What does it mean to be real? Not just on a personal level, but for an organisation? Simon Young says it's an important question because the answer determines your organisation's success in the era of reality we're in.

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What does it mean to be real?

"Get real" is more than just a slogan, it's an essential quality for you and your organisation to succeed. 

But what does getting real actually mean? 

First, being real means being yourself - not in a "take it or leave it, this is who I am" way, but in a way that learns your strengths and how to perform them. We covered that a while back, on a personal level. But it applies for an organisation as well.

Being real time means there's no time for scripts or rehearsals, this is an improv show. And as anyone who's done improv will tell you, improv doesn't mean no preparation, it means a completely different kind of preparation. Instead of a script, have a playbook.

Sports teams know this. Remember the movie Whip It? The coach tried to get his team to read the playbook, and they wouldn't pay attention. They started paying attention when he gave the other team the playbook - and they crushed his team. 

They didn't realise that knowing some key moves could really help them respond quickly and in real-time, with their heads not in the rule book but right on the action. The playbook was not an A to Z, it was a cookbook ... ingredients that the team could improvise as needed.

In many ways, improvisation could be described as being the right person in the right place at the right time.

Never forget about the first part. Being the right person. And guess what? You are the right person.

Real commitment is also about real time. One of the things I've learnt while studying Chinese is the importance of relationship. This is from NZ Trade and Enterprise's guide to doing business in China:

"Chinese people have traditionally done business on the basis of mutual trust rather than by written contracts. In this environment you will need to gain the trust of the key people you are negotiating with as well as being well-covered contractually. You will also need to develop an accurate opinion on whether you can trust your counterparts."

For a moment, just take the word "Chinese" out of that first sentence. Because the Chinese culture has known something for years that the western world is just catching up on. Business (that's any kind of transaction) happens on the basis of trust. That's an emotional thing. That's all about the now.

Commitment on a piece of paper is often legally enforceable, but it holds little weight unless there is an emotional commitment behind it. A piece of the paper is about the past, but what's really important is the current level of emotional engagement.

It means, like real time and being yourself, that you can't fake it. You can't autopilot real commitment. You are being invited to an improvised dance. You must make it up as you go along - just like everyone else.

Some months ago I was part of a gathering in Ponsonby that involved hookahs (yes, that's spelt right) and a belly dancer. First of all, she was going to talk about dancing. Then she was going to dance. 

And then, sure enough, she started picking people out of the crowd to join her. As a staunch kiwi male, I took great pride in my standing-very-still and not-getting-picked skills. 

But gradually just about everyone in the room was joining in. I'd love to say I ended up joining the crowd, but to my regret, I didn't. (I did, however have a great, uninterrupted conversation with the other guy who didn't join the dance!) 

Life is full of opportunities like the belly dance. How we look at those opportunities shapes how we deal with them.

Because really, we are in terrifying times. If you think about things too much, there are plenty of reasons to be really neurotic about the future.

But there are also plenty of reasons to be amazingly excited. These are times when anything could happen. And you could be one of those things, waiting to happen!

Thank you Carlos for the genuine pics!