Ep. 151: Hema Vyas - Passionate and Emotional Leadership
Hema Vyas, The Omnipreneurial Psychologist™, joins Count Me In to talk about the significance of heart, passion, and emotion when it comes to leadership and building high-performance teams. Hema is a corporate wellness and life leadership mentor, a keynote speaker, a facilitator and author, a human capital strategist, a philanthropist, and a positive impact investor. As an established expert and consultant in all matters related to heart intelligence, Ayurveda, spirituality, and conscious living, she users her almost 30 years of expertise to develop concepts such as Omnipreneurship, which speaks to the heart of her approach to business development. Hema provides individual, group, and corporate services with a personal touch. Her goal is to guide clients, those from CEOs to Creatives, towards Heart Wisdom & Prosperity that is good for people and our planet. Here, she discusses matters including the heart, passion, trust, and leadership to build high-performance teams. Download and listen now!
Contact Hema Vyas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hemavyas/
Hema's Website: https://www.hemavyas.com (Book a complimentary 20-minute Discovery call!)
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host, Mitch Roshong and today I'm happy to introduce our guest speaker for episode 151, Hema Vyas. Hema is a renowned speaker on heart wisdom, human consciousness, spirituality, health, and energy. She works with individuals, corporates, startups, and diverse global audiences to provide needle turning solutions for problems of all kinds. In this episode, Hema speaks with Adam about the significance of heart, passion and emotion. When it comes to leadership and building high performance teams. Keep listening as we head over to their conversation now.
Adam: (00:52)
Our initial discussions or, conversations back and forth. I was seeing you have this term omnipreneur, and I, you know, for many years there's been a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit and business. And I was looking in like the definition of entrepreneur is a person who organizers or operates a business or businesses taking a greater risk than normal or financial risks. Cause they're usually going out there and starting their own business. So I'd like to take a step. So where is it? Where does Omnipreneurs fit into all that? And how does someone to get from an entrepreneur to an omnipreneur?
Hema: (01:26)
I think an omnipreneur is what the world needs now. So, you know, we have lots of businesses. We have lots of entrepreneurs now, more than ever. We've got so many startups and people wanting to run their own business and run with their own ideas and taking the risk. As you said, you know, an entrepreneur who's willing to take risk and, and put the money behind themselves. And for me omnipreneurship is really about the next level where you align those sort of business skills. You align the financial and entrepreneurial skills together with health, wealth and meaning. So it's not just about, you know, in terms of running a successful business, it's about how we look after ourselves, how we look after other people, not just the people we employ, but also the people around us, the people, you know, when we're putting out products, how we're taking into consideration, you know, what's going to be for the benefit of the whole and also the planet. So for me, it's really a holistic approach to business, a holistic approach to life. And I believe that each of us should be omnipreneurs in our own way, where we are not only taking care of our own financial success, whether it's in a corporation or whether it's in as an entrepreneur doing, not running our own business, but also taking care of all aspects of our lives, making sure that we have time for relationships, family, making sure we have time to take care of ourselves and those around us and doing it in a way that is sustainable to the planet and the world that we live in.
Adam: (03:11)
So it's taking all of the things that an entrepreneur would do, but adding in a holistic approach, it makes me think of terms like sustainability and those things are becoming more and more prevalent in business and being able to connect all those things in a holistic manner, which is not the easiest thing to do, especially when the bottom line is most important thing in any business, right? Because you have to make money to stay in business.
Hema: (03:39)
Absolutely so, you know, one of the things that we teach is really how to be a tucked down business, where, you know, the people at the top are taking care of more than just the bottom line. They are taking care of people, making sure that they're fulfilling the sense of purpose that they have a sense of meaning. And they are also contributing to a sustainable business as well as a sustainable growth of business because you know, a lot of startups sort of growing exponentially and then don't have the means to take care of the people. Other dues. There's a huge turnover of staff because they're burning out and, and, and that's not healthy for anybody. It's not healthy for the people. It's not healthy for relationships, but it's also not healthy for business every few years. If they have to keep training new people or get new people involved in the vision and the goals you want people to grow in a healthy way. So really teaching the leaders how to lead in a way that takes care of, the people in such a way that the bottom line gets fed or can make do.
Adam: (04:49)
That makes sense. I was reading that you say that you have to put your heart into it. So what's the role of like heart in leadership and in life, I guess, because we're trying to talk about the holistic approach.
