Gene Barton graduated in 1972 from the US Military Academy at West Point . He received his Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Fairleigh Dickenson, and his Ph.D. in Computer Architecture from the University of Texas. He served with the U.S. Army for 22 years before retiring as a Colonel and forming Paradigm Systems, Inc. www.para-sys.com.
Gene has over 30 years of experience in the analysis and design of computer architectures and the development of associated applications. He has been a pioneer in the development of innovative software applications in a variety of fields, including unique products to support leadership development, e.g. SBPT™ 360-degree profile, and PulseCheck™ survey. (see www.AlliedRonin.com/surveyar.htm)
He is an expert in computer systems, project management, processes analysis, and control systems, with knowledge encompassing all aspects. He has built systems literally from the transistor through the operating system level. His ability to understand and solve problems has breadth as well as depth. Gene is frequently called upon to assess and design systems. His analyses and predictions are accurate, provably correct and understandable to management.
Recently I asked Gene if he would be willing to be interviewed for the Allied Ronin News letter. He agreed.
AR: Gene, you had a long career as an Army officer. Looking back on it now what were some of the most important leadership lessons you experienced that you feel would serve today's leaders, managers and organizations?
GB: Leaders who take a "can-do" attitude, and not give up will find that the attitude will spread through the organization. Against conventional expectations, this is more likely to move up than down. That is, a leader who takes initiative will often find his boss taking on the same attitude. In other words, Leadership stands on its own, and it is surprisingly easy and effective to "lead from below."
AR: As a West Point graduate what were some of the lessons learned at the Academy that you wish you would have seen more of once you arrived into what has sometimes been referred to as "the real Army" ... and how is this mirrored in today's business and government environments where good leadership is so important?
GB: There is a tendency to have tunnel vision. At West Point, the emphasis was on "the big picture", perhaps even too much. However, in both the Army and in the private sector, focusing on the immediate job at hand, while laudable, can be carried to extremes. Too often, a perfect job is done on the wrong task. That is, by not stepping back, or making the effort to see what is going on around oneself, it is often the case that good work is wasted on something that does not fit, is duplicative, or has become irrelevant, to the detriment of morale as well as the loss of opportunity. Leaders should seek to be informed and ensure that others are aware of the "big picture".
AR: From the perspective of the benefit provided to leaders and organizations, what was your purpose in creating Paradigm Systems?
GB: While organizations profess to have the leaders' interests and betterment as their goal, in practice the tools available hurt more than they help. Indefensible metrics that attempt to quantify subjective values invite gamesmanship at best, and subterfuge at worst. Even good metrics are inherently judgmental. A tool that provides confidential, irrefutable feedback was needed.
AR: Why is feedback important to leaders?
GB: There are plenty of resources available to leaders to learn what to do. What they lack is a tool to measure their effectiveness without prejudice. Every manager wonders how he is doing, but has no good way of finding out without penalty. Self-Boss-Peer-Team was developed to meet that need. It does not presume to measure the leader, but to tell him how he is perceived.
AR: Can you give an example where feedback has assisted a leader you know to turn the organization to a new and more effective direction?
GB: One major client found that annual management training was considered a waste of time by the participants, and an unnecessary distraction from their daily work. When SBPT was introduced, they discovered that they had shortcomings of which they were unaware. Now the management training became an opportunity to improve under the guise of a scheduled session. Overnight, managers began to look forward to the training, and were making suggestions as to what should be included.
AR: How about an example where feedback was needed but the leader (or leaders) refused to seek it out, and either they or their organization suffered as a result?
GB: Another client implemented SBPT feedback throughout the organization. One leader insisted on requiring his subordinates to perform their ratings on him with his oversight. This was the most glaring example of his micro-management and refusal to trust others. If he had accepted the feedback, he may have come to understand how much he was hurting others and himself. Not surprisingly, he was eventually terminated.
AR: A number of years ago when you first introduced me to the Self-Boss-Peer-Team 360 Degree Feedback Program that you have developed you spoke of its potential value if it could replace the Army's Officer Efficiency Reporting (OER) system. Explain your thinking, and what you felt the value would be to the Army in general and the individuals themselves.
GB: The OER could be an excellent tool. As implemented, it purports to give the leader a comprehensive feedback of his skills. The competencies it covers are good ones, yet it fails in major ways. First, it only captures the boss's opinion. Peers and team members have no way to provide input. Unless absolute anonymity can be guaranteed, such input would be detrimental to morale and discipline. That leads to the second failure. There is no privacy. The report can be viewed by anyone. Indeed, it is a public record. Even in its generation and handling, it is seen by dozens of people. That leads to the third failure. While pretending to be a feedback mechanism, it is in fact a report card. As such, it becomes hopelessly inflated. If it contains even the slightest hint of feedback, it ruins the officer’s career.
AR: In your work with your clients and other organizations what do you find are the most important things they face today when it comes to effectiveness with people and influence?
GB: The most important problem is that organizations have no way to measure effectiveness, so they concentrate on efficiency, which can be measured, and use it to claim effectiveness. Thus, effectiveness with respect to clients is incorrectly measured by sales. Effectiveness within the organization is measured by budget, turnover, ROI, etc, which are measures of efficiency, not effectiveness.
AR: What is PulseCheck and for what purpose was it developed?
GB: SBPT was developed to provide feedback to an individual, but organizations, too, need feedback. PulseCheck provides a mechanism for an organization to din out how it is perceived, both internally and externally, and to see how that perception differs across demographics.
AR: What trends to you see that young emerging leaders will have to deal with over the next five to ten years?
GB: Emerging leaders will have to deal with an emerging workforce. That workforce is technically savvy, but tends to be narcissistic, selfish, and unaccustomed to working as part of a team. The challenge will be to satisfy individual goals while providing tools for collaboration that will coax individuals into interaction in a non-threatening way.
AR: What do you see as the future for Paradigm Systems?
GB: Paradigm Systems will continue to offer to its clients exceptional service, either through existing tools, or through rapid development of customized tools. The ability to respond to clients in days, rather than months, and the "no excuses" unconditional guarantee are unique in the industry. Our approach of "Give us three days at no charge, and then we'll talk," continues to work well as the only marketing we need to do. That lets us pick clients and tasks that enrich our workforce as well as our clients. We do not want to grow large, we just want to take on a limited number of interesting tasks in partnership with visionary clients.
Monday, April 02, 2007
Friday, March 30, 2007
Allied Ronin Affiliate Richard Strozzi-Heckler Interviewed
The following is a description of a dialogue between Allied Ronin affilliate Richard Strozzi-Heckler and Bert Parlee on the Integral Naked website. The Integral Naked website is a pay service so the dialogue is not free, however, the site (a part of Ken Wilber's Integral Institute) has featured such luminaries as George Leonard, Michael Murphy, Deepak Chopra, Peter Senge, Jenny Wade, Marianne Williamson, Tony Robbins and many, many more. If you are looking for lively dialogues with some wonderful thinkers it is a great service, with weekly updates. It can be found at www.integralnaked.org
A Somatic Approach to Leadership. Part 1. The Importance of “Body” in Body, Mind, and Spirit, in Self, Culture, and Nature
Richard Strozzi-Heckler
Richard Strozzi-Heckler holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, is a 6th Degree black belt in Aikido, and has been teaching somatic coaching, aikido, and leadership over the last twenty-five years. He is co-founder of the Lomi School, Strozzi Institute, and the Two Rock Aikido dojo. He is a successful writer, having published four books including the classic The Anatomy of Change; In Search of the Warrior Spirit, which chronicles how his teaching helped an Army Special Forces unit dramatically increase its measurable performance; and most recently Holding the Center, Sanctuary in a Time of Confusion.
Richard and Bert begin the conversation by discussing some of the more recent activities Richard has been involved in, which have largely been about finding ways to bring a somatic orientation into international relations. He has been working with the Monterey Defense Language Institute, developing a conference called "Somatics and Counter-Terrorism." He also discusses his work in areas like Afghanistan, where he has created a somatic-based leadership program for the Afghani army.
