Charles Darwin's visit to the Galapagos Islands in 1835 changed biology and natural science forever. Yet almost two centuries later, the true impact of Darwin's work has yet to be fully realized. Whether we recognize it or not, change is the only reliable constant of modern life. Change is the rule. Adaptation is survival. Being conscious is how you thrive.

Let us introduce you to the chameleon, an animal that can teach us how to adapt and survive in a disruptive and accelerating world. But first we need to rethink the chameleon and start viewing it for what it is: A powerful icon of change and a world champion of adaptation.

Evolutionary forces created an incredible paradox in the chameleon. They are one of the slowest and also one of the fastest animals in nature. In spite of their sluggish-looking exterior, chameleons possess the world's fastest tongue. While commonly standing on a tree branch moving just a few centimeters an hour, a chameleon's tongue springs upon its prey with astonishing swiftness. If a chameleon's tongue were a race car, it would travel from zero to 60 mph in 1/100th of a second. This speed and intensity exists almost nowhere else in the terrestrial world.

Chameleons also developed fully independent eyes, giving them a 360-degree arc of visibility around their bodies. Able to see in visible and ultraviolet light, their eyes have the highest power of magnification of any vertebrate. These adaptations were all essential to the chameleon's survival and growth.¹

Yet chameleons are most well-known for their ability to change color. Their base color is camouflage, enabling them to ambush their prey as they sway in the breeze. But that's just one of their colors. In fact, changing color is an adaptation that allows the chameleon to stand out and communicate with other chameleons. Brighter colors normally indicate aggression and darker colors indicate submission. They are essentially living mood rings.²

Now, most of us don't want to be called a chameleon. To us that signifies devious, manipulative, or dishonest behavior. Yet, as science reveals the truth about the chameleon, it's time we become more conscious of the chameleon's true place in the world. Comfortable in its own skin. Always showing its true colors. Seeing in all directions. The chameleon teaches us what it takes to adapt and thrive in a constantly changing world.

We humans are not easily intimidated by the chameleon. In fact, we are the most advanced species on the planet. What distinguishes us from all the other species is our amazing brain. Weighing in at three pounds and large for our size, the human brain is a complex network of billions of nerve cells with trillions of connections with our bodies and the outside world. The human mind, as we like to call it, is the seat of our complex thought, the source of our language, the originator of our personality, and the home of our emotions. Our capacity to be conscious – to be aware of ourselves and our surroundings – is what makes us the talk of the animal kingdom.

Yet, as humans, we find ourselves living at a critical inflexion point in our history. Everything is changing around us, from technology and demographics, to geopolitics and climate, to lifestyles and marriages, and the list goes on. Our challenge is that the world is changing faster than our ability to adapt.

Some of us respond to these changes like we are in a burning house, ever running to put out fires, believing we are operating in a world of scarcity. Others of us live like we are playing shuffleboard on the deck of a sinking ship, disengaged and uninterested in what's happening around us. Then there are those of us who are aware and anticipate these changes, in search of a better, more prosperous life.

Yet, many of us are unprepared for these accelerations. We act on autopilot as new challenges confront us. We are too reactive to problems and miss out on opportunities. We get hijacked by outdated ideas, misguided values, and polarizing relationships. We face uncertainty with fear and mistrust. Stress and burnout are pervasive as many of us do not perform to our highest potential. At a time when we need to think deeper, learn faster, and collaborate better, our minds, in their current form, are simply unprepared for this new reality.

Like our friend the chameleon, we must rely on our unique assets to guide us into our next phase of transformation. Only you can embrace these changes and adapt into the future. Lifting your gaze outside yourself while looking inward to remove the roots of resistance is how you become more conscious. With just enough urgency, resilience, and curiosity, you can activate your mind to adapt. This requires transforming yourself in an increasingly disruptive and accelerating world.

