The heart-breaking business meeting

About four years ago I listened to a heart-breaking business meeting.

At the height of the protests between big oil and the water protectors of Standing Rock in the US - a movement that grabbed my attention here in Hong Kong - a 3-hour audio recorded meeting between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Elders, and company representatives at the energy company ETP (who were commissioning to build the Dakota access oil pipeline through the Missouri River), was shared publicly.

It was captivating and heartbreaking to listen to.

It seemed a standard corporate business meeting (like many I’ve sat in myself). But this was different.

The tribal elders were in prepared detail, pleading to stop the construction of the pipeline, their plea about their way of life, their ancestors lineage, their beliefs, their children, for those sat around the table to understand our deeper connection to all living things. There was passion and pain in their voices.

Deep human emotion.

It was like two worlds meeting and talking different languages. The ETP representatives were genial and polite, and I guess what we’d conventionally call, professional. But they couldn’t respond from the heart, what came from their mouths was corporate speak, jargon, automated - with a friendly tone.

It made my body bristle.

I felt for all in that meeting. I wondered how this impacted the ETP reps, what they were experiencing inside, if it felt painful and difficult, if perhaps they worried for their livelihoods, their own families and perhaps their loyalty to the company, that stopped them from breaking convention and connecting in that moment as fellow humans being with compassion.

It was further evidence of how, for many, business life has been far removed from our human, heart life. From our connection to the earth and the ecosystems we’re a part of.

It’s why I believe so strongly in More Human, More Heart, More Health for our organisations and for us individuals and collectives.

I believe that we need to meet our own emotions so that we can meet the emotions others.

Which is a big part of the work I do with humans being in my 1:1 sessions and corporate programs like Slow Down, Step Back, See More and my private group coaching program The Ambitious & Unconventional - Woman.

After all the hurt, pain, loss, conflict, legal battles, time and resources wasted, the building of the DAP has (for now) been legally denied due to safety and environmental concerns.

What could be different if we learn to meet our own emotions so that we can meet the emotions of others?