ABOUT US
We will never promise you that you will get rich quick, never have any problems, or have the perfect relationship.
We believe that every human being has a vast untapped reservoir of potential, a greater capacity to be, do, and have more of the richness that life has to offer. We believe that you were destined to have a life of satisfaction, passion, and purpose and that this destiny will not be denied. If you are reading this it is because you have started to listen to the little voice inside that has been telling you that its time. Time to grow, time to change, time to step up and claim your rightful place in the world. We believe that each of us has our own unique way of being human and what we have in common is the latent power of the unity of mind, body, and the human spirit. As the HP2ONLINE team we believe that we have the means and methods to enable you to live the life of your dreams.
Our mission is to show you how to live the life of your dreams. We have spent 25 years perfecting a precise methodology of personal growth and development. Up until now it has only been available only to elite athletes, the military, and top tier corporations. Now its’ your turn!
We are all alive in a historical moment of great contradictions. Never before in human history have people had so much. We are more educated, healthy, rich, connected, and awash in material goods than any people in history. At the same time as the world gets more connected people find themselves increasingly isolated, alone and frustrated as life seems to be passing them by. Suffering from a lack of purpose we get caught up in acquiring things and staying busy rather than face the feelings of emptiness and the lack of genuine satisfaction with our lives. Deep inside there is a lingering sense that we should be up to something more important, that we were destined for something bigger and better.
Without purpose no amount of ‘stuff’ is ever going to be truly satisfying and it is simply not possible to stay so busy that the little voice calling you to your destiny, telling you ‘its time’ can be completely ignored. You can only stay asleep for so long and then one day it happens. You catch a glorious sunset, the reflection of light off the lake, a smile in the eyes of a child, the gentle touch of a breeze or the excited wag of a dogs tail and you remember. Some deep part of you remembers that there is more to life, that it wasn’t intended to be a struggle, that you have the latent capacity to be, do and have more. That’s the moment that we live for, as it is at that moment that we can help you design and deliver a new future for yourself.
The HP2ONLINE team is made up of a cadre of deeply experienced professionals. Collectively they have hundreds of years of experience in delivering individual and organizational transformations and enabling people to live richer, fuller, more satisfying lives. They are all dedicated to one simple, single purpose. Helping you live the life of your dreams.
Our clients are just like you - almost. They are people who have had success in life and yet they had the same lingering sense that you do. They knew there was more to life. They knew they had more potential for satisfaction, joy, accomplishment, dignity, grace, authenticity, and the rewards that come with it and yet they didn't know what to do to realize more of their potential. The difference between our clients and everybody else is that they were willing to set aside their hesitation, cynicism, reasons, and excuses for not acting and they enrolled in the Foundation program. At that moment they set their sights on bold new future and for all of them life has never been the same. All you have to do is make the same powerful move and open the door to a new future for yourself and the people that you care about.
HP2Online has a unique history. We started working in the world of athletic performance and brought lessons learned there to the military. From there we moved into the business world and now on to you!
Our unique history will enable your new future!
We come from the world of performance. HP2 was started in the early 80's and our initial mission was simple. We worked exclusively with athletes to isolate and reproduce in them the elements that enabled consistent winning performance. Initial success with individual performers took us to the world of teams and we expanded our work to include new practices of enhancing team performance. We had the opportunity to work with and generate success with a number of teams of all sizes and types - amateur, Olympic, and professional.
This success caught the attention of the military and we designed and delivered a series of programs for the Army, Army Special Forces, and Marines. In each case we enabled high performing individuals and units to exceed their historical best performances.
In the late 80's we turned our attention to the corporate world and brought the same level of rigor to this new world that we brought to the arenas and playing fields. What we saw was that as the world continued to change dramatically, the traditional approaches to business leadership, management, and learning were increasingly ineffective. It took us some time and a lot of experimentation until we succeeded in crafting a coherent body of work that consistently produces new levels of performance, innovation, and satisfaction. Central to everything is the understanding that in today's world ‘work’ is no longer about manual labor, tedious factory jobs, or endless grey cube farms. It is the making and fulfilling of commitments. Therefore management must be oriented around practices that enable the effective coordination required to produce internal and external customer satisfaction. From our work with athletes and soldiers we knew what it took to produce effective coordination, as in those worlds the results speak for themselves. Our challenge was to make these same practices relevant and applicable to the corporate world. Thus was born Commitment Based Management.