Richard then gives a brief account of his involvement with the bodily arts, tracing it all back to a torn shirt and bloodied nose he received in a fight when he was 13 years old—and his parent’s fateful decision to put him in a Judo class. Later, in 1968, Richard began a meditation practice after spending time in India. He discusses his own definition of meditation as a way to control and exercise attention, a quality he recognizes as crucial in order to be an effective leader ("successful people should know how to concentrate.") As such, he teaches meditation in his workshops, under the guise of "Attention Training," a phrase which flies under the mainstream radar. An Integral Approach would completely agree with this use and definition of meditation, and go on to point out—in agreement with the great contemplative traditions—that not only can meditation train attention in extraordinary ways, but it can offer a radical freedom and release from all forms, functions, and movements of mind. From this Ultimate view, the quality of attention—whether untrained and roaming, or disciplined and pin-point—can be seen as simply another manifestation of the separate self-sense or self-contraction. However, this in no way makes attention training “bad;” rather, it’s one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. All of this simply goes to clarify the fact that meditation can function in several ways, one of which is to train attention, and another is to introduce us to the awareness that is beyond, or prior to, attention.
Richard goes on to offer a synopsis of his own interpretation of the body, which he describes in terms of five domains: the domain of action, the domain of moods and emotions, the domain of learning through recurrent practice, the domain of coordination and intersubjective harmony, and the domain of dignity.
An Integral Approach is often summarized as including “body, mind, and spirit, in self, culture, and nature,” and the somatic arts are an essential and indispensable part of that equation, naturally focusing primarily on “body” and how it affects the other fundamental dimensions of human experience. Likewise, an integral view posits that for every interior feeling, thought, or apprehension there is an exterior and correlative “body” that quite literally “supports” that experience, whether a gross body, subtle body, or causal body. Somatic or body-based approaches quite correctly notice that if you modify any one of these bodies you will produce a change in one’s interior experience, an important truth that must be included in any truly integral model.
Richard's career and practice is one wave on the evolving ocean towards a more comprehensive understanding of the human condition, and we invite you to enjoy this fascinating exploration into his work with one of Integral Institute’s most experienced founding members….
transmission time: 28 minutes
keywords: somatics, Albert Mehrabian, Silent Messages, martial arts, aikido, Monterey Defense Language Institute, terrorism, Afghanistan, Iraq, judo, Chogyam Trungpa, Naropa, Lomi, rolfing, Army Special Forces, George Leonard, Integral Life Practice, The Anatomy of Change, In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Holding the Center: Sanctuary in a Time of Confusion, "What is Integral?," A Theory of Everything.
most memorable moment: "We could say that one of the things that leaders do is that they make declarations about the future, sort of like Martin Luther King's speech. And our basic claim is that when exemplary leaders speak that way they aren't separate from their declaration, they are that declaration. So we have practices where people will make declarations inside of a physical practice, so we bring those two things together."
A Somatic Approach to Leadership. Part 1. The Importance of “Body” in Body, Mind, and Spirit, in Self, Culture, and Nature
Richard Strozzi-Heckler
Richard Strozzi-Heckler holds a Ph.D. in Psychology, is a 6th Degree black belt in Aikido, and has been teaching somatic coaching, aikido, and leadership over the last twenty-five years. He is co-founder of the Lomi School, Strozzi Institute, and the Two Rock Aikido dojo. He is a successful writer, having published four books including the classic The Anatomy of Change; In Search of the Warrior Spirit, which chronicles how his teaching helped an Army Special Forces unit dramatically increase its measurable performance; and most recently Holding the Center, Sanctuary in a Time of Confusion.
Richard and Bert begin the conversation by discussing some of the more recent activities Richard has been involved in, which have largely been about finding ways to bring a somatic orientation into international relations. He has been working with the Monterey Defense Language Institute, developing a conference called "Somatics and Counter-Terrorism." He also discusses his work in areas like Afghanistan, where he has created a somatic-based leadership program for the Afghani army.
Richard then gives a brief account of his involvement with the bodily arts, tracing it all back to a torn shirt and bloodied nose he received in a fight when he was 13 years old—and his parent’s fateful decision to put him in a Judo class. Later, in 1968, Richard began a meditation practice after spending time in India. He discusses his own definition of meditation as a way to control and exercise attention, a quality he recognizes as crucial in order to be an effective leader ("successful people should know how to concentrate.") As such, he teaches meditation in his workshops, under the guise of "Attention Training," a phrase which flies under the mainstream radar. An Integral Approach would completely agree with this use and definition of meditation, and go on to point out—in agreement with the great contemplative traditions—that not only can meditation train attention in extraordinary ways, but it can offer a radical freedom and release from all forms, functions, and movements of mind. From this Ultimate view, the quality of attention—whether untrained and roaming, or disciplined and pin-point—can be seen as simply another manifestation of the separate self-sense or self-contraction. However, this in no way makes attention training “bad;” rather, it’s one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. All of this simply goes to clarify the fact that meditation can function in several ways, one of which is to train attention, and another is to introduce us to the awareness that is beyond, or prior to, attention.
Richard goes on to offer a synopsis of his own interpretation of the body, which he describes in terms of five domains: the domain of action, the domain of moods and emotions, the domain of learning through recurrent practice, the domain of coordination and intersubjective harmony, and the domain of dignity.
An Integral Approach is often summarized as including “body, mind, and spirit, in self, culture, and nature,” and the somatic arts are an essential and indispensable part of that equation, naturally focusing primarily on “body” and how it affects the other fundamental dimensions of human experience. Likewise, an integral view posits that for every interior feeling, thought, or apprehension there is an exterior and correlative “body” that quite literally “supports” that experience, whether a gross body, subtle body, or causal body. Somatic or body-based approaches quite correctly notice that if you modify any one of these bodies you will produce a change in one’s interior experience, an important truth that must be included in any truly integral model.
Richard's career and practice is one wave on the evolving ocean towards a more comprehensive understanding of the human condition, and we invite you to enjoy this fascinating exploration into his work with one of Integral Institute’s most experienced founding members….
transmission time: 28 minutes
keywords: somatics, Albert Mehrabian, Silent Messages, martial arts, aikido, Monterey Defense Language Institute, terrorism, Afghanistan, Iraq, judo, Chogyam Trungpa, Naropa, Lomi, rolfing, Army Special Forces, George Leonard, Integral Life Practice, The Anatomy of Change, In Search of the Warrior Spirit, Holding the Center: Sanctuary in a Time of Confusion, "What is Integral?," A Theory of Everything.
most memorable moment: "We could say that one of the things that leaders do is that they make declarations about the future, sort of like Martin Luther King's speech. And our basic claim is that when exemplary leaders speak that way they aren't separate from their declaration, they are that declaration. So we have practices where people will make declarations inside of a physical practice, so we bring those two things together."
Sunday, March 25, 2007
It's early afternoon on March 17th, St. Patrick's Day. Odds are a lot of people, especially in the US, will be somewhat less "conscious" by the time clocks strike midnight today. I hope they'll all wake up tomorrow... but unfortunately the odds also are that some of them will no longer be with us. Oh well, people have their reasons, habits and rituals ... and free choice ... for doing what they will. Always have, always will. Hopefully your day will be safe and sane.
This coming Tuesday will be a day of travel for me - heading out for Krakow, Poland, again on an invitation of Pawel Olesiak and Pawel Bernas of Aiki Management www.aiki-management.pl. My last venture there (November) with the Samurai Game® apparently assisted them with increasing their offerings. Poland is a rapidly growing place, and these two individuals are making a significant difference in the way leaders, managers and teams influence each other and the people they serve. This time we'll conduct two Games back-to-back ... and one group will participate in the simulation two days in a row. I've often received feedback asking to do something like this. Well, it's now going to happen and looks like we'll soon know how it will be received.
