schools)

-       Each of us has our own calling and if we end up doing someone else’s work it doesn’t feel quite right.
-       Convergence of inner and outer.
-       Re-minding.
-       Re-bodying.
-       We often blast through our moments to get to some better moment.
-       Fulfillment doesn’t come with achievement but moment by moment.
-       Meditation is about paying attention to what’s most important.
-       There’s nothing wrong with the conceptual, it’s just vastly incomplete when it comes to who we are.
-       Mindfulness and heartfulness go hand in hand.
-       We get drawn and quartered by our won contraction and tension.
-       Who are we when we stop believing in the story?
-       Never mind the answer, what’s the question?
-       The real meditation is how we live our lives moment by moment.
-       Meditation shifts from being something you do, that you can check off your to-do list, to how you show up.
-       Extraordinary teaching is always embodied.
-       There are an infinite number of doorways into any room. Who cares which door  you come in from, as long as you are in the room.
-       We’re starving for authentic experience.
-       Meditation is a radical act of sanity and self compassion, to drop into the spaciousness once in a while.

- Video of Jon Kabat-Zinn: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jakeytoor/6927418419/in/photostream/

Wisdom in the Modern World. Dharma Comics: The search for Meaning is Funny That Way (Lea Pearlman / Happiness Institute)

-       It’s important to keep humor around when things get tough.
-       In order to laugh we have to exhale.
-       When you get quiet, things show up.
-       Our gifts may be what we’re already giving away.
-       Often our true nature hides under whatever we think a good contribution should be.
-       Look at what you do in the space between your ambition and expectation.
-       I love what I do and I do what I love.
-       What do you love to give away?
-       What do you find nurturing?
-       What seeds have already been planted?

A Mindful Approach to Learning & Development: Address the Whole Person: Panel (Stuart Crabb / Facebook, Karen May / Google, Michelle Gale / Twitter, Cherie Gardiner / Zynga)

-       Opening question: How do you see emotional intelligence and mindfulness fitting into technology culture?
-       Engineers are fascinatingly curious.
-       You need to present information in a way that takes into account how they see the world.
-       Achievement, fulfillment, meaning – a lot of googlers want all of these things.
-       Many engineers go from improv classes straight to  their computer and say they can do the best coding.
-       We are looking for people who are open, relaxed, and curious.
-       It’s important for us to make our organizations a place to work that will help you achieve your life goals.
-       Use as many approaches, keep as many doors open. Create the space. Use different words and terms that invite people in. Everyone walks in through a different door. (Karen May / Google)
-       Our employees tell us what they want.
-       The experience of work should be as engaging, interesting, and fun as it can possibly be.
-       You need to come into a culture where you can be your authentic self, where you are celebrated. And judged only for what you contribute.
-       Do I take pride in what I’m doing? Would I bring my best friend here?
-       What are you looking for in terms of hiring? Are you savvy and bringing your true self to the table? Most good business people are pretty good at sensing whether or not you’re bringing both.

Spiritual Activism in a Connected World (Seane Corn / Spiritual Activist in dialogue with Tami Simon / Sounds True)

-       It sounds like you have a gift for stirring up people’s unconscious anger.
-       I like being at my edge of comfort.
-       It scares me so much that I can’ t say no.
-       Bearing witness to a soul.
-       I worked with a group of students once… these kids were angry, defiant, had issues with authority, they were not impressed with me at all. I was super frustrated and then I found out that I was seeing 15 of my disowned selves. They were just a projection of all my judgments. All the things about myself I couldn’t accept.
-       If we are in judgment of any soul, we haven’t accepted that part of ourselves.
-       If I can understand it in myself, it won’t scare me so much when I see it in you.
-       How do you release the tension but not bypass the emotion (?)
-       Instead of asking how should technology change, I’m asking “How should I change in relationship to technology?”
-       I can plant seeds and then step away.
-       How do you know you are being triggered?
-       Most people in the world don’t have tools to deal with their shame, belief, grief.
-       Inner and outer alignment – how can congruence be achieved?
-       It’s important to hold yourself accountable when you are not acting in an integral way.
-       “I’m so lucky and privileged to be on this path. I’m not going to dishonor it by being a s**t-head.”

