January 11, 2024 • 50 mins
Are you prone to wonder? Can you become completely dazzled by an experience or sight such that time seems to disappear? And in the process, you become elevated consciously and experientially? If this all sounds “way out there,” think again. Wonder is much more accessible, and essential to a meaningful life, than you would ever imagine. Join us as we talk with a world-renown expert on the matter, Monica Parker.
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(00:00):
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(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio. What's Working onPurpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder
the answer to this question. Peopleache for meaning and purpose at work,
to contribute their talents passionately and knowtheir lives really matter. They crave being
part of an organization that inspires themand helps them grow into realizing their highest
(00:44):
potential. Business can be such aforce for good in the world, elevating
humanity. In our program, weprovide guidance and inspiration to help usher in
this world we all want Working onPurpose. Now here's your host, Doctor
Release Cortez. Welcome back to theWorking and Purpose Program. Thanks tuning again
(01:06):
this week. Great to have you. This show has been live on air
since February of twenty fifteen, andI bring it to you with great passion
and pride. I'm doctor Elisee Cortes. If we've not met yet before,
I am an organizational psychologist and logotherapist, speaker and author, and my
team and I at Gusto now helpcompanies to enliven and fortify their operations by
articulating their purpose and building inspirational leadersand cultures activated by meaning and purpose to
(01:29):
turn those companies from a flat ekgline to a vibrant destination workplace. There
people are intrinsically motivated to perform attheir best, can grow into their fuller
potential, and are committed to stayin dynamic to deliver on the company's mission.
You can learn more about us andhow we can work together at Gusto,
dashnow dot com or alascoretest dot com. Now getting into today's program,
I'm very excited to bring you MonicaParker. She's a world renowned speaker,
(01:53):
writer, and authority on the futureof work. She has spent decades helping
people discover how to lead and livewonderfully. She's the founder of global human
analytics and change consultancy Hatch Analytics andthe Wonder Lab, where she challenges corporate
clients to advocate for more meaningful worklives. She's the author of a smashing
new book that I love. Iread it cover to cover. Of course,
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it's called The Power of Wonder,The Extraordinary Emotion that will change the
way you live, learn and lead, which we'll be talking about today.
Monica joins us today from Nice,France, where right now it's midnight.
It's five o'clock for me. Monica, A hearty welcome to Working on Purpose.
Thank you for having me Elise.Such a pleasure. As you know,
I loved thoroughly every three hundred andfive pages of this massive, beautiful
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research, well researched book that youbrought to us. It's so incredibly informative
and delightful and wondrous. Monica,I'm just delighted to bring it to my
listenership. Thank you, Thank youso much. You're welcome. So to
get us started here, I haveto say, you know, whenever I
have guests and my guests on Ijust think about where and consider how they
came up with their ideas enough enoughto actually birth a book like that in
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the world has got to come fromsomewhere. So I want to start with
your background. You have what Iwould consider to be a wonderful, enriching
upbringing, and so if you couldjust sort of bring some of that to
life, including I think it wasyour grandparents' home that you talk about in
your book, and then the wayyou were raised, if you could just
share that with our listeners and viewers. Sure. So, born and raised
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in the South, I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, and I think, as
I mentioned in the book, weare not a sporting breed. My family,
we're very nerdy, and you know, we watched PBS and my father
would quiz me with word games beforedinner, and we'd play trivial pursuit and
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it was just the sort of theway we were raised and high Q games
and things like that. Very muchinto the arts as well, and it
was just a family that loved learningand it was sort of just something that
was always a part of us.And yeah, you mentioned it's actually my
my aunt and uncle's home and theyhad traveled all over the world before finally
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alighting back in Atlanta, and theirhouse was just like a wonderland. I
mean, I don't know any otherway to put it, and so many
different beautiful objects that typically in mostpeople's homes you would probably be told,
oh, don't touch, you know, just for your eyes. But no,
we were allowed to touch and playwith and ask questions about everything in
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that home. And it was justsuch a such a warm place of encouragement
to be curious and to learn.And I think I was just surrounded by
that and very very privileged that Iwas also able to go to a great
school. And so I just thinkmy entire life was about the joy of
exploration and learning for the sake ofit. That's so beautiful, listeners and
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viewers of your parents. I reallythink this is a fantastic model for parenting
if you just want to borrow someof the this that Monika grew up with,
I think is fantastic. She turnedout okay, I think, well,
and then we have to ask please, well I suppose so, I
suppose so, But well then wehave to talk about then you've had this
like smashing set of career experiences alongthe way, so kind of narrate for
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you know, some of the stopsyou made along the way before you're doing
what you're doing now. Sure,I think probably some of it goes to
add which maybe is my superpower tosome degree, but I definitely get bored
fairly quickly. So I've yes,I have. Let's see. I was,
as I said, born and raisedin Atlanta. I went on to
get my graduate degree in Belfast.I was a graphic designer for a while.
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I was a professional clown, anopera singer. I ran a chamber
of commerce, and I think probablythe piece of work before starting Hatch that
was most pivotal to me was Iwas a homicide investigator for the Department of
Justice, and I worked with menand women on Florida's Death Row with their
defense teams to try to exonerate themor to save them from execution. And
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that piece of work really fundamentally changedme. It was something I did when
I was very young, probably tooyoung in some ways to be as great
benefit as I could be to myclients, to these prisoners, but it
was something that fundamentally changed my viewof the world, and in many ways
that was my giant wonder moment becauseit did completely change the structure of my
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brain and that sort of sent meon my path that I'm on now.
And then of course I was fortunateenough to start Hatch Analytics about ten years
ago, and Hatches a human analyticsand change consultancy, and we specialize in
the future of work, and theymay not seem to be similar, but
there is a red line between allof that work, which is that I
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have helped people through existential change,big change like you know, being executed
by the state, or you know, losing your job, or I worked
with parents with children with disabilities.So really everything that I try to do
is bring support to people who aregoing through existential change. I have never
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heard the phrase existential change, butI have to say, having heard you
just utter that, I can't imaginetoo many larger existential changes than being executed
by the state. I just thinit's a pretty big one. Yeah,
it's definitely a big one. Andyet somehow there were certain people that were
just able to be buoyant. Theywere still able to find a sense of
purpose and meaning in their life.And that was really, while I didn't
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have the language for it, thatwas where I started to recognize the power
of wonder, which is that peoplewho held their world and a great deal
of wonder were better able to dealwith what life throw it them. Including
being you know, on death rowor being in prison for life with being
the you know, the positive outcome, and it sort of set me thinking
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about, well, why are somepeople better able to manage what the world
brings to them? And I keptcoming back to this idea of wonder,
which I want to dive into.And before we do that, I want
to celebrate. As I told youbefore we got on air, I have
a near twenty one year old daughterand I don't remember when it was I
started calling her this nickname. Shehas several, but I've been calling her
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Wonder for years. I call herand I say high Wonder. She's like,
hi, Mama, and all ofher friends know, oh, Wonder's
mom is calling, you know,And it's just and it's because I see
her as such a wonder. Idon't know how this miracle happened to me,
and I'm so grateful for her andshe just brings me so much joy.
So sharing that with our listeners,yes, so it really resonates with
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me and your your book, youknow, I have to say I had
never imagined there was so much tolearn about Wonder, and you do such
a beautiful job really situating with thefive elements you put forth, And what
I'd like to do next for ourlisteners and viewers is talk through these five
elements that you came up with,and you know, really bring them home
to so that they're they're accessible tothem in the same way at least I
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got, well you're reading. Ofcourse you're going to have to read the
book to get them as on thelevel that I got them. And then
as we talk, I'd love tohear you say a little bit about how
we can cultivate each one of theseelements so we give something to our listeners
and viewers so they can apply thisstuff. So your model here, and
this is what I find so sofascinating. Here you know, this idea
of you know, wonder. Butfirst, before we even get into it,
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I guess the five we should probablytalk about what do you mean by
wonder? What's your definition of wonder? Well, it's interesting because wonder of
a word as a word, issomething of a shape shifter, right,
So we have wonder that is theverb which is to wonder that might be
the same that we see as synonymouswith being curious, with curiosity. But
then we also have a wonder whichis the nickname for your daughter, which
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is something that is, you know, wonder made manifest, which might also
be the outcome of awe. Andso just even looking from an etymological point
of view, I wanted to tryto link them psychologically, spiritually, at
homologedly so that we could and findhow those two ideas linked. And actually,
as I started to study it,they do link. And so the
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way that I see wonder is asa cycle, and it is these five
components actually four components, but fiveways to express them that as we experience
each one of them, we're morelikely to experience them in the future.
And it becomes this upwardly additive cycle. And I see it as as an
opportunity for us to tap into thoseplaces of ourselves that want to explore,
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that want to connect, that wantto be open. And what I resonate
with ther Monica on that is,you know, somebody who's trying to help
elevate consciousness in organizations, and someof the same work you're doing to really
try to cultivate, you know,the finer qualities of what it is to
be human inside the workplace. I'mworking on that too. I love this
idea of upward additive cycle. That'sso exciting. So then we have to
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talk a little bit just before weget into the actual cycle itself, the
benefits. What are the benefits ofWonder? I mean, it's really incredible.
As I sort of started to godown this rabbit hole, I couldn't
believe them. As we started tolook at these aggregate components of wonder,
people who are more wonder prone aremore creative, they are more desirous of
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studying the world. They're more humble, they're less materialistic, they're more generous,
they're better community members. People whoare higher and these composite elements perform
better in school and in work.They have healthier relationships, they're less stressed
and feel like they have more time. It's what's considered a pro social emotion,
which means it makes us want tomove forward and do things for other
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people. Really simply, it makesus just want to be better, more
tolerant people. And if that's notenough, the physiological elements are really really
surprising to me. You know,Wonder lowers blood pressure, It lowers are
stress hormones cortisol. It also decreaseswhat are known as pro inflammatory cytokine,
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and so these are the markers ofcertain conditions like Alzheimer's or heart disease,
certain cancers. And what these linksshow is that there's a direct biological pathway
between wonder and better health. Okay, I'm convinced. I'm in no.