Poland will be a quick trip before I turn around, head back home to regroup for a trip to China (April 3-11). The first China stop be for three days in Shenzhen. Then it'll be on to Shanghai, also for three days. Again to deliver the simulation, though in the People's Republic of China it is frequently referred to as The Warrior Game®.
The upcoming April e-newsletter will feature an interview with Dr. Gene Barton, a longtime friend and West Point classmate, and an associate of Allied Ronin. Gene's the president of Paradigm Systems, Inc. (www.para-sys.com). He has developed some powerful feedback tools available online for leaders, managers and organizations. He's going to talk about this in the newsletter.
The whole notion of feedback seems to be "up" in my world. A number of friends and associates of mine making are some constructive transitions in their lives and/or with their organizations. Good for them!!! It has me thinking about the JoHari Window, something you should know about or, if you already do know about, that you may want to revisit. I first heard of it in 1976, but didn't give much thought to it until Dr. Kathy Kane of the University of San Francisco reinforced its importance in an MBA class where I was guest lecturing.
Do a google search www.google.com for "JoHari Window" and see what you come up with. I urge caution about the websites that may suggest its quadrants reflect specific personality traits. Rather, I suggest one understand it from the perspective of a model, tool or framework for why (and how) people willing to increase their effectiveness might want to invest time, energy and practice in: (1) becoming more transparent, and (2) soliciting and being more open to feedback. Most of the Allied Ronin programs, especially those delivered in corporate and academic settings, begin with a quick introduction or review of the JoHari Window - its application and value.
This coming Tuesday will be a day of travel for me - heading out for Krakow, Poland, again on an invitation of Pawel Olesiak and Pawel Bernas of Aiki Management www.aiki-management.pl. My last venture there (November) with the Samurai Game® apparently assisted them with increasing their offerings. Poland is a rapidly growing place, and these two individuals are making a significant difference in the way leaders, managers and teams influence each other and the people they serve. This time we'll conduct two Games back-to-back ... and one group will participate in the simulation two days in a row. I've often received feedback asking to do something like this. Well, it's now going to happen and looks like we'll soon know how it will be received.
Poland will be a quick trip before I turn around, head back home to regroup for a trip to China (April 3-11). The first China stop be for three days in Shenzhen. Then it'll be on to Shanghai, also for three days. Again to deliver the simulation, though in the People's Republic of China it is frequently referred to as The Warrior Game®.
The upcoming April e-newsletter will feature an interview with Dr. Gene Barton, a longtime friend and West Point classmate, and an associate of Allied Ronin. Gene's the president of Paradigm Systems, Inc. (www.para-sys.com). He has developed some powerful feedback tools available online for leaders, managers and organizations. He's going to talk about this in the newsletter.
The whole notion of feedback seems to be "up" in my world. A number of friends and associates of mine making are some constructive transitions in their lives and/or with their organizations. Good for them!!! It has me thinking about the JoHari Window, something you should know about or, if you already do know about, that you may want to revisit. I first heard of it in 1976, but didn't give much thought to it until Dr. Kathy Kane of the University of San Francisco reinforced its importance in an MBA class where I was guest lecturing.
Do a google search www.google.com for "JoHari Window" and see what you come up with. I urge caution about the websites that may suggest its quadrants reflect specific personality traits. Rather, I suggest one understand it from the perspective of a model, tool or framework for why (and how) people willing to increase their effectiveness might want to invest time, energy and practice in: (1) becoming more transparent, and (2) soliciting and being more open to feedback. Most of the Allied Ronin programs, especially those delivered in corporate and academic settings, begin with a quick introduction or review of the JoHari Window - its application and value.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
LESSONS FROM KEVIN CHEGE & the 2007 AISEC IPM IN EGYPT
Cairo, Egypt was the host to the 2007 AIESEC International President's Meeting (IPM) and for the second year Allied Ronin provided leadership training and the Samurai Game® for the organization's newly elected country presidents. Last year the IPM was in the Netherlands. This means that hundreds of young leaders from approximately 90 countries have now had the opportunity to participate one of the most provocative simulations in the world. They have directly linked their performance in the simulation to: (1) how they effectively interact with others, (2) how they will lead their country organizations, (3) how they influence people in general, (4) what their core values really are, and (5) what actions they can take to expand their positive habits and diminish their negative ones.
As mentioned in the Feb 25th blog entry I initially envisioned the trip to Egypt as an opportunity to serve not only AIESEC the organization and its members, but the future of 90 some countries. These your adults are very smart - top college juniors, seniors and master's degree candidates. Most speak four languages and are tops in their studies. Each has weathered many challenges to rise to the positions they currently hold. They are sought after by NGO's, companies and government organizations worldwide. And when their time is done with AIESEC some will go on to become leaders of organizations with international ties; and it is possible that a few could become high government officials and possibly heads of countries, e.g., current President of Portugal.
On February 22nd, while opening my portion of the IPM, I was asked by one of the delegates "Why are you here?" And, as noted above, I stated, "To serve." That answer was and remains valid. But at the end of the day upon being approached by a young Kenyan, Kevin Chege - newly elected president of AIESEC Rwanda, my reason for attending took on a simple ands profound added dimension. In short I was there to benefit from his insight and thoughtfulness, and to receive from him his small booklet, "The Little Blue Book Kenya." What I read could be important lessons for us all.
Kevin lays out a solid awareness of Kenya's, indeed Africa's, problems. And while different from problems faced by US and other countries I’ve recently visited, what he offers is a lesson in personal responsibility when it comes to creating solutions in the here and now. I asked him for permission to duplicate portions of his booklet, and he said "OK." So I have. Please read on, and as you do ... try inserting the name of your organization or your family or your community or your business or your country in the places he has used "AIESEC" or "Kenya.” Substitute the name of something that is deeply meaningful to you and see how this affects your perspective. To clarify, Kevin Chege is Kenyan and when he wrote the following he was an AIESEC Local Committee President in that country. But he has captured the attention of others internationally in his organization and has gone on to create solutions elsewhere -- in this case Rwanda where he is the AIESEC newly elected Country President. Rwanda, like Kenya, is place with a history of dramatic problems. I think he'll have his challenges there, but with support he will do well.
If you want to contact Kevin Chege directly then I hope you will. If so, please send email to him at Kevin.chege@aiesec.net. If you want to support his efforts through financial contribution, please do so. He can it as he goes about making the difference that he will - for constructive leadership, for sustainable living and for a more peaceful world.
READ ON …
"Part Three - My Solutions (by Kevin Chege)
Looking at the problems facing Kenya today, I ask myself, 'Can I, as a young student who is a member of AIESEC, who has networks in 89 countries with fellow students, who regularly meets the most influential people in Kenyan business, make a real positive impact on Kenya?' These might seem to be very mundane questions. In fact, most AIESECers will immediately give 'Yes' as an answer to the three questions. But then I ask, 'Why do you need to do anything for Kenya?' and 'Are you already doing something positive consciously?' and 'How can you do it then?'
These second batch of questions are the difficult questions to answer. Some of us don't even ask ourselves these questions. The sad reality is, most people will probably go through AIESEC without even knowing how to personally gain from it. To such a person, the concept of Kenya gaining from AIESEC just does not begin to arise. So let's start at the questions, and try to answer them together.
1. Why do I need to do anything about Kenya?
This is a very simple question for those who call themselves patriots. However, the vast majority of people in this world simply don't care about anything except themselves. They exist in a world of 'ME.' Let's try and open their eyes a bit.
Anywhere you go in this world, one of the first questions anybody will ask you is, 'Where are you from?' - in which case you give the name of your country. To the person asking, you automatically get a tag based on their perception of your country. If you say Japan, people begin to think of robots, and Sony. If you say America, people think of George Bush, the war in Iraq and so on. If you say Kenya, people think of famine, and corruption. And based on their perception of your country, people will welcome you, or shun your company. Therefore the country tag is a very important tag in this world. It's why South Africans will get a Kenyan visa at the airport, but Nigerians have to apply at the embassy.