The path from clueless to conscious is paved with disruption. The going isn't easy; the road is littered with tiny jolts of uncertainty and occasionally buffeted by massive speed bumps of disruption. In life and business, we all are looking to move forward and contribute something of value. However, our wild, wireless world is ever changing and complex. It's far too easy to get lost and stay unaware of the disruptive forces that stand in our way. We have reached a time in history where our ability to adapt is struggling to keep pace.

NAVIGATING THE SIX DISRUPTORS

Like a wildfire, disruption is both good and bad. Wildfires can devastate as they destroy everything in their path. They can also rejuvenate fields and forests to bring forth new life. Similarly with people, disruption can throw us into a state of chaos or help us change and adapt. Let's look at the six main disruptors we experience every day.

• Speed: The pace of life is escalating and it doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon. This forces us to see, think, feel, and act faster. While speed creates excitement and many new opportunities, it can easily toss us off balance. We can become overwhelmed and exhausted. We can sabotage ourselves by insisting on perfection, setting unrealistic goals, overworking our bodies, or burning out.
• Uncertainty: Stability is an illusion and uncertainty is reality. We want to believe that we will find comfort in the predictable, but it doesn't exist. Brexit changed the future of Europe, the stock market alters retirements daily, jobs no longer last a year, and no segment of business is immune from the power of disruption. We need to accept change as inevitable and develop the ability to navigate in a world of impermanence. But how do you stay grounded in all that unpredictability?
• Complexity: Complexity is part of the DNA of the modern world. But how do you navigate through all the knowledge, choices, and diversity in our lives? Our natural response is to create clarity in the face of confusion. But with massive amounts of knowledge, we quickly oversimplify complex issues and overcomplicate simple choices, both of which activate our biases and prejudices.
• Technology: As a powerful disruptor, technology is both our liberator and our slayer. It allows us to learn just about anything, meet anyone, do business in any market, and communicate instantaneously around the world. The downside is it's too easy to fall into the Internet's version of a black hole, pushing people to see the world through an increasingly narrow lens.
• Competition: As the fuel in our free market society, competition fosters innovation, strengthens talent, and improves quality. Yet, it can also turn us into islands of self-interest. History is littered with people and companies, from Lance Armstrong to Wells Fargo, all of whom fell from grace because of an overly competitive spirit. How do we find purpose and meaning in a world of powerful competitive urges?
• Globalization: First there were explorers, then there were shipping lanes, and then business went global. Today we are a click away from anyone in the world. We are all global citizens as money, markets, people, and communities are interconnected. How do we succeed individually while thriving as one global planet and society?

These six disruptors impact countries, companies, and communities alike. What we don't talk about is the impact they have on YOU, personally. At any moment in time, these forces can have a positive or negative effect on you, and fundamentally alter the way you live and work. Like winds of change, they occur all at once, stopping, starting, swirling, and combining to take us places we've never been before.³

On the bright side, embedded in every challenge is an opportunity. How you respond to these forces can be energizing and create unlimited opportunities, or they can be demoralizing and sabotage our best efforts. How conscious you are of yourself, your relationships, and your surroundings will make all the difference.

THE COST OF UNAWARE PEOPLE

Imagine biking down a street in Manhattan in a designated bike lane. Passing on the left is an endless procession of speedy cabs and limousines. On your right, you flash past hundreds of parked cars. Suddenly, a car door opens and you can't get around it, so you're forced to feel the true cost of unaware people.

Being unaware is a big liability. And it's happening more regularly in the face of these disruptors. It's someone who offends a colleague with an unwitting faux pas. Or someone who ignores a customer's concern and loses the sale. It's someone who is tone-deaf to the needs of his team. Or alienates his boss with a flippant comment. It's a parent who ignores his teenager's drug problem or a government worker who takes a small bribe. The list goes on and on. The cost of unaware people is just too high to pay these days – especially when the antidote, becoming more conscious, costs little but returns exponentially.

