NPD: Describe to us your role as an Empowerment Consultant.

JM: As an Empowerment Consultant I work with individuals, groups, and organizations. The focus of my work is self-empowerment, helping people to find the power within themselves. I consider myself a facilitator of a process, collaborating with people to help them become more effective at whatever it is they do. I use synergistic approaches. I don't empower or motivate others, rather, I hold the space for them to find their strengths and accomplish what they're capable of doing.

NPD: What do you mean by "holding the space"?

JM: "Holding the space" is an energetic concept. I am able to expand a person's energy field, allowing the individual to step into the expansiveness. Generally, people have very limited ideas about themselves and what they can do. I facilitate expansive thinking and creativity. I can help them envision a bigger picture. By asking deep questions, I guide people away from their self-imposed limitations into clarity about all aspects of their lives.

NPD: How do you work with people?

JM: I work with people in workshops and other groups, and individually in person or by telephone or audio tape.

NPD: What types of workshops?

JM: My workshops are experiential, designed to help people get in touch with their strengths, insights, and creativity. Participants learn about themselves and others in meaningful ways. Practical techniques based on well-grounded principles help participants know what to do next. Team building is a popular and important focus in many organizations these days. I prefer when I can work openly on issues related to self-empowerment and energy, or "energetics," as I usually say.

NPD: Please explain what you mean by "energetics."

JM: I use the word "energetics" to refer to the physical and non-physical aspects of persons, places, and things -- and the thoughts that form them. "Energy field" is a synonymous term. When I describe energetics, I describe qualities such as temperature, density, clarity, hardness, and softness. These energetics can be applied to individuals, groups, and organizations physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. By asking deep questions I guide people away from their self-imposed limitations into clarity about all aspects of their lives.

NPD: Can you give us some brief examples on each of the four levels?

JM: Heaviness on the physical level can yield illness or poverty in the individual or "dead wood" in organizations. Physical lightness includes health and vitality.

NPD: And on the emotional level?

JM: A sticky feeling in the energy field of the emotional body can be an indication of difficulty in interpersonal relationships. Lightness here might show as fluidity in communications, gentle laughter, empowering playfulness.

NPD: And on the mental level?

JM: Confusion is an indication of unclear energetics in the mental body. Clear thought forms make it easier to articulate and manifest goals.

NPD: And on the spiritual level?

JM: Toxicity on the spiritual level usually results in feelings of isolation or shame or aimlessness. Spiritual clarity and lightness usually result in a sense of freedom or synchronicity.

NPD: It sounds like you're saying that what happens in the energy field predicts what is happening in the person's experience.

JM: It does not necessarily predict, but it does suggest possible experiences. I just gave you some examples, but these are by no means the definitive outcomes for heavy or light energetics. Since people live in their experiences, they talk about those to me, giving me a way in to the energy field. I see what's going on in the energy field that gives insight into the presenting problem.

So, when a boss and subordinate say, "We're having trouble communicating with each other," they are presenting me with their experience which is essentially emotional. This is a clue to observe first the energy field of the emotional body. When I discover what is going on there, I can clear it at a deep enough level so that behavioral changes or new procedures are more likely to be effective.

NPD: Can you give us an example of the results you get in organizations?

JM: I recently completed work with an organization that was set up as a two-year contract. We finished nine months early. This organization had difficult interpersonal and organizational issues. After the first three-day consultation, one of the managers told me that they were where he had hoped they would be in two years. On the second visit, there was a dramatic / energetic transformation, described by another manager as a "shift in consciousness." During the third visit, the ineffective structure was changed to a more effective one, one that was obvious to all involved, and therefore easy to implement. When consciousness shifts, answers are usually clear to everyone.

NPD: How have you experienced that organizations typically change their structure?

JM: Usually the structure is changed to meet a specific need -- real or perceived -- from inside or outside the organization. In this situation, the organization was ready for the structural change before it was in place. Once the structure changed from the appropriate level, the organization focused on the work rather than repairing the damages of a structure imposed prematurely from above.

NPD: Has your work been met with any skepticism or cynicism?

JM: In a corporate environment, skepticism sometimes greets me. I welcome the healthy skeptic, though I find the cynic can run interference in a group. I actively encourage individuals and groups to act in ways that lead to getting their true needs met, including asking tough questions.

NPD: Do you experience any frustrations in your work?

JM: My greatest frustration comes when someone has had a profound, transformational experience and later discounts it. This usually happens when the culture of the organization or other social system does not support the new idea or the change. Or it may happen because the individual does not have a framework or enough other similar experiences to validate the transformation. I have found the model Joel Barker describes in his book, Future Edge, to be helpful. As a "paradigm shifter," I recognize that not everyone is ready to leap into a new way of seeing the world. I understand this, I even accept it, but sometimes find it frustrating.

NPD: What are some of the most common blocks that you find in businesses today?

JM: Fear. I see a lot of fear in organizations as many companies are downsized or "flattened." Many executive and management positions are being removed or changed. Most individuals who have been accustomed to having a certain type of power are confused or uncertain. Fear can also be felt by individuals who have become dependent on a strong management hierarchy.

NPD: Have you seen any significant trends of energy shifts in companies in the past few years?

JM: Definitely. Downsizing, as I just mentioned, is a significant change that shifts energy. Mergers and acquisitions or other changes in structure shift the energy of the whole organization. Such changes often cause pain. Unfortunately, individuals and organizations are accustomed to looking outside themselves for both the source and the answers to problems. Looking for answers, they call in consultants and trainers, read books, watch films, and try techniques.

NPD: That's how a lot of people make a living.

JM: Indeed, including me. And I have lots of answers. The trick, of course, is to appropriately match up clear questions with effective answers. If I teach anything at all to my clients, these are two ideas I most hope to leave with them: (1) It's essential to have clear questions and (2) people already have the answer within themselves. They might first hear an answer from outside themselves, yet they must know from the inside out; to say that another way, they must recognize from inside themselves if the idea they hear from another is appropriate for them.

NPD: And you use your own energy to activate that, don't you?

JM: Yes. I facilitate the inward looking and I hold the energy for the shift in consciousness to take place. If there are changes required in the outer experience, they will be obvious and often effortless.

NPD: And by "outer experience" you mean ...

JM: Changes in circumstances, such as, a change in the organizational structure, a different behavior, a new procedure. Such things.

NPD: To compete in the current and future business world, where do you see businesses heading and how do you see your consulting work facilitating this?

JM: Ours has become an information-based society. I can help clients gain information more quickly by accessing information in the energy field. Businesses are grasping the need for an expanded consciousness and for responsibility to ourselves, each other, and our world. Many organizations are more consciously caring about people and our environment. We're moving to a new paradigm, one which seems shaky or scary for some. But for me, it's very exciting.