Is it Time for Business Warrior Wisdom?

[Edel O'Mahony]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I walked into the corporate world, in a sales ledger role many years ago totally unconfident and naive of the business world. My life was in tatters after ending a 10 year marriage and facing the future bringing up 4 small children on my own.
I thought back then (or social conditioning instilled into me) I had to find a career that would bring in as much money as possible, so trained in finance and there I sat in this new and unyielding corporate world. I, like so many others were programmed into believing, if I found a ‘solid’ company, I could carve a safe career there for twenty years or more….wrong!

Apart for the sheer fact I created this career from my own fear based beliefs and it was in total misalignment to my creative nature, I have a stubborn streak and despite many challenges ( in particular 4 lay-offs in 3 years!) that took me into contract work, it was to be the experiences I gained from these roles that allowed me to personally grow and rediscover my truth.
Through all this I had become a great observer of people and of business, often finding a big misalignment between how the corporate world conducted itself and my values, or should I say it allowed me to recognise my true values. You see, my family name goes back to the 10th century and in getting through supporting my children, I connected to their warrior strength and the values of honour, honesty and integrity, lived my life by them in fact, leading by example for not only my children but the people and teams working for me.

What I observed in the corporate world was a culture of isolation, lack and pressure, where employees were loaded with more and more work and responsibility for less and less recognition.
I was determined to change this in any small way I could and when building a team in London back in 2006 I used what I call ‘Business Warrior Wisdom‘, where contribution and service, honour, honesty and integrity ruled.
I contributed by training my staff (I also learned all their roles myself) and often took on team work when one was ill. I showed my team respect and honour, praising and supporting their growing efforts. I instilled in them integrity for themselves and working to the best of their ability regardless of conditions around them.

What had been a department that was a laughing stock of the company, turned into the jewel in the company’s crown.

My journey was to take me out of the corporate world on a stunning experiential journey of growth and evolvement. From standing by my values to living and breathing my truth, I remained authentic and this has been the foundation to everything I have now created.

It has also proved to me that the old paradigm of fear based business models have no place in our evolving conscious societies. That conscious business is all about contribution and service, communication and collaboration, where business lives and breathes at the quantum level of it’s individual employees, from a foundation of honour, honesty and integrity.

So my question is, would corporate business benefit from adopting Business Warrior Wisdom today?