Hema: (04:59)
Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of the qualities that we teach I would say are qualities of the heart. So, you know, we have the cerebral intelligence, we have cognition, we have intellectual ability. We also have the gut intelligence, which is a body's intelligence, which is our instincts, you know, and that feeling, that knowingness that we get, which is more from an instinct place, that there's an instinct about something. And then there's heart intelligence, which I would say is more of a wisdom. And it's, you know, really tapping into that sense of wisdom that allows us to have that holistic approach. It is being able to come from our heart space to lead from our heart space, to make sure that we are being really heart-centered so that we have all the qualities, you know, that are heart centered sort of leader would have in order to be able to take care of the people in order to take of themselves. So heart has everything to do with business as far as I'm concerned, because that is where we get balanced. If we're not in balance, then whatever we're doing is not going to have the desired effect. So that's what causes extremism. And when we're too focused on one thing and not enough on another, eventually the way the universe works, that it creates his own balance. And that's what burnout is, is it, if you're not giving enough time to people to really, really take care of themselves and what's going to happen is they're going to burn out. So what you think is good, pushing people, for example, ultimately ends up not being good when we're centered in our hearts. We know what that balance is because each individual is different. So there's no sort of set of rules that says, well, you know, you have to stop people working at five. Some people might thrive working late into the evening. They might want to come in later in the day. You know, there's that flexibility that comes from not being so structured, not being, so process-oriented not being so cerebral, not being seen to lecture and not going well, this is what works, and this is how we have to do it. But actually looking at the people that you're working with, who you're working for, who's working for you and how to get the best out of that situation so that there is genuine expansion of the heart, which means that there's a, a sense of flow. And there's a sense of balance, which is really where real happiness lies, but also where prosperity lies. And if we want to be successful in business, I think we have to be successful and happy and heart centers qualities are those qualities that help us to really relate in that.
Adam: (07:48)
Yeah. It's not something that you talk about often you don't, you don't pick up the Harvard business review and see, you know, things of the heart. but what you're saying makes a lot of sense where it's connecting to it's connecting to what really matters. Because if, if your employees don't understand, don't see that you care about them and that you hear them and listen to them, they will eventually get to that burnout place. If you're not helping them get there, is that what I'm am I following you right?
Hema: (08:16)
Absolutely. Because, you know, we can't leave our personal lives out of it. So, you know, when you're going to work, you're carrying all of you to work. And yet there's this idea that when you go into work, you know, whoever you are, whether you're the boss, whether you're the employee, it doesn't matter that you have to leave aspects of yourself, but it all filters in. And if there's space to be seen for who you are to say, Hey, listen, you're having a tough day today. Why don't you take the time off, you know, going work out what you've got to work out and then come back in. I think you're going to get so much more from that employee. Then if you just do the same old, same old, you know, which is across the board, this is what applies to everybody. It doesn't necessarily anymore.
Adam: (09:05)
So it sounds like, you know, things like truth and trust and transparency are very important in this model that we're discussing. Can you discuss more about what, what that looks like?
Hema: (09:15)
Absolutely. Yeah. So the qualities of the heart that we focus on are sort of the ones that you just talked about for us. You know, it's really, really important to help people understand where heart energy and truth trust and transparency comes into that. So one of the things that I talk about is the electromagnetic field that the heart and veins the heart is always looking to put, right, whatever it considers or, you know, the wisdom of the heart could see yourself as being not really aligned with what is true. We know we feel and we connect, you know, with every sense that we have with what some, when something is truthful and our bodies respond when it's not truthful. And so the same idea that we live in a world where people are withholding information, not being transparent, you know, giving sort of information on a need to know basis. For example, it doesn't create a sense of trust. Now, when there isn't that sense of trust, I'll say instantaneously, you lose a connection with those people. If you're not inspiring trust in them, they are going to be disconnected from what you're doing. And if they're disconnected from what they're doing, they're not going to feel like they're on purpose. They're not going to be passionate about what they're doing, even if they started off loving what they were doing. And, and it's something they genuinely loved to do. That's why there's a crossover, you know, where they go to other companies or, you know, where you lose that sort of loyalty. Because often there is a lack of, you know, that transparency and it might be for genuine reasons. It might be, well, we don't need to bombard them too much information, but actually, you know, I think we have to get better skilled at really being able to identify when people do need information, whether it's useful for them to have it or not, because it's, you know, that lack of secrecy and that real transparency that I think makes people feel like they're part of something. And when we feel like we're a part of something, our hearts organically open up when our hearts are open, we're in flow. And when we're in flow, we have greater trust. Now we have greater sense of truth. And that feeling that there is something truthful here that's happening. I think, you know, increases productivity, increases creativity and increases loyalty. And I think that's really, really important.
Adam: (11:55)
So how do you overcome it? Cause I heard you saying that transparency, that old mindset of you're on a need to know basis, but that's the traditional model and many businesses still hold to that. And even in an entrepreneurial space where you're a startup, there are certain secrets that you don't want getting out. How do you balance all of that? Because you want your people to feel like they're in a trusting environment, but there are certain things that are unable to be shared with everybody.
