People to Know

Why have you chosen to consult together for the Hoffman Institute? What about this project excites you?

I took the Process in 2000 and I’ve wanted to do this since then. At that time, I raised my hand and said, “Hey, guys, this Process is an incredible vehicle for transformation and I really want to be part of making it more available to the whole world. I’ve felt strongly in my heart, in my soul, that the power of the Hoffman Institute is to transform people who are then more able to tackle deep issues in our families, communities and nations. Fortunately eight years later the stars aligned, and here we are.

Kathleen and I are both beyond ecstatic to participate professionally in building the Hoffman Institute’s stronger future, and to use everything we’ve learned in the Process to advance its work.

As you know, the funds needed to hire you were raised independently, by a group of generous Hoffman graduates who believe strongly in what you bring to the Institute. You’re both Process graduates. Vally, when did you do the Process?

I took it in 1998. Kathleen is one of the people who saw its dramatic effect on my life and my work and my ability to reach for my dreams. She was inspired to take the Process a couple of years later.

What’s your collective vision for the Hoffman Institute?

We’d like to see Hoffman have the greatest impact it can in the world. We’re formulating possibilities—vision and strategy—as we meet with staff, the teachers, the board and stakeholders. It’s gratifying to see so many grads and certainly all of the staff very much committed to advancing the Institute’s work.

Is realizing this vision dependent on increased enrollments and increased fund and resource development?

Absolutely. For more people to know about the Process, and for more people to be able to attend through the generosity of others, it requires wider and deeper participation by grads in all aspects of the Institute.

The vision is dependent on enrollment and resource development and so much more. Our work with Hoffman is to help it strengthen its overall organizational capacity. Successful non-profits – those that weather changes within the organization itself or in the environment surrounding it—the economy, for example - are built on a strong foundation that can be sustained over the years.

To talk further about capacity building, we’re here to help the Institute build networks between graduates, the board, stakeholders and the wider community in ways that are sustainable, engaging and interesting. The Hoffman Institute has a sprinkle of almost everything it could possibly need within the organization, it just hasn’t had the myriad of resources necessary —the capacity—to be able to water and nurture those seeds so they could blossom in the way that some of them are crying out to bloom.

Think about it from the perspective of linking the first call a potential new student makes to the enrollment department, with what goes in the database, with the exceptional teaching, with marketing, with the fundraising, with graduate programs, with the community, the board, staff, and leadership. All of those linkages are critical for the organizations’ ability to build capacity. An important task we have is to help structure the organization to absorb, nurture and magnify all that marvelous linked energy.

How has the Institute done with respect to its organizational capacity thus far?

The Institute has done marvelous work that has benefited thousands of graduates with a really small staff and incredible teachers, with successful fund development on a small scale, and with limited engagement from all the talent, treasure and time of its base of graduates. Our goal is to help the Institute build upon that foundation – increase that capacity, so it can strongly step into its vision. Just as we each create our personal vision during the Process, just as we make sure that the four aspects of our Quadrinity are strong – so too must Hoffman create integration amongst all of its connectors.

You both have worked with large organizations. Kathleen, you’ve held a senior position with the American Red Cross. Are the challenges of a $3 billion dollar organization similar to Hoffman’s?

They are. The only difference is that a $3 billion organization has more resources and more people than a smaller one. But any non-profit must align its resources to achieve success. When the leadership and the vision and the constituents are not aligned, you often find, regardless of size, similar dysfunctions and problems. To support the organization’s vision, there must be alignment and involvement of those I call ‘the players,’ - this includes the board, the leadership, the staff and it continues all the way through to the students. It involves all ‘the players’ being aligned and moving toward the same vision.

Where do students of the Process fit in the Hoffman vision?

Our vision is that the Institute not only provides an exceptional and transformational experience for them, but to also stay in touch with them as grads to make sure that their Process experience continues to inform and transform their lives. Also, how do we bring them back around to continue to support the Institute so that it continues to grow its mission and its vision?

