Weekly: Higher Purpose, Orca Protocol & Whale Wisdom

In last week's review, we discussed Network States, Helium & Psychedelics. This week, we'll look at lessons learned in aligning "higher purposes," translating that practically into organizational change, and how perceived failures can turn into "spiritual" experiences that influence us at work.

Before we get started, here’s a review of my last week:

Week in review

Last week’s premium newsletters:

• Day 61 stats 👉 new formatting

• What do you do?

• Pope Francis apologizes for committed against indigenous Canadians

• Why UTXO matters for future communities

• Microsoft vs Zuck's Metaverse

Interesting shares from work:

• How Notion pulled itself back from the brink of failure

• Evolutionary Organizations

• How to create a community strategy

• Rethinking digital identity as a defense against surveillance capitalism

• Understanding orca [whale] culture

Aligning "Higher Purpose"

What do you think of when someone uses the words "higher purpose?" Do you think of something religious, spiritual, or something more practical?

I think of it simply as something greater than yourself. A reason for getting up every morning or through difficult times. Whether you're seeking a higher purpose individually or for your team/company/community, pursuing such a purpose is driving many today instead of [what used to be] religion.

In a simplistic take on indigenous cultures, purpose often came in serving the collective or protecting Mother Nature herself. This is why you see common threads of "stewardship" or "deep reverence" amongst indigenous cultures globally, no matter their location.

This enabled a "higher purpose" that contrasts the sometimes extreme individualism of Western culture. The fact that there is even a profession such as "community manager" is evidence of this extreme swing.

Finding one’s “higher purpose” requires going deep. It requires getting vulnerable - either with oneself or others (in the case of teams/companies/communities).

Organizational Change

Over the last week, I was tasked with leading a mission/vision workshop for a client after just one month in. The workshop was needed to get everyone aligned, as the organization had legacy issues that needed adjusting.

But it reminded me just how important it is to get vulnerable.

When an organization unintentionally morphs into a culture of silos or extreme individualism, mistrust comes from a lack of connection, trust, and awareness. This led me to discover an article from Orca Protocol called Evolutionary Organizations, which led me to learn about orca whale social organization.

But I'll talk about this whale connection later on.

If we look at the macro state of traditional banks, a lack of trust (from multiple angles) has led to a desire for more collaboration and information sharing.

With increased cooperation between banks, Open Banking has become a new field of study. One that's very relevant to blockchain development. Of course, there are always caveats to opening up, but it’s an example of how we inevitably snap back to the opposite side when we go to the extreme of one end.

Once upon a time, banks were very closed ecosystems. Especially when it came to data. But now, with Open Banking and improved regulations on Sharing of Secret Information, banks have essentially had to get “vulnerable” to improve customer experience and efficiency between banks.

The same type of dynamics occurs for teams, companies, and communities. If you want to improve trust - open up, get vulnerable, and have the courage to get messy to find alignment/purpose.

This “messiness” is life itself. And sometimes - as I often talk about with the “it will come” philosophy - the only time you can gain clarity is by simply taking action, then being patient and persistent with the results.

From What & Why to Who

What was interesting to observe with my client was how they started looking at their what and why, but the question of who gave more insight into what the what and why may be.

I called this finding your brand archetype. Interestingly enough, a combination of the Caregiver + Sage archetypes resulted, which I did not expect.

The question of “who” is an interesting one. When building Honā, I came across the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. There, I discovered the question: “who do you want to become?” It is often the one that drives our goals, what’s or how’s.

When you define who you want to become — if you’re unsure of the answers to why/what/how/etc. yet — well, this makes answering the rest a lot easier.

💡 Take a few minutes to try it out yourself. Visualize a picture of who you want to become, and see if it answers questions in other areas of your life.

Wisdom of the Whale

Recently, I had a dream about riding a giant whale (here's that whale connection).

I was tasked to lead a group to some destination. The group that went before us traveled by land. But my group of 44 had a whale to guide us. It required that we all hold on tight as the whale submerged us for a bit to travel more quickly.

But I remember feeling safe and an extreme amount of trust in the process.

One member, however, seemed very worried and distrustful about everything. As a result, when we submerged, she lost consciousness and started floating to the surface. I told the whale to stop so we could return and get her, but then I woke up.

After researching the symbolism (check out my Dream Journaling templates here), I realized this connected to what I’ve been speaking about above regarding alignment, trust, and processes.

The last girl at the end did not trust the whale or the process. As a result, she ended up being disconnected and stopping everyone from moving faster together. But that in and of itself is part of the experience of learning to move together as one - leaving no one behind.

It’s a reminder of the complexities of keeping large groups together. Of getting everyone in alignment, earning trust, etc.

Disconnecting To Reconnect

There are many stories of “successful” people going down a similar path of disconnection, falling from grace to learn more profound lessons. Despite being outwardly successful, I know people who have sought out ayahuasca and other spiritual experiences to find their purposes again. The late Steve Jobs had such experiences.

In the 1970s, Jobs admitted to taking LSD and marijuana and stated that it was a critical factor in unlocking the creativity that enabled him to build the Apple empire.

Although I’ve spoken about psychedelics in previous issues, “failures” can sometimes serve as much-needed spiritual experiences without the need for psychedelics. Especially when it comes to finding our “higher purpose.” The story of Notion is another example of that.

The now billion-dollar “success story” almost wouldn’t have survived if it weren’t for nearing the brink of failure in its early years. And it’s the teetering of such edges often gives us the insights we need to discover our “higher” purposes.

Not everyone may come away from such experiences with something positive, but such experiences always offer us a choice - to use them as a lesson or as an excuse.

So what is your higher purpose? Do you think you know it yet? If not, who do you want to become in the process of figuring that out?

Until next week, remember: through patience & persistence, it will come.

George

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