Hema: (12:25)
Absolutely. I think it's less about sharing everything with everybody and more about intention. You know, it's, you know, the open door policy, when you say, Hey, listen, if you're struggling with something and I don't even care what it is, whether it's personal, whether it's social, whether it's about the business, whether it's about something that hasn't been communicated effectively to you come in and talk to you. We need those leaders who are really available and that are not going to make people feel small or insignificant for asking what they consider a silly question or, you know, wanting more information about something. Like I say, not everybody needs it, but just knowing that we can do it makes a difference just knowing we can walk into, you know, somebody's office and to say, Hey, listen that project something about it. Doesn't quite sit right with me and can you give me a bit more information so I can do my job well, and you've told me just get on and do this research, but I really like to know the context or whatever it might be. You know, when there is that ability to be able to go in and ask for what you need. And more importantly, the ability to actually be able to acknowledge to yourself, you're in a safe environment where you can acknowledge that you might need something more than what others have already got. Then it is going to create that sense of open expansiveness. And that level of trust is definitely going to be inspired in that situation. Lack a sense, not necessarily that everybody has to know it. They just have to move that if they need to know that there's someone they can ask and they'll be giving an honest answer that we can't share that with you because actually, you know, there's a big roll out and we're not ready to share it with anybody. But as soon as you know, we're able to share it with anybody, you're going to be one of the first people to know it's that sense of being, you know, sooth, that sense of being comforted. And that makes a huge amount of difference. And we live in a world where I say a lot of people have been numbed out to that and because they've numbed out to it, they don't even know that that's what's missing and they don't know how to ask for it. And leaders don't know how to give. And so that's one of the things I say so important to acknowledge, to change the way businesses are running to go from sort of more the entrepreneurial businesses to the more entrepreneurial businesses.
Adam: (15:02)
So with the last two years or so since, COVID hit the world and affected all of us where most businesses moved to everybody working from home for a long time, and a lot of businesses are just getting started to bringing people back into the office. How can we take all the lessons we've learned from everybody working remotely to bringing them back into the office, to continuing to build a high performing team with all these things that we've been talking about today?
Hema: (15:31)
I think the first thing is to acknowledge, you know, for some people it's been an absolute send home for other people, it's been an absolute nightmare and everything in between, you know, and to not treat everybody the same and to not think that they should or be the same and feel the same thing the same and to give people a voice. I think that's the most important thing we want to build sustainable businesses with the uncertainty that we're all faced with, you know, the uncertainty that hit us or, you know, like a rock sort of, you know, 18, 19 months ago, you know, if we really, really want to get the most out of that situation, I think we need more conversations. We need better communication. We need better communication that inspires, a set level of transparency, which will absolutely, you know, endear trust, because if you're going back and you have struggled, then you are going to want to be able to speak to somebody. And you're going to be able to be able to speak to people about, you know, what those struggles are and how to transition. And also the uncertainty that, that we might look down here. There are lots of people that are still very nervous about getting back, you know, on the commuter journey. There are people who are nervous about going back. There are those people who, you know, can't wait and they just really want to go back. And people who want to do the hybrid thing, they want to work from home a little bit, cause they definitely enjoyed it, but if they want to go and be able to, you know, come connect with other people and office and have meetings in person. So I think, you know, if the leaders are going to really bring them back and to keep them in a space where they feel safe, where they feel, they can really, really thrive and get on with their work, knowing that other things have been taken care of. Then I think that leaders definitely need to make more time to connect with people, individuals in groups, however, to it, to really, really, you know, appreciate the unique journey they won't be. And if we don't make time for them, as you said might be, they don't feel that they're being taken care of or that they are cared for that they matter as human beings, then I'll assume that, you know, they're not going to bring their best care to the situation. They're just not why should they, because if they don't exist in your eyes, why should you exist in there? You know, that's just human nature.
Adam: (18:08)
So if you're looking at your employees and say, Hey, I see that you exist. Is that a step toward increasing things like innovation, creativity, creative thinking within the business because you're giving them a passion and a purpose in where in their daily work.
Hema: (18:25)
Absolutely. Absolutely. One of the things that we sort of notice, you know, doing the work that I do is really the fact that, you know, if people have a voice, you'd be surprised who comes out with those jams, you'll be surprised who is creative, who might be really quiet, who might be really good at one job, but you know, has all these other insights or how, when one person opens up a conversation, you know, creativity begins to flow. Innovation begins to flow. And I think it's really, again comes back to communication, giving people a voice when people are seeing, when they felt heard they are going to speak up and you'll be surprised what treasures live within those people. And so just being able to give them a voice to just, you know, is going to give them that confidence to be able to speak up, which is good. And because, you know, sometimes when we're in a situation, we have blind spots, we all do. We all have blind spots in our own situation. And sometimes it takes somebody from the outside to look in and go, ah, this is what you need, you know, within an organization, when, no matter how big or small you don't know who might have the solution that you're looking for. And when you create an open sort of space and when you create a very trusting space where people can voice whatever it is, they want to voice. That's where creativity and ideas flow. And that's what leads to beautiful innovation. And so it's something that I think if people spend more time doing this, they are going to find that they are going to thrive. And we've certainly seen that our experience has been a real sense of, you know, the growth that comes when people individually grow. And when people really, really fall in the safe space then, because when safety is no longer an issue, when uncertainty feels like a safe space to be, then I think creativity prevails.
