 I think the world needs a different slant, and I want to be part of that game, and that is a more human, a more, I'd say, collaborative and open and welcoming way of working together, and sort of acknowledging that body, mind, and spirit need to be formed together, particularly in the world of work. So that sort of made me then step out where I was, and for me to then create what today is called Soulworks, basically in the name itself, bringing together soul and works, and having that harmonize in a far more, I think, impactful way if we bring these worlds together. Today I have the wonderful pleasure to invite and have Anna Yulia von Winterfeldt on our show, Inside Ideas, brought to you by 1.5 Media and Innovators Magazine. Anna is a human leadership activist, purpose advocate, culture designer, and business hippie. Yulia worked for 20 years in Berlin, New York, New Delhi, and London for international digital marketing and technology companies. Publis Pixel Park, Publis Sapient Accenture, and most recently as MD for AKQA Germany. In 2015 and 16, she was selected among the top five of the most important agency managers in Germany, founded her own company and collective Soulworks in 2015. Since then, she has led more than two dozen progressive minded, small, medium businesses, as well as corporate and family businesses through her personally developed purpose quest and leadership reset formats. In doing so, she accompanies companies to grow in their great challenges and see purpose as a linchpin for establishing and embedding new ways of working. She also accompanies executives to radically rethink their role, look within and go beyond with her immersion programs, fearless soul, and being exponentially human, enabling them to powerfully grow themselves and their companies. She appears as a speaker and presenter in the context of new work, human leadership, cultural change, and purpose on various stages. Her purpose is to awaken leaders in radically rethinking who they truly are and her ambition, her why, her purpose is to set free the limitless potential of over one million people before she leaves this planet. Yulya, welcome to the show, and I hope you don't leave the planet for a long, long time and that it's well more than a million people that you've touched. Thank you for being on the show. Thank you so much. It's wonderful to hear this and to have it mirrored back to me. Yeah, it's wonderful actually to hear that story, I have to say. And you're absolutely right. I also hope not to leave this planet before more than one million people. Plenty more are touched, but it's always good to set a first goal. That's great. You touched my soul, and we met, I believe it was around 2014 is when we first met and it was at an M love event in a castle, beautiful castle setting, High League and Dom area had a fabulous time and we've kept a close relationship since then and I've really cherished it ever since, but you've also had numerous journey since then and the most recent one that I was fortunate enough to do was last year in Italy in a place called Eremito. You'll have to remind me how you use Lombardo. Is it close to Lombardo? It's in Umbria, in fact. Umbria, that's right. And a close to a monastery, a kind of a convent renovated into a hotel, a five-star designed hotel, and I had the most wonderful recharging experience with you there. That's one of your being exponentially human events that in workshops that you do, immersive experience really. And I so needed it last year, I did something like 200 plus events and it was all over and I was starting to wear down, I was starting to get tired and I did this digital detox, went to your event and oh my goodness, I was able to make it clear till now and even further and learn so many things. So I thank you so much and just to give our listeners a little bit of background of how we know each other and that we've had more than just Zoom interactions with each other. So since that time, because you have this pretty wonderful, beautiful journey up until now, I would like you to see if you could kind of update me where the journey has taken you, but how you started SoulWorks and what led you down that path and kind of give us an update to present and then I don't want to ask you a different question about how that has helped prepare you for this difficult time for the pandemic. Yeah, perfect. No. So let me, first of all, thank you, Mark. I'll speak back up to where we then left each other in last year in Umbria. But yeah, what did actually want me to then take charge of creating my own environment and with that creating SoulWorks. You already nicely spoke about my being in digital environments. I was in my last role really very thankful, very grateful for what I was able to do to really enable large corporations to take on the digital world and to help them in creating digital products and services. And it was that time where I then realized for myself can it just be that we are fully focused on digital and not thinking about the human side. And that began to sort of get me thinking, am I purely on this digital course and not really thinking about the human side? Do I want that? And then I equally started to think about my own leadership being running that business and seeing sort of my possible career steps. The next thing that would need to happen would be for me to really perform on a numbers game and then I would be able to promote or be promoted to the next level. And I started to question that model as well. Like, is that really what leadership is about to excel myself on a numbers game and then reach the next level? And that really then aside to, I have to admit all of the pressures and the responsibilities that I was taking on, I wasn't feeling comfortable anymore in my body and said, no, I think the world needs a different slant and I want to be part of that game. And that is a more human, a more I'd say collaborative and open and welcoming way of working together and sort of acknowledging that body, mind and spirit need to be formed together, particularly in the world of work. So that sort of made me then step out of where I was and for me to then create what today is called soulworks basically in the name itself, bringing together soul and works and having that harmonize in a far more, I think impactful way if we bring these worlds together. So yes, this is what I've been doing for five years and I'm gonna come back to where you kind of spoke about our being together in Umbria. For me, it's just, it's really a gift. It's a gift to be able to spend my time and spend my energy in enabling through providing space through providing different forms of getting to know oneself but also being in interaction with others and co-creating together. It's a gift to enable leaders or enable individuals to have that contact of being who they truly want to be. Did you get a lot of feedback from that event that others saw it as their form of reset, their form of disconnection from digital detox and a way to not only tank up their bucket, their soul to continue to go on but also to find that purpose, whether it was new or not or whether it was just ingrained that they discovered their purpose within themselves to move forward in a different light. Have you heard any positive stories or anything that you could share with us? Yeah, absolutely. For me, it's sometimes a little bit unfortunate when I'm hearing that individuals join these retreats that we conduct because they are sort of at a low point. Either they're just exhausted or individuals are not seeing any orientation for themselves anymore or they are in need of being clear as to where their path needs to continue. So it always seems as though