Going into the weekend, here is a little snippet from my book “Return on Humanity: The unexpected benefits of being human-centric in life and business”.
Balloon animals and Guatemalan guerillas.
The stories that my professor of conflict resolution told us at university left an indelible mark on my soul.
When she was traveling in Guatemala in the early 90’s she was captured by the guerillas. The odds weren’t great.
But do you know how she managed to get free?
Balloon animals. In the back of the car, she started to make balloon animals.
The simple gesture created a different connection and started to develop relationships between her and the guards. Eventually, she was set free.
But was it the balloon animals on their own that liberated her from the hands of Guatemalan guerrillas?
No, it was that human connection and empathy that she had within her. And she acted on it.
When she told us this story, for the first time I understood the tremendous power of this type of connection, and a more human way of doing things as a driving force to make things happen.
By tapping into human values, she used her ability of empathy to win over the guards.
And this is how being human-centric can turn a conflict into a win-win situation.
Human-centric companies aren’t possible without human-centric leaders. And what we do best at TIE is unlock those human-centric competencies.
The power of human-centric experiential learning.
It’s time. Let’s do things differently! 💥 🌱✨
xPhilippa