Adam: (20:30)
What I'm hearing you say is that from a leadership perspective, there's a level of humility that needs to be there in order for you to be open enough, to hear what your employees have to say, because they may be saying something that you may not like or want to hear, and you may humanly react like, oh no, I don't like that. Or I don't want to hear that, but you have to be humble enough to take in what they're saying and take it as, okay, this is their concern. And I may not be able to do anything about it, but I have to be able to hear and listen, and actually be humble enough to be present for that. And that's not easy to do.
Hema: (21:08)
Well, absolutely. And it's not because, you know, as leaders, you've got so many other things on your mind and there's so much going on. And so how do you make that time? That's one of the things that I definitely have teaching is how can we expand time? And we expand time by recognizing what is missed in those opportunities. When you think you don't have time to listen to somebody because taking that time to listen to somebody today is going to save you a hell of a lot of grief, you know, further down the line. And I think that's something that, you know, really great leaders do know and do recognize, and sort of the more newer leaders, they may be the ones who are struggling with it because they don't necessarily have the experience. And so it's recognizing that, you know, sometimes things aren't as we think they are or healthy, we think they should be. Sometimes we have to really lean into what's really needed in that moment and really come from that heart space to say, okay, I need to make time. Doesn't matter how busy I am. This is what I need to need time for, because, you know, again, I can honestly tell you that I know so many people have and are going to be leaving jobs, you know, September, because I've spoken to people, myself, my own clients who are like, you know, they haven't taken the time to really check in with us during all of this time. This is not company I want to stay with. And, you know, and I hear it across the board and, and I'm sure, you know, it's not unique to the few people I speak to. I'm sure a lot of people who are going through this now, if they're taking the time, let's say six months ago, even, you know, whenever to just touch base with everybody, you know, just really connect. Then they would be safe with themselves, the whole process of recruiting and all the rest of it that goes with losing staff. So it's so, so important.
Adam: (23:12)
So I've mentioned already, like the, you know, how it takes a level of humility, but what role does things like emotion and intuition and even cognition, take in leadership, especially in, you know, in the realm of an omnipreneur.
Hema: (23:26)
So I think for me, it's really about bringing balance to all of them because all of those things have such an important part to play. And in the past, we've sort of tried to keep emotion out of it. We tried to keep it very cooperative, we've tried to keep it very intellectual and the heart for me, you know the mind is where cognition happens. The gut is where our emotions happen. And the heart is where there is balance, where we balance both the instinct, as well as has seen too, where we balance those two things and get to a space and place of wisdom. And in leadership, I think, you know, you have to be like, it's not necessarily about your skills because sometimes the most skilled and the most, you know, expert, you know, people in their field don't make great leaders. And the reason why they don't make great leaders, is because, you know, they may be good at what they do, but they haven't found that balance of, you know, bringing the whole thing together and being able to have that bird's eye perspective, you know, when you step out of that situation and to really look down and really be able to say, okay, what's going on? Not everybody's like me, not everybody thinks like me, not everyone feels like me. And so to really have that kind of ability to have that sort of 3d perspective and to look down and to go what's needed in this situation. And that's where the role of intuition really, really becomes prominent because it's not necessarily about what you've done in the past. It's not necessarily about where you're going in the future, but it's about in that moment, what is the right thing to do and what is really, really needed. And when we have that present, when, when this, when we have that ability to, we all have intuition, some people are just better at being able to connect to it and name it. And, and it's, there's, it's something that we can learn. And when we really, really learn and use our intuition, I think we bring together, you know, our cognition, we bring together emotions because emotions are important. You cannot leave them out of a space because they're part of what's happening in the moment they add context to what's happening in the moment. And when we act intuitively, I think we act wisely. And when we act wisely, it's not only good for us. It's good for the people around us, but it's also good for the business or whatever our goal is, whatever our vision is, it's good at that.
Adam: (26:12)
So what I hear you saying is that to have a successful business business, you no longer need to have a bunch of mindless drones. We need to have fully aware self-aware emotional people who can give all of themselves to, to what they're doing.
Hema: (26:26)
Absolutely. Absolutely. We are human beings holistically inclined, and therefore this idea that we've had to compartmentalize ourselves, hasn't served us. It's created an imbalance and now you're right. We don't need this mind restraints. We absolutely need people who are willing to bring all aspects of themselves to the space and feel safe to do so and recognize it is a positive skill rather than a negative.