there's a certain low point that they've reached and therefore come and absolutely the stories or what's provided to me is positive reinforcement for myself that this is the right thing at the right time is that one story I am now able to really acknowledge what my company can bring into the world and how I am part of this. This is an individual who took over the business from his father and at first didn't really want to have this role was unclear where to take this company. Unfortunately, it was due to a crisis in his family that he then had to take on this role and really came out a bit stronger knowing that this is exactly where he needs to be right now and had clarity in how his company needs to unfold in order to not only make it a wonderful place to be for everyone involved but also how this company can be of impact in the outer world, let's say. So it definitely gives me this knowing that the world needs more of this. Again, coming back to the point, it's a shame that we all do seem to have to have a certain low point in order to feel accelerated to go on such trips. Sometimes we need that reset or that very low point or depression or whatever it may be. It's something very impactful that's usually in a negative way, environmental reasons or emotional or something that hits us pretty hard and it shakes us. And if we can find the right tools, the right people, the right formats to pull us through that, to see the hope, to see the purpose to discover that even though it was his family business and he inherited that he could make it his own and find purpose within and make it something beautiful and wonderful that he would enjoy doing every day instead of feeling, oh, I was just born into this situation and now I'm stuck with this burden that there's other ways to look at things. So that's a really beautiful, beautiful story. I hope it's okay to mention I was able to speak to you guys for a couple of hours about being exponentially human in regards to climate change and how we see ourselves as an integral part of Homo symbios within our planet and with each other that, you know, we might, this sound could sound very technical or very out there, but our world is growing exponentially all around us and the things that we've dealt with in the past that deal with the exponential function is usually technology or some form of innovation that we've seen. But there's a way to use that for our benefit, not only the exponential function, but we as human beings as Homo sapiens are actually from our birth growing exponentially. We're changing and evolving and every day the cells, our skin, our largest organ on our body, our skin, our epidermis loses cells and regenerates cells in our body in the millions, hundreds of millions each and every single day and die in that regenerative process, but we're evolving exponentially and if we can reconnect with that core and understand how to kind of live in harmony and to use that for a benefit, boy, things not only speed up, so to say, but the path and the plan, the journey is so much nicer. And that's right. Yeah, even though we had that discussion and it was beautiful, I learned so much and had some wonderful takeaways that really tanked and charged up my soul. That brings me to this question because you've had several journeys and adventures and just life moments throughout your time that I would think and I don't know and that's why I'm asking you, had well prepared you for this pandemic, this pause, this reset. I see that you're not living in a prison or a human zoo that you've, or your human zoo is designed very comfortably, so I'm sure you didn't get cabin fever or go stir crazy, but how has all your life to this point prepared you maybe resiliently, sustainably one way or the other to weather this period and give us an insight or look to what's that's been like in the aha or learning moments. He says, I'm so glad I went through this then, so it's making now a lot easier. Things like that would be wonderful to hear. Yeah, absolutely. You would think, right, that with all of the inner work that I've applied to my own self, that I would be prepared for this kind of situation and that the pandemic would be easy for me to face. And yeah, I mean, even the thought that you just shared, I cannot, you know, I cannot complain. I have a beautiful home and a space where I can really move in appropriately. And yet still I have to admit that this whole crisis certainly affected me emotionally. At first I went into a modus of activism. I really sort of went into, okay, how can I apply myself and provide myself to others? Meaning first of all my clients, but also people that may need some kind of service from me. So I went in this complete activism, which had me do online soul talks and online energizers to also just reach out and be visible on the one side, but also have this ability to connect with others. And then sort of in recollection going back, I think it was like in week three where I then just basically emotionally crashed. And I think, you know, this notion of activism didn't allow me not to face what was happening. Whereas then I think week three I then realized, wow, what are we actually experiencing here? And how is it really affecting me? So I then really as of week three started to think about knowing that this isn't going to be over quite soon, how is it really affecting me? And what am I really feeling in this? How am I attaching myself to all that's going on? So I am, yeah, emotionally crashed in that I really felt the pain of this world and the pain of not being in social contact with others. Obviously then being here at home starting to think about, OK, well, how are you now going to deal with this, Julia? What are you going to do at home? Work is one thing. Thankfully I have my partner here at home so I wasn't completely isolated. But even this interaction with my partner and how do we want to now live in our own zoo, as you said. And I really did learn that I needed a routine. I felt as though I already had a routine prior but obviously it wasn't in my own four walls. So having a routine of getting up and taking that time to meditate, to do body work and to use very strict sort of one hour is me time. To just be able to balance this feeling that I was having in the outside world and the pain that I thought to feel within me. And that gave me some security or stability, let's say. But then also how can I construct my day so that I'm not just simply let's say providing myself what I'm taking. So what is it that I can do to learn more? What is it that I can do to develop my own self in this kind of constriction or in a way isolation that I was experiencing? So I started to from different channels, whether that's YouTube or looking at different online classes to then recognize, okay, I can provide myself with the energy of knowing. And I think I shifted from just providing into also intaking. And then also what happened finally was then I just couldn't stare into the camera anymore. Then I started to realize, okay, I'm now taking in so much. It's wonderful. I'm learning. I'm not thinking about myself on that way, but I was then just looking into the camera the whole time. So sometimes being the one that's providing, but then also taking in, which led me, I think to, I think six weeks in now, then thinking, okay, this isn't happening either. I need to have real downtime and construct my day, not only with the one hour at the beginning, but also to provide my day with connection with other people. And so I think that I've learned a lot from my experiences or dinners and being very much more also on the phone and not through cameras with relatives and friends and having that time of really