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Being Spherical - Reshaping Our Lives and Our World for the 21st Century
In October 2006 I did a
little research project, the results of which, I believe, will fascinate
you. I researched how many people that month had searched for the word
"whole" on one particular Internet search engine. I was stunned
by what I found.
That month there were only 215,000 searches on the word. Roughly 110,000
were for whole foods; 43,000 were for whole life insurance, followed
by 6,300 searches for song lyrics about a Whole New World. Miscellaneous
searches on the word represented an additional one half of one percent.
Nobody searched for the word as it relates to the whole of our lives,
the whole of our companies, or humanities relationship to our whole
planet, even though—thanks to the World Wide Web—people are
beginning to grasp that we live in an interconnected and interdependent
world.
By comparison, there are millions of regular hits on words like war,
money, sex and dating—as if there is so much more to learn about
these topics.
That little research project was sobering to me. Do you know why?
If I asked you how that you arrive at the most important decisions of
your life—regarding your education, career, the growth of your
business, your marriage, or politics—you would most likely tell
me that you look at the big picture; you consider the whole story.
The truth is: we have barely scratched the whole surface. When we do,
words such as "think whole," "speak whole," "see
whole and be whole," will permeate our vocabulary.
For the last four centuries mankind has been trained to peer at parts—parts
of an assembly line, departments of a business, parts of our
bodies and, yes, parts of our lives. We spend so much time analyzing
parts that we rarely step back and take a good hard look at the whole.
We think we do, but the reality is, we barely do.
No wonder people are anxious, fearful—unable to make complete sense
of things. No wonder it is time to take a good look at the whole, to
successfully navigate our way.
Circling the elephant
It was September 1994 that a business writer and I joined forces in
Los Angeles in an attempt to grasp the whole picture. At the time, I
was a speaker, author and management consultant, traveling frequently
to Europe, specializing in the integration of transformational technologies.
By then, I had experienced many different liefstyles and occupations
and I had discovered that the world didn't work the way we had been
taught. I sensed there was another way. I stumbled around it in the
trade journal articles that I wrote. I spoke about it at public venues
and on public television. I read everything I could find that might
provide greater insights, with few results. I rewrote my company marketing
materials to reflect my outside-the-box perspectives. I sent "white
papers" to organizations that I thought might benefit from my early
observations.
Then along came Rob Lindstrom, a business writer who had profiled one
of my technology projects in a book he authored, published by Business
Week. He took an interest in my unorthodox views of business and the
world—ideas in which, he too was interested.
Within four months we had written our first manuscript, but the message
proved incomplete. We wrote more outlines but they too fell short of
expectation.
Ours was a special pairing that reflected opposite perspectives of the
world—that of priveledge and education versus self-made man. It
fueled rich, often intense, discussions and research.
Meanwhile, my life changed with the times. I moved to Texas, then Colorado
flexing and adapting to the chaotic business environment.
The fall of 1999 I dropped out of
the corporate world entirely. I realized it was the only way that I
would ever complete this important book. I moved to a 70-year-old cabin
in the woods and Rob and I began the last leg of this journey by means
of a long-distance relationship—a journey that would take five
more years of research and great sacrifice to complete.
Being Spherical: Reshaping Our Lives and the World for the 21st
Century was published in 2004. This 183-page custom designed
paperback has 82 illustrations and 65 chapters—most of which are
two pages each, for easy reading.
The book offers a new vocabulary for seeing whole and being whole. It
uses a sphere as a conceptual, mythological way to help you understand
our current reality. It features sample sphere charts—visualization
tools that help transform the way you see your life or organization.
Being Spherical reveals new insights
regarding history dating back 400 years and the participants who changed
that history. It explains the origins
of our current worldview; why it has expired and why we must see the
world anew. It explores the dynamics of living at a time when it is
possible for society to experience a leaping together of people, ideas
and events—a time when quantum leaps of awareness are eclipsing
prevailing but limited belief systems.
Being Spherical explains how we are individually and collectively
shaping the future—a future no longer dominated by traditional
hierarchies and concentrated power centers. The book explains why in
this dawning era of interconnection and interdependency, we require
a dramatic transformation in the way we see, think and act.
If you change the way you see
your world, your world is bound to change.
Copyright 2007 Phil Lawson
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“This powerful book paints a sweeping
panorama of the evolving journey of humanity on its way toward wholeness
and authenticity."
—JoEllen Koerner, PhD, Author of "Mother, Heal My Self
"I can't say enough positive things
about this book: while not directly about business, it will truly
expand your thinking ... you'll be very surprised at the correlations
you begin to draw between life, business/ internationalism, and global
markets in our current economy. I have to rank this book up there
with Malcolm Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" in terms of
thought stimulation—and that's a big statement."
—Joshua Letourneau
Mg Director at LG & Associates Search / Talent Strategies
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