From that solitary example, we can see that your country of origin matters a lot. There are lots of other examples that I could give to illustrate the point but I believe that one example will suffice. Whey then should you try to make a positive impact on your country? My answer to that question is, because you must do it even if it is for selfish reasons ... not to mention the fact that you are the only one who can. Nobody will ever come from another place to save your home. They might help. But it is totally up to you to save yourself and your kind.
2. Am I already doing something positive for Kenya consciously?
As we saw before, most people will go through AIESEC without ever realizing how much impact the organization can have on their lives. Others will go through AIESEC with a game plan for themselves, and they will try to learn as much as they can, to experience all they can, and to gain all that they can from this platform. Then a very few number, perhaps less than 10% will not only gain personally from AIESEC<>The Kendo student practices furiously thousands of cuts morning and night, learning fierce techniques of horrible war, until eventually sword becomes "so sword"; intention becomes "no intention", a spontaneous knowledge of every situation. The first elementary teaching becomes the highest knowledge, and the master still continues to practice this simple training, his everyday prayer." - The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese Swordsman (1584-1645)
In answering this question, I speak of AIESEC as organization. Hopefully, this gives you an idea of what to do as an individual as well. What it doesn't answer for your, it does for me ... and vice versa. That is the beauty of never knowing what God really looks life: it allows each of us to be unique.
Therefore, get the few basic ideas suggested here, have a desire to make a positive impact, then free your mind and try your own ideas everyday. The rest will come naturally."
As mentioned in the Feb 25th blog entry I initially envisioned the trip to Egypt as an opportunity to serve not only AIESEC the organization and its members, but the future of 90 some countries. These your adults are very smart - top college juniors, seniors and master's degree candidates. Most speak four languages and are tops in their studies. Each has weathered many challenges to rise to the positions they currently hold. They are sought after by NGO's, companies and government organizations worldwide. And when their time is done with AIESEC some will go on to become leaders of organizations with international ties; and it is possible that a few could become high government officials and possibly heads of countries, e.g., current President of Portugal.
On February 22nd, while opening my portion of the IPM, I was asked by one of the delegates "Why are you here?" And, as noted above, I stated, "To serve." That answer was and remains valid. But at the end of the day upon being approached by a young Kenyan, Kevin Chege - newly elected president of AIESEC Rwanda, my reason for attending took on a simple ands profound added dimension. In short I was there to benefit from his insight and thoughtfulness, and to receive from him his small booklet, "The Little Blue Book Kenya." What I read could be important lessons for us all.
Kevin lays out a solid awareness of Kenya's, indeed Africa's, problems. And while different from problems faced by US and other countries I’ve recently visited, what he offers is a lesson in personal responsibility when it comes to creating solutions in the here and now. I asked him for permission to duplicate portions of his booklet, and he said "OK." So I have. Please read on, and as you do ... try inserting the name of your organization or your family or your community or your business or your country in the places he has used "AIESEC" or "Kenya.” Substitute the name of something that is deeply meaningful to you and see how this affects your perspective. To clarify, Kevin Chege is Kenyan and when he wrote the following he was an AIESEC Local Committee President in that country. But he has captured the attention of others internationally in his organization and has gone on to create solutions elsewhere -- in this case Rwanda where he is the AIESEC newly elected Country President. Rwanda, like Kenya, is place with a history of dramatic problems. I think he'll have his challenges there, but with support he will do well.
If you want to contact Kevin Chege directly then I hope you will. If so, please send email to him at Kevin.chege@aiesec.net. If you want to support his efforts through financial contribution, please do so. He can it as he goes about making the difference that he will - for constructive leadership, for sustainable living and for a more peaceful world.
READ ON …
"Part Three - My Solutions (by Kevin Chege)
Looking at the problems facing Kenya today, I ask myself, 'Can I, as a young student who is a member of AIESEC, who has networks in 89 countries with fellow students, who regularly meets the most influential people in Kenyan business, make a real positive impact on Kenya?' These might seem to be very mundane questions. In fact, most AIESECers will immediately give 'Yes' as an answer to the three questions. But then I ask, 'Why do you need to do anything for Kenya?' and 'Are you already doing something positive consciously?' and 'How can you do it then?'
These second batch of questions are the difficult questions to answer. Some of us don't even ask ourselves these questions. The sad reality is, most people will probably go through AIESEC without even knowing how to personally gain from it. To such a person, the concept of Kenya gaining from AIESEC just does not begin to arise. So let's start at the questions, and try to answer them together.
1. Why do I need to do anything about Kenya?
This is a very simple question for those who call themselves patriots. However, the vast majority of people in this world simply don't care about anything except themselves. They exist in a world of 'ME.' Let's try and open their eyes a bit.
Anywhere you go in this world, one of the first questions anybody will ask you is, 'Where are you from?' - in which case you give the name of your country. To the person asking, you automatically get a tag based on their perception of your country. If you say Japan, people begin to think of robots, and Sony. If you say America, people think of George Bush, the war in Iraq and so on. If you say Kenya, people think of famine, and corruption. And based on their perception of your country, people will welcome you, or shun your company. Therefore the country tag is a very important tag in this world. It's why South Africans will get a Kenyan visa at the airport, but Nigerians have to apply at the embassy.
From that solitary example, we can see that your country of origin matters a lot. There are lots of other examples that I could give to illustrate the point but I believe that one example will suffice. Whey then should you try to make a positive impact on your country? My answer to that question is, because you must do it even if it is for selfish reasons ... not to mention the fact that you are the only one who can. Nobody will ever come from another place to save your home. They might help. But it is totally up to you to save yourself and your kind.
2. Am I already doing something positive for Kenya consciously?
As we saw before, most people will go through AIESEC without ever realizing how much impact the organization can have on their lives. Others will go through AIESEC with a game plan for themselves, and they will try to learn as much as they can, to experience all they can, and to gain all that they can from this platform. Then a very few number, perhaps less than 10% will not only gain personally from AIESEC<>The Kendo student practices furiously thousands of cuts morning and night, learning fierce techniques of horrible war, until eventually sword becomes "so sword"; intention becomes "no intention", a spontaneous knowledge of every situation. The first elementary teaching becomes the highest knowledge, and the master still continues to practice this simple training, his everyday prayer." - The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese Swordsman (1584-1645)
In answering this question, I speak of AIESEC as organization. Hopefully, this gives you an idea of what to do as an individual as well. What it doesn't answer for your, it does for me ... and vice versa. That is the beauty of never knowing what God really looks life: it allows each of us to be unique.
Therefore, get the few basic ideas suggested here, have a desire to make a positive impact, then free your mind and try your own ideas everyday. The rest will come naturally."
Monday, February 26, 2007
February 25th- From Egypt
Today is Sunday, February 25. Tomorrow I leave for home after almost a week in Egypt. It will be a two hour early morning drive to Cairo from Palmera Beach Resort, Ain El Sukhna on the Gulf of Suez. This conference, the 2007 International President's Meeting, is the most important annual gathering AIESEC International. It brings together each current country president and each newly elected country president from ninety countries.
For nine days two hundred plus people examine and account for how they are doing with respect to a strategic vision which must be accomplished by 2010. They are also here to create, discuss and legislate new policy, choose their new International President, six new international Directors and six functional Vice Presidents. They are here to have a good time. And ... they are here to examine themselves as leaders on an individual and personal level.
In this regard, leadership - individual and personal, the new elects are mine all day on day three - Thursday - for twelve hours of experiential leadership developmental training. This is my second year to assume and deliver this portion of the conference.
These are some of the brightest and most energetic young people in the world. College juniors, seniors and master's degree candidates - each fluent in many languages. They thrive on getting things accomplished within international communities and frameworks, working long hours at fast pace with short deadlines and limited resources, playing hard and reflecting deeply.