real connection that obviously wasn't in physical or in social contact. So what I've learned out of this is of course through camera or through these video formats, we do have connection, but also to have connection with myself and with the immediate, in this case with my partner, rituals of connection, lunches, dinners, how to how to cook something again with pleasure, with time, with sincerity of just being there and not because now I've come home, now I have dinner. And I've really begun to appreciate that kind of being with one another and recognizing how I wasn't really appreciating that in that way, meaning appreciating connection with one another and knowing that this is actually the most important thing we have in life and equally sort of coming back to your talk even in Umbria recognizing that we're connected with everything and as you said, you know, we're in constant and exponentially we're in change but if we recognize that and recognize the other then I think we're able to maneuver through that, we're able to manage through that because we're in connection and whatever comes at us we can deal with because we know we're part of it and that makes sense but yeah it makes perfect sense. You used a couple of words there that I want to maybe go deeper into you so you use discipline a discipline routine a schedule and then rigid almost a rigid type of a schedule you know something that's consistent that you can plan on that you can count on. A lot of people see those as a scary limiting prison type of words discipline is something you do in the army or if you're a policeman or you know certain professions what I've learned and I'm sure you've learned this as well and I just want our listeners not to get fearful of those words or to see them in the right light it's actually when you have discipline it's freedom discipline and that routine that rigidity in some respects you think okay boy that's limiting a prison or this you know this nine to five it's actually freedom because it gives you the freedom to have more time in other parts of that 24 hour day it gives you more freedom and the health and well-being your personal resilience so that when times like this come you can bounce back quicker you can know how to deal with those and handle those so I wanted to go into that and then I wanted to ask you so now you've kind of realized that the importance of cherishing the moments of cooking and spending time with your partner and to doing all these things did you also realize by chance or have any thoughts or feelings around that a lot of the time that we give towards what we call work or away from the home or doing earning our daily bread that it could be done in a much shorter work week a much shorter time it could also be very disciplined that maybe instead of 40 hour work week that we could do the same amount of work maybe in 20 hours and then shift that other 20 hours into something that's personal development into personal lives and things and have that nice work life balance that harmony that so works tries to help leaders with I know a lot of big organizations they're realizing wow we've had these huge expensive office space and actually they aren't needed at all and waste of time and waste of meetings we've accomplished the same amount of work and you know without that building and our employees are happier with their family some aren't but there's that change have you had any ahas or any learnings from there you could share with us yeah absolutely absolutely so I first of all I'll stay with myself and then and then go into the work and thoughts from my clients as well so yeah absolutely I think having this sort of day set up is as you said it does provide freedom it also has given me this sense of presence knowing that I have this now and then in the next moment this is what I'm doing so I'm far more present with when I when I know that there's a certain timetable that I'm going through and I don't mean by that calendar and the calendar of events but just there's a certain set of routines that are in my day that I'm not going to not going to miss anymore personal rhythm of life so that's right circadian rhythm I think there's also each individual house some kind of a rhythm where we function at our best potential our flow absolutely absolutely I know that one of my personal development areas is to not be so engulfed in my work and so I'm still working on the how can I reduce my time from 40 to 20 hours if at all and you know if I just take those hours but I do see an absolute opportunity both myself but also others that we don't need to work as much as we work and we provide work always seems so hard and when we take the term work it feels like I have to work you know what that's that's that's hard work and in fact when it's in a flowing sort of format and it is embedded in routine I do believe that we can reduce the amount of time that we think we need to add to work what I have experienced in the online world is and now coming to you know buildings and do we even need buildings where people gather to do work together I've certainly I certainly experienced in this time that having sessions online is far more effective we seem to have a clear agenda and we go through this and we come out with the results that we were looking for at the beginning and with the with the downside at least that I'm experiencing from my clients and organizations that then say it's we've become very calendar and we don't give ourselves enough space in between so it seems to be very effective but we're also draining ourselves because we're not providing that upfront social interaction or we're not really caring for what the other is either feeling today or is how that person is in this has arrived in this meeting and so transitioning this very effective way of working because now we only have that one hour slot to actually giving ourselves still space and time to connect with one another and to acknowledge each other in where they're at at the moment or how they're feeling so this has been a shift that I'm seeing in my clients and how we're also interacting with our clients now to the buildings that certainly is a conversation that I'm hearing around again our work and thinking how does purpose really tie into the measures of how we convene and how we meet and do we need space physical space to enable our purpose to come to fruition and I my opinion there is as with many things an easy answer but is a hybrid of both I don't see the building disappear but I do see the way how we will utilize our building space or physical space will shift and that we don't need to have desks or open spaces for people to come together and simply do their own work I think there will be flexibility in that but more so I would hope for our spaces to in a way become the baristas social gatherings where ideas can be played upon each other and extended where we can create things together as well as just have share time together but do we need to be in the office to simply do our work no and for some it may still want to be that but I think predominantly most of us will start to realize that we can work at any time we can work from any place and we will still be connected assuming we give each other that time of presence and willingness to hear each other out on an emotional level as well as on a doing level as well obviously we have a mutual friend Tim Lieberecht who wrote the Business Romantic and there's a Romantic Society I believe and you're involved in that as well and also I think it was 2016 you did this humans of new work project or initiative which I was lucky enough to take in so you and I have been not only do we have friends that are very tech savvy or