‘Belonging: The Ancient Code of Togetherness’, by Owen Eastwood, and ‘On Waiting’, by Harold Schweizer.
‘Belonging: The Ancient Code of Togetherness’, by Owen Eastwood
If you click on the photo, you can grab a copy for yourself. Heads up: I’m a participant in the Amazon affiliate program, so I may earn a commission if you shop through my links.
What’s it about:
Creating belonging is a crucial need for high-performing teams, explored through stories from history, sports and recent culture.
What Lynn learned:
As someone who already supports teams to create high-performing environments underpinned with inclusion, a lot of this was not new learning for me, but spoke to my existing knowledge and expertise.
The term ‘whakapapa’ which is a Maori idea that all of us are a part of a bigger tribe and contribute to a wider purpose beyond ourselves.
Leaders need to tell the story of the whole organisation, not just their own story that is then passed onto others.
Self-actualisation, as described by Maslow, was not for individual benefit, but to use the powers gained to benefit others.
Fave quotes:
‘If our need to belong is unmet, we leak energy and focus by obsessing on the unsafe environment and relations around us. There is no performance benefit in that’ (p. 27).
‘We receive dopamine hits not just when Us do well but when Them fail’ (p. 57).
‘Strong cultures don’t airbrush history’ (p. 94).
Why relevant right now:
Creating a more inclusive world where everyone belongs is my mission in life. And it is our natural human need to want to belong.
Interest factor: 4/5
Coffee table cred: 4/5
Ignorance of external world while reading: 4.5/5
Book cover design: 3/5
Help the existential crisis: 4/5
‘On Waiting’, by Harold Schweizer
If you click on the photo, you can grab a copy for yourself. Heads up: I’m a participant in the Amazon affiliate program, so I may earn a commission if you shop through my links.
What’s it about:
A philosophical exploration of various aspects of waiting – ethics, art, time.
What Lynn learned:
Waiting even impacts on grammar as commas are less in use now due to our non-stop society.
Accepting that everything is meaningless is a way to deal with our waiting-angst.
A way to look at waiting is to be given instructions to be still. I like that.
Paintings on death reveal how meaningful it can be to offer your waiting to someone – ‘Here I am’. This is not a task to be checked off. It endures as the offer itself. The power of sitting with someone’s pain cannot be underestimated – something I train people in during Scotland’s Mental Health First Aid.
Fave quotes:
“Lacking the charms of boredom or desire, waiting is neither interestingly melancholic nor despairingly romantic.”
“The person who waits is out of sync with time, outside of the “moral” and economic community of those whose time is productive and synchronized.”
‘She would rather think than feel time’ (p. 21)
‘those who are distracted wait superficially in the dimensions of space, whereas the ill and suffering wait deeply in the dimensions of duration’ (p. 23)
Why relevant right now:
Our attention-economy is all about instant gratification. This helps us understand the (frustrating but almighty) pause.
Interest factor: 3/5
Coffee table cred: 2/5
Ignorance of external world while reading: 3.5/5
Book cover design: 4.5/5 (I used to go on bowler hat adventures)
Help the existential crisis: 4/5
