Episode 77: Sub-routines, Ancestry, and your Leadership, with Jerry Colonna. The more I shone, the worse I felt. It was safer to be anxious than angry. Belonging, good-enoughness, and Jerry’s core question for sitting in stillness.

Enough, the Podcast

What are sub-routines? Author, coach, and “CEO Whisperer” Jerry Colonna adopts a term from computer programming, referring to the software that runs under an application, likening this to our belief systems laid down early in life. Jerry uses radical self-inquiry on me (unexpectedly) to probe my belief of “I must be constantly productive to be worthy” – a common sub-routine in high-achievers. Jerry invites us to consider the beliefs we’ve inherited from our ancestors in attempts to belong (as well as the subroutines those ancestors might’ve been running). How might these sub-routines be running under your leadership? We end with Jerry’s suggested practice and the core question to use in your own self-inquiry. The vibe of this episode? Deep, reflective, thought-provoking.

*Explicit. Mentions suicide.

4:03 Mandy’s Sedona ancestry experience

9:54 What does ‘belonging’ mean? – “To whom do I belong as a white, cis-gender man?”

11:50 Radical self-inquiry

14:55 Who am I? How did I come to be? Why do I do things that I do?

15:24 Sub-routines

17:20 Jerry’s career in VC (and working himself to death)

20:25 Examples of sub-routines

24:30 How Jerry worked through his sub-routines

30:00 Jerry does radical self-inquiry on Mandy

35:07 Behaviours persist when they provide a benefit

47:09 Relevance of sub-routines to working life

47:45 Jerry’s suggestion of what you can try – his core question to sit with

52:55 Jerry’s Brick of Wisdom

Links:

Jerry Colonna’s Reboot website.

Jerry Colonna on Instagram.

Mandy Lehto on Instagram.

Jerry Colonna on LinkedIn.

Gay Hendricks’s book The Big Leap.