This new work on management has begun to make its way into the business mainstream and over the years we have had the opportunity to work with some of the greatest companies in the world. Firms like AT&T, Intel, Microsoft, CapitalOne, Amgen, Allianz, Nike and a host of others have entrusted our team with helping them shape their futures. With each of these clients we worked with their top leaders and managers to shape new futures and open new worlds.
What has all of that got to do with you? Nothing and everything at the same time. We are not working with you to be managers and leaders or to enhance your athletic performance or the performance of your military unit. Any or all of that may well occur, and it isn't our goal. Our goal is help you live the life of your dreams and we are going to do that by sharing with you all of the methods and practices that have been effective in transforming the lives and careers of thousands of athletes, soldiers, and corporate leaders and managers - people just like you! You are the beneficiary of all of these years of work, experimentation, and success. We now know with certainty what it takes to produce and sustain an authentic transformation. How do we know? Because we have been doing it for 30 years!
Along the way we have been innovators in the the practices and methodology of transformation and now bring to you an established, tested, proven body of work that is designed for just one purpose. To enable you to life the life of your dreams!
Chris Majer is the founder and CEO of the Human Potential Project Online (HP2Online) and the designer of all of our programs. He is a modern day entrepreneur, innovator, and adventurer who has trekked the wilds of Africa, Alaska, and the Amazon. He is a Rugby player with a Master Degree who has taught hand-to-hand combat to Marines, performance principles to the Special Forces, and leadership, management, strategy and innovation to the corporate world.
Chris’ work evolved out of his early days as a competitive rugby player. In 1981 he began by working exclusively with athletes to isolate and reproduce the elements of consistent winning performance. His success with individual athletes and teams caught the attention of the military and he and his firm spent nearly three years working with the Army to design new ways of training soldiers. This work culminated in a year long classified project with the Army’s Special Forces.
In the mid 80s the firm began working with corporate clients, again generating remarkable results. Under Chris’ leadership, the firm grew into a skilled team of professionals working globally. Chris was the principal architect of transformational projects for corporate clients such as AT&T, Cargill, Microsoft, Intel, EDS, Capital One, Amgen, and Allianz Life of North America.
Chris has spent over two decades developing innovative and highly effective approaches for enabling individuals and organizations of any size to maximize their performance. Now he has distilled all of this experience into a series of programs for a select consumer audience.
He is the author of 20 white papers and The Power to Transform – Passion, Power, and Purpose in Daily Life, which was published by Rodale.
Chris earned a MPA in Organizational Development from the University of Washington. He also studied extensively with philosopher Dr. Fernando Flores, known for his work on the ontology of language. In addition he has been an Aikido student and spent time with various martial arts teachers, Buddhist Monks, Zen Masters and a host of other practitioners.
He has been featured in Time, People, Mens Health, and Esquire and has appeared on the Today Show, Charlie Rose, and the MacNeil/Lehrer Report. Chris has also been a keynote speaker at venues around the world.
OUR UNIQUE WAY OF WORKING
HP2ONLINE offers a unique type of development work. We refer to it as authentic learning. Here is how it is different, why it works, and what the elements of it are.
One of the fundamental breakdowns in our society is that we have a dysfunctional view of learning. Part of the issue is that there are three very different definitions of the learning. We will use some sports examples here to illustrate the breakdown both because we are deeply familiar with them and because they are easy to understand. You can substitute most anything in the place of the sports below.
1. Learning as to become aware of. “ I saw Serena Williams on TV last night and she made the most amazing new tennis shot." In this case learning is seen as the process of expanding your awareness. You have become aware of something that you were not previously aware of and you now saw you have 'learned.'
2. Learning as to understand. I watched Tiger Woods on TV at the Masters and he was making these amazing chip shots. I got so inspired I bought and read Tiger's new book and in it he explained in detail how to make a chip shot." In this case you went past awareness and delved deeper into the pursuit of learning and read a book. Now you 'understand' how to make the chip shot and again, you can say that you have 'learned.'
The dilemma with these first two views of learning is that neither one of them enables you to do anything new, better, or different. Your chipping will be no better as a result of seeing the TV clip or reading the book. That you are aware of or understand something doesn’t mean you can do it. That is why we need to move to the third view on learning – what we call authentic learning.
3. Learning as the development of new competence. “I worked with the pro at the course for six weeks and hit 5,000 practice shots. Now I have learned how to chip.” This is what we are pointing to, the development of new competence, a new capacity for action.