I wonder for everyone, right,Yeah, exactly. It's like it's a
(12:20):
great way to start the new year. So I love it, and I
just really wanted to make sure thatwe brought that for our listeners and viewers
because I couldn't believe the list eitherin your book. I just couldn't believe
it. Okay, so let's divein. Let's talk about the first element,
watching, which you also refer toas openness. Talk to us about
watching. Sure, So the firststep is openness to experience or what I
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call watching, and the watcher issomeone who is really open and present.
Now, openness to experience is oneof our personality traits. It's one of
our five personality traits if we considerthe Big Five, which is really,
you know, the gold standard ofsort of personality testing. And while well,
it sits on a spectrum, everyonehas some degree of openness to experience.
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The challenge, of course, isthat it tends to be set by
the time or about twenty five.You can change your personality, but not
a lot. And so by thetime we're about twenty five, based half
on our genetics and half on ourexperiences, we have a certain degree of
openness to experience. But really thetype of openness to experience it gets us
closer to wonder more specifically, isopenness to new ideas. And I love
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that because then that gets to theheart of the nerdiness that I love,
which is being open to new ideas. And even better than that is being
able to hold two competing ideas inyour mind at the same time. This
idea, of these competing notions reallyhelp us stretch ourselves and prepare ourselves for
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the next element, which is curiosity. Now, how can we bring more
openness to our life? Really,there's a lot of there's some pieces that
help with all of them, andI'll touch on them at the end again,
But in general, what gets ascloser to wonder things like slow thought,
which is meditation, narrative, journaling, novelty. So experiencing newness.
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We always notice newness. Being innature certainly is helpful, but for some
people it might be in other areas. So it's knowing what your wonder bringers
are, what it is that givesyou that sense of wonder, and then
gratitude is also a great wonder practice. So all of those actually can help
enhance your sense of openness to experience. So once we experience this openness,
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once we identify that, then itreally very naturally leads us into curiosity because
people who are higher and openness toexperience are more naturally curious. Now,
what's interesting about curiosity is, youknow, there are two There generally are
a lot of different sort of modelsof curiosity. If you look at the
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research literature, you know some havehis many as five different factors. But
in general, you can sort ofbreak curiosity down into two buckets. There's
surface curiosity and deep curiosity. Sosurface curiosity would be you know, smelling
the milk to know if it's goneoff, or a Google search to settle
a bet. You know, thatwould be surface curiosity. The deep curiosity
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is the exploration for exploration's sake.And again, you know, going back
to my childhood, my father usedto assign when we would travel, he
would assign each of us to bethe tour guides and he's very quirky.
That made us Nerva and Nerval thenavigator and the navigate tricks, and we
would have to study the place thatwe were going, and we would be
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the guide to our family. Andthat sort of curiosity where you're really just
for the exploration. It's what sometimesit's called epistemic curiosity, but it is
it's just for the joy and thepleasure of learning. And that's the kind
of curiosity that really gets us closerto wonder. The surface curiosity sometimes can,
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especially when we think of technology theway that it can sort of grab
us. Sometimes it becomes just sortof a series of dopamine hits and not
necessarily drawing us closer to what we'rehoping is the next step, which is
then absorption. So we go fromhome, hold on home. Sorry,
I want to hold on because Iwant to take a quick break. We're
giving so much to our listeners andviewers and I'll let let them think for
(16:21):
just a second. Well, wegrab our first break. We were talking
about first what wonder? What wasthe first one? Openness? Yeah,
watch, watch, and then wanderand then hold your hold your thoughts listeners
and viewers, to hold your horsesbecause we've got so much more. All
right, We've been on the airwith Monica Parker. She's the founder of
the global human Analytics and change consultancyHASCH Analytics in the Wonder Lab, where
(16:45):
she challenges corporate clients to advocate fora more meaningful work lives. I'm your
host, doctor, Release cortest.We'll be right back. Doctor Elise Cortes
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is a management consultant specializing in meaningand purpose. An inspirational speaker and author,
she helps companies visioneer for greater purposeamong stakeholders and develop purpose inspired leadership
and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and commitment within the workforce.
To learn more or to invite alease to speak to your organization,
please visit her at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your
(17:30):
employees working on purpose. This isworking on Purpose with doctor Elise Cortes.
To reach our program today or toopen a conversation with Elise, send an
email to Alise A. L Seat elisecortes dot com. Now back to
(17:52):
working on purpose. Thanks for stayingwith us, and welcome back to work
on Purpose. I'm your host doctorat least Cortes as I too, am
dedicated to help and create a worldwhere people realize their potential at work and
they're led by inspirational leaders to helpthem find and contribute their greatness, and
we do business and betters the world. I keep writing my own books and
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I keep researching, and so myguests become my research people as well.
So my latest book that came outin March of twenty three is called The
Great Revitalization, How activating meaning andPurpose can radically enliven your business. And
I wrote it to help you readers, the leaders understand the new lay of
the land. This is the workplace has radically changed. I tell you
what that is, and then Igive you twenty two best practices to help
(18:33):
provide the workplace that actually meets thoseneeds of the talent today. You can
learn more about it at at Leastcoortesdot com if you are just joining me
today. My guest is Monica Parker. She's the author of the Power of
Wonder, The extraordinary Motion that willchange the way you live, learn and
lead. It's spectacular. So wegot to in this cycle there we talked
about watch and Wander, and beforewe moved on to the next thing.
(18:56):
I really wanted to talk a littlebit about one of the there were so
many great things you introduced me to, and I did, by the way,
because of your your a suggestion aboutthe big five being you know,
really the more the more a validatedone. And I took one of the
assessments out there and I came inat ninety percent openness. So maybe that's
why I love this this wonder stuff. But there you go. You are
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definitely wonder prone, any know,exactly? And I've actually developed a little
wonder prone survey if people want togo on to my website, they can
even find out how wonder prone theyare, and it includes some of the
markers of openness to experience and curiosity, absorption and awe. But absolutely ninety
percent you are. You're super wonderparnallys I know. And I'll tell you
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as we go what somehow that showsup? Tell us now, why to
go ahead and grab the website whereand they say that assessment that's it,
Monica dash Parker dot com. Okay, all right, all right, cool,
all right. So then one ofthe one myriad of wonderful things that
I learned from your book. Isyou introduced us to David Pearl, who
created street Wisdom. Since we're talkingabout wander and curiosity, now, would
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you tell the listeners of yours alittle bit about this man in street Wisdom.
Sure, I've known David for probablyabout ten years and he started street
Wisdom in London. And street Wisdomis basically sort of a crowd funded and
shared experience where people will get togetherand they will set intentions for what they're
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going to experience on their walk.They will say that they will ask the
street a question and then they'll goon a walk, and what will happen
during the course of the walk isthat answers will come to them, almost
in a sort of a serendipitous pointof view. If you sort of lean
more towards the woo, you maysay that that is, you know,
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the universe answering the question. Butit doesn't even have to be that.
I mean, it can simply bethat you are opening yourself up and presenting
a question in a way that nowyour mind is allowing to connect dots in
a different way. But it canbe everything from seeing your name and lights
to running into a friend who answersthe question for you. But really what
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it is is an opportunity to bepresent. It's you, it's very it's
totally you know, no phones,you're alone. And in a way,
it's really what I recommend, whichis known as a wonder walk. So
it is simply going out and sayingI will find this thing. Therefore your
brain commits the cognitive resources towards doingit, and when you come back,
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you discuss what you found. Andhe now has groups of street wisdomers all
over the world, and it's justI think a really fascinating way for people
to connect with one another, toconnect in urban environments. I'm a city
mouse, so I love that idea, and and to help create a time
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of presence where you can look internallywhile being really observant of your environment.
So De Lifeful, I would havenever known about him had you not brought
him in your book. Okay,so now are you ready to talk about
whittle and absorption? Have you coveredthe other two enough? Okay? Yeah,
absolutely, So when we go fromcuriosity, we've obviously you know,
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this is deep curiosity. We're sortof like a ganet, collecting shiny little
bits of information that we find interesting, and then we fall down a rabbit
hole, and when we fall downthat rabbit hole of interest, it's where
we become really present and absorbed.And this absorption could be the purity of
focus that you get from a flowstate. It could just simply be very
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being very, very present in themoment. But this is a critical point
because it's really the connecting point betweenwonder as a verb and wonder as a
noun. And this is where we'removing from the two wonder where we now
have to become hyper present in ourenvironment so we don't miss anything, and
then that allows us to move intoAnd what I find fascinating about absorption is
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it's really sort of a strange emotionalstate. It was first sort of developed
even as an analysis when a gentlemanintelligen Acheteligen was looking at how susceptible people
were to hypnosis, and it waseven through that then he created this absorption
tool that you can see how proneyou are to absorption. But some people
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look at absorption as hyper focused curiosity. So you could say that potentially,
like a flow states, you're supercurious about what it is you're doing and
you lose everything else. Or itcould be a very light transcendent state,
which also then starts to feed intoflow because you sort of lose yourself,
you lose your sense of time,your sense of physicality, and so it's
(23:51):
really this very amorphous, strange state. But what it does is it becomes
everything in your space becomes crystalline,and it allows you then to observe things
that maybe otherwise, if you weren'tpresent, you would just sort of speed
through, because we speed through somuch of our day at least, I
mean, that's one of the challenges, isn't it. And oh sorry,
(24:12):
go on, no, no,go ahead. And so from there,
once we become hyper present, we'reable to see and at that point then
we have the opportunity for AWE.Now, there are some books out there
written by about AWE. I've interviewedsome of the scientists behind it. And
one of the reasons why I reallymade a point to show that AWE I
(24:34):
believe is a subset of wonder isbecause sometimes AWE feels like it is too
rare, too fleeting, like it'salmost dumb. Luck if we experience it
now, I don't believe that.I believe that we can train ourselves to
see AWE and wonder in the quotidian. But even if we don't have an
AWE moment, simply going through thecycle of being open, being curious,
(24:55):
being present, if we do thatover and over again, we will eventually
create a mind set that is moreprone to experiencing those wow moments. And
so when we get into AWE,I describe AWE as both wow and woe.