Closing: (27:00)
This has been Count Me In, IMA's podcast providing you with the latest perspectives of thought leaders from the accounting and finance profession. If you like what you heard, and you'd like to be counted in for more relevant accounting and finance education, visit IMA's website at www.imanet.org.
Hema's Website: https://www.hemavyas.com (Book a complimentary 20-minute Discovery call!)
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Mitch: (00:05)
Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host, Mitch Roshong and today I'm happy to introduce our guest speaker for episode 151, Hema Vyas. Hema is a renowned speaker on heart wisdom, human consciousness, spirituality, health, and energy. She works with individuals, corporates, startups, and diverse global audiences to provide needle turning solutions for problems of all kinds. In this episode, Hema speaks with Adam about the significance of heart, passion and emotion. When it comes to leadership and building high performance teams. Keep listening as we head over to their conversation now.
Adam: (00:52)
Our initial discussions or, conversations back and forth. I was seeing you have this term omnipreneur, and I, you know, for many years there's been a celebration of the entrepreneurial spirit and business. And I was looking in like the definition of entrepreneur is a person who organizers or operates a business or businesses taking a greater risk than normal or financial risks. Cause they're usually going out there and starting their own business. So I'd like to take a step. So where is it? Where does Omnipreneurs fit into all that? And how does someone to get from an entrepreneur to an omnipreneur?
Hema: (01:26)
I think an omnipreneur is what the world needs now. So, you know, we have lots of businesses. We have lots of entrepreneurs now, more than ever. We've got so many startups and people wanting to run their own business and run with their own ideas and taking the risk. As you said, you know, an entrepreneur who's willing to take risk and, and put the money behind themselves. And for me omnipreneurship is really about the next level where you align those sort of business skills. You align the financial and entrepreneurial skills together with health, wealth and meaning. So it's not just about, you know, in terms of running a successful business, it's about how we look after ourselves, how we look after other people, not just the people we employ, but also the people around us, the people, you know, when we're putting out products, how we're taking into consideration, you know, what's going to be for the benefit of the whole and also the planet. So for me, it's really a holistic approach to business, a holistic approach to life. And I believe that each of us should be omnipreneurs in our own way, where we are not only taking care of our own financial success, whether it's in a corporation or whether it's in as an entrepreneur doing, not running our own business, but also taking care of all aspects of our lives, making sure that we have time for relationships, family, making sure we have time to take care of ourselves and those around us and doing it in a way that is sustainable to the planet and the world that we live in.
Adam: (03:11)
So it's taking all of the things that an entrepreneur would do, but adding in a holistic approach, it makes me think of terms like sustainability and those things are becoming more and more prevalent in business and being able to connect all those things in a holistic manner, which is not the easiest thing to do, especially when the bottom line is most important thing in any business, right? Because you have to make money to stay in business.
Hema: (03:39)
Absolutely so, you know, one of the things that we teach is really how to be a tucked down business, where, you know, the people at the top are taking care of more than just the bottom line. They are taking care of people, making sure that they're fulfilling the sense of purpose that they have a sense of meaning. And they are also contributing to a sustainable business as well as a sustainable growth of business because you know, a lot of startups sort of growing exponentially and then don't have the means to take care of the people. Other dues. There's a huge turnover of staff because they're burning out and, and, and that's not healthy for anybody. It's not healthy for the people. It's not healthy for relationships, but it's also not healthy for business every few years. If they have to keep training new people or get new people involved in the vision and the goals you want people to grow in a healthy way. So really teaching the leaders how to lead in a way that takes care of, the people in such a way that the bottom line gets fed or can make do.
Adam: (04:49)
That makes sense. I was reading that you say that you have to put your heart into it. So what's the role of like heart in leadership and in life, I guess, because we're trying to talk about the holistic approach.
