A few days ago, I delivered a keynote address on Strategy Innovation to the top executives of one of Hong Kong’s most prominent blue chip companies. The group was eagerly participating in some thinking exercises, driven by the highly energetic and enthusiastic group chairman, one of Hong Kong’s business tycoons who is a shining example of a true business leader although having just entered his seventh life decade. All seemed to go perfectly — or at least, so it seemed. However, my energy sensors told me that I might be in for some trouble.

Today’s article focuses on a topic that so far has been widely neglected by the management literature: Energy — and how to use it to succeed in business.

Notice that energy is everything. In his book ‘The Power of Intention’, the US best-selling author Wayne Dyer explains that we are all part of a gigantic energy system. “Everything in this universe is a movement of energy. Higher / faster energies dissolve and convert lower / slower energy. Consider yourself and all of your thoughts of being an energy system. The higher your energy, the more capable are you of nullifying and converting lower energies, which weaken you, and impacting in a positive way everyone in your immediate and even distant surrounding.” Physicists agree that we are all a combination of matter and energy. One day, we all have to die, and will leave the matter behind. But ask yourself: What happens to the energy?

Your learning: Realize that energy is everything. Because they operate on extremely high energy levels, top performers have the ability to enter a room full of people and to completely change the sentiment from depressed and down to inspired and uplifted. Just think of people like Gandhi, Mandela, or the new US president Barack Obama. Starting today, consciously choose to operate on higher energy frequencies in order to transform negative into positive energy in your work environment.

Don’t manage time — monitor your energy levels at work. Time management books like Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” have helped countless businesspeople to become more productive and effective at work. But there’s a problem: the effectiveness-centered recommendations do not naturally resonate with the personality preferences of at least one out of three people — and they are the people with a naturally higher affinity to and talent for creativity.

Your learning: If you have experienced problems with time management, consider an alternative approach. Stop managing time — start to tune into your higher energy frequencies by asking questions like: Does my job energize me — or does it drain my energy? What kinds of work activities energize me? Does the activity that I currently work on flow easily — or is it hard work? What do I feel like working on next? Who enjoys doing those tasks that drain my energy?

As much as possible, try to work inside what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls “The Flow Zone,” where a work challenge matches your skills and interests. You are more likely to come up with novel ideas and produce great results if work feels energizing and interesting.

Effectively deal with energy-sapping people. Let’s return now to my recent keynote talk in Hong Kong. From the very beginning of the event, I noticed the negative energy levels of one of the firm’s board members. Frowning face, arms crossed in front of the chest, disengaged and not willing to participate in any of the group activities, this top manager was a giant living energy drag.

Toward the end of the 2-hour event, he interrupted me twice with some unjustified negative judgmental comments (thus violating the first of Osborn’s ground rules of ideation, “No judgment”). To save the success of the group’s ideation efforts, I bit my tongue, finished the exercise and effectively crushed the unjustified critique of this egomaniac naysayer after the exercise by explaining the underlying methodological theory and by documenting that the disputed tool used was successfully applied by Steve Jobs to save Apple from bankruptcy after his return in 1997.

Your learning: One rotten apple spoils the whole bunch, as they say. Stanford professor Robert Sutton dedicated a whole book, “The No Asshole Rule,” to the performance-reducing, energy-sapping effect of having to deal with — pardon me — assholes in business, regardless of whether they are colleagues, superiors, or customers. Avoid such black holes whenever possible, and if you are in the position, protect yourself (and your colleagues) by getting tough on and — if necessary — get rid of such eternal complainers.

Energy is more important than thinking. The name of the company that I started a few years ago is THINKERGY. Your guess is right: It’s made up of the words ‘THINKing’ and ‘enERGY’. Now which of those two words is more important for successful Business Creativity? As a seasoned businessperson, you probably opt for thinking. That’s what I thought as well when I started the THINKERGY project six years ago.

After having gained deep knowledge and practical insights into the mysterious twists of successful business creativity, I realized that energy is more important than thinking to produce breakthrough ideas and meaningful innovation for two reasons: (1) Thoughts are nothing but a form of psychic energy, and thus a subset of energy. (2) The more positive energy an innovation group generates, the higher the likelihood that they collectively produce great results in an idea project.

Your learning: A mantra at Pixar goes: “Art is a team sport.” So is innovation. A team that moves beyond the individual egos, that totally gets in sync, into the perfect flow of the vibrant energies of its living beings, will be able to create breakthrough innovation. So better quickly get rid of what Sutton calls “the assholes” in your company or team.

Conclusion: The architectural genius Richard Buckminster Fuller noted: “Real wealth is ideas plus energy.” Start today paying attention to energy as an important aspect to succeed in business and innovation. I believe that the English poet and critic Matthew Arnold is right: “Genius is mainly an affair of energy.”

© Dr. Detlef Reis 2009. This article was published in parallel in the Bangkok Post under the title “Energy is the real secret of success” on 22 January 2009.