We begin. I ask what they've heard about the event we're going to create, and request that each establish and clarify for him/herself a personal purpose for the day, and move around the room to share with other new elects what this individual purpose is. Five minutes later we reconvene and listen as some begin to dialogue what has been discussed. They know today is the Samurai Game®. They have all ideas about this. But nobody knows exactly what will happen; only that the stakes are high - one's life - metaphorically speaking. Every purpose mentioned is significant. They have already have to understand that today is a one shot deal. Live it as if it's the only one you'll ever have - first day/last day; or as a samurai might explain, ichigo ichie.
Then someone asks me, "Why do you come here?"; Most of them know about my involvement a year ago in the Netherlands at the 2006 International President's Meeting, and the country conferences involving the Game that followed in Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. My response is, "To serve." This is the oldest and largest international student run organization. It has 20,000 active members committed to constructive leadership, global conflict resolution and a sustainable living
environment. It's only natural to accept the invitation again knowing our involvement with each other will, by ripple effect, touch approximately 2,000,000 people worldwide over the next four to six weeks. Most of the delegates will be highly sought after by companies, NGO's, and government organizations that know the value of having AIESECers on their teams as future leaders. Some of the scouts and
recruiters are already here.
The day was fantastic. They came from Senegal, Latvia, Russia, Japan, China, France, Romania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Canada, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Bosnia, Brazil, Australia, Peru, Portugal, Iceland, Slovakia, the Ukraine, Taiwan, Mexico, South Africa ... and on, and on, and on. They laughed and got serious and played hard and died (sort of) and came back and challenged each other - wholehearted and generous in everything. It was a day filled with choices, chaos, crisis, disappointment, victory, testing of honor, loss, courage, positive "grabs" and negative "grabs," unfairness and beauty and grace and how to look at each day of life through a vivid lens. Were they satisfied? No. More like - blown away in a positive sense.
A young Kenyan approached me when our day was complete, placed a small booklet between my palms, caught my gaze with his, somewhat reddened, and offered seven short words, "I have something for you, a gift." He stepped back, caught my gaze again and walked away. I opened it and saw he had written inside the cover, "Thank you for helping me discover myself. Thank you for helping me open my heart. Domo Arigato, Kevin." I brought The Little Blue Book Kenya by Kevin Chege, back to my room to save and read on the plane ride home.
Friday, the day following our event, I played tourist ... heading into Cairo and Giza to the Pyramids and Sphinx, and on to the Egyptian National Museum. All overpoweringly magnificent. How else can you explain ten thousand years of history staring you in the face? Returning to the resort, that evening was dedicated to the annual international awards banquet and the announcement of next six International Directors selected from twenty candidates. It was an evening of emotions that ran the complete spectrum for candidates and delegates alike.
Saturday was to be my day of rest, yet with a promise to be available to every new elect at his/her convenience for individual debrief of their leadership/Game experience and lessons learned, loosely translated: "campus office hours 8am until 8pm." At 8pm I decided to call it a night and head for bed, when one of the African contingent invited me to "The African Party" to start at 10pm. "OK." So off to my room and wait. What to do until the party? Read Kevin Chege's Little Blue Book Kenya. That's when I found a new answer and insightto the inquiry asked of me so many days before by one of the delegates, "Why do you come here?"
To be continued ....
For nine days two hundred plus people examine and account for how they are doing with respect to a strategic vision which must be accomplished by 2010. They are also here to create, discuss and legislate new policy, choose their new International President, six new international Directors and six functional Vice Presidents. They are here to have a good time. And ... they are here to examine themselves as leaders on an individual and personal level.
In this regard, leadership - individual and personal, the new elects are mine all day on day three - Thursday - for twelve hours of experiential leadership developmental training. This is my second year to assume and deliver this portion of the conference.
These are some of the brightest and most energetic young people in the world. College juniors, seniors and master's degree candidates - each fluent in many languages. They thrive on getting things accomplished within international communities and frameworks, working long hours at fast pace with short deadlines and limited resources, playing hard and reflecting deeply.
We begin. I ask what they've heard about the event we're going to create, and request that each establish and clarify for him/herself a personal purpose for the day, and move around the room to share with other new elects what this individual purpose is. Five minutes later we reconvene and listen as some begin to dialogue what has been discussed. They know today is the Samurai Game®. They have all ideas about this. But nobody knows exactly what will happen; only that the stakes are high - one's life - metaphorically speaking. Every purpose mentioned is significant. They have already have to understand that today is a one shot deal. Live it as if it's the only one you'll ever have - first day/last day; or as a samurai might explain, ichigo ichie.
Then someone asks me, "Why do you come here?"; Most of them know about my involvement a year ago in the Netherlands at the 2006 International President's Meeting, and the country conferences involving the Game that followed in Slovakia, Poland and Hungary. My response is, "To serve." This is the oldest and largest international student run organization. It has 20,000 active members committed to constructive leadership, global conflict resolution and a sustainable living
environment. It's only natural to accept the invitation again knowing our involvement with each other will, by ripple effect, touch approximately 2,000,000 people worldwide over the next four to six weeks. Most of the delegates will be highly sought after by companies, NGO's, and government organizations that know the value of having AIESECers on their teams as future leaders. Some of the scouts and
recruiters are already here.
The day was fantastic. They came from Senegal, Latvia, Russia, Japan, China, France, Romania, Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Canada, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Bosnia, Brazil, Australia, Peru, Portugal, Iceland, Slovakia, the Ukraine, Taiwan, Mexico, South Africa ... and on, and on, and on. They laughed and got serious and played hard and died (sort of) and came back and challenged each other - wholehearted and generous in everything. It was a day filled with choices, chaos, crisis, disappointment, victory, testing of honor, loss, courage, positive "grabs" and negative "grabs," unfairness and beauty and grace and how to look at each day of life through a vivid lens. Were they satisfied? No. More like - blown away in a positive sense.
A young Kenyan approached me when our day was complete, placed a small booklet between my palms, caught my gaze with his, somewhat reddened, and offered seven short words, "I have something for you, a gift." He stepped back, caught my gaze again and walked away. I opened it and saw he had written inside the cover, "Thank you for helping me discover myself. Thank you for helping me open my heart. Domo Arigato, Kevin." I brought The Little Blue Book Kenya by Kevin Chege, back to my room to save and read on the plane ride home.
Friday, the day following our event, I played tourist ... heading into Cairo and Giza to the Pyramids and Sphinx, and on to the Egyptian National Museum. All overpoweringly magnificent. How else can you explain ten thousand years of history staring you in the face? Returning to the resort, that evening was dedicated to the annual international awards banquet and the announcement of next six International Directors selected from twenty candidates. It was an evening of emotions that ran the complete spectrum for candidates and delegates alike.
Saturday was to be my day of rest, yet with a promise to be available to every new elect at his/her convenience for individual debrief of their leadership/Game experience and lessons learned, loosely translated: "campus office hours 8am until 8pm." At 8pm I decided to call it a night and head for bed, when one of the African contingent invited me to "The African Party" to start at 10pm. "OK." So off to my room and wait. What to do until the party? Read Kevin Chege's Little Blue Book Kenya. That's when I found a new answer and insightto the inquiry asked of me so many days before by one of the delegates, "Why do you come here?"
To be continued ....
Thursday, February 15, 2007
George Leonard- The Silent Pulse
George Leonard will speak about his newly-released book: The Silent Pulse — A Search for the Perfect Rhythm That Exists in Each of Us.
This startlingly transformational book reveals our kinship with the entire universe and all its wonders. To read it is to meet ordinary and extraordinary people who have uncovered remarkable human capacities. The Silent Pulse captures a poetic beauty within a true adventure story.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 7:00 PM
WHERE: The Book Depot, Throckmorton & Miller Avenues, Mill Valley, CA 94941
This startlingly transformational book reveals our kinship with the entire universe and all its wonders. To read it is to meet ordinary and extraordinary people who have uncovered remarkable human capacities. The Silent Pulse captures a poetic beauty within a true adventure story.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 21, 2007, 7:00 PM
WHERE: The Book Depot, Throckmorton & Miller Avenues, Mill Valley, CA 94941
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Game IS Preparation and Practice
It's a Monday morning. Gray, drizzly and wet here in Petaluma, California. A parade of kids, moms and dads are making their morning march - umbrellas bobbing like so many flowers down Walnut Street past my front office bay window to Saint Vincent's School just down the street. They (the umbrellas) relate the fact that, yes it is winter. Yet they herald news that Spring is just around the corner ... and like buds and blossoms beginning to appear on the trees the umbrellas bring their cheery hues - yellows, reds, purples. Life goes on. People are learning. Things are changing.