And the reason I describe it thisway is because awe actually has two
states. We have the first state, which is known as vastness, which
(25:15):
is where we experience something that isso great, and it could be emotionally
great, like seeing your child seeingwonder take her first steps, or it
could be physically great like seeing theGrand Canyon, or intellectually great like trying
to think of a folded universe.But something that really blows your mind and
(25:36):
it makes you feel like a smallercomponent part of a bigger system. And
when you feel small, your problemsfeel small. So this is where we
start to get some of the benefitof wonder. So when we have that
moment of vastness, then what wemove into is the second component, and
that's called accommodation. So we've hadthis wow, this thing that makes us
(25:56):
literally, it changes that we makea we frequently gasp, our eyes go
open. But then our brain actuallychanges its structure. So now we're creating
a highly plastic brain after this experienceand what we experience and can be embedded
more deeply. And so this iswhere we have the opportunity to really change
(26:18):
our mind, to change the waythat we see the world. And those
two components, the wow and thewoe, has some of the greatest power
of the wonder cycle. Oh somany great things. So I want to
talk a little bit about how itshows. So I loved what you talked
about with regard to how people experiencethose latter two the vastness, the accommodation,
(26:40):
And I'll share it for me,and I know you can you can
well imagine this now by now.But this has happened to me many times
that I have a piano on myhome that I occasionally play, but it's
more interesting when somebody that knows howto play the piano comes over and plays
it. And I've had the experienceMonica where one of my daughter's friends has
come over. I'll just call themout, Will Gorman. And the first
time that this happened he said,oh, yes, I played the piano.
(27:02):
I'll play something for you. Andit was like a New Year's Eve
or something. And he went outto the front room and he played a
piece and I was sitting behind him, and he just sat down. He
just started playing, and I hadthe immediate visceral response where my eyes completely
filled with tears and just you know, we're talking a waterfall down my face.
And he finished the song and youturn around and sees me goes,
oh my god, I'm so sorry. I'm like for what for moving me
(27:26):
to tears? But that visceral,immediate response. And then you talk about
goosebumps. I'm somebody who gets goosebumpswhen I have these sensations. And the
way you describe the evolution of goosebumps, where they came from, how they've
served us, you know, asyou know, to help us and recognize
there was maybe a harm coming.I mean, Monica, it's brilliant.
(27:48):
So maybe you could say you're describingthat to me. This is where I
say, all the time wonder sharedis wonder multiplied. To me, I
got goosebumps, So I'm sure probablysome off your listeners did too. And
this is why it's so important thatwhen we have a wonder experience, we
share it with other people. Iwas teaching a university class about wonder and
(28:08):
one person was saying, my biggestwonder experience was the first time I went
down a ski mountain, and thentwo other people went I remember the first
time I went down a ski mountain, and you could see everyone had the
wonderface. And it's so powerful whenwe share our wonder experiences because it really
does multiply it and it allows usto feel that and it achieved the benefit
(28:30):
even just you expressing that, itsort of started to light up some of
the same neural pathways that in thatmoment you also had. So that's the
power of sharing these stories of wonderas well. Yes, now would you
call that this is a phrase thatI learned a while ago from one of
my one of my other guest limbicresonance. Yes, it certainly would be
an example of it. Yes,And I love the I think I put
(28:53):
in the book the description of thesethese tears of wonder joy. You know
that I love that idea and thatit we can what we connect to and
that's where we really I think it'sreally important that we understand our wonder bringers
and are able to communicate them,because when we consider relationships, you know,
(29:15):
for you, it might be music. For someone else it might be
nature. And if we're just saying, oh, well, I like music
or I like going on hikes,it feels like it's something, you know,
a hobby. But if you expressit in the context of it is
my wonderbringer that is primary to whoyou are, you know, heart,
body, and soul. And ifwe can have that language, I think
we can start to understand one anotherin a more fundamental way. I explain
(29:38):
this to someone at a conference thatI want to and he said, well,
you know, I always thought that, you know, don't take offense,
but that my wife was maybe notquite as clever as I was,
because I really was, you know, like intellectual things, and she likes
going on hikes. And now Irealize that, no, it's just our
wonderbringers are different. I see thatsuddenly, you just say, already he
was like going to communicate more effectwith his wife, And I thought,
(30:00):
it's almost like a type of lovelanguage. And I love that that idea
that we can once we tap intowhat our wonder bringers are we really appreciate
what resonates in us really in sucha meaningful way. So good, Monica.
I don't want to let you go, but let's do this. Let's
(30:21):
go ahead and grab our last breakhere because it's a nice good break for
what I want to talk about next. I'm your host, Doctor Alice Cortez.
I've been on the air with MonicaParker. She's the founder of the
global human analytics and change consultancy HASHAnalytics and the Wonder Lab, where she
challenges corporate clients to advocate for moremeaningful work lives. We've been talking about
the wonder cycle. Now after thebreak, we're going to talk about how
(30:41):
we can bring wonder into the workplace. See what this will be right back.
Doctor Elise Cortes is a management consultantspecializing in meaning and purpose. An
(31:04):
inspirational speaker and author, she helpscompanies visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and
develop purpose inspired leadership and meaning infusedcultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and
commitment within the workforce. To learnmore or to invite Elise to speak to
your organization, please visit her atElisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how
(31:25):
to get your employees working on purpose. This is Working on Purpose with doctor
Elise Cortes. To reach our programtoday or to open a conversation with Elise,
send an email to Elise alisee atElisecortes dot com. Now back to
working on Purpose. Thanks for stayingwith us, and welcome back to working
(31:53):
on Purpose. I'm your host,doctor Elise Cortes. Before we get back
into the program, I want toshare something with you that I'm I've taken
up and will be part of.It's called the Humanitarian Exchange, and what
this is is this is an excitingin person and online event. It's February
twentieth of twenty twenty four, andthis is really an opportunity to join a
(32:15):
digital and in person community. Andthey're coalescing around bringing various perspectives and talents
around the escalating global crises driven byclimate and conflict. So they're bringing together
people that are purpose driven organizations,individuals. So check it out if you
go to Humanitarian Exchange dot org noe Humanitarian Exchange dot org and if you
(32:37):
want to join, this is afree conference, so free is always nice.
If you put in the code hxdahpriority that will give you another level
of participation because you heard it onthe show, so check it out if
you are just joining us today.My guest is Monica Parker. She's the
author of the Power of Wonder,of extraordinary emotion that will change the way
(32:57):
you live, learn, and lead. So before we get into talking about
how we can apply this in theworkplace and create workplaces, I wonder I
want to talk about a couple ofother concepts that I thought were really fascinating
might also lead us into that.And the first one is this idea here,
Monica, that you have in yourbook. You talk about comprehension and
release, about it being a moment, and then you talk about that as
(33:21):
being a single catalyst that moves usinto some aspects that I think are pretty
interesting. Can you address this?It's so fascinating. Sure, It's really
the connecting point between absorption and awe, and I love to describe it.
I'm a big fan of architecture.Some of the work that I do is
about built the built environment, andI love the story that I've gotten the
(33:46):
book around Frank Lloyd Wright and FrankLoyd Right. Obviously, you know one
of the most famous architects in theworld. And if you've ever gone into
some of his spaces, they're abit odd because sometimes you'll go through these
always that are very pent and tiny, and you could almost touch the sides
of the walls with your hands,and you think, well, this is
(34:07):
sort of odd for such an accomplishedarchitect. But those halways spit you out
into these grand crescendos of rooms withyou know, cantilevered space is flooded with
light. And what he was doingis he knew it was the differential between
the dark pen space to the largelight space. So really what this compression
(34:27):
and he called it compression and release. And what this compression and release is
is it's telling our brain pay attention, because really all our brain notices is
newness. And so this moment ofcompression is allowing us then to be prepared
for the big moment of whatever itis that we're going to experience. And
so certainly, you know, presencepractices like like meditation sort of primes us
(34:53):
for that we see this. Youknow, places that are another built environment
that are experts at this are museums. Museums are really well trained and creating
these tiny spaces that then open up, and that sense of being compressed and
then releasing that differential is so powerfuland in that just even that moment of
(35:15):
going from darkness to light, fromyin to yang can be a wonder bringer
in and of itself. Mm hmm. Yes, And I love how you
described that. And then what Ireally found fascinating, this is the geek
in me that was paying attention tothis. You know, I literally am
not kidding you, Monica. Ihave thirty two pages of typewritten research notes
from your book. Wow. Partof the reason. That's how I read
(35:37):
your book, my friend, Iread your book. That's that's how I
part of the way I do myresearch with books that I write in the
talks that I give. So oneof the things that I that I captured
was this notion of expectation violation andI do love that, and that is
the that is the catalyst from theall researchers they say that is the catalyst
(36:00):
of what creates an awe moment isthat we go through our life, we
have patterns that we expect to complete. I mean, basically, that's how
our entire brain works is to bevery efficient. It connects A to B
as quickly as possible. If you'veread Daniel Kammons Thinking Fast and Slow,
he talks about it that you know, most of our brain is just very
(36:21):
fast, and so it's constantly justcompleting patterns. But when we have a
moment where a pattern we expect tocomplete doesn't, that's where we go oh,
and that's where the wow moment occurs. That's where we are forced to
take notice. Now, of course, if we're rushed, if we're busy,
then it takes a much bigger expectationviolation for us to notice. And
(36:45):
I you know, give some examplesin the book about that. But the
challenge is is we're always so busya lease, and when we are rushed,
when we're stressed, when we're notwell, either mentally well or physically
well, our brain wants to conserveenergy. And that means it's really going
to take those quickest neural pathways fromA to B and not look for anything
(37:07):
that's out of the ordinary, becauseit will force itself to stop and then
put more cognitive resources towards that thingthat it's seeing. And so that's why
the presence part of this, theabsorption, is so important, because it's
the slowing down and really being observantof your world so that you can notice
the patterns that aren't that do notcomplete. You can notice the expectation violation,
(37:30):
because if we're just too rushed,we'll just zip right past an opportunity
for wonder. That's so great,that was worth the price of admission right
there. Okay, So then theother thing that I want to distinguish for
our listeners and viewers that I reallyit really mattered to me. You would
distinguish the wow and the woe here, and I think this is really really
important to bring home. You've covereda little bit before, but I want
(37:52):
to bring it back again. Ilike how you write in your book.