It sounds like keeping a non-profit strong involves connecting pieces of a puzzle.

Yes. It’s similar to what we do on a personal level through the Process. First we take apart the pieces of our lives, we get to know where we’ve come from, we become aware of our strengths, and we look at the shadow sides.

Besides having a vision and the goal of alignment, and using the right “players,” how do you ensure that the organization’s structure is strong?

I tend to think of it as a spinal column --- the organization needs strong vertebrae, which are in alignment so that people can contribute to the muscle and the flexibility no matter what their role. Kathleen’s and my job is to make sure that Hoffman is aligned, strong, and that it’s flexible enough to take in and project energy back out as widely as possible. We find that when we get the organization’s structural alignment correct, more and more people are able to be a part of the organization, so it continues to strengthen and enrollment and fund development both grow.

As an organization how has the Institute done with its fund development efforts?

It’s been successful for a relatively small organization, even for a mid-sized organization. It has raised significant funds and has very, very generous friends. Our interest is to see that base grow wider, stronger and deeper.

Why is it important, on a global level, for the Hoffman Institute to grow?

Because now more than ever we have a need for people to show up in the world as individuals and as leaders in the most authentic way possible. The problems that we’re facing globally, the turbulence that we’re feeling in our economy and certainly inter-relations of nations are demanding that people contribute to the world in a positive, forward, loving way. In almost everything we touch, we see the need for more people from business, organizations and government, who can come to the problems that we face with creativity, insight and grounding, and patience – that’s what the Process provides.

Bob Hoffman said that with the Process he wanted to “create peace on earth, one person at a time.”

I echo that. The goal for strengthening Hoffman is to allow more people to show up differently, to lead differently, ask questions differently, be that much more authentic. When people are more conscious and aligned, their decisions are stronger, non-patterned and clearer.

If more of us are more present to our own lives and to the issues that our communities and the world community faces, we have a shot at coming up with soul based solutions.

And there’s another piece. Let’s talk about the next generation, about raising children. If they are raised with fewer patterns, their openness and consciousness will allow them to more deeply and confidently continue addressing the problems in this world.

As a nation we’re in the midst of challenging times. How do you see the Hoffman Institute helping individuals during this challenge?

The Hoffman Process is important during good times and bad. When I took the Process in 2000 I was facing a very difficult decision. By going through it, I had the tools I needed to make the right decision for me. Look at how many decisions people have to make right now in their families or in their careers or about how they’re showing up in their communities. The Process is the deepest, most lasting and strongest way of helping us make those decisions. These are difficult times for everyone, but if people can make decisions in alignment with their Spiritual self, they’re that much stronger and their decisions won’t come back to haunt them.

To add to that, the more turbulence and struggle we experience and witness in others, the more the Process can contribute to bringing us light and clarity.

How do you each live the Process in both your personal and your professional lives?

In my personal life I use the tools, particularly the elevator and the Quadrinity check. I’ve also done two Q2s during important moments in the last five years. In my professional life I do the same thing. When I was facing difficult decisions at the Red Cross I used all my tools to stay centered. The end result is that I chose not to continue working inside large organizations for now because of my vision. From listening to my Spirit, I joined with Vally and her company, International Planning Associates, to work with the Hoffman Institute, trying to make a deeper difference and create more authenticity in the world. Through my tools, I keep checking my gyroscope to see if I’m on my path and I continue to make very conscious decisions.

When I’m experiencing friction in my personal life or when helping organizations, I’m grateful to be able to ground myself in the oneness that the Process reignited in me. We all come from the same Light source, we’re all manifestations of it. When I’m reminded of that, things go much better in my work life and in my personal life. Having the Process and a Q2 as a base has led me to explore more deeply and from many vantage points, the meaning of my life and a place of loving kindness. The Light is sometimes obscured for me, but paraphrasing poet and teacher Stephen Levine, I remind myself that ‘it’s sometimes obscured by clouds, sometimes very dark clouds, but behind them the sun is always shining.’