Let's face it. There is a growing gap between those who are awake in the world and those who are asleep. The faster the world changes, the bigger the gap becomes. Most people believe they are self-aware, but research shows that only 10 to 15% of us truly have this capability.⁴ Some of us are changing and adapting with the times. Others are falling behind. There are four reasons why we are not changing fast enough:

• Too shallow. We don't go deep enough into our human psyche. We spend little time self-reflecting and stay stuck in negative emotions, shackled by old baggage, resulting in little understanding of ourselves. Since we don't have a clear mirror that reflects how we show up in the world, our relationships with others are often stunted. We underestimate the potential of people and ourselves.
• Too narrow. We live in steel bunkers and can't see our way out. We don't challenge our outdated assumptions, which limits the power of our expansive minds. Accepting a world of biased minds and limited perspectives causes us to miss opportunities, avoid diversity, and react irrationally to world affairs.
• Too safe. We are afraid of change and prefer to avoid the uncertainty around us. As a result, we stay stuck, biased and reactive. We don't use our natural positive accelerators to push us forward, and we trip over our negative hijackers that undermine us. By being too safe, we atrophy and fail to evolve and transform, leaving us standing in place as the world turns.
• Too small. If your view of yourself and the world is too small, you won't see connections, possibilities, or solutions. Staying small and never stepping up is sure to lead to regrets and will undermine your highest potential. It takes courage to unleash your personal power and take responsibility, both of which are central to living a productive life.

Organizations are feeling the brunt of our lack of awareness. Markets are changing faster than the ability of organizations to reinvent themselves. There's a growing gap between the leaders we have and the leaders we need. Executives are being questioned about their ability to lead change in the future. The Gallup Organization reports that 70% of employees are disengaged.⁵ And executives are deeply worried about the talent gap in society. As a consequence, many organizations are shackled by slow execution, lack of growth, unhealthy cultures, and underperformance.

Our communities are also not working well together. Cynicism and diminishing trust are impeding our ability to solve our most complex problems. Broken families, racial tensions, and sexual harassment coupled with trade wars, national tensions, and climate change are exacerbating the situation. This is happening at a time when people across the globe must come together to solve society's most pressing challenges – human rights, discrimination, the poverty gap, and environmental sustainability.

Our world is skidding toward a new economic and social era where the cost of unaware people is too high to pay. We need to wake up. To grasp the true meaning of being conscious, you are going to have to Go Deep and discover your inner world, Think Big to see a world of possibilities, Get Real to be more honest and intentional in leadership and life, and Step Up to your highest potential.

AT HEALTHY COMPANIES

We have spent over 30 years studying and advising executives, their teams, and organizations around the world. Our primary focus has been leadership and transformation. We go into organizations and meet leaders in their environment. We have interviewed over six hundred CEOs and thousands of executives in over 50 countries. And we have published seven books on leadership, focusing on leading people, teams, change, growth, and globally.

What have we learned? The most effective people in the world today are transformational leaders at all levels—executives and managers, politicians and civil servants, parents and principals, coaches and entrepreneurs. They are all masters of personal and organizational transformation. They have honed their ability to learn faster, create smarter, and collaborate deeper, making them masters of adaptation. Now more than ever, being conscious is their antidote for disruption.

Conscious is our eighth book on leadership. It reveals our most important lesson yet. It is a message relevant for everyone who leads other people – which is all of us. Inside this book are ideas drawn from psychology, biology, management, leadership, neuroscience, and behavioral economics. This book is not about delving into your unconscious brain. We'll leave that to the psychoanalysts and neuroscientists. It also goes beyond emotional intelligence to examine the broader capabilities needed to survive and thrive. Mindfulness is also a hot topic today. In Conscious, we believe this is an important practice, but one of many required to navigate this wild, wireless world.

At Healthy Companies, we have noticed something dramatic happening. Being conscious is quickly becoming an essential tool for the best executives and managers. Organizations need everyone to adapt and transform in the changing world. Conscious people bring their best selves to the table and challenge others to redefine what it means to be successful. Choose to be the one with the headlights on, not the one driving in the dark.

HOW TO READ THIS BOOK?

Conscious is written as your personal guide through change - to help you adapt, accelerate, and transform.