in the digital space or thinking about the future of work we've been thinking about this a long time and hopefully we've been applying our thoughts and our ideas into practice and implementing them for ourselves so that this transition to be within our four walls to a different environment to work hasn't been that detrimental of a transition but we truly need to continue to think about what's the future of work how does that look like not only how many hours but what kind of tools we use one thing that's so vital is we are social beings we need each other whether we hate all our colleagues at work or not we still need to form a social interaction with our clients and our colleagues to some degree to to have that feedback that learning the training whatever it may be to grow but doesn't need to be 40 hours I totally doubt it so so there's some interesting things we've been thinking about for a long time I really not only want the rest of the world to truly make this digital transformation into the future of digital transformation into the future of digital transformation into the future of digital transformation into the future of digital technologies of how we can work and get better efficiencies and better performance of our time management and also these wasted things that we do that are so unnecessary could be resolved through a template or through some form of automation or digitization that is really not always becoming or worthy so I think we've thought about that and there is that transition we're seeing some of that come about and and that is perfect for our leading into the next question so in your your biography and you know you've worked in New Delhi London and and Germany and all over has that and your your family life and that in any way made you a global citizen or given you this feeling of different languages and different citizen citizenry and how would it feel for you to live in a future without borders, nations, walls, limitations holding humanity back from from being socially together as a symbiotic earth what share your thoughts or your feelings your ideas on this with me yeah so you know I I actually don't know if you know this but I was born in Pakistan and and then moved to London or to England rather at the age of three so I cannot say that I really experienced Pakistan but I but I do feel as though that made some kind of imprint on my myself and and then as you said you know work wise I've had the chance to work in different spaces and different places in different countries and I've I think I've always had this mindset of we're all one sort of species I've never believed to have made any difference wherever I've been the individuals that I meet the same as I irrespective of colour or of where each of us have come from so for me it's natural to see that we are globally different and not in any way diminishing each other through status or through origin and I what I do and I think this has to do with my own personal history and by that I mean my ancestors what I do find in my own self is that it's important for me to understand my own history and where I've come from and maybe even back down values back to 12th century and somehow I feel ingrained in some way through that but that doesn't make me in any way different or in any way special to any other human being but I do see for me it's so important to know that history where my family comes from and that's just data for me in parts is part of my whole beingness but I would love to see a world that is more peaceful with one another and as you rightly said we're just beginning with our own bodies and each self and how we're continuously transforming our self and I think we need to see the full planet so interconnected with one another and with that our own species and anything that we provide into this planet will have ripple effects into other places on this planet so let's all treat it as cliche as it may sound but let's treat it as one and there is there is no reason except for our ego to start to differentiate that and if we want our ego to push that forward then then we'll start to see more harm than more peace in this world. Thank you. Do you believe that that could be a future that we could realize by 2030-2050 one without nations borders and divisions I'm not saying the removal of cultures I'm not saying the removal of governing nations so to say I'm just saying one where we are global citizens we can go everywhere we can help everyone and that we're unified and that's the homo sapiens the homo symbiosis symbiotic earth I am I would hope so and and yet I think there is a it's a big aspiration to have but my hope is definitely there the pandemic I believe has given us an opportunity to see it that way and that we are all you know we are all affected by this pandemic and we therefore should be stepping into this notion of supporting and including each other in solutions I also see that there is still a large sense of ego and I don't want to diminish the ego per se we can have that conversation in a moment but we still have a good sense of ego and that means that we're predominantly then driven by what's in it for me and not necessarily how can we provide for each other so again it's a large aspiration I would want to provide my contribution to it however it does mean and now we come back to my mission and it does mean that we first of all should put light or shed light on our own selves and see well where is my mental state in and is what kind of hygiene can I provide for myself I can openly and willingly provide myself to others and not just think about it as what's in it for me now again it's 2030 huge aspiration 2050 I really do hope that we could get into that direction and I want to keep up my sense of opportunity and hope but yeah there's enough dynamics to tackle in order to get to that goal do you believe that there is a roadmap or plan out there a global roadmap or plan that is out there whether it's you know to 2030 to 2050 or it's even in the next five years there's a few out there we might have heard of the new green deal and the EU and Germany and the sustainable development goals as you know but for you personally do you believe that there's a plan and roadmap that is for everyone on this planet or that you're hopeful towards or working towards so for me personally again the yeah the plan that I that I am working towards is really to allow individuals and individuals within a collective i.e. an organization to be and live who they truly are and the reason why that is my plan is because I believe that if we achieve or gain that sense of knowing and therefore being and living who we are then we'll recognize that we're part of a larger whole and there is nothing for my own self to gain there's only something to gain as a human species as a group, as a collective and philosophically we could even think it further and say well actually even in that there's nothing to gain it could simply be let's have let's ensure that our lives are full of joy and that we're really living our lives and leaving this planet again a little bit cliche said but leaving this planet a little bit better than how we found it when we came to this planet that's the only I think but again it's more on a philosophical level of course we have plenty to be doing in this world but at the highest level for me it's like really we're here to enjoy but to know that our enjoyment is there to leave this planet a little bit better than how we arrived here and in order to get there I think and this again is my plan is to bring people back to that space of knowing who they are and how they can live their lives that feels purposeful to them but obviously is of purpose to others and