The 2022 Starter Kit Newsletter

The 2022 Starter Kit Newsletter - Meaningful conversations and exchanges can transform our world.The yearning for meaningful conversations and exchanges has been heightened during the pandemic, as loneliness and isolation have surged. The four key principles of a meaningful conversation are curiosity, generosity, accountability and humility. I am going to expand upon these in this month’s newsletter.You can start with this wonderful Weforum article, which delves into the importance of meaningful conversations, and their transformational nature.What makes a "conversation" and a "meaningful conversation" so different? Any conversation can have many purposes: small talk, diplomacy, misinformation. What makes a conversation meaningful is its power to penetrate humanity, and connect individuals to the social and ecological systems that impact them. They can alleviate feelings of loneliness and isolation, heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has certainly provoked interest in more meaningful conversations.That’s what we have together day in day out, as we exchange and converse, and I thank you for your amazing insights and involvement on LinkedIn. Through our conversations, we co-create and confirm our understandings, and seek solutions to personal and societal challenges. A meaningful exchange can, therefore, create bonds of trust that can build collective action. Asking deeper questions, listening more intently and creating shared understanding through conversation is a powerful conduit for transformation.“Humanity has always used conversation to transform the world around them”Rahmin Bender-Salazar, Founder & Principal Consultant, Creativo Design Gilberto Morishaw, Global Shaper, Amsterdam HubLet’s explore these extraordinary pillars of interaction together!

1. Curiosity - 🧐
2. Generosity -  🎁
3. Accountability - 🤗
4. Humility - ☺️

I believe the most important action to spark curiosity is to develop personal learning strategies in 2022. Having the skills the world needs right now, and adapting through the reemergence after a vortex of change has never been more crucial. I was intrigued by the mighty Professor Boris Groysberg’s post last week. He writes:“In a recent survey of 3,026 executives conducted in partnership with Thomas Lot and The Official Board, we discovered that the rate at which executives' skills have become obsolete during the pandemic has increased by 71.1% when compared to pre-pandemic rates of skill obsolescence.”These great reflections, combined with the WEF research in this article, “The Top 10 Job skills in 2025”, are foundations that underpin my Active Learning Approach for 2022.So, what are the top skills that we will all need in 2025?1. Self Management Improving my stress tolerance, flexibility and resilience by being much more self aware, curious and better communicating deeper empathy2. Working With Others Demonstrating more effective social influence and leading in totally new situations, using play as a development tool in my new Academies3. Problem Solving Really enhancing my creativity, originality and new initiative taking with a focus on tighter reasoning and more targeted ideation.4. Top Tech Trends & My Development 2022 is the year when Quantum Networking enters the industry: it is the next frontier in Quantum Computing, and I am learning from the very best!In this time of introspection and change, it is important to reflect on those who inspire us the most. For me, I have been thinking about the extraordinary women who raise me up every day. I was particularly impacted by this quote:“The extraordinary woman depends on the ordinary woman... it is only when we can measure the life of an experience made possible to the ordinary woman that we can account for the success or failure of the extraordinary woman” - Virginia Woolf.How do we, ordinary women, ensure that all our work and breakthroughs? Through mentoring, business coaching and active support, we are able to forge a passage that enables others to build on the foundation of progress and really triumph. Of which, I remain totally committed to this pursuit.Whilst researching this theme, I discovered this amazing BBC series which explores the stories of extraordinary women, from Rosa Parks to Florence Nightingale. When you have the chance it is absolutely worth the watch!While I do love my extraordinary women, I would like to acknowledge another role model of mine: Dr Martin Luther King. Most of you know I am a lifelong activist for equality, diversity and inclusion. I believe that we should be given equal opportunities to a great life because of our differences including cognitive and physical abilities, not despite them. As I reflected on the life of Martin Luther King, I was astonished to realise how much we still have to achieve since the day he was shot. However, I know there is hope for peace and brotherhood - and this can be achieved through unarmed truth and unconditional love.A practical way of doing this is to lean into true allyship, which includes:Actively listening: avoid assumptions and ensure that you listen intently, and double-check the lens you are listening through.Educating yourself: take your time and energy to educate yourself and seek out a diverse community to understand different points of viewBeing respectful: respect someone's wishes (i.e. gender identity) and try your best to use inclusive language.It is one thing to look up to role models, and another to actually get up and strive to do better than them! This requires a lot of energy, a positive attitude, and a good team. I was inspired by this Fast Company article, which lays out tips to boost team morale and keep a positive mindset.1. Choose to be a “tank filler’ Everybody on your team has an emotional fuel tank that they carry around with them. Your team is most productive when their tank is full, they’re recharged and ready to work. However, when their tank is drained, it is tougher for them to muster up the motivation.→ How do you fill your and your teams’ tanks? ⛽

