A questionnaire presenting the ideas and convictions of FINN JACKSON
Why do you think/sense/know that you as an individual are here on planet Earth?
I suppose the simplest answer to this question is, "Because my parents had sex." But I don't think that's what you mean.
Usually when our culture asks, "Why are you here?" we mean something like, "What are you here to achieve? What is your purpose, your objective?" But we wouldn't ask that question of a tree. We wouldn't expect a tree to have an aim or objective. And we'd see a tree not just as an individual but as part of nature.
So, our answer to this question for a tree might be something like, "That tree is here to grow and become the best tree that it can, given the place it happens to be growing in, and as part of a wider process called nature." I think the same applies to people.
The reason I am here on planet Earth is to grow and become the best version of me that I can, given the place and time I happen to have been born into, as part of a wider process called nature.
The way I achieve that is by becoming good at two things: understanding who I am and putting that into practice. That is why I am here on planet Earth.
What is it that makes your life worthwhile?
Connection. Feeling connected with other people, with nature, animals, and with myself.
What do you want to manifest in your life?
Creativity and joy. My life purpose is to create an abundant, generative world.
The way I achieve that, the thing I seem to best at, is by helping other people to get very clear on who they are and what matters most to them, and then creating inspiring, practical plans to achieve that.
So another way of saying what I want to manifest in my life is "people": people who feel excited and inspired because they know who they are and what they want and have clear plans to achieve it.
A world filled with people like that is a generative world.
What does it mean for you to be present?
Being present, for me, means putting my full attention into what is happening in the present moment, both around me and within me. It means being focused and in flow.
What is your understanding of success in life?
We are all here for a limited time. Success in life, to me, means spending that time on things that matter to us.
The ultimate measure of our success will come when we are on our deathbeds, looking back at our lives, and we ask ourselves, "Did I make good use of my time?" We can prepare for that now by asking, "What will it take for me to have lived a worthwhile life?"
The first time someone asked me this question I had no idea. But a few weeks later seven items popped into my head. I quickly wrote them down and they have stayed with me ever since, almost unchanged. Now I use them to decide how to use my time and to review whether I am making good use of it.
What issues keep you up at night?
(not because you worry about them but because you want to gain deeper knowledge/knowing about them!)
Not much really. I learned a long time ago that night time is not a good time for worrying or for gaining deeper understandings. If I do wake in the night with a 'genius insight' or a 'terrifying fear' I tend to make a note of it and then try to go back to sleep. Usually by the morning I find my thoughts are much less insightful or important than I imagined.
Finn Jackson has designed and implemented top to bottom international changes to strategy, process, and organisation in a global technology corporation. He has also worked as a strategy consultant, conducted submarine simulation studies, co-founded an internet startup, founded a civil society organisation, co-written a movie screenplay, and walked the Camino de Santiago.
His first book, The Escher Cycle, was called "A blueprint for winning any game your business chooses to play" that "Describes business as a living system."
His second book, The Churning - Inner Leadership, has been called "The inspiring manual to improve our VUCAbility" and "A book which should be on every change-maker's bookshelf."
Finn has a first degree in physics from Oxford university and an MBA with distinction from Imperial College, London. He now works with leaders to create clarity and inspiration, from vision to plan.
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