A day at the beach described by Nuno Brito Jorge
On May 2nd, 2019 we celebrated GoParity’s second birthday. It was not the exact date of our anniversary but that is the least important of details.
Let me introduce to the team at that time:
The day started early in the morning with Yoga on the sand led by Sofia Sela from Fly-Yoga. It really helped us to tune in for the rest of the day. The experience was unforgettable, though one could easily see who was the “most experienced” (like Carolina), the “natural born” (like Pritesh) and the “hardworker” (like myself).
The yoga session was followed by surfing. There the roles turned a bit. The weather really helped, the waves were reasonable and it was 28ºC.
The surf lesson was given by Time to Surf a school and surfcamp in Caparica. There were also “the experienced” and “the natural-borns”. And also maybe a couple of “this is not for me”? From those who took part in the class, I have to say Harry, Carolina, Mariana and Miguel had the best performances. The two girls really stood out!
When the surfing was over we took a bit of time to allow the physical recovery and then the time came for the THNK-inspired part of the agenda.
Note 1: for those who doesn’t know it, THNK is a Creative Leadership School based in Amsterdam. I am currently done with 2 modules out of 4. It is a very special and deep journey to innovation, creativity, leadership and, most profoundly, your inner self and the way you relate with other people. We are a group of 31 people from 22 countries and I don’t think I ever felt this connected to so many people in such a fast way. There are still two modules to finish but I’m already sad it will “soon” be over. Hopefully it is also something they’ll teach how to deal with (they do give attention to every detail)?
We took a silent walk to another part of the beach nearby (around 30 min) with no specific goal other then spending time with each other. It was meant to be somewhat introspective but, being in charge of the morning program until lunch time, it didn’t really feel like it to me. I guess duty called.
At the end of the walk we all gathered hugging in a circle and did the “Emerging Circle”, an “Eye opener” (that’s what they call them at THNK where they are brilliantly imparted by Rod Ben Zeev). We did it right at first time. It has been so since the second try in the first team meeting when we have tried it (in late March). It’s amazing how such a simple and small exercise can be so powerful in proving that “we’re all synced”.
Note 2: Emerging circle — Stand in a circle. The task is to count from 1 to 20. Each person can say one number at a time, but there is no particular order in which to speak. So one person will start with “one…” and someone from somewhere else in the circle will say, “two,” etc. If two people speak at the same time, you need to start again from ‘one’.
We then headed to Manduca restaurant for lunch. The view for the ocean was breathaking. Some had great grilled fish. The ladies stood out asking for the vegetarian dish. There was also sangria, wine and some tapas to start with.
After lunch the introspection continued but, by then, I handed leadership to Pritesh, who did a brilliant job. We started with a video of the “privileged race”. You might have already seen it but if not please do so! For us it is never too much to watch it again, given how powerful it is.
We then did the “Pizza of Life” exercise. In a nutshell, you reflect for a while and give rate from 1 to 10 to 14 dimensions of your personal life (Happiness, Family, Adventure, Finance…). After, we took a while to fill it in individually, each one of us then shared the reflection about one of the dimensions of our own choice, explained why have we chosen this particular dimension and the note we gave. I chose happiness. It was a very interesting exercise and it was rewarding to see how comfortable we feel by sharing the results with each other.
The day was over with a collective sunset watching. A bit of a cliché, I know, but totally worth it. You can never get tired of this.
If there is any important takeaway from this day (even though in my opinion there is plenty), for me it is that companies are made of people who shape them to what they are. I’m certainly very happy with ours. I think we all are very happy with each other.