You talk about let's see here,talk about how people feel that they experience
the presence of something so vast physicallyor cognitively that it changes the way we
see the world, which is thewow, like wow, that's so cool,
and thus our experience, our perspectiveis forever change. And that's whoa,
(38:15):
whoa, My mind has been blown. Yeah, And I really think
that's important because I know listeners ofviewers, every one of you has had
both a wow experience and a woeexperience. I love your point, Monica
that the more we talk about thisstuff, the more we share this stuff,
the more we elevate the communities thatwe're connected to. Yeah, and
(38:36):
I actually have a theory at leastthat I bounced off a couple of people,
Scott Barry Kaufman being one of them, that I believe and also Landi
Sciota, who's another amazing researcher,that I believe that PTSD might actually be
sort of awe interrupt us. Soit's people who have had the wow moment,
had something that is huge, youknow, obviously traumatic, but they're
(38:59):
not able to metabolize that. They'renot able to get to the woe.
They're not able to create new neuralpathways that can handle that information, and
so what ends up happening is they'restuck in that wow moment. And what
we know is that people who aremore prone, who are hire and openness
to experience, who are more pronetowards deep curiosity, they're actually more likely
(39:23):
to experience post traumatic growth as opposedto post traumatic stress. And so we
know that people who are more wonderprone are actually better able to handle trauma.
And so really that those two piecesthat wow and woe is a really
critical part to how we're able toachieve some of the resilience that we get
(39:44):
from the experience of wonder. Andthat's one of the reasons why I'm so
keen for people to appreciate this emotionalexperience, because I feel like in America,
certainly, we are obsessed with happiness. We are filled with happy chondriacs,
and it's hard to look in theworld and be happy. We have
wars, we just got out ofa pandemic, and I think that there's
(40:07):
it's very natural not to want tobe happy, and then we feel guilty
because we're not happy. But wonderwe can feel wonder even in the darkest
of times because it is a mixedemotion. Happiness is positively valanced. It
means we're always positive, but wondercan be duly valance. It's both positive
and negative at the same time,and as the positive and negative sort of
(40:30):
duel it out. You really seethat in Awe Awe as another duly valanced
emotion, as is curiosity, andthat battle between the two emotions of oh,
my goodness, I'm frightened by this, but it's amazing, and I
don't know my brain can't quite makesense of it. And in that moment
as your brain is tussling with it, if you are more wonder prone,
(40:52):
it uses that sort of conflict togrow as opposed to be stunted. So
yummy. So this is really importantbecause I'm a learning and development professional.
I care about ongoing learning and Iwant to make sure that our listeners and
viewers understand that they can cultivate theircapacity for wonder. One of the things
(41:13):
that you do beautifully in your book, Monica, there's only one thing that
you do beautifully, just kidding,one thing that you do in there.
If that's beautiful, as you talkabout, if you're not somebody that's on
the openness scale, you're not youcan actually cultivate that. So one of
the things that I want to makesure that we impart to our listeners and
viewers is that we cultivate a wonderpractice. This is something that we want
(41:34):
to incorporate in our everyday lives tobe able to improve our overall health and
our connectivity, our relationships and ourvitality everything. And I want to make
sure that our listeners hear that absolutely. And I think if there were three
ways that you could go away andstart building a wonder practice today. The
first would be what I call slowthought, and that is anything that slows
(41:54):
down your noggin, so meditation,narrative journal, a gratitude practice, prayer,
anything that really gets you out ofthe chattering monkey mind, something that
helps you develop attentional control. Numbertwo is novelty. Your brain notices newness,
(42:15):
so anything that you can do toexperience new ideas, new thinking,
new places that helps your brain bemore plastic and prone towards experiencing wonder And
then I think probably the last elementwould be very simple, a wonderwalk.
You know what makes a wonderwalk awonderwalk? You decide it is. And
this is really a great study injust priming. You tell yourself, I
(42:38):
am going to find something to feelwonder about on this walk, and then
you do. That's what the researchshows and going out, if you ways
to take a good wonder walk isto look for things that make you feel
small, so big oceans, mountainvistas. But if you can't go big,
then you look for things that aresmall, so things that details that
(42:58):
maybe you wouldn't have noticed other wise, and taking a new route. So
I think that those three things arereally powerful ways to just start developing a
wonder practice. Awesome, thank youMonica. Okay, now for the last
a bit here of this program,I want to focus on creating wonder based
cultures, and I want to readjust a little bit from your book here
that I just think is so socompelling. You're writing your book, you
(43:21):
say, I appreciate that. Goingto your boss and saying hey, I
want to I want more wonder atwork might not get you, might get
you a side eyed, you knowsort of look, but the truth is
work isn't working for many people.So what have you got to lose?
So let's talk a little bit abouthow we can create a wonder based culture.
Yeah. It's funny because when Itruly when I started to think about
(43:43):
writing a book, I was goingto write a book on change management,
which would have been really, reallyboring. But the reality is that I've
been working in workplace change for adecade. That's what my company, Hatch
does, and what I wanted peopleto learn. We were ways to create
a less toxic environment. Let's behonest, a lot of work environments are
(44:04):
terribly toxic. So the way thatwe can bring wonder at work. Really
it's the derivatives of wonder that createa better work environment. So things like
empathy, humility, ethics, presence, those are all elements we want and
business leaders and in team members,we know that people who are more wonder
prone have greater creativity and have thesesmall self qualities, right, so these
(44:29):
elements where we want to be helpfulto others. There's research that shows that
people who are more wonder prone CEOsand leaders, they lead stronger management teams
who are in turn more effective atcommunication. And there's a really fascinating piece
of research that shows that leaders whohave used psychedelics have it has a positive
(44:51):
impact on their behaviors, their creativity, their patients, their empathy. And
this is actually something that I'm exploringwith the Wonder Lab. All legal,
of course, but looking at theways that psychedelics can positively impact leadership because
it's being shown to be really powerfulin helping people addiction and depression. But
(45:14):
the reality is is we all haveto work, and less we're independently wealthy,
most of us have to work,and we spend more working time with
our colleagues than we do with anybodyelse. And so if we can make
work better and use wonder as amechanism to do that, then I think
that that is a net gain,and it will also make people less polarized
and just better, more tolerant humans. And so I just don't see how
(45:37):
that's not something that we would allwant more of in the workplace, no
question, sister, I'm right therewith you. We're rown in the same
boat. Yes, a lot morecultures that are based in awe and wonder
and you humility and appreciation. Andso one quick thing listeners and viewers that
you can simply do as a leaderis go on that you know, with
that watching piece there, watch foryour people. What are they doing?
(46:00):
It's magic and magnificent. Watch forit, and then tell them and and
celebrate that. That's just one ofthe many things you can do as a
leader to be able to start tolive and create this wonder sort of culture.
It's right there in front of anyoneelse. Elise as well, there
was a statistic that shocked me.Seventy two percent of American workers are afraid
(46:21):
to ask questions at work. Whathow are we supposed to innovate when they're
afraid to ask questions That curiosity element. If you're a leader, give your
people the space and the time tojust explore, to think, because if
you are if people are afraid toask questions, how in the world are
they supposed to come up with newideas? And so that to me was
(46:42):
a real mind opener and and Ithink that that's a great piece of advice
as well for leaders. M Yeah, culled me in a curiosity, you
know, and giving people that place. And so I was thinking about this.
You know, I speak Spanish andPortuguese pretty well. In Spanish,
the way that you say wonder ismet with that which really translates to I
ask myself yes, and it's it'sAnd what I think is interesting though about
(47:06):
your concept is it's so much morethan that, because you're not just asking
yourself, You're actually opening that questionup to everything. And that's what I
find so compelling is you know,you can ask yourself and that's one source,
but there's so much more available tobe able to answer and delight you
and and to stoke your curiosity.So, as you can tell, I'm
slightly a fan of your work,I will be spreading the word thank you
(47:29):
so much. Yes, I willbe writing a review, so we get
it. We're coming to the closeof the program here, Monic, and
you now know that the program isto pay by people around the world who
really care about either experiencing or helpingto create a workplace where people can grow
into their best realize their potential,that they're led by inspirational leaders that lead
them to their greatness, and thatin so doing they do business at better
(47:52):
in the world. What would youlike to look with I think I'd like
to leave them with just the my, my stead fast belief that if we
meet each other with openness, withgenuine curiosity, because what is the essence
of empathy but curiosity about the humancondition of other people. If we meet
(48:14):
each other with curiosity, with presence, that we will create uh will be
more tolerant, helpful people, andwill create a more tolerant, helpful world.
And that is the world that Iwould like to live in and help
usher in. Thank you, Monica. It is a delight to know you,
to read your book, to beinspired by you, to learn from
(48:35):
you, and to share you withmy listeners. Thank you for being on
working on purpose. Thank you somuch, Elise. It was fabulous,
terrific, listeners and viewers. Ifyou want to learn more about Monica Parker,
the work she does at Hatch,or the Wonder Lab, or her
book, The Power of Wonder,start by visiting her website. It's Monica
Dashparker dot com. So Monica mO N I c A Dash Parker p
A r K E RNA Dash Parkerdot com. Last week, if you
(49:00):
missed the live show, you canalways catch it via recorded podcast. We
were on the air with Michael Graeberof Epic Pivot, where we talked about
responsible innovation and the power of incorporatingcurious, empathetic human design principles into innovations.
Listening to that empo so will changethe way you want to innovate at
your company, being wholly inspired bythe power of purpose to guide those efforts.
(49:20):
Next week, we'll be on theair with margat Hawk, the author
of Tech for Good Imagine Solving theworld's greatest challenges. See you there,
and remember work is one of thebest adventures and means of realizing our potential
and making the impact we crave.So let's work on purpose. We hope
you've enjoyed this week's program. Besure to tune into Working on Purpose featuring
your host, doctor Elise Cortes,each week on W four C. Why
(49:45):
Together, We'll create a world wherebusiness operates conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion
performance and employees are fulfilled in workthat provides the meaning and purpose they crave.
See you there, Let's work onPurpose.
