This was originally posted on LinkedIn on 29 March 2022. Please follow the link to the original posting.
It is paradoxical, like most things I find these days. As I embark on this new journey (EVOLVE;) I find myself in a bit of a quandary. The funny thing is that in posting this I am pandering to one side of the argument, yet I am about to profess that my decision was ultimately based on the other.
Confused? You should be a bit (and that's okay) because you need some context...
EVOLVE; The Neo-Mentorship Space is my future, I believe. Through it I want to help up-and-coming Engineers (or other people in general) to grow faster, toward their 'preferred state' and I want to do so by using my experience, knowledge and somewhat atypical interpretations of the world to convince business leaders, mentees, mentors and senior employees to give me the opportunity to do so. I, along with those around me at work, have lived the success and happiness brought by this approach, and hope to bring the model (it is really a mindset, a culture, but a lot of managers and consultants et al, like 'models') to more people in more work places because I have seen the happiness, motivation and productivity that it has fostered in those environments. Mindset is more relevant today I suppose, as the physical barriers of the traditional office environment have been extrapolated to mean almost anywhere!
Now here comes the paradox. I believe that my approach is successful and useful because it is driven by authenticity and passion. What that looks like to me, is that my approach to 'marketing' is not driven by monetising from posts, creating passive income or the like. I have various reasons as to why my perception of authenticity is so (and please understand, that this is MY view of authenticity, it may not be the same for you, and I respect yours too), which I would be glad to discuss one-on-one. That said I also feel that the quintessential need in evolutionary thinking is the ability to be open to as many views as possible. Therefore I questioned, "Would I be selling myself short by not having an app or using a social following to generate passive income?" What would I feel when someone else does that, perhaps by employing 100+ people (or algorithms) and training them to generate answers based on the users' inputs? Well I think I am going to feel a sense of 'FOMO' and regret that I didn't follow that path. I think that it is human to have 'negative' responses like those. Besides, I am an Engineer with years of business exposure and subsequent influence to my thinking, so I cannot deny the left brain response that calls up logic and reason resulting in fear of failure, and once again, not keeping up with society. However, there is also the right brain response that I feel much more powerfully these days. What makes me special is that the outcomes of my interactions are driven by a passion to help, understand and grow people. This gives me goosebumps and excites me. This make me, in that moment, experience life in my preferred state. When I meet more people who share my passion, I would love to share my approach, so that together we can help more people, but the prerequisite must remain that they, upon their own volition, and driven by passion, WANT to do it. To leave their position as an experienced Engineering Professional as example, and focus their energy toward growing others, rather than becoming a better engineer or more successful manager.
Take a second to analyse my words. I "call up" the left brain response but I "feel" the right brain response.
A lot of internal searching and questioning led me to the conclusion that it is both. Like everything that I am proposing that my model offers to people, it is all about balance and an holistic outlook. By posting this I am giving into the societal construct that is the use of social media as a 'marketing tool' in the technology integrated business world of today. I do not deny its uses and power to reach many people, but at the same time the essence of EVOLVE; is to help people grow by giving my views to those who want it. In doing so I, like every other human and business on this planet have the biological and societally driven need to perpetuate my own existence and what that looks like to me is giving my family a 'good' life and the opportunity of choice, as my parents did for me. This, as constructed by society, requires money and therefore balance dictates that whilst I FEEL I want to help people, I also am REQUIRED to generate income. I could wax lyrical about choice and consequence, but the bottom line for me is that this is my idea of THELOS as the greek philosopher Aristotle posed in his view toward causation.
So where did that all lead me? Well here I am, saying to those who want to hear me (ie. those who were interested, bored or procrastinating enough to read my rambling this far) that I am embracing the present and future societal constructs, but to the end that I know will sit well in my mind and heart. This, for me, is authenticity. I will put my stories out to the world as my obscure view of things. Those who like the idea of alternate views, please let us take that conversation further. Those who don't, I hope that some day you read this far, and I will get the opportunity to meet you and learn of your views of the world.
A lot more is to come from EVOLVE; and myself in future. I think that the instant gratification mindset of some people who may not be at this point in this story, may be a trait that businesses prey on to effectively generate further business but I believe I would be selling myself and my THELOS short by doing that, and not telling my stories as I am.
If you are are keen on joining me in my journey at this point, feel free to contact me. My life is currently all about connecting with PEOPLE and sharing stories and experiences of life. We all have so much to learn from each other, and I am enjoying that more than anything right now by using my analytical engineering brain to try to unearth the meaning beneath people's actions, mindsets, views, feelings and behaviours, and ultimately discern how to use that to best experience the world while we are here.
Yours in evolutionary thought,
Neo
Founder of EVOLVE; The Neo-Mentorship Space