Philosophy has always fascinated me and has long been a subject area that I wanted to find out more about. For those of you who know the Midlands School of Practical Philosophy in Birmingham you will be familiar with the many inspirational quotes that are displayed outside. These quotes always captured my attention while passing by the school and they would get my grey matter working overtime and thinking about their inner-meaning.
I could always relate those quotes to different situations I would come across in some of the businesses I have worked with and how practical application of those could help in solving many leadership and strategic questions that I face in my own business and our clients’ businesses. Towards the end of last year I decided to immerse myself further in the subject and joined a short 10 weeks course at the school to explore practical philosophy in more detail.
As the course reached its conclusion I was able to draw many parallels in the world of practical philosophy that could be applied to the modern-day business. Over the next few weeks I will try to share what I learned during the course and will be exploring those parallels to see how we can all learn from them to make us more content and better prepared in our businesses.
Practical philosophy looks at bringing history’s great philosophical insights into our everyday lives. It looks at applying mindfulness to every moment. It asks big questions such as Who am I? and gives practical ways to explore the answer. Practical philosophy also looks at wisdom and how it can be acquired, at awareness and consciousness and what they really mean, the power of reason, beauty and the possibility of unity behind everything.
What has all this got to do with business? You’ll be surprised at how the insights of practical philosophy can be applied to your business and with themes such as ‘being awake’; ‘attending to the present moment’; and ‘unity in diversity’ I will intend to bring to life these insights and in doing so, make you think differently about your business and the part you play within it.
Look out for my first blog about ‘being awake in your business’ which will be published this Friday. The world of business is a challenging one and we all need a bit of enlightenment to see us through…
‘Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can – there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.’ (Sarah Caldwell)
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