About The Authentic Whole

It also showed me that a great deal of my thinking had been shaped by the scripting of my mother, father, teachers, and even the vicar and his wife, who I lived with when I was just 4 ½ years old [see my blog entitled “it's like feeding time at the zoo”]. That scripting fundamentally turned me into a homophobic, sexist, racist person. There’s probably a couple of other “ist” I can add to that, but I’m sure you get the picture. Of course, having my first forays into the working world during the late 80s early 90s I learned very quickly to suppress those thoughts and appear on the outside as if I were a well-adjusted individual. However, the underlying root cause never really went away. 

I am also the epitome, of “white male privilege” being white, 6’ 2”, confident and well spoken (thanks to my public-school education!)  I’ve never been stopped by the police apart from a time I was being a dick when I was 18 in my 2 Litre Ford Cortina, and then they let me off with a “please don’t do it again sir”!  For those of you familiar with Indian airports, I was the guy who could quite happily stroll through the terminal using the first-class lanes even though I was holding an economy ticket and not be stopped. The reason for this? Traditionally, Indian’s did not question a tall white Englishman, and I took advantage of that.  

But not anymore.... 

Several years ago, a colleague at IBM introduced me to the concept of “Unconscious biases”. An unconscious bias can be described as: 

Although we all have biases, many unconscious biases tend to be exhibited toward minority groups based on factors such as class, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, nationality, religious beliefs, age, disability and more. 

Using this information and my mindfulness practice, I set about identifying and becoming fully aware of my unconscious biases. Then I took a series of actions such as being mentored, taking training courses and talking to people about my biases, which led me to be able to control them. Finally, again through my mindfulness practice, I have learnt to control them to the point that I evaluate every decision and interaction I have and correct any bias before it surfaces. Please don’t get me wrong, I am far from perfect at it, and it is an iterative, continuous learning process for me as I check and double check my reactions to situations that I am unfamiliar with. 

The Authentic Whole

With The Authentic Whole, I am offering you the chance to do the same thing I have so you can learn to be aware of your biases, control them and, if necessary, correct them. This will allow you to make unbiased decisions, allow everyone who interacts with you to be included, fully, not just with a bit of lip service and to feel valued. In today’s world it is no longer good enough, and nor should it be tolerated, to just say you are inclusive.  

The Authentic Whole is a deliberate play on words as I want to give you the chance to fill any “authenticity holes” you may have. This will enable you to show up, in everything you do, as your “authentic whole”. To achieve this together, we will use a combination of facilitative coaching and mindfulness practice (if you choose) in order to surface and manage any underlying beliefs that may be stopping you from showing up as your authentic whole.

“Authenticity means erasing the gap between what you firmly believe inside and what you reveal to the outside world.” (Adam Grant) To move from surviving to thriving in any endeavour you undertake, you must bring your authentic whole to all you do, I can help you achieve that.

As a footnote…

I’ve done all of this while engaging in an extensive 35 year career in the IT world. Working with me will also give you access to that experience which ranges from companies such as IBM, American Express and DHL Excel where I’ve worked. You will also be able to access my skills across roles such as Sales, Negotiation, Large scale software development programme management, data centre management, finance and accounting, P&L management and many more. All of this across deals and departments ranging from a few million pounds to hundreds of million pounds. You will also gain access to my industry knowledge across a client set I’ve worked for in Travel (British Airways/IAG, TUI, Thomas Cook), Transportation (Fedex, TNT, DHL, various rail companies), Government (Department for Work and Pensions, DWP), Banking (JPMorgan Cazenove) and consulting (McKinsey & Co) 

You will also be able to tap into my mindfulness practice, my experience as a First Dan Karate Ka and a yacht master. If needed, we can also delve into my experience of being a father, stepfather and grandfather! 

If you’ve read this far then click on the link below and let’s set up a call to see how I can help you bring your authentic whole to everything you do!