Hema: (04:59)
Yeah, absolutely. So a lot of the qualities that we teach I would say are qualities of the heart. So, you know, we have the cerebral intelligence, we have cognition, we have intellectual ability. We also have the gut intelligence, which is a body's intelligence, which is our instincts, you know, and that feeling, that knowingness that we get, which is more from an instinct place, that there's an instinct about something. And then there's heart intelligence, which I would say is more of a wisdom. And it's, you know, really tapping into that sense of wisdom that allows us to have that holistic approach. It is being able to come from our heart space to lead from our heart space, to make sure that we are being really heart-centered so that we have all the qualities, you know, that are heart centered sort of leader would have in order to be able to take care of the people in order to take of themselves. So heart has everything to do with business as far as I'm concerned, because that is where we get balanced. If we're not in balance, then whatever we're doing is not going to have the desired effect. So that's what causes extremism. And when we're too focused on one thing and not enough on another, eventually the way the universe works, that it creates his own balance. And that's what burnout is, is it, if you're not giving enough time to people to really, really take care of themselves and what's going to happen is they're going to burn out. So what you think is good, pushing people, for example, ultimately ends up not being good when we're centered in our hearts. We know what that balance is because each individual is different. So there's no sort of set of rules that says, well, you know, you have to stop people working at five. Some people might thrive working late into the evening. They might want to come in later in the day. You know, there's that flexibility that comes from not being so structured, not being, so process-oriented not being so cerebral, not being seen to lecture and not going well, this is what works, and this is how we have to do it. But actually looking at the people that you're working with, who you're working for, who's working for you and how to get the best out of that situation so that there is genuine expansion of the heart, which means that there's a, a sense of flow. And there's a sense of balance, which is really where real happiness lies, but also where prosperity lies. And if we want to be successful in business, I think we have to be successful and happy and heart centers qualities are those qualities that help us to really relate in that.
Adam: (07:48)
Yeah. It's not something that you talk about often you don't, you don't pick up the Harvard business review and see, you know, things of the heart. but what you're saying makes a lot of sense where it's connecting to it's connecting to what really matters. Because if, if your employees don't understand, don't see that you care about them and that you hear them and listen to them, they will eventually get to that burnout place. If you're not helping them get there, is that what I'm am I following you right?
Hema: (08:16)
Absolutely. Because, you know, we can't leave our personal lives out of it. So, you know, when you're going to work, you're carrying all of you to work. And yet there's this idea that when you go into work, you know, whoever you are, whether you're the boss, whether you're the employee, it doesn't matter that you have to leave aspects of yourself, but it all filters in. And if there's space to be seen for who you are to say, Hey, listen, you're having a tough day today. Why don't you take the time off, you know, going work out what you've got to work out and then come back in. I think you're going to get so much more from that employee. Then if you just do the same old, same old, you know, which is across the board, this is what applies to everybody. It doesn't necessarily anymore.
Adam: (09:05)
So it sounds like, you know, things like truth and trust and transparency are very important in this model that we're discussing. Can you discuss more about what, what that looks like?
Hema: (09:15)
Absolutely. Yeah. So the qualities of the heart that we focus on are sort of the ones that you just talked about for us. You know, it's really, really important to help people understand where heart energy and truth trust and transparency comes into that. So one of the things that I talk about is the electromagnetic field that the heart and veins the heart is always looking to put, right, whatever it considers or, you know, the wisdom of the heart could see yourself as being not really aligned with what is true. We know we feel and we connect, you know, with every sense that we have with what some, when something is truthful and our bodies respond when it's not truthful. And so the same idea that we live in a world where people are withholding information, not being transparent, you know, giving sort of information on a need to know basis. For example, it doesn't create a sense of trust. Now, when there isn't that sense of trust, I'll say instantaneously, you lose a connection with those people. If you're not inspiring trust in them, they are going to be disconnected from what you're doing. And if they're disconnected from what they're doing, they're not going to feel like they're on purpose. They're not going to be passionate about what they're doing, even if they started off loving what they were doing. And, and it's something they genuinely loved to do. That's why there's a crossover, you know, where they go to other companies or, you know, where you lose that sort of loyalty. Because often there is a lack of, you know, that transparency and it might be for genuine reasons. It might be, well, we don't need to bombard them too much information, but actually, you know, I think we have to get better skilled at really being able to identify when people do need information, whether it's useful for them to have it or not, because it's, you know, that lack of secrecy and that real transparency that I think makes people feel like they're part of something. And when we feel like we're a part of something, our hearts organically open up when our hearts are open, we're in flow. And when we're in flow, we have greater trust. Now we have greater sense of truth. And that feeling that there is something truthful here that's happening. I think, you know, increases productivity, increases creativity and increases loyalty. And I think that's really, really important.
Adam: (11:55)
So how do you overcome it? Cause I heard you saying that transparency, that old mindset of you're on a need to know basis, but that's the traditional model and many businesses still hold to that. And even in an entrepreneurial space where you're a startup, there are certain secrets that you don't want getting out. How do you balance all of that? Because you want your people to feel like they're in a trusting environment, but there are certain things that are unable to be shared with everybody.