The topics and opinions express in thefollowing show are solely those of the hosts
and their guests, and not thoseof W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are
affiliates. We make no recommendations orendorsements for radio show programs, services,
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questions or comments should be directed tothose show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio. What's Working onPurpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder
the answer to this question. Peopleache for meaning and purpose at work,
to contribute their talents passionately and knowtheir lives really matter. They crave being
part of an organization that inspires themand helps them grow into realizing their highest
(00:44):
potential. Business can be such aforce for good in the world, elevating
humanity. In our program, weprovide guidance and inspiration to help usher in
this world we all want Working onPurpose. Now here's your host, Doctor
Release Cortez. Welcome back to theWorking and Purpose Program. Thanks tuning again
(01:06):
this week. Great to have you. This show has been live on air
since February of twenty fifteen, andI bring it to you with great passion
and pride. I'm doctor Elisee Cortes. If we've not met yet before,
I am an organizational psychologist and logotherapist, speaker and author, and my
team and I at Gusto now helpcompanies to enliven and fortify their operations by
articulating their purpose and building inspirational leadersand cultures activated by meaning and purpose to
(01:29):
turn those companies from a flat ekgline to a vibrant destination workplace. There
people are intrinsically motivated to perform attheir best, can grow into their fuller
potential, and are committed to stayin dynamic to deliver on the company's mission.
You can learn more about us andhow we can work together at Gusto,
dashnow dot com or alascoretest dot com. Now getting into today's program,
I'm very excited to bring you MonicaParker. She's a world renowned speaker,
(01:53):
writer, and authority on the futureof work. She has spent decades helping
people discover how to lead and livewonderfully. She's the founder of global human
analytics and change consultancy Hatch Analytics andthe Wonder Lab, where she challenges corporate
clients to advocate for more meaningful worklives. She's the author of a smashing
new book that I love. Iread it cover to cover. Of course,
(02:13):
it's called The Power of Wonder,The Extraordinary Emotion that will change the
way you live, learn and lead, which we'll be talking about today.
Monica joins us today from Nice,France, where right now it's midnight.
It's five o'clock for me. Monica, A hearty welcome to Working on Purpose.
Thank you for having me Elise.Such a pleasure. As you know,
I loved thoroughly every three hundred andfive pages of this massive, beautiful
(02:38):
research, well researched book that youbrought to us. It's so incredibly informative
and delightful and wondrous. Monica,I'm just delighted to bring it to my
listenership. Thank you, Thank youso much. You're welcome. So to
get us started here, I haveto say, you know, whenever I
have guests and my guests on Ijust think about where and consider how they
came up with their ideas enough enoughto actually birth a book like that in
(03:01):
the world has got to come fromsomewhere. So I want to start with
your background. You have what Iwould consider to be a wonderful, enriching
upbringing, and so if you couldjust sort of bring some of that to
life, including I think it wasyour grandparents' home that you talk about in
your book, and then the wayyou were raised, if you could just
share that with our listeners and viewers. Sure. So, born and raised
(03:23):
in the South, I'm from Atlanta, Georgia, and I think, as
I mentioned in the book, weare not a sporting breed. My family,
we're very nerdy, and you know, we watched PBS and my father
would quiz me with word games beforedinner, and we'd play trivial pursuit and
(03:44):
it was just the sort of theway we were raised and high Q games
and things like that. Very muchinto the arts as well, and it
was just a family that loved learningand it was sort of just something that
was always a part of us.And yeah, you mentioned it's actually my
my aunt and uncle's home and theyhad traveled all over the world before finally
(04:04):
alighting back in Atlanta, and theirhouse was just like a wonderland. I
mean, I don't know any otherway to put it, and so many
different beautiful objects that typically in mostpeople's homes you would probably be told,
oh, don't touch, you know, just for your eyes. But no,
we were allowed to touch and playwith and ask questions about everything in
(04:25):
that home. And it was justsuch a such a warm place of encouragement
to be curious and to learn.And I think I was just surrounded by
that and very very privileged that Iwas also able to go to a great
school. And so I just thinkmy entire life was about the joy of
exploration and learning for the sake ofit. That's so beautiful, listeners and
(04:48):
viewers of your parents. I reallythink this is a fantastic model for parenting
if you just want to borrow someof the this that Monika grew up with,
I think is fantastic. She turnedout okay, I think, well,
and then we have to ask please, well I suppose so, I
suppose so, But well then wehave to talk about then you've had this
like smashing set of career experiences alongthe way, so kind of narrate for
(05:12):
you know, some of the stopsyou made along the way before you're doing
what you're doing now. Sure,I think probably some of it goes to
add which maybe is my superpower tosome degree, but I definitely get bored
fairly quickly. So I've yes,I have. Let's see. I was,
as I said, born and raisedin Atlanta. I went on to
get my graduate degree in Belfast.I was a graphic designer for a while.
(05:36):
I was a professional clown, anopera singer. I ran a chamber
of commerce, and I think probablythe piece of work before starting Hatch that
was most pivotal to me was Iwas a homicide investigator for the Department of
Justice, and I worked with menand women on Florida's Death Row with their
defense teams to try to exonerate themor to save them from execution. And
(06:00):
that piece of work really fundamentally changedme. It was something I did when
I was very young, probably tooyoung in some ways to be as great
benefit as I could be to myclients, to these prisoners, but it
was something that fundamentally changed my viewof the world, and in many ways
that was my giant wonder moment becauseit did completely change the structure of my
(06:24):
brain and that sort of sent meon my path that I'm on now.
And then of course I was fortunateenough to start Hatch Analytics about ten years
ago, and Hatches a human analyticsand change consultancy, and we specialize in
the future of work, and theymay not seem to be similar, but
there is a red line between allof that work, which is that I
(06:46):
have helped people through existential change,big change like you know, being executed
by the state, or you know, losing your job, or I worked
with parents with children with disabilities.So really everything that I try to do
is bring support to people who aregoing through existential change. I have never
(07:08):
heard the phrase existential change, butI have to say, having heard you
just utter that, I can't imaginetoo many larger existential changes than being executed
by the state. I just thinit's a pretty big one. Yeah,
it's definitely a big one. Andyet somehow there were certain people that were
just able to be buoyant. Theywere still able to find a sense of
purpose and meaning in their life.And that was really, while I didn't
(07:30):
have the language for it, thatwas where I started to recognize the power
of wonder, which is that peoplewho held their world and a great deal
of wonder were better able to dealwith what life throw it them. Including
being you know, on death rowor being in prison for life with being
the you know, the positive outcome, and it sort of set me thinking
(07:53):
about, well, why are somepeople better able to manage what the world
brings to them? And I keptcoming back to this idea of wonder,
which I want to dive into.And before we do that, I want
to celebrate. As I told youbefore we got on air, I have
a near twenty one year old daughterand I don't remember when it was I
started calling her this nickname. Shehas several, but I've been calling her
(08:16):
Wonder for years. I call herand I say high Wonder. She's like,
hi, Mama, and all ofher friends know, oh, Wonder's
mom is calling, you know,And it's just and it's because I see
her as such a wonder. Idon't know how this miracle happened to me,
and I'm so grateful for her andshe just brings me so much joy.
So sharing that with our listeners,yes, so it really resonates with
(08:37):
me and your your book, youknow, I have to say I had
never imagined there was so much tolearn about Wonder, and you do such
a beautiful job really situating with thefive elements you put forth, And what
I'd like to do next for ourlisteners and viewers is talk through these five
elements that you came up with,and you know, really bring them home
to so that they're they're accessible tothem in the same way at least I
(08:58):
got, well you're reading. Ofcourse you're going to have to read the
book to get them as on thelevel that I got them. And then
as we talk, I'd love tohear you say a little bit about how
we can cultivate each one of theseelements so we give something to our listeners
and viewers so they can apply thisstuff. So your model here, and
this is what I find so sofascinating. Here you know, this idea
of you know, wonder. Butfirst, before we even get into it,
(09:22):
I guess the five we should probablytalk about what do you mean by
wonder? What's your definition of wonder? Well, it's interesting because wonder of
a word as a word, issomething of a shape shifter, right,
So we have wonder that is theverb which is to wonder that might be
the same that we see as synonymouswith being curious, with curiosity. But
then we also have a wonder whichis the nickname for your daughter, which
(09:43):
is something that is, you know, wonder made manifest, which might also
be the outcome of awe. Andso just even looking from an etymological point
of view, I wanted to tryto link them psychologically, spiritually, at
homologedly so that we could and findhow those two ideas linked. And actually,
as I started to study it,they do link. And so the
(10:05):
way that I see wonder is asa cycle, and it is these five
components actually four components, but fiveways to express them that as we experience
each one of them, we're morelikely to experience them in the future.
And it becomes this upwardly additive cycle. And I see it as as an
opportunity for us to tap into thoseplaces of ourselves that want to explore,
(10:31):
that want to connect, that wantto be open. And what I resonate
with ther Monica on that is,you know, somebody who's trying to help
elevate consciousness in organizations, and someof the same work you're doing to really
try to cultivate, you know,the finer qualities of what it is to
be human inside the workplace. I'mworking on that too. I love this
idea of upward additive cycle. That'sso exciting. So then we have to
(10:56):
talk a little bit just before weget into the actual cycle itself, the
benefits. What are the benefits ofWonder? I mean, it's really incredible.
As I sort of started to godown this rabbit hole, I couldn't
believe them. As we started tolook at these aggregate components of wonder,
people who are more wonder prone aremore creative, they are more desirous of
(11:16):
studying the world. They're more humble, they're less materialistic, they're more generous,
they're better community members. People whoare higher and these composite elements perform
better in school and in work.They have healthier relationships, they're less stressed
and feel like they have more time. It's what's considered a pro social emotion,
which means it makes us want tomove forward and do things for other
(11:39):
people. Really simply, it makesus just want to be better, more
tolerant people. And if that's notenough, the physiological elements are really really
surprising to me. You know,Wonder lowers blood pressure, It lowers are
stress hormones cortisol. It also decreaseswhat are known as pro inflammatory cytokine,
(12:00):
and so these are the markers ofcertain conditions like Alzheimer's or heart disease,
certain cancers. And what these linksshow is that there's a direct biological pathway
between wonder and better health. Okay, I'm convinced. I'm in no.