This week is a prep week, as many weeks are. But this one is bigger than usual. Thursday, February 15th, is departure day for College Station, Texas where, on Friday and Saturday, will be the second annual delivery of a leadership program for the Texas A&M University Fellow. My host will be Fellow's Director, Dr. Tim Peterson. Readers of past Allied Ronin newsletters will recall that he and I presented at the Gallup Leadership Institute Summit a few months ago. Tim brought me and Samurai Game® to Oklahoma State University (where he was a faculty member three years ago) after participating in the Game at the Organizational Behavior Teachers Conference. He left OK State in 2005 for bigger challenges at Texas A&M. I've been kidding him that if he's not careful somebody will draft him to join Robert Gates (past President of TAMU) at the Department of Defense. Tim just cringes and says, "No way!". Anyhow ... we will co-facilitate the Game for about fifty (50) TAMU Fellows this coming weekend.
Sunday I depart TAMU for Kansas City, MO, and meetings with my client and friend George Hersh, CEO of GMJ and owner of the Sports Associated Companies. Sports Associated exclusively handles all North American expositions of motorcycles and small watercraft for Suzuki, Yamaha and Ducati. George is the individual most responsible for the creation of the Allied Ronin Leadership Retreat. The next Leader's Retreat will be July 14-18.
Monday will depart Kansas City and head east through Chicago and London to arrive in Cairo, Egypt on February 21. There I’ll attend the AIESEC International President's Meeting (IPM). The IPM is a 10-day long event. My involvement will be the delivery of a full day leadership program which will include the Samurai Game® for approximately eighty (80) newly elected AIESEC Country Presidents.
AIESEC, the world's largest student organization, is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society. In addition to providing over 5,000 leadership positions and delivering over 350 conferences to a membership of over 22,000 students, AIESEC also runs an exchange program that enables over 4,000 students and recent graduates the opportunity to live and work in countries other than their own. February 2006 was my first involvement with AIESEC when I traveled to the Netherlands to present the Game. As a result I toured Poland, Hungary and Slovakia in November delivering the Game for hundreds of "AIESECers" in their own countries.
So this is a prep week ... and a big one. It, along with the moms and dads and kids and umbrellas, got me thinking this morning about how just important preparation really is. When I was a kid I participated in Boy Scouts. We had a motto then; it was "Be Prepared." Years later I met Jack Cirie, a highly decorated combat veteran and former lieutenant colonel, in a brief encounter that changed the direction of my life. I recall his voice admonishing me and others to - Stay Alert! - a motto frequently echoed these days by George Leonard, president emeritus of Esalen Institute, and author of a dozen books including: Mastery, The Silent Pulse, Education and Ecstasy, Walking on the Edge of the World, and The Ultimate Athlete. My friend, Richard Strozzi-Heckler similarly reminds me of this as we part company especially when I am about to travel internationally. With him it's, "Watch your six o'clock”. Maybe you’d have to have served in the military or on a police force to understand the importance of that one.
Here's what's on my mind. I'm going off in a few days to facilitate a Game, a leadership simulation. One hundred thirty people on two continents will participate in these Games. They will represent almost 100 nations from around the globe. During the fourteen days that follow my involvement, those 130 individuals will directly impact the lives of and bring their learning to over 15,000 people. By day 28 following my involvement the energy of those fifteen thousand will then ripple out to touch over 1.5 million people. Sound like a bit of an exaggeration? Not really. This is a realistic, calculated, statistically sound and even conservative estimate. So given this, how important should my preparation be? With what kind of attitude should I live the next few days knowing what the potential impact could be?
One of the bigger lessons that I try to impart with college level students ... and this is who I'll mostly interface with over the next two weeks ... is that any game (football, basketball, soccer, etc.) does not just occur on the playing field between the referee's beginning and ending whistles. A track and field athlete's race does not just occur between the moment the starter's pistol fires and the instant the runner hits the tape. The Tour d'France does not just occur for only a few weeks in France ... just ask Lance Armstrong. Attaining a certain level in a martial art – especially for black belt - does not happen on the night of the test. It happens during warm up, it happens when one is training with partners you really don’t like, and it happens when you leave the dojo and walk out on the street or into your home and live the lessons of the art that remain in your muscle memory. The "real game" is what happens off the court, off the field, off the track, off the mat … away from the stadium … as one prepares. The Master's Tournament does NOT happen in Augusta, Georgia! That’s where it ends. The Master’s Tournament happens every time the golfer takes a swing … and every time the golfer thinks about taking a swing. Good leaders understand this concept.
A good executive knows that the most important part of any negotiation happens long before she or he arrives in a conference room for the "important meeting." A good attorney knows that the trial will probably be won or lost long before the courtroom bailiff proclaims, "All Rise!" A good pilot knows his or her safety can depend on the important, yet mundane practice of frequent touch & go landings. A good soldier or police officer knows that how she or he is being with squad mates and potential squad mates during off hours can dramatically shape reality under fire. How he or she is being in the classroom or off duty, can be a matter of life or death later, not only for themselves but for members of the public they sworn to serve.
The "real game" is what happens during practice and preparation.
What's your practice? What do you put into your preparation?
When it comes to your attitude, when it comes to people and how you treat them, when it comes to your family, when it comes to your profession, when it comes to your mission, and …
When you think that no one is watching you …
What's your game?
©2007, Lance Giroux
This week is a prep week, as many weeks are. But this one is bigger than usual. Thursday, February 15th, is departure day for College Station, Texas where, on Friday and Saturday, will be the second annual delivery of a leadership program for the Texas A&M University Fellow. My host will be Fellow's Director, Dr. Tim Peterson. Readers of past Allied Ronin newsletters will recall that he and I presented at the Gallup Leadership Institute Summit a few months ago. Tim brought me and Samurai Game® to Oklahoma State University (where he was a faculty member three years ago) after participating in the Game at the Organizational Behavior Teachers Conference. He left OK State in 2005 for bigger challenges at Texas A&M. I've been kidding him that if he's not careful somebody will draft him to join Robert Gates (past President of TAMU) at the Department of Defense. Tim just cringes and says, "No way!". Anyhow ... we will co-facilitate the Game for about fifty (50) TAMU Fellows this coming weekend.
Sunday I depart TAMU for Kansas City, MO, and meetings with my client and friend George Hersh, CEO of GMJ and owner of the Sports Associated Companies. Sports Associated exclusively handles all North American expositions of motorcycles and small watercraft for Suzuki, Yamaha and Ducati. George is the individual most responsible for the creation of the Allied Ronin Leadership Retreat. The next Leader's Retreat will be July 14-18.
Monday will depart Kansas City and head east through Chicago and London to arrive in Cairo, Egypt on February 21. There I’ll attend the AIESEC International President's Meeting (IPM). The IPM is a 10-day long event. My involvement will be the delivery of a full day leadership program which will include the Samurai Game® for approximately eighty (80) newly elected AIESEC Country Presidents.
AIESEC, the world's largest student organization, is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential so as to have a positive impact on society. In addition to providing over 5,000 leadership positions and delivering over 350 conferences to a membership of over 22,000 students, AIESEC also runs an exchange program that enables over 4,000 students and recent graduates the opportunity to live and work in countries other than their own. February 2006 was my first involvement with AIESEC when I traveled to the Netherlands to present the Game. As a result I toured Poland, Hungary and Slovakia in November delivering the Game for hundreds of "AIESECers" in their own countries.
