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Good Morning Thinkers!
Archive: June 19, 2000

Thoughts on "Sandbox Wisdom" by Andrea Woodward

I was listening to a speaker recently who cited Rembrandt, Archimedes, and Nobel Prize-winning chemist Kary Mullis, as examples of people who were so enthusiastic about their work that they had it on the frontal lobes of their brains all the time, even when they weren't conscious of thinking about work. As they went about their lives, they made connections between things they would see every day, resulting in creative breakthroughs. He was talking to a corporate R&D group, and they seemed to buy in on the premise that creative thinking is really nothing more than making connections to your work when you have "enthusiasm for the company's goals." I left the presentation, however, wondering why he didn't just come out and say the words: "love" and "passion."

We resist inserting emotion into business. Not so in Tom Asacker's refreshing book, "Sandbox Wisdom." Tom uses a fictional narrative to convey a different possibility for business, one in which we connect on a genuine emotional level with employees and customers. In the book, Bill, a beleaguered CEO, spends a day eating ice cream, playing tag and observing children. His insights, and the application to business, are captured in hand-written notes at the end of each chapter to reinforce the lessons. Although the book is intentionally simple, the premise is profound: Only genuine emotion attracts attention.

Asacker posits that, for business success, making an emotional connection between people is essential. Marketing, advertising, the internet--they are merely tools for making a connection. And that connection comes out of love, compassion, empathy.

Another Innovation Network member, Jackie Beckley, said that she terms her work "business development," because it's a word that her small and medium-size clients like better than "innovation." She suggested that innovators would encounter less resistance by using language more comfortable for corporate America than the language of emotion.

I agree that most of us have learned to "play it cool."

That was my mom's advice when, as a pre-teen, I had a crush on the boy down the street. "Don't wear your heart on your sleeve," she added.

I learned to keep my emotions in check. This learned reserve now feels natural, and I'm generally unaware of it, until someone like Asacker challenges it. I'm sure there are lots of other people, particularly in their corporate personas, who feel more comfortable keeping people at arm's length. I am also aware that this reserve acts as a barrier to people, experiences and new ideas.

So, here are a couple questions:

What are the signs you see that indicate whether there is openness, or not, to talking about emotion in organizations today?

What is one thing you might do today to bring more of your emotional self to work?