I wonder for everyone, right,Yeah, exactly. It's like it's a
(12:20):
great way to start the new year. So I love it, and I
just really wanted to make sure thatwe brought that for our listeners and viewers
because I couldn't believe the list eitherin your book. I just couldn't believe
it. Okay, so let's divein. Let's talk about the first element,
watching, which you also refer toas openness. Talk to us about
watching. Sure, So the firststep is openness to experience or what I
(12:41):
call watching, and the watcher issomeone who is really open and present.
Now, openness to experience is oneof our personality traits. It's one of
our five personality traits if we considerthe Big Five, which is really,
you know, the gold standard ofsort of personality testing. And while well,
it sits on a spectrum, everyonehas some degree of openness to experience.
(13:05):
The challenge, of course, isthat it tends to be set by
the time or about twenty five.You can change your personality, but not
a lot. And so by thetime we're about twenty five, based half
on our genetics and half on ourexperiences, we have a certain degree of
openness to experience. But really thetype of openness to experience it gets us
closer to wonder more specifically, isopenness to new ideas. And I love
(13:28):
that because then that gets to theheart of the nerdiness that I love,
which is being open to new ideas. And even better than that is being
able to hold two competing ideas inyour mind at the same time. This
idea, of these competing notions reallyhelp us stretch ourselves and prepare ourselves for
(13:50):
the next element, which is curiosity. Now, how can we bring more
openness to our life? Really,there's a lot of there's some pieces that
help with all of them, andI'll touch on them at the end again,
But in general, what gets ascloser to wonder things like slow thought,
which is meditation, narrative, journaling, novelty. So experiencing newness.
(14:13):
We always notice newness. Being innature certainly is helpful, but for some
people it might be in other areas. So it's knowing what your wonder bringers
are, what it is that givesyou that sense of wonder, and then
gratitude is also a great wonder practice. So all of those actually can help
enhance your sense of openness to experience. So once we experience this openness,
(14:37):
once we identify that, then itreally very naturally leads us into curiosity because
people who are higher and openness toexperience are more naturally curious. Now,
what's interesting about curiosity is, youknow, there are two There generally are
a lot of different sort of modelsof curiosity. If you look at the
(14:58):
research literature, you know some havehis many as five different factors. But
in general, you can sort ofbreak curiosity down into two buckets. There's
surface curiosity and deep curiosity. Sosurface curiosity would be you know, smelling
the milk to know if it's goneoff, or a Google search to settle
a bet. You know, thatwould be surface curiosity. The deep curiosity
(15:18):
is the exploration for exploration's sake.And again, you know, going back
to my childhood, my father usedto assign when we would travel, he
would assign each of us to bethe tour guides and he's very quirky.
That made us Nerva and Nerval thenavigator and the navigate tricks, and we
would have to study the place thatwe were going, and we would be
(15:39):
the guide to our family. Andthat sort of curiosity where you're really just
for the exploration. It's what sometimesit's called epistemic curiosity, but it is
it's just for the joy and thepleasure of learning. And that's the kind
of curiosity that really gets us closerto wonder. The surface curiosity sometimes can,
(16:00):
especially when we think of technology theway that it can sort of grab
us. Sometimes it becomes just sortof a series of dopamine hits and not
necessarily drawing us closer to what we'rehoping is the next step, which is
then absorption. So we go fromhome, hold on home. Sorry,
I want to hold on because Iwant to take a quick break. We're
giving so much to our listeners andviewers and I'll let let them think for
(16:21):
just a second. Well, wegrab our first break. We were talking
about first what wonder? What wasthe first one? Openness? Yeah,
watch, watch, and then wanderand then hold your hold your thoughts listeners
and viewers, to hold your horsesbecause we've got so much more. All
right, We've been on the airwith Monica Parker. She's the founder of
the global human Analytics and change consultancyHASCH Analytics in the Wonder Lab, where
(16:45):
she challenges corporate clients to advocate fora more meaningful work lives. I'm your
host, doctor, Release cortest.We'll be right back. Doctor Elise Cortes
(17:07):
is a management consultant specializing in meaningand purpose. An inspirational speaker and author,
she helps companies visioneer for greater purposeamong stakeholders and develop purpose inspired leadership
and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and commitment within the workforce.
To learn more or to invite alease to speak to your organization,
please visit her at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your
(17:30):
employees working on purpose. This isworking on Purpose with doctor Elise Cortes.
To reach our program today or toopen a conversation with Elise, send an
email to Alise A. L Seat elisecortes dot com. Now back to
(17:52):
working on purpose. Thanks for stayingwith us, and welcome back to work
on Purpose. I'm your host doctorat least Cortes as I too, am
dedicated to help and create a worldwhere people realize their potential at work and
they're led by inspirational leaders to helpthem find and contribute their greatness, and
we do business and betters the world. I keep writing my own books and
(18:12):
I keep researching, and so myguests become my research people as well.
So my latest book that came outin March of twenty three is called The
Great Revitalization, How activating meaning andPurpose can radically enliven your business. And
I wrote it to help you readers, the leaders understand the new lay of
the land. This is the workplace has radically changed. I tell you
what that is, and then Igive you twenty two best practices to help
(18:33):
provide the workplace that actually meets thoseneeds of the talent today. You can
learn more about it at at Leastcoortesdot com if you are just joining me
today. My guest is Monica Parker. She's the author of the Power of
Wonder, The extraordinary Motion that willchange the way you live, learn and
lead. It's spectacular. So wegot to in this cycle there we talked
about watch and Wander, and beforewe moved on to the next thing.
(18:56):
I really wanted to talk a littlebit about one of the there were so
many great things you introduced me to, and I did, by the way,
because of your your a suggestion aboutthe big five being you know,
really the more the more a validatedone. And I took one of the
assessments out there and I came inat ninety percent openness. So maybe that's
why I love this this wonder stuff. But there you go. You are
(19:17):
definitely wonder prone, any know,exactly? And I've actually developed a little
wonder prone survey if people want togo on to my website, they can
even find out how wonder prone theyare, and it includes some of the
markers of openness to experience and curiosity, absorption and awe. But absolutely ninety
percent you are. You're super wonderparnallys I know. And I'll tell you
(19:38):
as we go what somehow that showsup? Tell us now, why to
go ahead and grab the website whereand they say that assessment that's it,
Monica dash Parker dot com. Okay, all right, all right, cool,
all right. So then one ofthe one myriad of wonderful things that
I learned from your book. Isyou introduced us to David Pearl, who
created street Wisdom. Since we're talkingabout wander and curiosity, now, would
(20:00):
you tell the listeners of yours alittle bit about this man in street Wisdom.
Sure, I've known David for probablyabout ten years and he started street
Wisdom in London. And street Wisdomis basically sort of a crowd funded and
shared experience where people will get togetherand they will set intentions for what they're
(20:25):
going to experience on their walk.They will say that they will ask the
street a question and then they'll goon a walk, and what will happen
during the course of the walk isthat answers will come to them, almost
in a sort of a serendipitous pointof view. If you sort of lean
more towards the woo, you maysay that that is, you know,
(20:45):
the universe answering the question. Butit doesn't even have to be that.
I mean, it can simply bethat you are opening yourself up and presenting
a question in a way that nowyour mind is allowing to connect dots in
a different way. But it canbe everything from seeing your name and lights
to running into a friend who answersthe question for you. But really what
(21:10):
it is is an opportunity to bepresent. It's you, it's very it's
totally you know, no phones,you're alone. And in a way,
it's really what I recommend, whichis known as a wonder walk. So
it is simply going out and sayingI will find this thing. Therefore your
brain commits the cognitive resources towards doingit, and when you come back,
(21:33):
you discuss what you found. Andhe now has groups of street wisdomers all
over the world, and it's justI think a really fascinating way for people
to connect with one another, toconnect in urban environments. I'm a city
mouse, so I love that idea, and and to help create a time
(21:56):
of presence where you can look internallywhile being really observant of your environment.
So De Lifeful, I would havenever known about him had you not brought
him in your book. Okay,so now are you ready to talk about
whittle and absorption? Have you coveredthe other two enough? Okay? Yeah,
absolutely, So when we go fromcuriosity, we've obviously you know,
(22:17):
this is deep curiosity. We're sortof like a ganet, collecting shiny little
bits of information that we find interesting, and then we fall down a rabbit
hole, and when we fall downthat rabbit hole of interest, it's where
we become really present and absorbed.And this absorption could be the purity of
focus that you get from a flowstate. It could just simply be very
(22:40):
being very, very present in themoment. But this is a critical point
because it's really the connecting point betweenwonder as a verb and wonder as a
noun. And this is where we'removing from the two wonder where we now
have to become hyper present in ourenvironment so we don't miss anything, and
then that allows us to move intoAnd what I find fascinating about absorption is
(23:03):
it's really sort of a strange emotionalstate. It was first sort of developed
even as an analysis when a gentlemanintelligen Acheteligen was looking at how susceptible people
were to hypnosis, and it waseven through that then he created this absorption
tool that you can see how proneyou are to absorption. But some people
(23:27):
look at absorption as hyper focused curiosity. So you could say that potentially,
like a flow states, you're supercurious about what it is you're doing and
you lose everything else. Or itcould be a very light transcendent state,
which also then starts to feed intoflow because you sort of lose yourself,
you lose your sense of time,your sense of physicality, and so it's
(23:51):
really this very amorphous, strange state. But what it does is it becomes
everything in your space becomes crystalline,and it allows you then to observe things
that maybe otherwise, if you weren'tpresent, you would just sort of speed
through, because we speed through somuch of our day at least, I
mean, that's one of the challenges, isn't it. And oh sorry,
(24:12):
go on, no, no,go ahead. And so from there,
once we become hyper present, we'reable to see and at that point then
we have the opportunity for AWE.Now, there are some books out there
written by about AWE. I've interviewedsome of the scientists behind it. And
one of the reasons why I reallymade a point to show that AWE I
(24:34):
believe is a subset of wonder isbecause sometimes AWE feels like it is too
rare, too fleeting, like it'salmost dumb. Luck if we experience it
now, I don't believe that.I believe that we can train ourselves to
see AWE and wonder in the quotidian. But even if we don't have an
AWE moment, simply going through thecycle of being open, being curious,
(24:55):
being present, if we do thatover and over again, we will eventually
create a mind set that is moreprone to experiencing those wow moments. And
so when we get into AWE,I describe AWE as both wow and woe.
