The Freedom of Naked

By John Grubbs

As a parent of two boys, I have a perspective that does not include that of a father of little girls.  And while the same behavior may be normal, I have no experience from which to make the same judgment.  What is it about little boys and dancing naked?  This supposedly common behavior that some may consider unspeakable is not limited to my own two little human examples, is it?  There is something revealing about this behavior and the pun is definitely intended.  This lack of restriction and confinement must be somewhat liberating to the normal single digit age human boy.  The common after bath ritual must promote some feeling of euphoria that I have long forgotten but should probably try to remember.  Is it the product of encapsulated energy?  Is it a latent sense of escape?  And what in the name of “Sam Hill – whoever that is” does this have to do with the point of this article?

Consider this behavior and the implication for all of us as humans.  As we grow older, society begins to restrict and confine us all.  We cannot speak openly.  How many times have you heard a child ask the question we were all thinking but would not dare ask?  We cannot reveal our true emotion.  We cannot even decide to wear two different color socks.  We can no longer be the police officer, train conductor, baseball player and pilot all at the same time.  The older we get, the more (figurative) clothes we have to wear.  We cannot freely think and act because we have been infected with OPD (Older People Disease).  No longer can we be the super hero nor do we ask a friend which super hero they want to be.  Our constriction starts when we get embarrassed.  Some may refer to this as enlightenment, while others may see the opposite. 

The acknowledgement of how we are viewed (and worse judged) by others can be very limiting for us in the workplace as well.  How many times have we had a great idea only to withhold it because of the pending judgment that might accompany revealing our thoughts.  Over time, we start to doubt the greatness of our idea only to rationalize it away.  Sometimes we may even think that if it were such a good idea, someone would have already recommended it. 

We also confine ourselves by restricting our own potential in life.  “I am just a”…you fill in the blank. Or “I could never do that”.  Or “that is not my place”.  These may be words most have thought and even uttered in the past.  Yet, when we are children, we are told we can be and do anything.  And in the mind of a five year old, anything is possible.  We can learn to fly just like Superman.  Dad is our greatest hero and Mom is the prettiest girl on the planet.  What happened to us?

Getting naked means deliberately shedding some of the restrictions placed upon us by society.  In his book of the same name, Patrick Lencioni unveils a revolutionary approach to client service that yields uncommon levels of trust and loyalty. In Getting Naked, Pat challenges service providers to be completely transparent and vulnerable with clients in order to overcome the three fears that ultimately sabotage client allegiance.

For most people, being vulnerable means we are taking a risk.  We are afraid to shed the many perceptions imposed upon us by society.  We are actually limited by our own interpretation of how society sees us.  We can sadly become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  In other words, we can become only what we see in ourselves.  When this happens, we have developed a full blown case of OPD.  The disease has matured and our potential in life has almost disappeared. 

Think about the dreams and aspirations that have been placed in the cedar chest of our lives.  Each of these contains energy that is slowly transformed over time.  Once upon a time… what once was a bright halogen bulb may now only be a spark in that chest.  It may be dormant but it never loses that energy.  Remember, Albert Einstein taught us that energy can neither be created nor be destroyed: it can only be transformed from one state to another.

What is the state of your energy?  Have you locked it in the cedar chest?  I encourage you to find that “little boy” in all of us.  Open the dialogue in your organization.  Know that people may be slowly dying of OPD because of the restrictions provided by life as well as the workplace.  Foster an environment that encourages the same freedom and lack of confinement we had when we were small.  Develop your people to “think and act” like the little children we once were.  Create an “anything is possible” culture that counteracts the OPD at every opportunity.  Shed the clothing that covers our potential as individuals and organizations.

Peter Drucker stated, “The only two things that matter in any organization are innovation and marketing.”  How can we be innovative while suffering from OPD?  How can we see potential where others see nothing?  How can we dance naked when we are worried about the perception of others?  The ability to improve has been given to all of us.  We need only to shed the clothes that society has provided so that we can rekindle that “child energy”.  We can all learn from the purity and innocence of youth!