Creating a Mindful Society: Opportunities and Challenges (Tim Ryan / U.S. Congressman)

-       “I was trying to protect who I thought I should be and in the process I was missing my life.”
-       “You’re diminishing yourself when you start thinking you are your story. You are so much vaster than that.”
-       Don’t believe me. Be critical. Look at the science and do it for yourself.
-       Any one person in the family practicing mindfulness changes the dynamic of the family.
-       The creation of mutual-dignity relationships.

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The Asana Experiment: Lessons from a Mindfulness-Based Start-up (Dustin Moskovitz & Justin Rosenstein / Asana)

-       People used to spend an enormous amount of time not doing work, but doing work about work. Coordinating a meeting with 6 people was a tremendous feat when we were all using Day Timers (LOL!)
-       There is the potential to stay in sync -> like dancers becoming more than the sum of their parts when performing a collective piece.
-       Organizing our work into sprints and pauses.
-       Human beings are not robots.
-       The more you can understand the way really creative people do their work and invest in those energy patterns, the more effective they will be.
-       At the end of the week we have a TGIF circle. Everyone goes around and talks about one thing they are excited about and one area where there’s an opportunity for us to put more of our attention.
-       If mindfulness works for an individual, why can’t it work for a company?
-       We are experiencing a transition from evolution to conscious co-creation – we are able to design a world that we want.
-       Me -> We.
-       It’s not a trade off… because we’re social beings. The way to personal happiness is through serving others, so as a hedonist, that’s what I’m doing J
-       All the major problems of humanity are solve-able if we can act collectively.
-       Corporations can be an excellent vehicle to leverage resources and social and human capital to solve problems.
-       “You don’t have to mode-switch your personality when you come here.

The Place for Compassion in a Modern Age (Jim Doty / CCARE)

-       “Mindfulness helped me change my perception of myself from a victim with no options to an individual with endless possibility.”

Ancient Wisdom and Modern Life: A Dialogue (Pierre Omidyar / Ebay, Thupten Jinpa / Buddhist Scholar)

-       Technologists tend to have an inflated view of our own impact on the world (LOL! It’s true J)
-       POSSIBILITY! Technology creates an entirely new reality, that effects everything and everyone, and it’s a relatively small group of people shaping the world! It’s concerning.
-       In the West, it’s possible to misunderstand compassion as self denial. But that’s not true. There is no dichotomy. Taking care of others is an expansion of self care.
-       People are basically good and if you give people the benefit of the doubt, you will rarely be disappointed.
-       Giving people tools and then letting go of the outcome.
-       If you set the right processes up, the participants will create the best outcome.
-       We ascribe lower expectations to people that we ought to.
-       Embodying and being the change you want to see is the best way of encouraging people to adopt the values you find important.
-       Seeing all things as transient.
-       Concern about technology: As grownups we can set our limits. But children are different. And as parents it is important to set those limits and intervene.
-       Much of our decision making takes place under the surface.
-       You have to create a certain kind of rhythm and discipline when it comes to technology.
-       How do we design our systems to encourage good behavior?
-       We’ve reached the limits of the connectivity revolution, now how does technology encourage the right kind of behavior? This is important and touchy because it requires us to make judgments about what is right and wrong.
-       Don’t confuse current-cy with urgency (top of the inbox). Why are other people setting my priorities?
-       Creative work happens in day units and at the smallest, ½ day units. It’s hard to focus and flow when you constantly have to deal with things that break up your time.
-       BLOCKING OUT time for certain things.
-       Unless it’s urgent, I don’t reply to emails until the next day.
-       View. Meditation. Action.
-       A big premise in the tech world is the power of the individual.
-       In Western society all you have to do is say it’s an affront to individual freedom and you end the conversation right there.
-       Secular society charges the individual with a lot: to make sense of their own life and create their own meaning.
-       Our behavior is based  a lot more on what the people around us do than we’d like to think.
-       Sometimes knowing the right question to ask is the most important thing.
-       What is the social responsibility of the creators of technology?

The End/Beginning :)

Goodbye Wisdom 2.0, Silicon Valley, and beautiful Sofitel! See you next year!