Hema: (12:25)
Absolutely. I think it's less about sharing everything with everybody and more about intention. You know, it's, you know, the open door policy, when you say, Hey, listen, if you're struggling with something and I don't even care what it is, whether it's personal, whether it's social, whether it's about the business, whether it's about something that hasn't been communicated effectively to you come in and talk to you. We need those leaders who are really available and that are not going to make people feel small or insignificant for asking what they consider a silly question or, you know, wanting more information about something. Like I say, not everybody needs it, but just knowing that we can do it makes a difference just knowing we can walk into, you know, somebody's office and to say, Hey, listen that project something about it. Doesn't quite sit right with me and can you give me a bit more information so I can do my job well, and you've told me just get on and do this research, but I really like to know the context or whatever it might be. You know, when there is that ability to be able to go in and ask for what you need. And more importantly, the ability to actually be able to acknowledge to yourself, you're in a safe environment where you can acknowledge that you might need something more than what others have already got. Then it is going to create that sense of open expansiveness. And that level of trust is definitely going to be inspired in that situation. Lack a sense, not necessarily that everybody has to know it. They just have to move that if they need to know that there's someone they can ask and they'll be giving an honest answer that we can't share that with you because actually, you know, there's a big roll out and we're not ready to share it with anybody. But as soon as you know, we're able to share it with anybody, you're going to be one of the first people to know it's that sense of being, you know, sooth, that sense of being comforted. And that makes a huge amount of difference. And we live in a world where I say a lot of people have been numbed out to that and because they've numbed out to it, they don't even know that that's what's missing and they don't know how to ask for it. And leaders don't know how to give. And so that's one of the things I say so important to acknowledge, to change the way businesses are running to go from sort of more the entrepreneurial businesses to the more entrepreneurial businesses.
Adam: (15:02)
So with the last two years or so since, COVID hit the world and affected all of us where most businesses moved to everybody working from home for a long time, and a lot of businesses are just getting started to bringing people back into the office. How can we take all the lessons we've learned from everybody working remotely to bringing them back into the office, to continuing to build a high performing team with all these things that we've been talking about today?
Hema: (15:31)
I think the first thing is to acknowledge, you know, for some people it's been an absolute send home for other people, it's been an absolute nightmare and everything in between, you know, and to not treat everybody the same and to not think that they should or be the same and feel the same thing the same and to give people a voice. I think that's the most important thing we want to build sustainable businesses with the uncertainty that we're all faced with, you know, the uncertainty that hit us or, you know, like a rock sort of, you know, 18, 19 months ago, you know, if we really, really want to get the most out of that situation, I think we need more conversations. We need better communication. We need better communication that inspires, a set level of transparency, which will absolutely, you know, endear trust, because if you're going back and you have struggled, then you are going to want to be able to speak to somebody. And you're going to be able to be able to speak to people about, you know, what those struggles are and how to transition. And also the uncertainty that, that we might look down here. There are lots of people that are still very nervous about getting back, you know, on the commuter journey. There are people who are nervous about going back. There are those people who, you know, can't wait and they just really want to go back. And people who want to do the hybrid thing, they want to work from home a little bit, cause they definitely enjoyed it, but if they want to go and be able to, you know, come connect with other people and office and have meetings in person. So I think, you know, if the leaders are going to really bring them back and to keep them in a space where they feel safe, where they feel, they can really, really thrive and get on with their work, knowing that other things have been taken care of. Then I think that leaders definitely need to make more time to connect with people, individuals in groups, however, to it, to really, really, you know, appreciate the unique journey they won't be. And if we don't make time for them, as you said might be, they don't feel that they're being taken care of or that they are cared for that they matter as human beings, then I'll assume that, you know, they're not going to bring their best care to the situation. They're just not why should they, because if they don't exist in your eyes, why should you exist in there? You know, that's just human nature.
Adam: (18:08)
So if you're looking at your employees and say, Hey, I see that you exist. Is that a step toward increasing things like innovation, creativity, creative thinking within the business because you're giving them a passion and a purpose in where in their daily work.
Hema: (18:25)
Absolutely. Absolutely. One of the things that we sort of notice, you know, doing the work that I do is really the fact that, you know, if people have a voice, you'd be surprised who comes out with those jams, you'll be surprised who is creative, who might be really quiet, who might be really good at one job, but you know, has all these other insights or how, when one person opens up a conversation, you know, creativity begins to flow. Innovation begins to flow. And I think it's really, again comes back to communication, giving people a voice when people are seeing, when they felt heard they are going to speak up and you'll be surprised what treasures live within those people. And so just being able to give them a voice to just, you know, is going to give them that confidence to be able to speak up, which is good. And because, you know, sometimes when we're in a situation, we have blind spots, we all do. We all have blind spots in our own situation. And sometimes it takes somebody from the outside to look in and go, ah, this is what you need, you know, within an organization, when, no matter how big or small you don't know who might have the solution that you're looking for. And when you create an open sort of space and when you create a very trusting space where people can voice whatever it is, they want to voice. That's where creativity and ideas flow. And that's what leads to beautiful innovation. And so it's something that I think if people spend more time doing this, they are going to find that they are going to thrive. And we've certainly seen that our experience has been a real sense of, you know, the growth that comes when people individually grow. And when people really, really fall in the safe space then, because when safety is no longer an issue, when uncertainty feels like a safe space to be, then I think creativity prevails.