• Offer truthful and specific praise and appreciation
• Provide recognition for a job well done
• Actively listen to people
• Use positive nonverbal communication (smiling, providing your undivided attention during a Zoom call etc)

2. Encourage psychological safety In all the teams I have worked in, I have strived to create an environment of fairness, encourage outspoken views and deeply embrace inclusion and diversity. With individual and collective trust, you can be yourself, and create psychological safety that allows all to focus and excel on the mission.3. Emphasise learning over winning Team members, of all ages, need to feel they are learning daily in structured and unstructured activities. Providing skill-based programs, shadowing days, internships, assignments and sabbaticals creates loyalty & focus that propels success.4. Identify and celebrate little victories Stop often to shout about the successes calling out rockstars, heralding the teamship, the wins, & the delights!As we emerge from this extraordinary vortex of change, and we start thinking about our learning strategies, we need a reminder of the power of trying new activities and meeting new people. This can be huge for improving our mental and physical wellbeing.I believe that regularly becoming a beginner is not only essential, but it is also a privilege. Meeting Glenda, my lovely dance teacher, as well as my dear friend and colleague Abigail Maburutse, was truly beneficial for my own development. In addition, my closest friend in New Zealand has started playing Squash for the very first time, and won her first competition! How inspiring! This fun article provides some great ways to meet new people and start new activities.When you think about it, change really is the only constant! Everything seems to change, even those parts of my life that I thought were firm or solid. I have been systematically using the following approaches to help me not just cope, but get the best out of those changes:1. Focus on what I can control and park in “worry later”, “worry not at all, you can’t fix this” buckets.2. Take time for me and really seek out the things I love doing and the people who bring energy and joy into my life3. Give myself some credit and a big self hug when I make progress and take another little mountain4. Remembering that the transitional phase is only temporary and it too shall pass5. Inspired by this article, which states: “Admit that I had nerves about the situation to others around me and it was the first step to feeling at peace within my new adventure.Of course, challenges and unexpected things happen. But as you deal with them with a defined purpose, your thinking stays within the present rather than thinking ahead, worrying, and giving yourself unwanted stress.Once you have found great learning strategies to cope with the change that constantly surrounds you, you can start to really focus on designing your life! In the mid 80’s, Nicky Wire from the Manic Street Preachers wrote:"Libraries gave us powerThen work came and made us freeWhat price nowFor a shallow piece of dignity"I was playing this track whilst researching through Ted Ideas articles and this one on 'How to use design thinking to create a happier life for yourself' is so appropriate for the world in which we live right now! The article shared simple advice:1) Connect your dots to find meaning (who you are, what you believe, what you do)2) Be wary of gravity problems (challenges one must accept and work through to move on with it)3) Do three odyssey plans or three special ideations for your life⇨ Life 1 :  life and job that you’re currently living — just make it better.⇨ Life 2 : your job just doesn’t exist anymore. What are you going to do instead?⇨ Life 3 : your wild card plan. What would you do if you didn’t have to worry about money anymore?4) Prototype everything; trial it, do a pilot! This is such fun.5) To choose well, make choices emotional and irrevocable.Remember, you are painting your own life everyday, so play around with the colours and have fun! 🎨Another crucial element in changing yourself and your life, is improving your emotional fitness. This is something I have written about, and which fascinates me: the plasticity of the mind, and our ability to play around with it! Here are a few facts you may find interesting:1. Switzerland, the most innovative country in Europe, has a play-based school system that focuses on social skills, problem-solving, demonstrating empathy and sharing individual creativity.2. The Urban Play Framework: an overwhelming body of evidence points to play as the best way to equip children with a broad set of flexible competencies and personal capacities to tackle new and different challenges creatively. Read more in this great article.3. One of my favourite companies, Lego, has advanced the power of play to extraordinary levels. My ex-colleague Euan Wilmshurst shares such great inputs on the value of play with his new role at Lego.Throughout this constant change, you must make sure that you are well-rested. I am not the greatest of sleepers, highlighted by my new watch which monitors all that I do day and night! But since being a hyperactive child, the prioritisation of rest to help with less sleep has been hugely important.There are many types of rest from sensory, creative and physical rest as this Ted Talk explains. During lockdown, it has been vital to achieve sensory rest. Bright lights, computer screens and background noise can cause our senses to feel overwhelmed. To counter this I:

1. Lay down
2. Close my eyes
3. Breathe for 5 minutes.
4. Unplug from electronics at the end of every day.

You should also clear your surroundings, and fill them with things that make you feel calm, rested, and at peace. You could display images of places you love, or works of art that speak to you, for example. You can’t spend 40 hours a week staring at blank or jumbled surroundings, and expect to feel passionate about anything! Here's another useful article, from Apple.Another great way to rest your body and mind is yoga. As many have experienced the benefits of yoga online during the lockdown, the next powerful step some of you have shared with me is joining a community that engages teachers, students, practitioners and vital local actors in health, happiness and kindness. Yoga is growing all around the world, and it is exciting to witness many emerging projects around physical and mental wellbeing. Here's a super article by Forbes.We are blessed in Oxford with a charitable organisation that seek to share the voice and practice of good Yoga in a zero-carbon beautiful new home. This community counts local teachers as well as a wide range of students wanting to physically embark on their Yoga journey. Check out Vishuddha with James Pritchard & Jacqueline Mangold, plus Yoga Oxford, as we celebrate this extraordinary time in the Yoga movement spreading out from Jamshedpur to New York and downtown Oxford!Aside from yoga, what else can keep us inspired, and rest the mind? Poetry of course! I am particularly fond of Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Kindness” on the brave act of transforming a difficult moment of your life and fear, into beauty and kindness. This article delves more deeply into Naomi Shihab Nye’s ode to kindness. This particular excerpt of the poem fills me with peace and strength:Two additional quotes come to mind, on the importance of practising kindness as a daily, constant effort.

1. “Nothing can make our life, or the lives of other people, more beautiful than perpetual kindness,” says Leo Tolstoy, a man of colossal compassion, as he neared the end of his life.
2. “Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realise you’re already in heaven now,” says Jack Kerouac an epoch later, in a beautiful letter to his first wife and lifelong friend.

