My godfather Simon is in town for a few days.

We met on Sunday for a traditional roast. 

Over lamb shoulder and more gravy than you can shake a stick at, our convo turned to psychology and all things related to mindset, corporate culture & Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking Fast and Slow.

My kind of chat.

At one point, after I’d taken a refreshing sip of Neck Oil, I turned to Simon and said:

“You know Simon, I think our minds work more like projectors than cameras. 

That’s why a company can introduce a bunch of flexible working options, invest in staff training and even increase staff pay. But cynically minded employees will still view these actions cynically whereas an employee who’s more open will see these actions more openly.

So if you want to change company culture, you need to start with what’s going on between people’s ears. You need to start with the lens, not the landscape”

Part of why this looks so true to me is that I was this cynical colleague. In The Dark Ages of my career (i.e. for my first thirteen years in banking), the 9 to 5 was something I endured rather than something I bought into.

But that’s changed.

As we talked more, Simon asked if I had any books which unpacked this idea.

As it so happened, I did. 

Yesterday evening, as I left Fort Grundy to meet Simon for a second time, I grabbed my copy of Michael Neill’s Inside-Out Revolution. Michael was the first person I heard say that our minds work like projectors, not cameras.

It’s been a while since I’ve dipped into his book.

So as the tube trundled its way from Kings Cross to Victoria and on to Stockwell, I took the chance to have another peek inside.

I flipped the book open at a Zen story.

I’m paraphrasing now, but the gist of the story is that a Zen student visits a Zen master to learn how to be more Zen. As they’re chatting away, the Zen Master picks up a tea pot and starts to pour tea into the student’s cup. As the cup fills to the brim, the master keeps pouring. A few moments later the student looks up at the Zen Master and exclaims “the cup is full!”. The master replies “Like this cup, your mind is also full of your own ideas. If you want to learn something new, first you must empty your cup”

One of the reasons I stayed so cynical for so long was that my cup was so full.

Tom the Workplace Cynic had a cup packed with past disappointments, protective beliefs and well-worn stories about how things at work REALLY are.

So there was very little room for other perspectives.

But in a tiny sliver of space, I started to see that I was projecting my inner world onto work. As I noticed this, more small slivers started to open up. And the more I saw how my mind doesn’t work like a camera, the bigger those spaces grew and the shakier my cynical views became.

This is why, if you want happier, more productive and more fulfilled staff, it’s not tweaking company perks and policies that shifts the needle. 

It’s starting with clarity of mind.

Over the last 12 months, I’ve run over 40 Mindset & Clarity workshops to help teams find this space.

If you and your team would like more space in your cup and more clarity in the office, hit reply. And we can chat about a workshop or three for your team.

To fulfilment, 

Tom