The book is organized into five sections: The first section is the introduction: Conscious Is the New Smart. This section lays out the overall context of the book and introduces you to a few essential ideas that will help you understand why conscious is so critical today and tomorrow. The main part of the book is designed around the four sections that follow: Go Deep, Think Big, Get Real and Step Up. Here you will find specific lessons to help you become more conscious. Along the way, you will meet individuals from all walks of life around the world who exhibit many of the qualities of being conscious. Practical tips and advice are sprinkled throughout the book.

We believe each of you will approach the book in your own way. Some of you will read from cover to cover. Others will pick out chapters that reflect your own interests. Still others will use it as a catalyst as you deal with specific problems. You might want to ask yourself a few overriding questions as you read. How prepared am I for the changing world around me? Where are my strengths, my blind spots, and areas for improvement? How well am I practicing the lessons in this book? Am I emerging as a more conscious person?

On this learning journey, we suggest you open yourself up to a fresh perspective on your life. Our hope is that on completion you will have deepened the conversation with yourself, and enhanced your life and leadership skills. You will have improved your own self-awareness, your awareness of others, and your view of the world around you.

The Devil Wears Prada is a great example where fiction depicts reality better than fact – especially when one of the best actresses of a generation shows you how to do it. Meryl Streep outdoes herself portraying Miranda Priestly, the perfectionist head of a glamorous fashion magazine in New York City. Revered in the glitzy world of international fashion, Miranda is the movie's villain. Her modus operandi is to create fear and loathing wherever she goes. Her employees describe her as a dream-crushing boss at her happiest when everyone around her is panicked, nauseous, or suicidal. Narcissistic, closed-minded, and uncaring, the Priestly Streep portrays a monument to bad leadership, unaware and asleep at the helm.¹

The “Devil” in the film is the boss we all dread and hope to never encounter. Yet, people are drawn to the character because many aspire to reach her level of success. Streep makes Miranda believable by demonstrating real behaviors we see in daily life. Her toxic leadership is the product of a culture that encourages jockeying to be the smartest, most creative person in the room. There is no reason why Miranda had to become such a toxic leader.

Everyone has a choice on how they show up in the world. The good news is there are leaders who understand the power of being aware. Take the example of Mary Barra, chairman and CEO of General Motors Company, the first female CEO of a major global automaker. Barra rose through the ranks of GM, starting at the age of 18 as an intern. Over the years, she developed deep knowledge of GM's unique dynamics, its foibles and strengths, its people, customers, and competitors. She's worked on the factory floor, became an engineer, and eventually landed in the corner office. She unabashedly declares her love for the car business.²

Barra took over General Motors at a time when it was rocked by a massive safety recall. By the time it was over, nearly 30 million cars were recalled. Undeterred, she kept it honest and simple in her remarkable US Senate testimony: “The facts are the facts. We will do what is needed to make things right and we will hold ourselves fully accountable.”³

During that testimony, Barra apologized for the recall and took responsibility to expose all of the truth. She expressed remorse and empathy toward the victims and their families. At a critical moment, Barra used the power of awareness to move GM beyond the scandal and successfully guide the company to emerge from the biggest safety crisis in its history.

The antithesis of Miranda Priestly, Barra demonstrated a leadership style that was positive and confident as she transformed the automaker's business to be competitive again in the global marketplace. So far, her impact is being felt on the company's financial performance with three years of record earnings. Mary Barra has earned widespread respect for honesty and integrity and serves as the model and champion of GM's new culture of accountability.

THE POWER OF AWARENESS

In an age of acceleration, being aware is your single most important asset. It helps you stay agile in a frenetic world. It keeps you curious as the world becomes more uncertain and complex. And it helps you stay authentic and generous as your relationships get bumpier. Remember, the world is changing faster than you are, and you must keep up. By staying aware, you create a positive impact on yourself, others, and your world.

Being aware occurs at three levels of introspection (see Figure 2.1):

• Aware of yourself. This refers to your own understanding about who you are – how you see, think, and feel; what motivates your actions; and how you impact other people.
• Aware of others. This refers to your insights about other people, what motivates them and makes them tick, and how their actions affect you and others.
• Aware of your environment. This refers to your understanding of life's situations and circumstances – the organizational, community, and societal forces that affect you every day.