Thank you both for your commitment to the Institute. We feel very lucky to have you here, helping us fulfill our vision of making the world a better place, one person at a time.

You’re a generous monthly donor of the Hoffman Institute. Why do you support it?

Because of what the Process gave me.  My life will never be the same.  The amount of love and authentic relationships I’ll have for the rest of my life is amazing.  If even one person has a chance to find what I found through Hoffman, that makes it all worthwhile. I’d love in my future to be able to give more and perhaps to help bring more people into it. I want the Process to thrive – it’s something I keep in my long-term vision.

So do we (laughs)! It’s with the support of committed Process graduates, people like you who give back, that we’ll continue to grow.

I can’t imagine myself going through the Process and not wanting to give back in some way, whether with time or financially or by spreading the word and getting more people to enroll.

Has the process affected your family?

I have five children from the age of 4 through 18. Right after the Process I had heart-to-heart conversations with my older girls. I had the forgiveness talk with them and they said, “You don’t need to be forgiven, there’s nothing to forgive you for.”  Through it they understood that I want our relationship to get to a level of complete openness and honesty about who we are. My goal was to be more vulnerable with my kids and to teach them that life is a journey of self-discovery and self-improvement. My own journey of enlightenment and spirituality, which I couldn’t offer them before, is what I gave them after the Process.

Has your wife done the Process?

No, but we’re on this journey together. The Process brought me up to her level (laughs) – she’s been becoming aware for many years and I was dragging pretty far behind. Now we talk the same language and our marriage has grown tremendously.

Who else in your life has done it?

Besides several colleagues, both my older brother and my sister-in-law have.  After not seeing them for a while, my sister-in-law noticed something different in me and she asked, “What’s up with you?  Historically I was more of the silent type when it came to talking about the process, but I shared with her the impact it had on me and she went home and signed up the next day.

Did they have similar experiences to yours?

Absolutely! In fact, my sister in law has talked about becoming a Hoffman teacher. She’s getting her Master’s in psychology and she said “I don’t think I could feel good about trying to help patients without introducing them to the Process, knowing they can heal much more in eight days than I could likely give them in years.” 

What has grown in importance in your life since the Process?

My relationship with my wife and kids, my three brothers, life-long friends, and just about every one has grown tremendously. I’ve had strong, deep conversations that I’d never had before; I was never even capable of having.  Now when we say “I love you,” we don’t just say it but feel it and mean it.  It’s been life-changing from that perspective.

Do you view the Process as important for business leaders?

Yes.  A lot of managers and leaders struggle with what it means to truly engage with your employees. To be engaged is to instill a high level of trust so that people know you care not just about their success, but about their happiness as human beings. Since the Process most of my employees have noticed something different.  It might be my calmness or level of compassion, but it’s also a shift in my priorities.  It’s no longer just about the development and success of the business, but about being present and authentic, and about caring about the whole person.

How does being present translate into business success for you?

I’m not carrying around the noise in my head, or the fears and patterns that I lived with for so many years, so I can hear and understand people far better, therefore I respond more intelligently from a centered place. As a result, my work improves.

Often we meet people at the Process who’ve spent years chasing the American dream only to find that getting it didn’t bring the joy they thought it would. It’s the story of the lonely CEO, who’s made it to the top but is isolated from everything, including her own feelings.

A person can climb to the top of the Ivory Tower and gain success and recognition in business or within a family, but then what?  Your kids grow up and go, you’ve accumulated a lot of money and nice things, but you can’t help feeling like something’s missing.

That’s when the Process teaches people what a “rich life” truly is.

Exactly. Before my brother went through the Process I said, “Jeff, you know, you’re going to come out feeling great, and then the work begins.” Hoffman gives you the tools and the path, but you have to decide every day to stay on that path.  Because of the Process we can each continue to grow every day.

You’re so right.  Tom, thank you for sharing your experiences with us and for your ongoing, generous support of the Hoffman Institute. We greatly appreciate both!