is providing whatever it is that this individual or that this group of individuals wants to bring into the world an Umbriel at Eremito that was a Benedictine monastery with a strong every morning there was a form of scripture reading and meditation so to say based really around this Catholic type of Pope Francis direction which is fine but what the reason I bring it up is because when he found that location it was basically in ruins and he left the place better than he found it because he rebuilt up what others had let go to ruins or left behind and restored it and turned it into a beautiful place keeping the history and the ideas of the original creators to some respect but also going well above and beyond and creating something leaving it better than he found it not only as a place to live but as a place to be able to connect with nature and solar panels and renewable energy and battery backup and it's a beautiful place to connect with nature and hardwoods and natural stones and be out close to streams and all sorts of beauty but it's a place to do a reset and a transition and doing things renewable way that when we got right down into one of the mornings after the readings of the scriptures I said you know Pope Francis wrote beautiful and cyclical about our earth and how we can protect our earth and leave it better than we found it around our earth and I said it might be well versed to read that as well because that's already in the mindset and the direction and the progress it's a real time and cyclical wisdom from the latest Pope moving forward and so I liked that connection because there are human beings on this planet that do everything they can to make the world better than before that think about sustainable innovations and methods and tools to not only reconnect human beings to nature but also to do things in a slightly different way without ways thinking about human health and our environment to improve that that leads into the biggest planet better than we found it and that is the global moon shot the United Nations sustainable development goals and it is the world's first global historical precedence and plan for our earth to get us to 2030 if we embrace it if we do it and it is a system I also spoke about this what we're seeing during this pause and this reset is that those who have applied it those who have put it into their business models into their lives they're realizing just like a form of meditation just like an action of moving towards a better system to leave our planet better than we found it it's also a guide in the roadmap to get us there and so in this symbiotic earth this connection we have to nature and our planet leaving in a better place what a for me a corporation an organization a small medium businesses it is an organism it is the much the sum of all its parts working together holistically in harmony it is not only an organism it is an organization and it is what can help us exponentially as well going back to that to reach that and what would seem like this decade of action that is really difficult to do and I know you know in some respects this evangelist or preacher in some respects for the sustainable development of our planet I believe that if we apply them we'll also see these principles these things that you're talking about in soul works and in your workshops that they're really intertwined and connected and the thing I said in one of my last podcast with my guest was that I realized that it was a historical precedence that so many countries came together and agreed on a road map and plan for us but we didn't understand that they were for us they weren't for countries for cities for they were for us as individuals to make our life better and to get back into living within our planetary boundaries and so you know go ahead and make the world it's going to be so miserable if we reach them because our world is going to be so great and have an infrastructure and equality and many things will just disappear when we think that way but by doing nothing at all or thinking well we're still waiting for the plan or we're still doing that I think just like religion just like many other things that we might not have known before will be really surprised by the results I don't want to go off too much of a tangent but that I definitely believe there is a plan for I do have a question for you since yeah I always love the passion that you have obviously for the topic of the SDGs but also in general to really bring our awareness out and my question to you would be do you see different cultures maybe reducing it to countries who are seeing it as a guide and who are then internalizing it and then in organizations bringing it to fruition and then other cultures that are seeing it more like here's what you have to do and therefore they don't adopt and therefore they're not yeah not taking this amazing opportunity into their hands yeah is there a sort of mentality or mindset that you could pinpoint and say well you know if there's a mindset of security or results driven then that makes it harder for the SDGs to be incorporated as a guiding point so in a lot of respects I do have the answer for you in a lot of respects the SDGs were presented to us wrong but they are also created kind of more for the developed world the western world a lot of the language in those developing countries the SDGs weren't translated right away and or maybe not understood and those who are suffering from poverty and hunger and inequality and suffering from conflict or a refugee are definitely not thinking about the SDGs in their path they're thinking about where their next meal is going to come from they're going to have a dry place to sleep they're going to have health and security and many other things that they've just lost their home whatever the situation may be and so it's really for us to help and provide a governance and a restructure for our world so that there is no inequality so that everyone has access to clean drinking water and food and it does not go without hunger we change our models and one big not misnomer but misunderstanding with the sustainable development goals is that it is a global plan and in order to reach it it has to be almost a global reset or a global new operating system so global economies need to change global food systems need to change we need to be in structures need to change doesn't mean we have to get rid of nations and borders and those restrictions it just means that as humanity we unify ourselves on this global operating system that we will let no other human being suffer or feel unequal or less lesser of a person and not give them the universal basic entitlements that everyone should have and what some government cities or peoples don't understand is that it is not just a tweak on business as usual it is a completely no global system that's the first thing secondly what I've seen specifically into your question is that I've dealt with indigenous people all over the world and I've been lucky enough to Thailand and the Philippines and Chad and Ethiopia and Uganda and many other places in Africa and Morocco and also in Middle Eastern countries where there's all different levels of social status and development and non-development in South America and different places of the world where there's indigenous peoples that have no clue that there's such a thing a plan or the SDGs and in some respects some of them are relying on their leadership of their country leader their community leader or their tribe or tribal leader and for each of them the sustainable goals are different the way that we speak about them is also a lot different because we don't say you need to do number one and number two SDG and