Wait a minute! In our fast, frenzied lives, action and results are the name of the game. Not awareness and introspection. Our culture seduces us into thinking that the best course is to act – to chase goals, create tips, produce stuff, and make money. We believe a life of action is more valuable than a reflective one. We are constantly busy and find it hard to go deep and do the inner work of personal development. Indeed, action is often the path of least resistance. It is harder to stop, pause, and reflect from a crazy life than it is to continue to cruise unaware on autopilot.

Like an open secret, everybody knows being more aware of yourself, others, and your environment will lead to a better life. Yet, the nature of awareness is so unassuming and inconspicuous, few of us recognize its importance day-to-day.

That is why true awareness must be intentional. It cannot be purchased or inherited; it must be discovered. The result of personal initiative and effort, it lets you understand your real problems of living and helps you imagine the real solutions of what's possible in life. The power of awareness lets you transcend impulsive or instinctual responses and take deliberate action.

But it does not come naturally. In fact, 83% of our brain tissue is unconscious and controls 96 to 98% of our perceptions and actions.⁴ That's right. We spend most of our day operating on autopilot, not knowing exactly what causes us to think or feel the way we do. We filter data and information through our perceptual filters – background, education, expertise, age, life experience, and culture. This creates unconscious biases that influence our behavior. The more awake we are, the less we struggle with our blind spots. As we increase our level of awareness, we move from seeing life in black and white to seeing life in color.

So, why does awareness matter so much these days? Doesn't it get in the way of acting efficiently? Why do we have to sit and ponder ourselves when results are what are rewarded? Simply, because this is not a zero-sum game. Action and awareness are not at war with each other. In fact, the real power of awareness is found when we master action and introspection together. This combination is at the heart of this book.

WHY CONSCIOUS IS THE NEW SMART

Imagine you are back in the third grade. Do you remember the panels of perfect handwriting plastered at the front of the room? Everyone knew who the best scribe was. This was the beginning of our lifelong journey to become the smartest person in the room. Tests and grades came next, followed by accolades and admonishments from our parents, awards and recognition for hard work, and eventually appraisals and promotions at work.

For many of us, we still believe that being smart is the best path to success. If we could just learn a new subject, get an advanced degree, or build a better spreadsheet, we could advance ourselves in the world. But our obsession with being the smartest person in the room doesn't work anymore. It simply gets in the way of adapting to the future.

Pete Clare is the co-chief investment officer at the Carlyle Group. He is responsible for investing tens of billions of dollars annually for pensioners, foundation, and wealthy individuals. His secret: be intellectually honest and figure out what you don't know. To Clare, humility is a business skill. “The thing that amazes me the most,” says Clare, “is that some of the smartest people in the world really don't make good investors. They're so smart that they have the answer to everything. Their opinion is right and everybody else is wrong.”⁴

Being smart is based on the scarcity principle, where we see the world as black and white, good and bad, winners and losers. The goal is to be smarter, stronger, and better than others and to avoid feelings of weakness and vulnerability. Driven by the need to be right, those obsessed with being smart tend to hoard knowledge, externalize blame, and mismanage relationships and risks. This sabotages our ability to thrive in a constantly changing world.

The “smart” way of thinking is guided by three fundamental principles:

• “There is not enough to go around.” There are not enough resources, opportunities, and ideas to go around. This thinking pushes smart people to make sure they are not left out and get what is “rightfully” theirs. “If I show them I'm the smartest person in the room, then I'll get access to a bigger share of the budget, people, and resources.”
• “I am what I know.” Expertise fallacy is strongly in play with smart, unaware people. They value themselves based on their expertise rather than who they are as a person. “I am what I know” is a closed system where feedback threatens identity and self-esteem. They believe that knowledge comes from inside themselves, “When you challenge my idea, you challenge me as a person.”
• “I must rely on myself to survive.” Because there are winners and losers, to be smart is to be strong and self-sufficient. To not have all the answers is to be weak. When you have this mentality, you don't ask for help, show your vulnerability, or collaborate well with others. “I must rely on myself to succeed in the world.”

