Good energy

There are moments in a lifetime that will be remembered forever. Moments that unfold like an opening parachute in the mind – a small sudden epiphany that makes you feel a little bit closer to figuring out what the meaning of everything is. We had one of those moments and were fortunate to be relatively young when it happened.

For some time we had been far too busy. Lots of big projects, travelling and attending business receptions, lots of money and lots of challenges. We had $1.5 business cards, pension plans and a gold card with unlimited access to lounges and facilities in airports around the world. But the spark had disappeared – the enthusiasm, the curiosity and chaotic elements, which are the most thrilling parts of starting your own business. Instead we were left with a feeling that we had sold our soul – maybe not quite to the devil – but then at least for the almighty dollar. And then there was the thing that scared us the most.

Turning 40!

40, not as in the fear of getting older, but as in the fear of burning out. To loose the childlike exhilaration of everything new. To have the belief that what you do really matter. It seemed to us that the gas went out of the balloon for the +40 year olds. The spark faded in their eyes and the energy disappeared. It was as if they grew up the dull way where naivety and commitment had been replaced with experience and cynical considerations. They said stuff like “we have tried that before”, “that doesn’t work” or “now we have to bring focus back on the bottom line”. Where there once had been a charming, uncool and relatively inefficient individual there was now a change-ready, competent and innovative middle manager/lean boss/peak-performing key account manager without great dreams and hope for humanity. Every one of them a bit too busy, a bit too required, but at least living the “right” life: 2,4 kids and a divorce on their trackrecord.

They began to hang around us at receptions, meetings and other forms of business-related gatherings as if they wanted to feed on our youthful entrepreneurial energy. We called them emotional vampires. The living dead of the management hallways who once had been just as insecure, curios and full of hope and desire to make the world a better place as the rest of us.

“Was that really it”, we asked ourselves? Is the dream for a fairly young and still hopeful person to end up sitting in exclusive leadership and networking groups with a handful of fat cats and a dusin of old gorillas who haven’t had a new thought this century? Arrogantly believing that their success is permanently secured in cement and is made of something as meaningful as managing X amount of other people’s billions? For whom meaning and value is to own a $50.000 watch and taking a walk on the wild side means to wear a pink tie on Casual Fridays. The real person behind the facade exist but they are, as we like to call them, “stuck in fuck”. On the surface everything looks fine. The job is great, the car is cool, the suit is expensive, the kids are beautiful and the resumé is perfect. But what do they see the mirror in the every morning? The person they dreamed of becoming as a kid? Life can suddenly become very empty if the small and big questions of life have only been answered by material means.

When you don’t know what to do there is just as much value in finding out what you don’t want to do. In the play “Huis Clos” (Behind closed doors) by Sartre 3 people are trapped in a small room without doors or windows. As time goes by it becomes evident that they are dead. Hell is not necessarily a roaring sea of flames but can just as well be to spend eternity with people that you don’t like. If you look around you may realize that you don’t have to be dead to find yourself in that situation i.e. with a job that is ok but where it can be hard to describe what exactly you do. With colleagues who have been forced upon you by upper-management. Afternoons trying to balance work, grocery shopping, picking up the kids and making dinner. Not just today, but tomorrow, the rest of the year, next year and for the rest of a lifetime.

No thank you! The epiphany came the day we set out to answer the question “when is a good day?” What makes us want to jump out of bed in the morning and go to work? What makes us want to go to work on a rainy and windy day but still be exhilarated when we walk through the door? And more importantly when we come home? What does it take to excite, not just yourself, when you talk about what you do?

Our answer was the somewhat fluffy, intangible and elusive “Good Energy”. A day is a good day when the energy is good. A week is a good week when you have built up more energy on Friday than you held previous Monday. The hunt for good energy became our mantra. “From now on we only want things, which give us good energy”. For us this meant that we simply wanted to: 1. have a lot of fun, 2. Only do exciting projects with clients we like, 3. have time for family and friends, 4. earn a lot of money and 5. Inspire others to make their world a better place too. We promised each-other that if we couldn’t reach at least 3 out of 5 goals any given week we would have to change something about the way we worked. The reasoning being that if we don’t change it now how likely is it that we will be able to change it next week? You can have a great vision for the future but eventually it is our actions that show who we are. And quite honestly – when we are 120 year old with pacemakers instead of hearts, memory chips in our brain and ball bearings for knees – won’t we think back on the time when we were inexperienced, blue-eyed and easy to excite and say “I should have enjoyed it so much more. What was it exactly that I worked so hard to accomplish?”

It has been 2 years since we had our epiphany and our simple criterias for success have had an overwhelming effect. It might be that there are days where we don’t get a lot done, but at least we get something done and we try to be proud of what we do. Try, because there has to be room to make mistakes and learn. When instances occur and the energy has gone bad it is simply because we haven’t been hunting our 5 criteria for success.

In the near future there are certain terms, which will be extremely popular: life balance, energy and joy at work. Already today we are throwing around heavy buzzwords on motivation, employee satisfaction and change readiness, but these don’t prevent people from stress. A department of the global pharmaceutical company Novo Nordic has struggled with a sick leave of 6%, which is far above the national average in Denmark. However, few companies in Denmark are known for treating employees better than Novo. In the modern world you have to be a success, not just at work, but also when it comes to family, friendships, home and experiences. Materialism sets its claws in the young employees as soon as they have finished their education. As one of our young Navigators told recently he was disheartened as he apparently was one of the few from his graduating class that was genuinely happy with his job. The majority were already “stuck in fuck” and had quickly learned to sing the hitlist songs “Who gets the biggest paycheck?” and “Who has the most incompetent boss?” He was also the one pointing out how disappointed he was about the fact that DR (Danish Broadcasting Corporation) went DKK 1 billion over budget in the process of building their new headquarters. Not because of the money, rather: “when you overspend by such a ridiculous amount you could at least try to be happy”. And that’s exactly right. How many people can boast about being part of such a feat? “Ups, we went 1 billion over budget but we had a blast!”

To create good energy is not just about spoiling people with massages, flexible hours and large paychecks. To us the name of the game is about respect, trust and reaching what we define as success together. Trying, making mistakes and become better at what we do. To create meaning and value for others. And, perhaps more importantly, about making a difference even if it seems tiny.

Basically no one knows much about anything and that’s ok because life doesn’t have to be perfect. Recently we were at a conference. An experienced speaker was talking about innovation. Being “loaded with energy” he was handing out sunglasses to the audience while shouting “lets have fun”. It wasn’t until he tripped over his own feet on stage that he came to life and the real personality came out from behind the facade.

Great is the person who carries the child within. And what better time to let the little child and its dreams, naivety and good energy come to us?