So this is a prep week ... and a big one. It, along with the moms and dads and kids and umbrellas, got me thinking this morning about how just important preparation really is. When I was a kid I participated in Boy Scouts. We had a motto then; it was "Be Prepared." Years later I met Jack Cirie, a highly decorated combat veteran and former lieutenant colonel, in a brief encounter that changed the direction of my life. I recall his voice admonishing me and others to - Stay Alert! - a motto frequently echoed these days by George Leonard, president emeritus of Esalen Institute, and author of a dozen books including: Mastery, The Silent Pulse, Education and Ecstasy, Walking on the Edge of the World, and The Ultimate Athlete. My friend, Richard Strozzi-Heckler similarly reminds me of this as we part company especially when I am about to travel internationally. With him it's, "Watch your six o'clock”. Maybe you’d have to have served in the military or on a police force to understand the importance of that one.
Here's what's on my mind. I'm going off in a few days to facilitate a Game, a leadership simulation. One hundred thirty people on two continents will participate in these Games. They will represent almost 100 nations from around the globe. During the fourteen days that follow my involvement, those 130 individuals will directly impact the lives of and bring their learning to over 15,000 people. By day 28 following my involvement the energy of those fifteen thousand will then ripple out to touch over 1.5 million people. Sound like a bit of an exaggeration? Not really. This is a realistic, calculated, statistically sound and even conservative estimate. So given this, how important should my preparation be? With what kind of attitude should I live the next few days knowing what the potential impact could be?
One of the bigger lessons that I try to impart with college level students ... and this is who I'll mostly interface with over the next two weeks ... is that any game (football, basketball, soccer, etc.) does not just occur on the playing field between the referee's beginning and ending whistles. A track and field athlete's race does not just occur between the moment the starter's pistol fires and the instant the runner hits the tape. The Tour d'France does not just occur for only a few weeks in France ... just ask Lance Armstrong. Attaining a certain level in a martial art – especially for black belt - does not happen on the night of the test. It happens during warm up, it happens when one is training with partners you really don’t like, and it happens when you leave the dojo and walk out on the street or into your home and live the lessons of the art that remain in your muscle memory. The "real game" is what happens off the court, off the field, off the track, off the mat … away from the stadium … as one prepares. The Master's Tournament does NOT happen in Augusta, Georgia! That’s where it ends. The Master’s Tournament happens every time the golfer takes a swing … and every time the golfer thinks about taking a swing. Good leaders understand this concept.
A good executive knows that the most important part of any negotiation happens long before she or he arrives in a conference room for the "important meeting." A good attorney knows that the trial will probably be won or lost long before the courtroom bailiff proclaims, "All Rise!" A good pilot knows his or her safety can depend on the important, yet mundane practice of frequent touch & go landings. A good soldier or police officer knows that how she or he is being with squad mates and potential squad mates during off hours can dramatically shape reality under fire. How he or she is being in the classroom or off duty, can be a matter of life or death later, not only for themselves but for members of the public they sworn to serve.
The "real game" is what happens during practice and preparation.
What's your practice? What do you put into your preparation?
When it comes to your attitude, when it comes to people and how you treat them, when it comes to your family, when it comes to your profession, when it comes to your mission, and …
When you think that no one is watching you …
What's your game?
©2007, Lance Giroux
Monday, February 05, 2007
In Charge. But In Control?
Have you ever piloted an airplane, actually been at the controls and flown it?
My mentor used aircraft as tools so me and others could deepen our understanding of certain principles and concepts for more effective living. Planes were our training platforms. The first lessons were designed to illustrate how conditioned we were to transferring past circumstances onto present situations. Here’s one of those initial lessons that we used to do live inside real planes. Reading this will be different because you’re limited to using only your ability to visualize. You can heighten your internalization by involving your body in the process while you visualize. Getting the body involved in any mental process dramatically increases understanding, application and the probability for desired results.
Imagine you are sitting in the cockpit of a small two-seater aircraft like a 1967 Cessna 150. Put yourself in the left had seat – where the pilot-in-command sits. The co-pilot or instructor (in this case, me) sits just to your right. There are a number of instruments on a panel in front of us, and we each have something similar to a steering wheel forward of our chairs. Put your left hand on the one in front of you. At our feet we each have two peddles - left and right. Rest your feet yours. In the space between our seats you’ll find a lever coming out of the floor and atop it is a button that either of us can depress allowing us to raise or lower the lever. Reach down with your right hand, depress the button and click the lever up through a couple of notches to it highest position. There it stops and will go no further.
Assuming you’ve never piloted before, what do you think the wheel you are holding is used for? Turn it left and then right. Interesting thing about it – if you push on it, will move forward into the panel… and if you pull on it, it will come back almost to your chest. With your right foot push down on the right peddle. What’s its purpose? What about the one your left foot is resting on … what is it for? Push on it. What happens in your imagination? If you are a pilot, of course you already know the answers to these questions in reality; but do you recall when you first sat in a cockpit and began to make sense of these things?
Almost always the first response from someone brand new to flying is: “Turning the wheel is – hmmmm, well it turns the plane.” And once they see that the wheel can be pushed and pulled, they say something like – “I guess this is what makes the plane go up and down. Pull back and the plane goes up; push forward and it descends… or … maybe if you pull back it will slow things down, and if you push forward we go faster?” As for the feet, often heard is, “Well, the right one’s must be for the gas – that’s our accelerator - then the left one’s gotta be the brake… and because we have no gears (or this thing has an automatic transmission) there’s no need for a third peddle which, of course would be the clutch.” What’s happening? Assumptions and transference, that’s what.
We are sitting in an environment with an arrangement and display familiar to us because we are used to driving cars. Most student pilots begin their journey into pilot-hood through an introductory process that allows them to see how quickly they act on old assumptions and begin to transfer past experiences into what they are viewing in now time. They are challenged to confront a past that has very little relevance to what is actually in front of them. If you were to try to taxi or fly the airplane and use that wheel to turn with, or the right peddle for pouring on the gas, or the left peddle to slow down and stop, or the lever between our seats as a parking break the results would be silly (at best) or deadly (at worst).
I remember my first experience taxiing the Cessna 150 that I would eventually own. I hopped into the cockpit thinking “finally I get to be in charge of an airplane.” For the next few moments I was told exactly what the peddles were for (and they’re not for gas or breaking) and exactly what the wheel is for (actually it’s called a yoke and it has nothing to do with turning right or left on the ground), and what that lever is for … and I was instructed on exactly how to taxi in good fashion to the end of the runway. My instructor then started the plane. All I had to do was execute a ninety-degree left turn, head straight for the end of the runway and then keep us going that direction. Yet, once I was put in charge my feet and hands seemed to have a mind of their own. They did exactly what they had been conditioned to do by past experience … not what I was supposed to do to succeed at this task. My hands turned hard left, but the plane kept going straight. So my left foot “hit the brake”… and we executed a fast turn to the left that went well past ninety degrees. Off course my hands tried to steer back to the right, but the plane kept going in a circle. I even pulled on the yoke as if the plane was a horse. I could hear myself saying “whoa, whoa, whoa!!” Soon I was zigzagging all over the grass, into some weeds and almost ran into a fence. Because my course corrections were based on an old set of beliefs and patterns imbedded my mind/body system nothing was going the way I wanted. I got scared and frustrated; and the more I slipped into those two mental/emotional states the more obsessed I became at trying to make my unproductive action work. (It was kind of like talking to someone who doesn’t speak your language … so you talk slower and raise your voice. Ever do something like that?) My past mental models took over and things got worse. Soon my instructor took over and brought us to a stop. I was sweating. He was laughing. Yep, finally I was in charge ... but in control – hardly.
In Meditations (CE167) Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote: “Very little is needed to have a happy life. It’s all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” That’s a very positive and uplifting notion to put forth, and one that has been stated by many other great minds – before and after the day that Aurelius wrote those words. But he could have just as easily worded his idea as an admonition for the reader to guard against counterproductive ways of being. He could have said, “Very little is needed to have a frustrated life. It’s all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
If our thinking orients towards the now, how we communicate and how we attempt to understand and learn from what is happening in the present in order to constructively move forward we are more apt to succeed than if our thinking orients to the past in an effort to maintain control by looking through lenses constructed of what we already know (or think we know). Not that the past should be discounted or ignored… not at all. Use the past, but use it with a sense of balance - wisdom and discretion - for what it is … past.