number three no poverty, zero hunger, quality education and you know we talk about MSA we'd like to show you a different way of doing things that are more friendly but it will also benefit you with basic and able rights and infrastructure so that you can have energy so that you can cook so that you can have a reading light at night to get educated that you can you know whatever the situation is in that specific area and you know in the past few weeks during the pandemic Senator Alvarez from the Philippines passed away and it's uncertain whether it was because of his age and the pandemic because of COVID-19 but he was in the hospital for a long time and then did pass away but he was one of the best advocates and has done numerous things for the people of the Philippines but he and I and many others worked on a program called the SDG Soap Opera so I want to give you a little insight into the culture of the Philippine people so people don't even have a house they don't have a bed to lay in but all of them go to these corner markets or these corner places where TVs on these old TVs maybe even black and white and they can watch these soap operas and in the soap operas in the Philippines they sing songs and they make it fun and they dance and that's a big thing around the culture of the Philippines and they created the SDG Soap Opera so that to educate people in a normal way with songs and culture to teach them about different things with the SDGs but they didn't go specific into the numbers but it was the same message behind the SDGs in their local language because it's very specific to how they live and believe it or not in Thailand as well they have you know it's the world's kitchen and they do a lot with food and it's just a beautiful place but they have done a lot of sustainability and they're king Ram the ninth not the current king but the one before did this sufficiency economy type of a model and it's very closely tied to the sustainable development goals which need to be tied into you know how we can present that to them so the UN it was up to them not only to meet the standards and to implement them in their infrastructures but also to disseminate the knowledge and the wisdom on how to apply them to our lives and it's different for indigenous and locals and people all over the world but what I can tell you is that those who do get it and who do implement this it's a very important system for your life it envelopes religion and beliefs and discipline that we talked about and regimen of doing things and you realize that not only do you create a different human zoo but you create a different lifestyle for yourself and when people hear the word sustainable or an even sustainable development for future generations that you'll have health that you'll have food that you'll have energy for future generations that you'll be around be able to do it in 10 years and in 20 years and that it's just a better operating system for life and it's and once we reach the sustainable development goals that it's a solid infrastructure to springboard off of will it solve all our problems is it the silver bullet beyond the limits to growth and whatever happens today we usually don't see the climate or environmental effects for another 10 years same to go for those who live 10 years ago or 20 years ago we're still seeing the effects of the pollution and destruction that they did then and that's why what you said with it's important to leave this planet better than we found it a lot of companies a lot of organizations they're doing their business annual reports and their business models what they say is we're reducing our carbon emissions by 60 or 70% this year by 2024 2022 we're going to go plastic free they're telling us what they're going to do in the future or what percentage they've done now but what they're telling us is nothing what they're telling us they're still doing harm that are affecting our environment they're just doing it a lot less and eventually they're going to stop the problem is is even if the entire world were to stop today it doesn't leave our planet better than we found it it's only stopped to continue but our planet has pollution plastic and is continuing to warm so we need to as organizations as human beings truly apply this golden rule treat people from planet how we want to be treated but leave it just like you said better than we found it and go in the positive direction of cleaning that up and keeping it in a circular economy because if you look at our world from outer space there is no throw away what what people are realizing is that's a better operating system because in keeping things in a closed circular economy there's always resources always business there's tons of things just in that digital or automotive transition of all the cars and materials and metals and things that need to be transitioned over to a renewable type of vehicle we can't do like we did when the Berlin wall came just drive our trabies to the border and leave them for someone else to clean up we have to figure out ways to repurpose that those metals those parts those things in all aspects of our world there'll be plenty of jobs and plenty of resources we just have to think differently about them and I'm sorry to go on but I'm sure you've got some ideas and back for me on well no yeah absolutely I mean thank you thank you this number of responses that I have one is going into the organizations that I'm working with and just seeing that that shift and I'll come to that in a moment but I just wanted to make the comment as you said you know when you zoom out and you look at the planet you know where where is it meant to go it's all it's all in you know it's all there and we have to see it as circular and that it's yeah we can't throw anything away where is it meant to go but the same is this the comment I wanted to make the same is just for our own system our own body-mind system and you know we've we feel as though we can just gurgitate bad words out of our mouths right but it will come back in the system our own body system will will hold on to this kind of behavior and will and we'll see some kind of reaction in our own body through this you know going as far as illness because we're feeding our brain with so much ill words that it will manifest in some format it can't just go out and never be you know never come back again it's it's all part of the system so for me it we need to start with our own mental health in order to then know that I'm taking care of my own self which will then generate well-being for others and will then generate well-being from any generations to come so I just want to make that point that to see it also that we're our own little planet as in this body that I've been given and this body will you know can only digest so much it will it will hold on to anything that doesn't seem right and you'll experience it in some form and it is later stage if you don't deal with it but yeah moving it into organizations and into sort of my my experience my positive experience and particularly speaking we spoke a little bit before we kick started today and that I was first time again had yesterday physical and or rather workshop in a space in a physical space and where we gather together obviously with all of the corona necessities taking that into account but what was just really beautiful for me to experience was again how this pandemic has you know started to shift people's the right questions are being asked and that there is a consciousness there now or language openness for this type of language to appear in a work setting which I was like ah you know as as terrible as the situation has been for many of us globally and how we've all