Our May event took place on a cool spring morning, at Heden’s stylish co-work in Santa Apolonia. The first floor buzzed with activity as the event’s guests arrived and mingled, enjoying morning coffee and sweet breakfast treats. Heden’s balcony offered a breath of fresh air and views of the Tagus river, next to Lisbon’s cruise terminal.

After breakfast, attendees were seated and we learned Creative Morning’s global monthly theme for May: Acceptance. We were asked to think about what acceptance means to us,  as we would explore it further with this month’s talk.

Our May speaker was German-American entrepreneur, Tim Leberect. Tim is the co-founder and co-CEO of The House of Beautiful Business, a think tank and global community that explores what a life-centered economy looks like. Tim’s talk contemplated “Beautiful Business In the Age of Machines”: what does a people-centered business look like in the age of A.I.?

Tim, who previously lived in Lisbon, informed us about The House of Beautiful Business’s upcoming Sintra retreat, The Dream. This festival gathers over 600 leaders, thinkers, dreamers and doers to reimagine the possibilities Web3, a decentralized economy and A.I. offer sustainability and our ability to co-create with nature.

The talk began by introducing us to the “false Gods” of business and management - ego, efficiency, winning, data, mind, intelligence, human-centered – and why a new approach is needed. “We spend 65-70% of our waking hours working, we want it to be meaningful,” Tim stated.

Right now, we are in the age of polycrisis, possibility and purpose. Polycrisis meaning the number of crises are augmenting and enlarging each other. AI and other tech are fundamentally changing the way we live and educate ourselves, presenting new opportunities. People are looking to create a life that’s meaningful and beautiful, not just productive; they want it to feel purposeful.

“We were an industrial, then a knowledge economy. We’re moving into a metaphysical economy. One where we understand and create reality, create meaning.”

He explained how consciousness shows us the purpose of everything is to honor and create life: not just human life. Although it’s something “higher”, it allows us to ground and reconnect with the body, nature and flesh. By replacing the false Gods of business with different behaviors and attitudes, we can live in a more life-centered way. This way honors ecology, beauty, and wisdom.

Although it might sound lofty, Tim explained how organizations can make this happen: through the body (embodiment), heart (embracing) and spirit (expansion).

The first step, embodiment, requires fostering our somatic intelligence. More organizations are working with dance as a means to get back into connection with the body, in a holistic and freeing way.

Secondly, we reach our the heart by embracing the full spectrum of human emotions (not just toxic positivity). Tim explained how this is not forcing emotions into a kind of “intelligence”, that can be used to improve productivity. A heart-centered approach might look more like people being honest about struggling, and sharing their vulnerability – something that has become more commonplace since Covid. Emotions are complex and nuanced, and it’s through their expression intimacy is formed.

It raised an interesting question: Can you ever have a truly intimate relationship with a machine? You need vulnerability, a uniquely human trait. Tim quoted musician Nick Cave’s reflection in response: “It has endured nothing. It hasn’t had the audacity to reach beyond its limitation. It has no limitation to transcend.”

Lastly, expansion sees corporations embracing spirituality, as the door begins to open and things that were once perceived as woo-woo become more mainstream. Tim gave the example of Shani Lehrer, a Kabbalistic healer who works with big accounting firms and CEOs, and the Psychedelic House of Davos satellite event that took place in conjunction to the WEF in 2022.

Whereas smart business was data driven, beautiful business, Tim explained, is life-centered. It involves sensing instead of planning, energy instead of productivity as a metric, using the imagination and having permission to not know the answers at all times.

The inspiring and uplifting talk invited countless questions from the rapt crowd. Afterwards, guests made connections and had vibrant discussions about the topic. We were left to contemplate the value of our humanness and how we can leverage it to create a more beautiful world for humans and nature, in the age of machines.

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Photography by Carla Heyworth