What is IT? - Part Deux

I'm compelled today to re-examine this question after working with an awesome client during our team coaching session today and last week.

One of our missions in working together is to bring light first to our SELVES so that we can then move on to, using Stephen Covey's term, our CIRCLE OF INFLUENCE. We want my client's customers to choose my client's business because they know something is different there, even if they can't really define what it is.

That conversation led us to an attempt to define this "IT" we know is there, but aren't sure how to define. There is something - some spirit, some energy, some sense of something - that draws members/clients/customers to this place.

As we worked to define this "IT," it began to feel like looking into a starry sky during a dark night and trying to see individual stars. Have you ever tried to do that? Just as you begin to make out a specific cluster, it eludes your definitive gaze and you discover that the best way to take in the galaxy is by looking at it as a whole entity.

We know when "IT" is there ... and we know when "IT" isn't. Think about that next time you go to a restaurant. Is there something (besides your favorite dish) that draws you back? What about your favorite clothing store? What about your favorite coffee shop - your doctor - your accountant - your grocery store?

Do we need to have a definition of "IT" to be able to produce or create "IT" within a work environment or is it enough just to sense "IT"?

This reminds me of David Whyte's definition of soul in The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America. Here's his take:

"By definition, soul evades the cage of definition. It is the indefinable essence of a person's spirit and being. It can never be touched and yet the merest hint of its absence causes immediate distress."

Through my work with this awesome client, I now have a better sense of what "IT" is. And through the hard work of their staff, I know that, even if they can't pinpoint a definition, their clients know "IT" because they feel/sense/are surrounded by "IT" when they're there.

Where in your life is "IT" missing? Where in your life is "IT" present? Notice what you notice ....