had our own experience in the thicket of when it was being experienced how wonderful to see that it has rejigged ourselves and particularly in a collective particularly then in my example in an organization that one is you know speaking and not just at leadership level but at a level because these workshops involve a good set of people who represent the full organization so across culmination of different people how it's just in every in this case at least in every person's mind you know how can we provide towards what the SDGs are outlining for us but also what does that then mean for us how do we sustain our well-being within the organization what can we gather around as a group of people to really shift ourselves collectively forward and it's for me that then has been because it was the first time to be in a room with 30 plus people and have this conversation since the pandemic and I'm like yes we're on the right path and as you said organizations are beginning to embrace I can only speak of organizations here in the western developed world but it makes me feel very helpful and that we have accelerated our level of our mindset, our level of consciousness which is good. It is very good with that experience that you had leads me to the next question but I want to caveat it so if we push current business models or operational models out whether they're a workshop or an event or if they're a true organizational business model and we push them out five years, ten years, twenty years into the future based upon what's in their plans and their organizational structure we can pretty well see what the path of the future that they're going in is going to look like because it's a plan or roadmap, it's a mission and there's over time some tweaks or changes in that which would mean in this experience that you had in your workshop we've heard that there could be a second wave of the pandemic. We also are pretty strong at knowing that there will probably be other pandemics maybe even worse down the road and that they're coming not from China, not from Wuhan but they're coming because of our environmental and ecological encroachment on nature and on certain places and it's messing with our biome which is messing with the way viruses appear and are transmitted around our world so we've got social distancing, we're wearing masks is the future of that model dystopian, the next step is gas masks the next is oxygen masks, the next step is spacesuits, the next step is we're going to be like the kids in the bubble, you know, we're going to be bubble people and that leads me to the question the burning question, WTF not the swear word, it's what's the future for you, not for everybody else what's the future, do you can you tell us that? Yeah, so I'm trying to see in what context I would put it in, what's the future for me the future is and I'm going to take us back to the beginnings of our conversation or at least the beginnings of when we spoke about what was my experience during the pandemic for me the future is about being far more locally grounded and having the experience be more intense in the relationships and the connections that I and therefore we have in our direct vicinity and I see this future to be more appreciative of what we have with one another in this local environment now I don't see in that future that we're not going to be experiencing other parts of the world, I do see that we will consciously want to engage in experiencing the world but knowing that we're doing this to either provide something or that we will receive something back or it's a return for something we've given so from families and friends I think this sense of family but it's going to be more of a I know like a commune is what I foresee and this sort of commune which will be friends and family that we really want to be together because we're generating more motion and opportunity together in the world of work the future because you said with Mars and with gas Mars and at some point we'll all be in a bubble I would again hope to see that based on our conscious beingness in local environments the way that we will work will ensure that we're providing ourselves sensibly obviously but we will not distance ourselves maybe at some parts physically yes but we will not distance ourselves because we will begin to learn that we are providing for something bigger i.e. more purposeful and more impactful in this life and we will therefore I would say the word is in my head risk that the word risk has a bad connotation we will forgo this risk because we know we're doing it for something better therefore we will do everything that we can connect with each other more emotionally but also for the sake of something bigger and not overemphasize because I just have this image now of these gas masks and everything we won't be there because it's we will want to do it for something bigger than ourselves again that may take the risk of having to deal with viruses and things we cannot even foresee today but if we're doing it not to save myself but to provide it for a better way of being together or a well-being for one another and for generations to come then we will we'll risk coming together but as I said my key notion is I think I would want to live more locally and that means food for my direct environment far more than to look to the benefits of having food and goods be transported globally I would consciously choose where I want to be in this world and then when and where I travel to hopefully with a consciousness I'm either giving something back or I'm receiving something in return for partaking on this journey you and I both teach for a couple different institutions and belong to some similar organizations and I also mentioned this when I was talking about the Philippines and indigenous people we need to first take care of the basic needs our own health, our own well-being our own balance and stability and sustainability for ourselves and then it puts us in a unique place just like you mentioned in the first three weeks of this lockdown that you were in a unique place that you were reaching out to to clients and friends and others and bolstering and trying to help them and do other things and then it affected you without that base having that resilience or that sustainability yourself that there's many different types of resilience but having that personal resilience and that you're going to be okay tomorrow you're going to make it through this thing then you can't help others first you've got to help yourself and focus on you and your family that's what you're saying first the community and local and then as that is strengthened and all those around you and yourself have that resilience and that strength then you can start to look outside and really help other human beings and that's how it is for everybody on the world if you don't have that yourself then you can't help anyone else and you're looking for help yourself you're looking for handouts and food or monies or whatever it is to survive day to day with one of the places that we teach or give lectures or courses for is a big term that we use resilient desirable futures plural so different type of futures for different people and different cultures and different areas of the world because it is really different for everyone else and that's why I ask all my guests that question because your futures are different than their futures but in some ways because we're all on the same planet we're all homo sapiens in some respects the overlying plan or the future needs to cross over and connect in many ways to get us there so this resilient desirable futures and this is where I need to define the three different types of resilience