Russ Mitchell shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Russ, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
I was giving a workshop in Quebec and one of the fencers I was teaching happened to have Cerebral Palsy and asked for help. In an hour or so I helped him soften up his legs by showing him where in his back he was having problems, so that he could actually stand upright, as opposed to being tilted forwards all the time. The look on his face was priceless, and being able to stand upright will help him in a lot more places then just whacking his friends with swords.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I run Irving Feldenkrais.
What I do is pretty simple: I help you change your habits for the better. Mostly physical habits (and that carries over into the fencing that I coach), but also mental and emotional habits, because your nervous system doesn’t distinguish between the two. A physical injury and an emotional injury are all the same where your nervous system’s concerned.
What’s really fun about the Feldenkrais Method is that it’s just as applicable to the 83-y.o. who wants to stay happily independent as to the athlete looking to win an armored MMA fight, to the gal who’s so hag-ridden by anxiety that it takes her three hours to nerve up to make a phone call.
It’s the same nervous system, and I use that to *help people be better.*
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
When I was a kid I believed that I wasn’t allowed to stand out, show off, or be good at anything. To the point where I didn’t take certain shots in soccer because pulling off the “cool move” felt like I was going to get in trouble for showing off.
It turns out that I’m not rare in this. A LOT of people have to be told “hey, you’re allowed to win. You don’t have to make yourself small and anonymous.”
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
While it touches on the previous question, if I could say one thing to my younger self, it would be “you’re allowed to get what you want; you’re allowed to win.”
An awful lot of us go through life looking at what we want and pre-compromising to come up with an “acceptable” list of desires, when, as it turns out, what people want not only often doesn’t entail conflict, but actively inspires others.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. Where are smart people getting it totally wrong today?
The smart people are totally getting it wrong by looking to replace people, rather than to grow them. As Herb Kelleher said, “you have to take care of your internal AND external customers.”
The people who work for you are customers, not just cost centers on an XL sheet. The more powerful you help them become, the more they help you. Far too many of the smart people are only seeing one step into the Game Theory, rather than understanding that even when people leave, they’ll remember how they were treated and that reputation comes back to you — as business people who are interested in talking to you, or customers who hear your name and run for the exits.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
Nothing at all. I am where I want to be and who I want to be and doing everything I need to be doing. The only difference is that if I knew I had that expiration date, I might lean in even harder to help leave an improved legacy for those I’m helping.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.irvingfeldenkrais.com/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRukALu2YHLy_NBdWiRnRtQ
