What I learned about business from a Nia flash mob

Posted by lauriemorin in Authenticity, Becoming an Entrepreneur, Featured Articles, Living in Prime Time, Passion, Purpose, Reinvention | 4 comments

Jul 31, 11

 On a steamy July evening, a small but mighty group of Nia dancers  from D.C/Bethesda came together and created a mini Flash Mob at The Lincoln Memorial during the Nia White Belt teacher training with Casey Bernstein.  If you read my last post, you already know I was one of the white belt trainees…that’s me in the back left corner   BTW, if you ever have a chance to do a training with Casey, I highly recommend it.  Her energy and enthusiasm are contagious.  She will be leading a Nia week-end at Kripalu at the end of September.

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about the connection between Nia and the rest of my life, and how to apply the lessons of Nia to my entrepreneurial pursuits.  Not surprisingly, my flash mob experience was a great metaphor for entrepreneurship, since Nia is all about enhancing potential and living a meaningful life.

Here are my top 3 lessons from the Nia flash mob experience.  If you watch the video closely, you’ll see what I mean.

Success is about finding the sweet spot between beginner’s mind and expert wisdom

The beauty of Nia is that you are dancing to a choreographed routine, but following your own body’s way.  Starting from the foundation of 52 steps, you slowly add on layers of movement until it becomes a joyful dance.  You have to be in your head to learn the moves, but if you stay too much in your head, you can’t experience the joy of movement.  As you can see from the video, I was still at the stage of learning the steps, but experienced moments of bliss when I let go of thinking and just let the music flow through my body.

In Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell demonstrates that true expertise in any endeavor takes approximately 10,000 hours or 10 years of intense practice.  Obviously, I wasn’t going to be an expert in Nia after one intensive 50-hour training.  But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t experience success at the level of a Nia neophyte.  You don’t need to know all the steps to make the first move.

Likewise, entrepreneurs have to put in long hours to master their craft.  But most of us can’t wait 10 years to start making money with our endeavors.  So we need to find that sweet spot where we can think our way through providing value to our clients while we patiently await the wisdom that only comes with experience.

When I first started teaching law school, I called it “staying two steps ahead of my students.”  I would have to spend 8 hours planning a 2 hour class, but then I was able to deliver value.  Now, after 18 years of teaching, the neural pathways in my mind are so well-connected that I can teach a class blind-folded and standing on one leg.  I don’t have to think about it…the knowledge and energy just flows.

Because I have an entrepreneurial spirit, I have started many new projects in my life.  Each time, I have put pressure on myself to be an expert when I am really just a neophyte.  The Nia flash mob experience reminded me that there is much joy to be found in a new journey if you can simply stay in beginner’s mind and let expert wisdom develop at its own pace.

You don’t need to know the whole dance to take the first step

A Nia routine is made up of several songs, each of which has several sections.  Sections can be broken down into bars, and bars are made up of groups of beats.  When you are learning a Nia routine, the first thing you do is listen and practice being seduced by the music.  Only when you sense the music in your body do you take the first step.

This process happens long before you experience a fully choreographed routine.  If you can sense the music and take one step at a time, ultimately you will learn the entire dance.  If you simply sit on the sidelines and watch, you will never learn the routine.

The same is true when starting a new business.  Although a fully developed business plan is a good idea, you don’t need to know exactly how each stage of the business will proceed in order to take the first step.

In my experience coaching entrepreneurs, I have met a lot of people who desperately want to start a business, but are too afraid to take that first step.  They keep studying and learning and planning, but never take any concrete action to set their business in motion.  If this goes on long enough, they ultimately lose their passion and give up on their dream.

This is a tragic waste of potential.  As anyone who has started a business will attest, things rarely proceed exactly as planned.  It is by sensing the next step and deliberately moving toward it that a successful business is slowly developed over time.

To take your business to the highest level, you have to do it your way

One of the key principles in Nia is to move authentically.  Even when you are dancing a choreographed routine, your dance will be unique because no two bodies are exactly the same, and no two spirits experience exactly the same sensations.  You can see that clearly in the flash dance video.  Even when everyone is taking the same steps, they are radiating different levels of energy, feeling and movement.

This is certainly true in business.  Let’s say you want to become a life coach.  There are literally thousands of life coaches out there in the world, but the world still needs your life coaching business.  Why?  Because your coaching will embody all of the unique aspects of your personality, experience and values.

If you are passionate about your coaching, your business will resonate with the clients who are drawn to those unique qualities.  That is why good business people know that they are not marketing a product or service…they are really marketing themselves.  And the more authentically they can do that, the more successful their business will be.

Let me know what you think.  Do you have a passion that serves as a metaphor for business?  Please share your experience and spread the love.