Our product is what we call embodied competence. Embodied means you can take the new action without having to stop, think, or look it up in some book. It is now part of your repertoire of available actions for moving in the world. Competence is simply the capacity to produce the desired result. There is only one way to develop competence and that is via practice. No amount of awareness or understanding ever produced competence.
Most of the seminar programs that are available these days tend to produce awareness, understanding or motivation. In our view motivation is to authentic learning as cotton candy is to authentic nutrition. It’s great as a little treat now and then but don’t confuse it with anything that is going to sustain you. We are in the business of helping you design and deliver a new life for yourself. The process starts with awareness, includes understanding and it isn’t complete until you have developed new embodied competence.
At HP2Online the real learning happens after the seminar is over. At the end of the session you will become part of a learning team. Your team will meet for at least three times after the program as that is where the real work to bringing the lessons of the seminar alive happens. Embodiment comes in working with your learning team to sustain the new competencies as it isn’t your new understanding or motivation, its’ your new competencies that will enable you to have a new future. Welcome to a new world!
HP2ONLINE Founder Chris Majer has spent years working with a variety of teachers and thinkers to assemble and test a coherent body of work that consistently produces life changing results. Over the years he worked with some of the legendary figures in the world of personal growth and development. George Leonard, Will Schutz, Fernando Flores, Hirata Sense and Umberto Maturana all helped shape his thinking and program designs. The result is that over 30 years he has developed a keen sense and rich body of evidence for what works and what doesn’t. As such at HP2ONLINE you won’t find us dispensing simplistic tips and techniques, giving you check lists, or motivational pep talks. Instead we will deliver a rich, deep, consistent and coherent body of work that will enable you to make the lasting transformation you are seeking.
The basic elements of personal transformation are actually easy to understand, but in the world of HP2ONLINE understanding is not what matters. The crafting of a successful transformational program requires a carefully integrated approach to learning, systems, process design, and a finely designed structure for fulfillment. To enable your successful and sustainable transformation as produced by this new way of working we have built all of our programs on the following methodologies.
ADVANCED LEARNING THEORY
Our experience with athletes and the military has now been validated by a host of other contemporary authorities who concur that while the mind understands, it is the body that learns. The body can only learn through practice. No amount of tips, techniques, checklists, motivation, or understanding will produce competence, only practice will. Thus, our work focuses on teaching a specific set of powerful practices using an integrated approach that accounts for various learning styles and personality types.
SOMATICS
The term 'Somatics' has ancient roots. It comes from the Greek word for unified mind/body. In current usage, the term refers to the unity of mind-body-spirit. Since it is the body that learns, our work has a very strong somatic component that weaves through all of our practices. We don't just provide understanding, but work somatically to produce embodied new practices. In this way what begins as understanding quickly becomes embodied new competence.
LINGUISTICS
Everything we do occurs in language; it is the medium we exist in. Effectiveness in today's world requires competence in the basic "linguistic moves." This substantial body of work, developed by John Austin, John Searle, and Dr. Fernando Flores, has begun to move into the mainstream of both business and the world of personal growth and development. When linguistic moves are combined with somatic practices, they become the foundation for a new set of reliable and sustainable leadership and management practices.
CONTEMPORARY SYSTEM DYNAMICS
Contemporary System Dynamics is a body of work that looks at the nature of the human systems that we call families, teams, departments, divisions, and companies. In this case the focus is on teams and the phenomena of leadership, coordination, and mobilization inside of them. This element adds a depth to the work that can otherwise be dismissed as mere "team building.” Much of the work you will do with us occurs in small learning teams and thus it is important that you develop the competencies required to be an effective team member and team leader. It’s simply an added bonus that these skills are readily transferable to work and every other aspect of your life.
EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION
Experiential Education is another well-established body of work, which holds that people learn most effectively from experience. HP2ONLINE tempers experiential work with reading, designed reflection, small group and one-on-one sessions, and ongoing feedback so that the intended lessons are derived from a given experience. In our view experience in the absence of context is simply entertainment and we are not in the entertainment business, we are in the transformation business.
SUMMARY
What we hope you see from this is that HP2ONLINE’s work is built on a solid foundation of validated theory and practice. Our work isn’t for everyone as we take what we do seriously and expect the same from you. Authentic transformation requires commitment, persistence, and a bit of patience. With those in hand we can take you to entirely new worlds. You see real transformation is not something we can do to or for you. We can only do it with you. We have the methodology and technology to make it work. If you bring the desire and commitment together we can craft a bold new future.
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- Arthur Gordon