And the reason I describe it thisway is because awe actually has two
states. We have the first state, which is known as vastness, which
(25:15):
is where we experience something that isso great, and it could be emotionally
great, like seeing your child seeingwonder take her first steps, or it
could be physically great like seeing theGrand Canyon, or intellectually great like trying
to think of a folded universe.But something that really blows your mind and
(25:36):
it makes you feel like a smallercomponent part of a bigger system. And
when you feel small, your problemsfeel small. So this is where we
start to get some of the benefitof wonder. So when we have that
moment of vastness, then what wemove into is the second component, and
that's called accommodation. So we've hadthis wow, this thing that makes us
(25:56):
literally, it changes that we makea we frequently gasp, our eyes go
open. But then our brain actuallychanges its structure. So now we're creating
a highly plastic brain after this experienceand what we experience and can be embedded
more deeply. And so this iswhere we have the opportunity to really change
(26:18):
our mind, to change the waythat we see the world. And those
two components, the wow and thewoe, has some of the greatest power
of the wonder cycle. Oh somany great things. So I want to
talk a little bit about how itshows. So I loved what you talked
about with regard to how people experiencethose latter two the vastness, the accommodation,
(26:40):
And I'll share it for me,and I know you can you can
well imagine this now by now.But this has happened to me many times
that I have a piano on myhome that I occasionally play, but it's
more interesting when somebody that knows howto play the piano comes over and plays
it. And I've had the experienceMonica where one of my daughter's friends has
come over. I'll just call themout, Will Gorman. And the first
time that this happened he said,oh, yes, I played the piano.
(27:02):
I'll play something for you. Andit was like a New Year's Eve
or something. And he went outto the front room and he played a
piece and I was sitting behind him, and he just sat down. He
just started playing, and I hadthe immediate visceral response where my eyes completely
filled with tears and just you know, we're talking a waterfall down my face.
And he finished the song and youturn around and sees me goes,
oh my god, I'm so sorry. I'm like for what for moving me
(27:26):
to tears? But that visceral,immediate response. And then you talk about
goosebumps. I'm somebody who gets goosebumpswhen I have these sensations. And the
way you describe the evolution of goosebumps, where they came from, how they've
served us, you know, asyou know, to help us and recognize
there was maybe a harm coming.I mean, Monica, it's brilliant.
(27:48):
So maybe you could say you're describingthat to me. This is where I
say, all the time wonder sharedis wonder multiplied. To me, I
got goosebumps, So I'm sure probablysome off your listeners did too. And
this is why it's so important thatwhen we have a wonder experience, we
share it with other people. Iwas teaching a university class about wonder and
(28:08):
one person was saying, my biggestwonder experience was the first time I went
down a ski mountain, and thentwo other people went I remember the first
time I went down a ski mountain, and you could see everyone had the
wonderface. And it's so powerful whenwe share our wonder experiences because it really
does multiply it and it allows usto feel that and it achieved the benefit
(28:30):
even just you expressing that, itsort of started to light up some of
the same neural pathways that in thatmoment you also had. So that's the
power of sharing these stories of wonderas well. Yes, now would you
call that this is a phrase thatI learned a while ago from one of
my one of my other guest limbicresonance. Yes, it certainly would be
an example of it. Yes,And I love the I think I put
(28:53):
in the book the description of thesethese tears of wonder joy. You know
that I love that idea and thatit we can what we connect to and
that's where we really I think it'sreally important that we understand our wonder bringers
and are able to communicate them,because when we consider relationships, you know,
(29:15):
for you, it might be music. For someone else it might be
nature. And if we're just saying, oh, well, I like music
or I like going on hikes,it feels like it's something, you know,
a hobby. But if you expressit in the context of it is
my wonderbringer that is primary to whoyou are, you know, heart,
body, and soul. And ifwe can have that language, I think
we can start to understand one anotherin a more fundamental way. I explain
(29:38):
this to someone at a conference thatI want to and he said, well,
you know, I always thought that, you know, don't take offense,
but that my wife was maybe notquite as clever as I was,
because I really was, you know, like intellectual things, and she likes
going on hikes. And now Irealize that, no, it's just our
wonderbringers are different. I see thatsuddenly, you just say, already he
was like going to communicate more effectwith his wife, And I thought,
(30:00):
it's almost like a type of lovelanguage. And I love that that idea
that we can once we tap intowhat our wonder bringers are we really appreciate
what resonates in us really in sucha meaningful way. So good, Monica.
I don't want to let you go, but let's do this. Let's
(30:21):
go ahead and grab our last breakhere because it's a nice good break for
what I want to talk about next. I'm your host, Doctor Alice Cortez.
I've been on the air with MonicaParker. She's the founder of the
global human analytics and change consultancy HASHAnalytics and the Wonder Lab, where she
challenges corporate clients to advocate for moremeaningful work lives. We've been talking about
the wonder cycle. Now after thebreak, we're going to talk about how
(30:41):
we can bring wonder into the workplace. See what this will be right back.
Doctor Elise Cortes is a management consultantspecializing in meaning and purpose. An
(31:04):
inspirational speaker and author, she helpscompanies visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and
develop purpose inspired leadership and meaning infusedcultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and
commitment within the workforce. To learnmore or to invite Elise to speak to
your organization, please visit her atElisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how
(31:25):
to get your employees working on purpose. This is Working on Purpose with doctor
Elise Cortes. To reach our programtoday or to open a conversation with Elise,
send an email to Elise alisee atElisecortes dot com. Now back to
working on Purpose. Thanks for stayingwith us, and welcome back to working
(31:53):
on Purpose. I'm your host,doctor Elise Cortes. Before we get back
into the program, I want toshare something with you that I'm I've taken
up and will be part of.It's called the Humanitarian Exchange, and what
this is is this is an excitingin person and online event. It's February
twentieth of twenty twenty four, andthis is really an opportunity to join a
(32:15):
digital and in person community. Andthey're coalescing around bringing various perspectives and talents
around the escalating global crises driven byclimate and conflict. So they're bringing together
people that are purpose driven organizations,individuals. So check it out if you
go to Humanitarian Exchange dot org noe Humanitarian Exchange dot org and if you
(32:37):
want to join, this is afree conference, so free is always nice.
If you put in the code hxdahpriority that will give you another level
of participation because you heard it onthe show, so check it out if
you are just joining us today.My guest is Monica Parker. She's the
author of the Power of Wonder,of extraordinary emotion that will change the way
(32:57):
you live, learn, and lead. So before we get into talking about
how we can apply this in theworkplace and create workplaces, I wonder I
want to talk about a couple ofother concepts that I thought were really fascinating
might also lead us into that.And the first one is this idea here,
Monica, that you have in yourbook. You talk about comprehension and
release, about it being a moment, and then you talk about that as
(33:21):
being a single catalyst that moves usinto some aspects that I think are pretty
interesting. Can you address this?It's so fascinating. Sure, It's really
the connecting point between absorption and awe, and I love to describe it.
I'm a big fan of architecture.Some of the work that I do is
about built the built environment, andI love the story that I've gotten the
(33:46):
book around Frank Lloyd Wright and FrankLoyd Right. Obviously, you know one
of the most famous architects in theworld. And if you've ever gone into
some of his spaces, they're abit odd because sometimes you'll go through these
always that are very pent and tiny, and you could almost touch the sides
of the walls with your hands,and you think, well, this is
(34:07):
sort of odd for such an accomplishedarchitect. But those halways spit you out
into these grand crescendos of rooms withyou know, cantilevered space is flooded with
light. And what he was doingis he knew it was the differential between
the dark pen space to the largelight space. So really what this compression
(34:27):
and he called it compression and release. And what this compression and release is
is it's telling our brain pay attention, because really all our brain notices is
newness. And so this moment ofcompression is allowing us then to be prepared
for the big moment of whatever itis that we're going to experience. And
so certainly, you know, presencepractices like like meditation sort of primes us
(34:53):
for that we see this. Youknow, places that are another built environment
that are experts at this are museums. Museums are really well trained and creating
these tiny spaces that then open up, and that sense of being compressed and
then releasing that differential is so powerfuland in that just even that moment of
(35:15):
going from darkness to light, fromyin to yang can be a wonder bringer
in and of itself. Mm hmm. Yes, And I love how you
described that. And then what Ireally found fascinating, this is the geek
in me that was paying attention tothis. You know, I literally am
not kidding you, Monica. Ihave thirty two pages of typewritten research notes
from your book. Wow. Partof the reason. That's how I read
(35:37):
your book, my friend, Iread your book. That's that's how I
part of the way I do myresearch with books that I write in the
talks that I give. So oneof the things that I that I captured
was this notion of expectation violation andI do love that, and that is
the that is the catalyst from theall researchers they say that is the catalyst
(36:00):
of what creates an awe moment isthat we go through our life, we
have patterns that we expect to complete. I mean, basically, that's how
our entire brain works is to bevery efficient. It connects A to B
as quickly as possible. If you'veread Daniel Kammons Thinking Fast and Slow,
he talks about it that you know, most of our brain is just very
(36:21):
fast, and so it's constantly justcompleting patterns. But when we have a
moment where a pattern we expect tocomplete doesn't, that's where we go oh,
and that's where the wow moment occurs. That's where we are forced to
take notice. Now, of course, if we're rushed, if we're busy,
then it takes a much bigger expectationviolation for us to notice. And
(36:45):
I you know, give some examplesin the book about that. But the
challenge is is we're always so busya lease, and when we are rushed,
when we're stressed, when we're notwell, either mentally well or physically
well, our brain wants to conserveenergy. And that means it's really going
to take those quickest neural pathways fromA to B and not look for anything
(37:07):
that's out of the ordinary, becauseit will force itself to stop and then
put more cognitive resources towards that thingthat it's seeing. And so that's why
the presence part of this, theabsorption, is so important, because it's
the slowing down and really being observantof your world so that you can notice
the patterns that aren't that do notcomplete. You can notice the expectation violation,
(37:30):
because if we're just too rushed,we'll just zip right past an opportunity
for wonder. That's so great,that was worth the price of admission right
there. Okay, So then theother thing that I want to distinguish for
our listeners and viewers that I reallyit really mattered to me. You would
distinguish the wow and the woe here, and I think this is really really
important to bring home. You've covereda little bit before, but I want
(37:52):
to bring it back again. Ilike how you write in your book.
