Empower yourself. An interview with Diane Ingram

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Empower yourself. An interview with Diane Ingram
We bring you interview two with author, teacher and coach, Diane Ingram. Diane conducts
workshops for business leaders, entrepreneurs and employees on tapping our talents. Her
emphasis is on personal empowerment, presenting a unique approach. In our last
interview, Diane talked about how we can create a performance culture within our
organization.
In today's interview, we discuss her latest book: "SHINE! Be Empowered and Engaged at
Work" Her ideas put focus on finding purpose, meaning and clarifying values. Qualities she
says dramatically impact our personal, professional lives and overall performance. How to empower youself and live
with purpose is where we go in our interview with Diane.
Tai: Hello again Diane, Great workshop today. Let's talk about some of the ideas you presented this afternoon.
Diane: Thank's Tai. I find more and more business leaders, entrepreneurs and employees, from all fields, are
interested in this area called self empowerment. What it is and how to get some. Benefits include better health,
finding inner peace, improved performance backed by purpose.
Tai: You started your workshop by quoting one of France's most influential 16th century writers, Michel de
Montaigne.
Diane: Montaigne had this wonderful ability to merge serious intellectual exercises with casual anecdotes. He is
quoted as saying "the soul which has no fixed purpose in life, is lost. To be everywhere is to be nowhere" We all have
a finite time allotted to us in life. Developing our dream, our labor of love and locating the best path for us to take
makes it possible to realize this purpose. How can you become empowered to fully engage and have the impact you
most want to have professionally? And where can you best express the fullness of who you are to make a difference
in the lives of those with whom you come in contact?
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Tai: Having that purpose.
Diane: Exactly.
Tai: What is purpose?
Diane: Purpose is the foundational motivator of our lives. You discover who you are and build your life around your
clear sense of meaning, of purpose. A good way to define purpose is the feeling we get from deep satisfaction and
fulfillment in our lives, including in our work. We experience a sense of personal victory when we are giving in a way
that we long to give, and others win when they receive from such a purposeful place within us. Here billiard player
and author Robert Byrne offers this definition: “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”
Tai: Yes.
Diane: And simply, discovering who you are. We look outside of ourselves for our primary need of nourishment and
care. As our needs and wants become more complex, we continue looking outside of ourselves for resources,
affirmation, everything. Those who develop a strong, deep relationship with themselves become more mature. We
realize through reorienting ourselves that we are the source for getting our needs and wants satisfied.
Tai: Yes, a lot of confidence and peace of mind.
Diane: You sense that you are no longer at the mercy of the world. Whether the world is meeting our needs or not,
we're still fine.
Tai: Less worry time.
Diane: This all takes the pressure off. We experience pure relationships, less tension in our personal and professional
relationships. We interact in an emotionally more compassionate, cleaner way.
Tai: So we're looking at ourselves while we're clear about......
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Diane: When we are clear about our purpose in life, our value shifts from an external self-image to a recognition of
who we are. An inside job!
Tai: (laughs)
Diane: You're empowered, supported, unwavering because the purpose connects us to ourselves. For example, we
find a place to work that is aligned with a purpose—one that has the possibility of bringing some fulfillment,
meaning and self expression to our lives. If we're going to work there. Similarly, when the workplace is clear on its
purpose, not only its mission, but a purpose that speaks to how it serves the larger community through its products
or services, the more likely the company is to attract employees that resonate with an aligned sense of purpose.
Tai: Building culture in the workplace.
Diane: On a workforce scale you create it where there is a common purpose. Companies today are learning more
about the engagement factor. The team. Working together, employee and HR, towards the success of the company
as a whole.
Tai: Yes including the effect this has on communities. You know Diane, many organizations are trapped in this "must
be about the bottom line".
Diane: And what is the company doing for those they are employing? Remembering that collaboration is a great tool
to encourage everyone to invest more psychic energy in their work through the establishment of a larger purpose,
which turns out to be the most powerful way to improve trust and productivity in a company.
Tai: I like your reference to the Jewel image.
Diane: There is story called Indra’s Net, whose origins go back to fourteenth century Buddhism, beautifully illustrates
the concept of purpose. According to the story, it is believed that the whole world is a vast net woven together in
space and time. At the intersection of each warp and woof strand of the net is a jewel that represents each
individual human soul. It is that soul’s duty—sacred calling—to hold together it’s particular part of the web by being
its own unique jewel-like self, with light both emanating from and reflecting off of each jewel.
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In this way the whole universe holds together as one great interlocking field, but only if each one is completely and
authentically performing its unique role—in other words, who that individual soul was born to be.
Tai: Yes, of course. The way you put it.
Diane: Indra’s Net is a poetic illustration that foreshadows the work of quantum physicists who have confirmed the
existence of a quantum field in which everything in the universe is connected.
We bring the jeweled gift of who we are, our purposeful selves to bear at work and throughout our lives. One of the
theories of the great psychotherapist and psychiatrist Carl Jung’s states that not only do we have a gift but we each
have a responsibility to take ownership of that gift and aim to actualize it. This gift is precisely what the world needs
most from us. It may not be clear to you what your particular gift is, but the journey is to get you know yourself
deeply, which will reveal more and more as you undertake the journey of self-exploration.
Tai: Where do you go with all this?
Diane: One of the best places to discover the real you is to focus on those things that bring you the greatest joy.
What is it that truly gives you the most pleasure? Is it getting things done? Is it creating? Is it giving? Whatever feels
like the most authentic expression of who you are is your signpost to a satisfying life.
Tai: Step One?
Diane: Tune into memories from your life where you felt deeply fulfilled and satisfied. What is purposeful for you?
Make it a practice. Start with the possibility. A seed. Nurture and develop these aspects of yourself.
Tai: Any special talents required?
Diane: Research shows that the greatest musicians are not the ones with the most talent, but the ones who practice
deliberately, skillfully and tenaciously over time. Once you have an inkling of your gift, it is your responsibility to help
create the conditions under which it can flourish, including a workplace that supports the expression of that gift.
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Empower yourself. An interview with Diane Ingram

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Empower yourself. An interview with Diane Ingram