Freedom in Connection
Happy Fall to you all!
Last month I was invited to present my work through Canon Collaborative at the 12th Constructal Law Conference in Torino, Italy. It was an incredible experience to be among such a passionate group of scientists, engineers, and economists from all over the globe. All were presenting various research and discoveries inspired by the Constructal Law, including cooling methods, battery design, noise reduction, maritime transportation, and more (check out the program).
It was an honor to present with the enthusiastic support from Adrian Bejan for “humanizing” the Constructal Law – I was the only speaker who presented a case for how the law applies to humans as part of nature. And I got a solid chuckle out of the room when I shared that I was happy to sneak some math into my presentation… the chances of someone having your subset of CliftonStrengths is a permutation calculation: 34!/(34-10)! = 1 in 476 trillion (every other presentation had mountains of equations that were soooo over my head). Several wonderful and philosophical questions followed, and I was encouraged to write a book and “do a Ted talk” to further spread the message.
Turin, Italy
The truth is that I am not normally comfortable in front of an audience — I was consciously tapping into my non-patterns of strength and claimed ample time to prepare. We can all consciously exercise our non-patterns of strength — and sometimes doing so can bring greater freedom to our top strengths. (This is something I explore with my clients in Strength Observatory sessions.) In my case, doing something that feels a bit outside of my nature is bolstering Canon’s message and the belief that the best route to optimization is trust – self-trust, interpersonal trust, and trust in the evolving design of life (including work). All three levels of trust are so important.
Many of us have at least a few memories of the power of this interpersonal trust – the power of community. Even for those of us that know community and connection is a path to liberation, we still so often fall in the trap of trying to do it all ourselves. To be everything. To get everything done. To be resilient. To keep up with cultural norms (that are very well marketed and sold to us). We have a great opportunity to build greater trust in ourselves – trusting our rhythms, our pace, and our capacity… and this self-trust also includes trusting when we need support from a neighbor and community. In my view, it’s silly to expect one person to be good at everything. My roommate Sam played a significant role in supporting my preparation for the conference, and answered all of my nervous questions without judgment. To have this support amplified my freedom and confidence in my strength and message.
As humans, we have the chance to collaborate and connect with the incredible diversity of strengths, experiences, and insights — the abundant and dynamic human ingenuity that moves all around us. Following guidance and wisdom from nature, we have the great opportunity to embrace greater freedom to flow in connection with each other.
