SAM GEMMELL IS A BIG WOMAN. The aura from her years of business leadership enter the room ten feet in front of her and when she stands to talk with you there is a direct mix of deep inner quietness and outward bravado only a real leader dare pull off. To hear her describe what she does comes from a place of power of someone who knows that they know and are the only choice sitting comfortably atop the market. No boasting ever needed.

Campbell Frank, MIT mathematics grad and ex-Navy helicopter flight instructor team leader knows how to lead and motivate. When he finished his military service, he got his MBA from Stanford Business School and launched a lucrative trading career with Goldman Sachs. He spent many years living on the edge of high business. With shaved head, there is an intensity burning from behind his eyes and sinewy taught frame that gives him that coiled cat ready to spring look.

Shirley Greer kept her ex-husband’s security business afloat every evening by cutting hair to keep food on the table. A few years later she bought him out while building the most profitable and successful security company in all of New Zealand, with the highest level of customer satisfaction and the salaries in the industry. When she sold out to a large international firm she walked away from the table twice because she wanted to ensure the employees who sacrificed with her to build the company would be taken care of after the sale.

What these leaders all have in common is they completed the same unlikely program, The Journey Accredited Practitioner Program, an amazingly deep self-discovery process led by the American author Brandon Bays. I say unlikely because this program has no escape valves. Attempt to hide out in some vague construction of your rational thinking mind and Brandon busts you if you don’t first bust yourself. You see all the games you play, how you play them and the illusion of what you thought they brought you.

They voluntarily spent several thousand pounds and signed on to attend seven courses over a six month period to become Journey Practitioners, completed some 40 case studies and all now have a certification they all say they will never use professionally as a therapist and could not imagine having missed the experience.

The Journey helps people at all levels experience peak performance across the board and achieve results previously thought impossible for themselves, their employees and their companies. The reason is Brandon asks participants to GET REAL about whatever issue is affecting their lives and become true to truth. Say Brandon, “if you fully open into this emptiness and face whatever it is you most fear, then you realize how transparent your fears actually were. Instead of facing them, most people construct elaborate and false images of who they think they are.” The consistent theme repeated over and over again is no one can help another unless and until you become clear yourself.

Alex Roberts and Julienne Prozesky are not your average company leaders. Enthusiastic, caring and motivated to develop their staff along with themselves to be the best they can be – they give a new meaning to the term “spirit at work” in South Africa.

Their company Celtico, which supplies a wide range of clothing to South African chain stores is going from strength to strength, with turnover trebling in the past two years. The Journey played an important part in that growth. When an article appeared in a Durban newspaper last year announcing that along with their Christmas bonus, Celtico staff were being gifted with a weekend course on emotional self-healing, based on the work of Brandon Bays – with the aim of helping staff “achieve more of their potential” - calls flooded in from other interested companies and even their bankers faxed them a note of congratulation.

“We are committed to an ongoing programme of wellbeing for our staff,” says Alex. “We are 27 in all, ranging in age from 18 to 58, mainly woman and a cross-cultural melting pot of all colours and creeds. Julienne and I believe that the face of business must change. It‘s old fashioned to motivate people through fear, as is the way in far too many corporate environments. We believe in giving our staff the tools to develop their talents and potential.”

“We heard Brandon Bays speak at a free talk in Durban attended by over 1000 people. We had read her book The Journey and experienced our first Journey processes and then attended a workshop. We were blown away by the speedy and effective way this method gets to the root cause of problems and gives the inner resources to go forward in one’s life. We saw the change in ourselves and in friends around us and wanted to implement it in the business environment.”

After attending the two-day Journey Intensive workshop, Celtico staff returned to work the following week “transformed as if we had a whole new staff,” says Julienne. “Everyone had a story to tell, describing the changes they felt and we could tangibly feel the newfound harmony at work.”

“We wanted to give them something practical like this for use for themselves and in their families and the community. Above all, we want to see our staff thrive as they release their full potential. After all, they are the face of our business, the ones who interact with our customers.”

Many workplaces destroy people; Celtico is an example of a way to inject positive energy into the workplace by partnering staff in a way that benefits people increases profit and... enhances the community as a whole.

Sam Gemmell has offered The Journey programs to her staff and the work she has done on herself leads the way for her team. Campbell Frank mentors young teens to help avoid drug abuse situations. Shirley has converted her home into a conference center to help mentor young women looking to start their own in entrepreneurial ventures.

Journeywork is used in hospitals, prisons, rape crisis centres, schools, and even the English Premiership past champion Arsenal Football Club had their entire team experience these processes before beginning a streak of 49 games without a loss.

Imagine if this type of spiritual message caught fire in every company and every leader cracked themselves wide open and led by this kind of example. If we can imagine it, we can do it.

© Denis Campbell, 2005
To reach Helen you can visit her website at www.wholly.co.uk, e-mail horses@wholly.co.uk or call +44 (0)870 005 3104.