You talk about let's see here,talk about how people feel that they experience
the presence of something so vast physicallyor cognitively that it changes the way we
see the world, which is thewow, like wow, that's so cool,
and thus our experience, our perspectiveis forever change. And that's whoa,
(38:15):
whoa, My mind has been blown. Yeah, And I really think
that's important because I know listeners ofviewers, every one of you has had
both a wow experience and a woeexperience. I love your point, Monica
that the more we talk about thisstuff, the more we share this stuff,
the more we elevate the communities thatwe're connected to. Yeah, and
(38:36):
I actually have a theory at leastthat I bounced off a couple of people,
Scott Barry Kaufman being one of them, that I believe and also Landi
Sciota, who's another amazing researcher,that I believe that PTSD might actually be
sort of awe interrupt us. Soit's people who have had the wow moment,
had something that is huge, youknow, obviously traumatic, but they're
(38:59):
not able to metabolize that. They'renot able to get to the woe.
They're not able to create new neuralpathways that can handle that information, and
so what ends up happening is they'restuck in that wow moment. And what
we know is that people who aremore prone, who are hire and openness
to experience, who are more pronetowards deep curiosity, they're actually more likely
(39:23):
to experience post traumatic growth as opposedto post traumatic stress. And so we
know that people who are more wonderprone are actually better able to handle trauma.
And so really that those two piecesthat wow and woe is a really
critical part to how we're able toachieve some of the resilience that we get
(39:44):
from the experience of wonder. Andthat's one of the reasons why I'm so
keen for people to appreciate this emotionalexperience, because I feel like in America,
certainly, we are obsessed with happiness. We are filled with happy chondriacs,
and it's hard to look in theworld and be happy. We have
wars, we just got out ofa pandemic, and I think that there's
(40:07):
it's very natural not to want tobe happy, and then we feel guilty
because we're not happy. But wonderwe can feel wonder even in the darkest
of times because it is a mixedemotion. Happiness is positively valanced. It
means we're always positive, but wondercan be duly valance. It's both positive
and negative at the same time,and as the positive and negative sort of
(40:30):
duel it out. You really seethat in Awe Awe as another duly valanced
emotion, as is curiosity, andthat battle between the two emotions of oh,
my goodness, I'm frightened by this, but it's amazing, and I
don't know my brain can't quite makesense of it. And in that moment
as your brain is tussling with it, if you are more wonder prone,
(40:52):
it uses that sort of conflict togrow as opposed to be stunted. So
yummy. So this is really importantbecause I'm a learning and development professional.
I care about ongoing learning and Iwant to make sure that our listeners and
viewers understand that they can cultivate theircapacity for wonder. One of the things
(41:13):
that you do beautifully in your book, Monica, there's only one thing that
you do beautifully, just kidding,one thing that you do in there.
If that's beautiful, as you talkabout, if you're not somebody that's on
the openness scale, you're not youcan actually cultivate that. So one of
the things that I want to makesure that we impart to our listeners and
viewers is that we cultivate a wonderpractice. This is something that we want
(41:34):
to incorporate in our everyday lives tobe able to improve our overall health and
our connectivity, our relationships and ourvitality everything. And I want to make
sure that our listeners hear that absolutely. And I think if there were three
ways that you could go away andstart building a wonder practice today. The
first would be what I call slowthought, and that is anything that slows
(41:54):
down your noggin, so meditation,narrative journal, a gratitude practice, prayer,
anything that really gets you out ofthe chattering monkey mind, something that
helps you develop attentional control. Numbertwo is novelty. Your brain notices newness,
(42:15):
so anything that you can do toexperience new ideas, new thinking,
new places that helps your brain bemore plastic and prone towards experiencing wonder And
then I think probably the last elementwould be very simple, a wonderwalk.
You know what makes a wonderwalk awonderwalk? You decide it is. And
this is really a great study injust priming. You tell yourself, I
(42:38):
am going to find something to feelwonder about on this walk, and then
you do. That's what the researchshows and going out, if you ways
to take a good wonder walk isto look for things that make you feel
small, so big oceans, mountainvistas. But if you can't go big,
then you look for things that aresmall, so things that details that
(42:58):
maybe you wouldn't have noticed other wise, and taking a new route. So
I think that those three things arereally powerful ways to just start developing a
wonder practice. Awesome, thank youMonica. Okay, now for the last
a bit here of this program,I want to focus on creating wonder based
cultures, and I want to readjust a little bit from your book here
that I just think is so socompelling. You're writing your book, you
(43:21):
say, I appreciate that. Goingto your boss and saying hey, I
want to I want more wonder atwork might not get you, might get
you a side eyed, you knowsort of look, but the truth is
work isn't working for many people.So what have you got to lose?
So let's talk a little bit abouthow we can create a wonder based culture.
Yeah. It's funny because when Itruly when I started to think about
(43:43):
writing a book, I was goingto write a book on change management,
which would have been really, reallyboring. But the reality is that I've
been working in workplace change for adecade. That's what my company, Hatch
does, and what I wanted peopleto learn. We were ways to create
a less toxic environment. Let's behonest, a lot of work environments are
(44:04):
terribly toxic. So the way thatwe can bring wonder at work. Really
it's the derivatives of wonder that createa better work environment. So things like
empathy, humility, ethics, presence, those are all elements we want and
business leaders and in team members,we know that people who are more wonder
prone have greater creativity and have thesesmall self qualities, right, so these
(44:29):
elements where we want to be helpfulto others. There's research that shows that
people who are more wonder prone CEOsand leaders, they lead stronger management teams
who are in turn more effective atcommunication. And there's a really fascinating piece
of research that shows that leaders whohave used psychedelics have it has a positive
(44:51):
impact on their behaviors, their creativity, their patients, their empathy. And
this is actually something that I'm exploringwith the Wonder Lab. All legal,
of course, but looking at theways that psychedelics can positively impact leadership because
it's being shown to be really powerfulin helping people addiction and depression. But
(45:14):
the reality is is we all haveto work, and less we're independently wealthy,
most of us have to work,and we spend more working time with
our colleagues than we do with anybodyelse. And so if we can make
work better and use wonder as amechanism to do that, then I think
that that is a net gain,and it will also make people less polarized
and just better, more tolerant humans. And so I just don't see how
(45:37):
that's not something that we would allwant more of in the workplace, no
question, sister, I'm right therewith you. We're rown in the same
boat. Yes, a lot morecultures that are based in awe and wonder
and you humility and appreciation. Andso one quick thing listeners and viewers that
you can simply do as a leaderis go on that you know, with
that watching piece there, watch foryour people. What are they doing?
(46:00):
It's magic and magnificent. Watch forit, and then tell them and and
celebrate that. That's just one ofthe many things you can do as a
leader to be able to start tolive and create this wonder sort of culture.
It's right there in front of anyoneelse. Elise as well, there
was a statistic that shocked me.Seventy two percent of American workers are afraid
(46:21):
to ask questions at work. Whathow are we supposed to innovate when they're
afraid to ask questions That curiosity element. If you're a leader, give your
people the space and the time tojust explore, to think, because if
you are if people are afraid toask questions, how in the world are
they supposed to come up with newideas? And so that to me was
(46:42):
a real mind opener and and Ithink that that's a great piece of advice
as well for leaders. M Yeah, culled me in a curiosity, you
know, and giving people that place. And so I was thinking about this.
You know, I speak Spanish andPortuguese pretty well. In Spanish,
the way that you say wonder ismet with that which really translates to I
ask myself yes, and it's it'sAnd what I think is interesting though about
(47:06):
your concept is it's so much morethan that, because you're not just asking
yourself, You're actually opening that questionup to everything. And that's what I
find so compelling is you know,you can ask yourself and that's one source,
but there's so much more available tobe able to answer and delight you
and and to stoke your curiosity.So, as you can tell, I'm
slightly a fan of your work,I will be spreading the word thank you
(47:29):
so much. Yes, I willbe writing a review, so we get
it. We're coming to the closeof the program here, Monic, and
you now know that the program isto pay by people around the world who
really care about either experiencing or helpingto create a workplace where people can grow
into their best realize their potential,that they're led by inspirational leaders that lead
them to their greatness, and thatin so doing they do business at better
(47:52):
in the world. What would youlike to look with I think I'd like
to leave them with just the my, my stead fast belief that if we
meet each other with openness, withgenuine curiosity, because what is the essence
of empathy but curiosity about the humancondition of other people. If we meet
(48:14):
each other with curiosity, with presence, that we will create uh will be
more tolerant, helpful people, andwill create a more tolerant, helpful world.
And that is the world that Iwould like to live in and help
usher in. Thank you, Monica. It is a delight to know you,
to read your book, to beinspired by you, to learn from
(48:35):
you, and to share you withmy listeners. Thank you for being on
working on purpose. Thank you somuch, Elise. It was fabulous,
terrific, listeners and viewers. Ifyou want to learn more about Monica Parker,
the work she does at Hatch,or the Wonder Lab, or her
book, The Power of Wonder,start by visiting her website. It's Monica
Dashparker dot com. So Monica mO N I c A Dash Parker p
A r K E RNA Dash Parkerdot com. Last week, if you
(49:00):
missed the live show, you canalways catch it via recorded podcast. We
were on the air with Michael Graeberof Epic Pivot, where we talked about
responsible innovation and the power of incorporatingcurious, empathetic human design principles into innovations.
Listening to that empo so will changethe way you want to innovate at
your company, being wholly inspired bythe power of purpose to guide those efforts.
(49:20):
Next week, we'll be on theair with margat Hawk, the author
of Tech for Good Imagine Solving theworld's greatest challenges. See you there,
and remember work is one of thebest adventures and means of realizing our potential
and making the impact we crave.So let's work on purpose. We hope
you've enjoyed this week's program. Besure to tune into Working on Purpose featuring
your host, doctor Elise Cortes,each week on W four C. Why
(49:45):
Together, We'll create a world wherebusiness operates conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion
performance and employees are fulfilled in workthat provides the meaning and purpose they crave.
See you there, Let's work onPurpose.
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