Inextricably tied to kindness, is the act of understanding others, and empathising. Recently, there have been a couple of events where I have been struck by the layered depth of what others are experiencing. This encouraged me to reach out more to others, and understand the preciousness of kindness in life. These moments have later morphed into moments of gratitude: having the privilege of being physically and mentally happy.I would challenge you all to be more grateful for what you have, more understanding of what others don’t, and to spread more love 💖 - to others and to ourselves.Another great poem I absolutely adore, is "Still I Rise”, by Maya Angelou, written in 1978. It has a central message of resilience strength, and beauty that black communities continue to show through hundreds of years of oppression and discrimination. She uses powerful images of gold mines and oil wells as symbols of wealth and confidence. As a woman who has gone through very tough times in my life and career, I have stood in front of a mirror in my best dress and highest shoes, and read these verses out loud: “Still I rise!”It is one thing to focus on yourself, and change yourself, but what happens when you go back to work and have to suddenly share a space with colleagues again? How do we not only change ourselves but change together, as a community? And how do we evolve through our community, while not excluding “the other”? As people slowly return to some form of the hybrid workplace, bonds that tie them to one another must be rebuilt. This research from Microsoft suggests that cross-functional collaboration went down by 25% as interactions within groups increased during the pandemic. We have to get reacquainted with whom we’ve each become. Otherwise, our natural biases that formed about who each of us were will kick in. This is beautifully and sensitively explored in this HBS article.As I change and evolve through my 60th year, I have looked back and reflected on my life so far. Broadly speaking:→ from years 5 to 25, I was so focused on learning and passing the numerous tests necessary to prove to the world that I was employable and acceptable.→ from 25 to 30, I chose wisely whom I worked for - finding great mentors, friends, and supporting my family.→ from 30 to 45, I was leading and driving huge change, and it was critical that I should remain teachable, and open to new approaches and people.→ Up until the age of 50, I consistently used my influence and energy to build an extraordinary foundation of relationships across the world so that now together we give back with purpose and impact.This year - my 60th year - purpose and impact will be my main focus. It fills my heart with joy, and my head is full of ideas for interventions that can and will make a difference. With the turmoil and uncertainty that we have all experienced due to the pandemic, it is important that your heart feels a sense of purpose, and that you know what you will focus on.Cred. Celia KrampienOne of my most passionate battles has been to fight against gender discrimination, and raise awareness for those who are underrepresented. The pandemic has spectacularly worsened the situation for vulnerable communities, and this is shown in King's College London’s Essays on Equality. Produced by the Global Institute of Women's Leadership at KCL, the research examines the pandemic experiences of different groups of women - including single mothers, pregnant women, migrant women, and indigenous women - and the adequacy (or inadequacy) of national and international policy responses to address them.How should we work on redistributing power and voices for women?For me in 2022, it is:

1. Mission Beyond's Open Doors, the national digital infrastructure weaving together opportunities for millions of underrepresented young people including young women.
2. Serving on the KBS Advisory Board and Education Committee and you can see King's focus and research on women.
3. My new mini weekend school for young Muslim and Buddhist women in Phuket to learn English, Mandarin and IT skills.

The pandemic is erasing decades of progress in young women's health, education, and independence in developing nations. This article by Jill Filipovic highlights the horrifying reality of those who were disadvantaged before this Vortex of Change, and had their challenges intensified post covid.What can we do to take action and help at this critical time? 1. We are looking for Volunteers at Mission Beyond to breathe life into our new Open Doors Platform, which offers opportunities for millions of underrepresented young women and men. We need people with Operational & Project Mgt Skills, and experience in Procurement and Communications. If you're interested in working for this project pro Bono, ping me via Linkedin.2. We need part-time teachers and educators for the new Harriet Green Academies around the world, the first of which is looking to teach young women in Phuket Thailand who have been out of school for nearly 2 years. If you teach English, Mandarin, Art or IT, and would like to make an impact, please connect with me.In conclusion, our work together is so important, as we seek to understand the "other" as a weak tie, which can then broaden and strengthen our idea of community. In times of crisis, many of our connections have become weaker, more infrequent and isolated. As meaningful exchanges create stronger bonds, we can combat loneliness and isolation by conversing at a deeper level. Here in the land of the Buddhists, as I close out, I can see that daily Humility is becoming a lost art, but it is not difficult to practice it! It simply means realising that others have been involved in your success!When my mind opens to a new idea, it never returns to its original size… and I love that!Stay safe, happy, and in touch dear friends!Harriet Green 💌