"NOW"—A VERY NEGLECTED RESOURCE

I read widely.  Those of you who have worked with me know I always had some book or concept to recommend. Sometimes you liked it and sometimes it drove you nuts. I haven't changed. Still I kept my interests mostly separate.  Business was business.  Art was art. Philosophy was philosophy. Literature was literature.
But, sometimes I didn't and that was usually the best discussion generator.

So, today I have been reading in Eastern philosophy and religion practices.
Yep, I have.  The emphasis usually circles around experiencing the "now" of life because everything else is "past or future", "regret or yearning".

Thinking of top C-level leadership, I wonder if you leverage "now" very much.
I didn't.  I learned from the past as we picked apart failed initiatives or reviewed what top talent had "done in the past".  And we certainly focused on the future.
What should our growth be, what is the strategy to get there, what skills will be needed?  We highly valued urgency which is simply rushing the future to get "here" sooner than it would naturally. Lots of "pushing the river."  

What if you managed to use the present (now) better?

What if you truly entered into every one on one conversation you had?
Would you pick up cues for possibilities for or unrest in your company?
Would you see talent more clearly?  What could you help to make right "now"?

What if you experienced the "here and now" of your customers?
What would you see and experience?  Neglect?  Artificial niceness?  Defeat with your product?  Generosity that builds loyalty?  What if you watched the customer experience for an hour—alone, no one to distract you with their own observations, no cell phone, just you watching customers in their "now".
What might come clear to you? How would  you make that "now" better?

What if  enhanced your every "now" moment in the company? Your morning entry to your office, the discussion in your staff meeting, your top talent
review, the visit of analysts could all shift to better results. You would be truly "present" giving what you have to give consciously and transforming the future with every good moment, letting the "now" do its work rather than only straining for the future and for different.  Step out of "more, better, faster" into the "now" in front of you and transform it. The rest will follow.  There is power in the "now" moments especially for leaders at the top.