one resilience is if you're abused emotionally physically if you're sworn out or hit or ailing or sick that you have the resilience to bounce back the health to come back emotionally mentally physically to come back resilience because you're in good health and whatever it may be the second type is a dystopian resilience and that's where I want to go into why I caveated what I said I didn't say that the future will be gas mass and space suits and oxygen mass or bubbles but if you have a current model or that's the current model today and when the next pandemic comes the next model that we knew from before instead of fixing the problem so that we don't even have that model so that there's a different form of resilience there then that's that's what's going to continue to repeat itself or it will be more extreme the next time because they'll say remember COVID-19 this is much worse and we need no mass aren't going to cover it you need and full body suit whatever it is because it's what's much worse we didn't learn or we couldn't fix it from before something like that that's not all I look it in a whole world view but it's that's what happens when you push these models out in the future they don't they grow exponentially they don't grow in a linear or lateral or different way where you say okay actually we don't have to wear a mask at all we don't have to wear gloves it doesn't usually go that way and so the reason they gave that is that's why we need to know what the future is that's why we need to know what the plan is for us and for humanity globally in the future so that we can avert prepare ourselves and make sure that we can live in resilient viable futures and that last definition of resilience is one where you still have energy tomorrow after a pandemic after a storm a climate catastrophe that you still have food and resources that there's no hoarding that those who are suffering the worst now or the ones in developing countries as it hits them not only first but it also stays the longest and remains with them the longest before their economies and their lifestyle bounces back so yeah sorry yeah I was you know for me it's it also has a lot to do with how much fear and security each one of us then needs and I do I think the sense of experimentation with the word risk maybe it's better say you know just being in this continuous creation co-creation knowing that hey we may be wrong but let's stay curious let's keep moving forward and even when the next hit comes not to then divert to angst and security and just you know completely real often and go into isolation still have this sense of we're in this together and let's remain in a in a creative mindset so that we can work through this as well yeah but I do think that and because you use brought up the western world where it seems to linger on longest at least in this pandemic that we're so over consumed that we can't see a different life and we're unable to let go and go back to let's say the least that we need to feel joy in our life and yeah I would like to believe that we can live life in joy without all of the luxury and the consumption that we particularly in the world I've been most situated in that is not that's not joy necessarily or rather it's not joy need to redefine that and I think we gain joy in helping others and in providing for the world beyond just our own little island this zoo that we have here right now your zoo looks very nice my zoo does look nice we're very fortunate so I want to ask you what's next to expect from compound Julia so what are plans or things to be hopeful or optimistic that you're working on with your clients more workshops and things like Aramito being exponentially human is there some things that we can look forward to do you have any movies, books or things coming out that we can get excited about I think there's one mention first of all because we've been speaking about Aramito and also about being exponentially human this would never have occurred without my wonderful partner Diana with whom this offering, this program has been created with and the two of us were very symbiotic with one another and really believe in this co-creation and what is arising for the two of us is that we foresee what we're calling an inner wisdom MBA because again our belief is if we can create mental hygiene in each one of us then we are far more stronger, will be more impactful more influential in a positive way and more transformative through that so it's a nine month program that we're looking to launch next year here for Europe in order to also strengthen our collective mindset in Europe and enable a stronger standing for us in the world as a whole beautiful so maybe there's a book there as well I definitely recommend that to all of my listeners that they get in touch with you and I'll put a link in the description of the video and also on the podcast so that they can reach out to you to look at that. It's a wonderful experience and not only does it fill your soul and give you that new view and tools that you need to move forward it really extremely it's a great experience that I had even though I was fortunate to be on both sides so not only speaking but also experiencing as well so that leads me to my second and probably last hardest question that I have for you and you've probably answered it in one way or another I want to let you know it's different than the burning question but it's also very similar what does a world that works for everyone look like for you not for me not for your organizations not for your clients but for you that world looks again in a way it is a little bit of a repeat but that world for me looks it's all about compassion for one another I really do hope for myself and the way that I look into the world and how I provide myself into the world is with compassion and equally I would see the world for me grow and to flourish and to thrive when compassion is part or if not the key to every interaction we have with ourselves and others is there one standard way or one that shows up more often that you show compassion to others or something that you know a story or something special that you touch that you're genuine and that was coming out anything that comes to mind you know the best way for me at least to acknowledge my in compassion is when I recognize and this may be difficult for individuals for us to acknowledge but when I recognize that anything that comes out of my voice or out of my mouth as in verbalized isn't just here in my head so even this conversation I sense that it's not just I'm not logically thinking it's arising in me and it's providing itself and for me that's a very pure form and my logic sometimes says I could have used this word or that word that would have been far more business like or whatever and it can only flow from the heart and that means for me that it's not just my logic and it's not just my limbic system that's working it's actually pairing it together and providing. Thank you if you had this ties to your why and I know you have some ties to Simon Sinek as well the why course and start with why things I do as well we have similar wise as well if you had that opportunity to go up to a million individuals or even more than a million individuals individually but you could only depart one elevator pitch message to them eye to eye soul to soul with compassion what would that message be? Touch and transform yourself to being who you really are Thank you so much Julia that's all my questions and I've enjoyed every moment of our time together and I know our listeners will enjoy and I hope we have some other sessions in the future. Thank you so much for your time and I wish you well Thank you very much Mark