Adam: (20:30)
What I'm hearing you say is that from a leadership perspective, there's a level of humility that needs to be there in order for you to be open enough, to hear what your employees have to say, because they may be saying something that you may not like or want to hear, and you may humanly react like, oh no, I don't like that. Or I don't want to hear that, but you have to be humble enough to take in what they're saying and take it as, okay, this is their concern. And I may not be able to do anything about it, but I have to be able to hear and listen, and actually be humble enough to be present for that. And that's not easy to do.
Hema: (21:08)
Well, absolutely. And it's not because, you know, as leaders, you've got so many other things on your mind and there's so much going on. And so how do you make that time? That's one of the things that I definitely have teaching is how can we expand time? And we expand time by recognizing what is missed in those opportunities. When you think you don't have time to listen to somebody because taking that time to listen to somebody today is going to save you a hell of a lot of grief, you know, further down the line. And I think that's something that, you know, really great leaders do know and do recognize, and sort of the more newer leaders, they may be the ones who are struggling with it because they don't necessarily have the experience. And so it's recognizing that, you know, sometimes things aren't as we think they are or healthy, we think they should be. Sometimes we have to really lean into what's really needed in that moment and really come from that heart space to say, okay, I need to make time. Doesn't matter how busy I am. This is what I need to need time for, because, you know, again, I can honestly tell you that I know so many people have and are going to be leaving jobs, you know, September, because I've spoken to people, myself, my own clients who are like, you know, they haven't taken the time to really check in with us during all of this time. This is not company I want to stay with. And, you know, and I hear it across the board and, and I'm sure, you know, it's not unique to the few people I speak to. I'm sure a lot of people who are going through this now, if they're taking the time, let's say six months ago, even, you know, whenever to just touch base with everybody, you know, just really connect. Then they would be safe with themselves, the whole process of recruiting and all the rest of it that goes with losing staff. So it's so, so important.
Adam: (23:12)
So I've mentioned already, like the, you know, how it takes a level of humility, but what role does things like emotion and intuition and even cognition, take in leadership, especially in, you know, in the realm of an omnipreneur.
Hema: (23:26)
So I think for me, it's really about bringing balance to all of them because all of those things have such an important part to play. And in the past, we've sort of tried to keep emotion out of it. We tried to keep it very cooperative, we've tried to keep it very intellectual and the heart for me, you know the mind is where cognition happens. The gut is where our emotions happen. And the heart is where there is balance, where we balance both the instinct, as well as has seen too, where we balance those two things and get to a space and place of wisdom. And in leadership, I think, you know, you have to be like, it's not necessarily about your skills because sometimes the most skilled and the most, you know, expert, you know, people in their field don't make great leaders. And the reason why they don't make great leaders, is because, you know, they may be good at what they do, but they haven't found that balance of, you know, bringing the whole thing together and being able to have that bird's eye perspective, you know, when you step out of that situation and to really look down and really be able to say, okay, what's going on? Not everybody's like me, not everybody thinks like me, not everyone feels like me. And so to really have that kind of ability to have that sort of 3d perspective and to look down and to go what's needed in this situation. And that's where the role of intuition really, really becomes prominent because it's not necessarily about what you've done in the past. It's not necessarily about where you're going in the future, but it's about in that moment, what is the right thing to do and what is really, really needed. And when we have that present, when, when this, when we have that ability to, we all have intuition, some people are just better at being able to connect to it and name it. And, and it's, there's, it's something that we can learn. And when we really, really learn and use our intuition, I think we bring together, you know, our cognition, we bring together emotions because emotions are important. You cannot leave them out of a space because they're part of what's happening in the moment they add context to what's happening in the moment. And when we act intuitively, I think we act wisely. And when we act wisely, it's not only good for us. It's good for the people around us, but it's also good for the business or whatever our goal is, whatever our vision is, it's good at that.
Adam: (26:12)
So what I hear you saying is that to have a successful business business, you no longer need to have a bunch of mindless drones. We need to have fully aware self-aware emotional people who can give all of themselves to, to what they're doing.
Hema: (26:26)
Absolutely. Absolutely. We are human beings holistically inclined, and therefore this idea that we've had to compartmentalize ourselves, hasn't served us. It's created an imbalance and now you're right. We don't need this mind restraints. We absolutely need people who are willing to bring all aspects of themselves to the space and feel safe to do so and recognize it is a positive skill rather than a negative.
Closing: (27:00)
This has been Count Me In, IMA's podcast providing you with the latest perspectives of thought leaders from the accounting and finance profession. If you like what you heard, and you'd like to be counted in for more relevant accounting and finance education, visit IMA's website at www.imanet.org.