Today, being smart is table stakes. All you need to do is look to places like Hyderabad, Seoul, Bangalore, or Shanghai, where universities are churning out thousands of tech savants and extremely qualified talent every year. But smart is not enough. So, why is there such a scarcity of awareness in the world when there is such an abundance of smart? Well we've worked hard at getting smart. Now we need to work on getting more conscious.

In this age of acceleration, we need a new approach to living and leading. Being conscious is the new smart. Nothing is more important than being aware of ourselves and our surroundings. By knowing who you are and staying committed to developing yourself, you can develop the confidence and bearing to effectively navigate in uncertain times.

Being conscious is a fresh way of living based on the principle of abundance, where we all can succeed if we learn how to adapt to change. We embrace uncertainty as a normal part of life and work. We create space for introspection. We seek feedback, share knowledge, and search for multiple right answers. We take responsibility for our development and performance. We learn to be comfortable being uncomfortable, and use that vulnerability to stay awake in the wild, wireless world.

The conscious way of thinking is guided by three fundamental principles:

• “There is enough to go around.” This is based on the principle of openness and abundance. There is enough for everyone. Sharing trumps hoarding, cooperation trumps heroics, and generosity trumps self-interest.
• “I am who I am.” Who I am is more impressive than what I know. I am comfortable in my own skin, so it's important to show my whole self. Humility is a strength, and asking questions is not a weakness. I feel safe being vulnerable with others.
• “I rely on myself and others to thrive.” There is a recognition that we are not as smart as we think we are. Learning and collaboration with the environment make me stronger, more creative, and higher performing. Love trumps fear and my networks are part of who I am.

To move from smart to conscious, we need a totally different kind of development. Rather than a simple software upgrade, we need to refresh our entire mental operating system.

IT'S OUR HUMAN NATURE

Conscious distinguishes us as human beings. This way of being gives us the capacity to reflect on ourselves and tap into our mental, emotional, and spiritual states of mind. By getting to know ourselves and experiencing the fullness of life, our conscious mind helps us open up to a world of possibilities. But we must take off our mask to unveil our true self.

This essential nature is grounded in love. Lying deep inside us, we have a natural desire for humanity, a fundamental goodness as human beings, that taps into our best human nature. This is our source of pride, health, well-being, and connection.

No doubt fear is always lurking inside our survival instincts. It is just one of the dark emotions we feel every day. Greed, anger, cynicism, and selfishness show their ugly heads from time to time. This is only natural as we navigate the ups and downs of life. But if we are true to our essential nature, love will always win out over fear.

That is why conscious is a journey of choices. We have the capacity to wake up and live consciously – to see ourselves clearly, think with an open mind, feel positive emotions, and act constructively with others. Indeed, we have a choice every day to be joyous, curious, hopeful, and productive. But this takes courage.

Yet, like water flowing down a path, it is only natural for us to take the easy way out. Oftentimes that means clinging to stability or running away from discomfort and hardship. Yet being conscious looks at reality for what it is, not what we hope it to be. It lives in the present moment, not in the past or the future. And it pierces through our facades and makes friends with the good and bad, our strengths and vulnerabilities, and our celebrations and disappointments.

Conscious unleashes our full potential as human beings. By expanding our minds, enriching our experiences, and shaping our destinies, we discover our purpose in life. Being conscious enables us to approach life as a journey. Equipped with everything we need – an open mind and heart, confidence and resilience, and our capacity for greater consciousness – we embrace the uncertainty of life. Conscious is the accelerator for effective change. The more conscious we are, the faster we adapt, and the higher performing we become.

The obsession with being the smartest person in the room doesn't work anymore. It simply gets in the way of adapting to the future. We have put too much faith in the cult of smart at the expense of ourselves, our organizations, and our communities. We must now take ourselves to the next level of development and performance.