Ep. 162: James Petrossi - Organizational Consciousness (and Individual Wellness)

Contact James Petrossi:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamespetrossi/


PTNL Website https://www.ptnl.com/


"Know Your True Self" Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/know-your-true-self/id1575535864


Know Your True Self: The Formula to Raise Human
Consciousness Book
https://www.amazon.com/Know-Your-True-Self-Consciousness/dp/1734669144/ref=sr_1_2?crid=V853BCIL5IQB&keywords=know+your+true+self&qid=1636492862&sprefix=kbnow+your+true+self%2Caps%2C260&sr=8-2


FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Adam: (00:05)
Welcome back to Count Me In, IMA's podcast about all things
affecting the accounting and finance world. This is your host
Adam Larson, and I'm pleased to bring you episode 162 of our
series with featured guest, James Petrossi. James is the founder
of PTNL and a researcher on human connection. He joined my
co-host Mitch to talk about individual perspective, wellbeing and
employees feeling fulfilled. Burnout has been at the forefront of
everyone's mind following the demands of global work environment.
So James has set out to help leaders develop organizational
consciousness and recreate wellness for individual purpose. Keep
listening to hear more about these strategies as we head over to
the conversation now.
 
Mitch: (00:54)
So James, there's been a lot of talk about the workforce across
all industries in recent times. So, you know, from your
perspective, I'd like to kick things off today with asking you,
why are so many employees feeling unfulfilled and why are they
choosing to resign at this time?
 
James: (01:11)
Yeah, we're definitely facing a really challenging time and one
extremely unique to evolutionary history and one to really
embrace, accept and learn from. And I think there's three main
reasons that employees are feeling that unfulfillment right now.
The first is really the inability to cope with change. We've been
going through so many changes over the past couple years and
living in a state of uncertainty, especially as it relates to our
job. One when the pandemic first hits, we're in a state of
survival, anything to keep our job, then we're adapting to
technology, Zoom calls being out of the office, changing
landscapes, having kids at home, then all of a sudden there's a
bright light and it looks like we're going back to the office and
we're preparing ourselves for that. But our children aren't
necessarily prepared to go back to school. So we've been
navigating change in so many different aspects of our life and
our brains rely on habits and it's through habit formations and
repetitive actions that neuron chains develop in our brain. And
we start to do things unconsciously. If you remember the time
when you did commute to work, when you were either going there or
going home, you sort of got lost in the commute. You weren't
thinking about how to navigate to the office or the routine about
stopping to get your coffee. Those all become unconscious
behaviors. So as we continue to splinter those neuron chains and
try to develop new ones, it really makes us feel lonely,
disconnected, searching to find peace. So that's been a really
big challenge is just navigating change. Making people feel
unfulfilled and just comfortable in how they're navigating life
holistically. I think another one is especially with the
millennial generation and all generations, but specifically
millennials and the emerging centennials in the workplace. We
were coming out of the experience economy, really at the pinnacle
of the experience economy and inside the experience economy or
concerts, activations, all of these Instagram moments that we can
share with friends and all of a sudden we became so used to just
experiencing so many things on a moment to moment basis. And now
we're with ourselves, we're with our thoughts, we have to contend
with our emotions and our unconscious mind is not going to like
this. And it's gonna tell us, you deserve to have all these
things like you deserve to have life the way it was. I think it
was Helen Keller said something to the effect of like character
can't be developed in peace and quiet. It's through suffering
that the soul gets strengthened, that we learn, we grow and we
develop. So, you know, we can't get back time. We can only
embrace the present moment and helping employees connect with the
present moment. And the reality we face on a moment to moment,
day to day basis helps us cope with change, and also feel like
there's no getting back what we had. We can't quit our job and
earn time back. We can only address what's currently happening.
And then some of the onus of why employees are feeling
unfulfilled at work is really on the employers themselves.
Clearly identifying the purpose that you're creating in people's
life. Just because we might not feel like we're contributing to a
higher purpose on a day to day basis because not all work is
infused with meaning, but it's the small actions. The things that
we learn from the trying relationships that we have, the way we
connect with our teams, the problems that we solve, all of these
small moments in the workplace help us connect to a higher
purpose. And if an organization can share their purpose through
their vision, their values and making sure they're showing their
employees how we help serve humanity, cuz every business that's
out there is serving humanity. Whether they're providing
pleasure, whether they're providing food, whether they're
providing connection, we're all in the business of serving
humanity and employees need to know that and make sure that an
organization is living up to some type of core values. I think
definitely where that connection gets lost between employers and
employees is core values are sort of on the placard somewhere in
the office, but how do we now activate those core values? And
those values bring virtue into people's lives and help them feel
like they're connected to a purpose bigger than themselves. So
that purpose is really about creating a unified shared experience
that truly builds a culture around an organization. And one
employees can really, you know, glam onto and enjoy.
 
Mitch: (06:05)
So you touched on many things that I can personally relate to
over the last year and a half. You know, this is now we're
recording this end of calendar year 21. And a lot of the things
that you mentioned are certainly relatable having kids around
when you're trying to work on teams calls and even the idea of
commuting again, I think it's interesting because I know at least
I had a bit of a longer commute. It was almost an opportunity at
the end of the day to kind of stop your mind from working and
transition to home on your way. And you know, nowadays it's a bit
of a challenge cuz there isn't really that time to break. You
know, it's just one thing to the next you're living in it at all
times. I'm sure that's just one of the many. So I'm curious: you
mentioned a lot of reasons for unfulfillment, but I think, you
know, employees certainly still have an opportunity to feel
fulfilled, you know, and organizations have an opportunity to
really hone in on those core values. And I think a lot of
businesses, you know, if they didn't adapt right away, they
certainly have by now. So wh...