Candice Smith: The Thinking Field | The Business Blast Podcast #46

All right, everyone, welcome back to the Business Blast podcast. This is your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Candice Smith with us. She's the founder of The Thinking Field and Time to Think faculty member. So welcome, Candice. I'm grateful to have you on today.

Thanks, Tyler. Wonderful to be here. Real great gift to be here. Thanks.

And so we'll dive right in. The first question I have for you is, what's the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Thanks for the great question. I really had to choose here. I love sharing the story of my great-grandpa. He was a circus performer in my motherland, South Africa. And the extraordinary thing about him was that he got to tour Europe with a circus in the early 1900s at a time when accessing a continent on the other side of the globe would have been almost impossible for most Black South Africans at the time to even imagine experiencing, let alone whilst traveling with the circus. And sharing about this part of my lineage reminds me of the power of honing a craft, of dedication, of courage, as well as the role that playfulness and joy and laughter plays in how we can transcend divides and assumptions about group identities. And it really continues to inspire me even now as a global Citizen, now living in Australia.

And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

Thanks, Tyler. I think the first step in helping leaders develop for a complex world is to acknowledge that there are really two types of leadership development: what's called horizontal development and vertical development. Horizontal development is what we are more familiar with historically. It's about adding more knowledge, it's about adding more skills and competencies, it's about what you know, and that's important, right? But historically, that's where the focus was. Vertical development refers to the advancement in a person's thinking capability, and the outcome of this kind of development is the ability to think in more complex and systemic strategic and interdependent ways. It's about how you think. And in this VUCA world, this volatile and uncertain and complex and ambiguous world, we need something different, right, to respond to these increasingly complex challenges. And we need to be paying attention to how we can think in these more interdependent ways. One reliable way to enable this kind of vertical leadership development is to create what we refer to as a thinking environment. And a thinking environment is a social technology which you can call on to access courageous, independent thinking from everyone in a one-on-one or in meetings, and it enables vertical leadership development to take place alongside the horizontal leadership development. The founder of the thinking environment, Nancy Klein, and as the Time to Think facilitators and coaches around the world have consistently observed how a thinking environment can be created when human beings treat one another in a particular way, in 10 particular ways, in fact, that we've noticed. And those are called the 10 components of a thinking environment. And in the presence of these components, these ways of treating one another, thinking is transformed, igniting quality systemic interrelated thinking from everyone and across silos in meetings and in one-on-ones.

Thank you. That was an incredible answer to that question. The next question I have is, what's your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily like industry specific.

Thank you. The research overwhelmingly speaks to the fact that a key source of frustration and financial drain in organizations across the board is unproductive and unnecessary meetings where most people are totally disengaged and losing the will to live, right? The need for us to transform how we are running our meetings and participating in our meetings has never been more glaring, and examine how we are treating one another as we conduct these meetings. Neuroscience has now proven that adrenaline, threats, and interruption do not set us up for breakthrough innovative thinking. And that, unfortunately, is most people's pervasive experience of meetings. If you're wanting to take your business, and I would say your life, to the next level, learn how to engage in and facilitate meetings and one-on-ones which present small ways that are liberating in treating one another in this way, including honing in on how we are giving attention to one another, the quality of our listening, our capacity to hear viewpoints that are different from ours, our ability to slow down and be easeful even in the face of what feels like an emergency, this urgency that we are operating, to be curious and to interrogate assumptions, and learning how to facilitate and participate in one-on-one and group meetings in this way, and ensuring regular access to these kinds of spaces for yourself. I think is the biggest gift you can give yourself and your business.

And, and if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

Thanks, Tyler. The dominating voice of my younger self was quite a critical one in relation to myself. Even though I have the capacity to be very appreciative of others, I wasn't necessarily doing that for myself, not noticing how much courage I had or commitment in reinventing myself through different careers and starting businesses. And again, the neuroscience points to how important appreciation is for setting up the empowering brain chemistry. And appreciation is actually one of the 10 components of a thinking environment. So my younger self would have done well to embody that from the get-go as I was reinventing myself.

And in your opinion, what's the key to happiness?

Oh, this question. Firstly, I think not being attached to the concept of my own happiness is a good place to start, but perhaps rather to be curious about how I can be in relationship and connection to others, to something other than just myself, to other human beings, to the world around me, and to the earth. So many studies are now linking the high incidence of mental health issues right now to loneliness and lack of connection. So this connection piece is key. And also, I think questioning my limiting assumptions constantly about myself or how the world works and not to assume that the limiting thoughts I have are honestly true, to interrogate their validity.

And what's the best book you've read and what was the number one thing you learned from it?

I would have to say a groundbreaking book for me was Nancy Klein's "Time to Think," and it made explicit what it takes for us to truly connect and to create the spaces which enable this breakthrough thinking, doing, and being. And it did it in a very anecdotal, accessible, and meaningful way.

And what's your favorite quote and why?

I love the extract from a Rumi poem which goes, "Out beyond the ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I will meet you there." And that quote speaks to me because it invites our fragmented world, communities, parliaments, families, countries, boardrooms to transcend these polarities of who's right and who's wrong, and perhaps maybe access a third space that none of us have even imagined that has this potential to transform our world. And it's also been a big inspiration behind calling my business The Thinking Field.

Thank you so much, Candice, for coming on. My last question for you is, where can people best find you online?

So the website for The Thinking Field, www.thethinkingfield.com, as well as The Thinking Field Facebook page. And you can also find me, my Candice Smith LinkedIn profile. Look forward to hearing from you.

Perfect. Thanks again, Candice. We really appreciate it.

Thanks, Tyler. It's been an absolute pleasure. The podcast you just heard was made using Anchor. Ever thought about making your own podcast? Anchor makes it really easy for anyone to get started. It's a one-stop shop for recording, hosting, and distributing podcasts. Best of all, it's 100% free. Sign up now at anchor.fm/new. That's anchor.fm/new to get started.