The pilot-in-command of an airplane is a decision maker; he or she is in charge. But that doesn’t mean they have control over everything. There’s a big difference between being in charge and being in control. You have a lot of authority if you’re a PIC sitting in that left seat. Real pilots-in-command have the authority to override all decisions and desires made by any and all other human beings. Most of the time, though, a PIC follows set procedures and responds to the requests or orders of others in authority – the control tower personnel, the aircraft owner, a chief of operations or the president of the airline. Why? It’s a matter of trust and because most of the time things happen as a matter of routine. But at any moment, should the PIC determine that a situation warrants something other than what’s been instructed by an authority outside of the cockpit then he or she can do anything he or she wants to ensure safe flight of that craft because the PIC has enormous life/death responsibility at his or her fingertips. But authority to override others does not come without a price. When the aircraft finally comes back to earth the PIC must account for, face the consequences of, and if need be pay the prices for all the actions he or she took.
Think about it. When was the last time you felt out of control in a new situation – a new job, a budding relationship, a fresh approach to company governance, whatever - and you got excited because you thought you were finally going to have a little more control in your life and the freedom that you thought might accompany this control. But soon after jumping into the cockpit (if you will) of this new job, relationship for form of governance, you got frustrated or scared or thought things wouldn’t work out and maybe you threw up your hands and wanted to quit. What old data was your mind/body system automatically applying to your new situation? What old thoughts were you bringing forward from your past into the now? There’s nothing wrong with using the past to help the future – it’s part of the genius of being human. But, more often than not, people reach into the past in an attempt to control the now before they truly understand what is really in front of them and what the now actually needs.
How do you know if you’re applying past mental models to a new situation? Listen to your mental chatter, that’s one way. Are you making silent comparisons, seeing someone else’s face in place of the person who’s actually in front of you … or who you’re actually talking with. Are you hearing an old voice? Do you find yourself saying, “Just like son-and-so.” Looking at the results is another way. Do you see old, undesired results creeping into the new scenario? If you do, then it’s time to slow down, stop, and step aside from yourself and ask yourself about what is really going on. Sit quietly. See what comes up for you as you look for patterns. Ask a trusted friend or professional to be your “co-pilot” for a moment or a while – someone who will have no agenda about winning your favor if they say something you like, or losing your favor if they say something you don’t like. Yes, you may be in charge. But in control … this can be an illusion.
My mentor used aircraft as tools so me and others could deepen our understanding of certain principles and concepts for more effective living. Planes were our training platforms. The first lessons were designed to illustrate how conditioned we were to transferring past circumstances onto present situations. Here’s one of those initial lessons that we used to do live inside real planes. Reading this will be different because you’re limited to using only your ability to visualize. You can heighten your internalization by involving your body in the process while you visualize. Getting the body involved in any mental process dramatically increases understanding, application and the probability for desired results.
Imagine you are sitting in the cockpit of a small two-seater aircraft like a 1967 Cessna 150. Put yourself in the left had seat – where the pilot-in-command sits. The co-pilot or instructor (in this case, me) sits just to your right. There are a number of instruments on a panel in front of us, and we each have something similar to a steering wheel forward of our chairs. Put your left hand on the one in front of you. At our feet we each have two peddles - left and right. Rest your feet yours. In the space between our seats you’ll find a lever coming out of the floor and atop it is a button that either of us can depress allowing us to raise or lower the lever. Reach down with your right hand, depress the button and click the lever up through a couple of notches to it highest position. There it stops and will go no further.
Assuming you’ve never piloted before, what do you think the wheel you are holding is used for? Turn it left and then right. Interesting thing about it – if you push on it, will move forward into the panel… and if you pull on it, it will come back almost to your chest. With your right foot push down on the right peddle. What’s its purpose? What about the one your left foot is resting on … what is it for? Push on it. What happens in your imagination? If you are a pilot, of course you already know the answers to these questions in reality; but do you recall when you first sat in a cockpit and began to make sense of these things?
Almost always the first response from someone brand new to flying is: “Turning the wheel is – hmmmm, well it turns the plane.” And once they see that the wheel can be pushed and pulled, they say something like – “I guess this is what makes the plane go up and down. Pull back and the plane goes up; push forward and it descends… or … maybe if you pull back it will slow things down, and if you push forward we go faster?” As for the feet, often heard is, “Well, the right one’s must be for the gas – that’s our accelerator - then the left one’s gotta be the brake… and because we have no gears (or this thing has an automatic transmission) there’s no need for a third peddle which, of course would be the clutch.” What’s happening? Assumptions and transference, that’s what.
We are sitting in an environment with an arrangement and display familiar to us because we are used to driving cars. Most student pilots begin their journey into pilot-hood through an introductory process that allows them to see how quickly they act on old assumptions and begin to transfer past experiences into what they are viewing in now time. They are challenged to confront a past that has very little relevance to what is actually in front of them. If you were to try to taxi or fly the airplane and use that wheel to turn with, or the right peddle for pouring on the gas, or the left peddle to slow down and stop, or the lever between our seats as a parking break the results would be silly (at best) or deadly (at worst).
I remember my first experience taxiing the Cessna 150 that I would eventually own. I hopped into the cockpit thinking “finally I get to be in charge of an airplane.” For the next few moments I was told exactly what the peddles were for (and they’re not for gas or breaking) and exactly what the wheel is for (actually it’s called a yoke and it has nothing to do with turning right or left on the ground), and what that lever is for … and I was instructed on exactly how to taxi in good fashion to the end of the runway. My instructor then started the plane. All I had to do was execute a ninety-degree left turn, head straight for the end of the runway and then keep us going that direction. Yet, once I was put in charge my feet and hands seemed to have a mind of their own. They did exactly what they had been conditioned to do by past experience … not what I was supposed to do to succeed at this task. My hands turned hard left, but the plane kept going straight. So my left foot “hit the brake”… and we executed a fast turn to the left that went well past ninety degrees. Off course my hands tried to steer back to the right, but the plane kept going in a circle. I even pulled on the yoke as if the plane was a horse. I could hear myself saying “whoa, whoa, whoa!!” Soon I was zigzagging all over the grass, into some weeds and almost ran into a fence. Because my course corrections were based on an old set of beliefs and patterns imbedded my mind/body system nothing was going the way I wanted. I got scared and frustrated; and the more I slipped into those two mental/emotional states the more obsessed I became at trying to make my unproductive action work. (It was kind of like talking to someone who doesn’t speak your language … so you talk slower and raise your voice. Ever do something like that?) My past mental models took over and things got worse. Soon my instructor took over and brought us to a stop. I was sweating. He was laughing. Yep, finally I was in charge ... but in control – hardly.
In Meditations (CE167) Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote: “Very little is needed to have a happy life. It’s all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” That’s a very positive and uplifting notion to put forth, and one that has been stated by many other great minds – before and after the day that Aurelius wrote those words. But he could have just as easily worded his idea as an admonition for the reader to guard against counterproductive ways of being. He could have said, “Very little is needed to have a frustrated life. It’s all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
If our thinking orients towards the now, how we communicate and how we attempt to understand and learn from what is happening in the present in order to constructively move forward we are more apt to succeed than if our thinking orients to the past in an effort to maintain control by looking through lenses constructed of what we already know (or think we know). Not that the past should be discounted or ignored… not at all. Use the past, but use it with a sense of balance - wisdom and discretion - for what it is … past.
The pilot-in-command of an airplane is a decision maker; he or she is in charge. But that doesn’t mean they have control over everything. There’s a big difference between being in charge and being in control. You have a lot of authority if you’re a PIC sitting in that left seat. Real pilots-in-command have the authority to override all decisions and desires made by any and all other human beings. Most of the time, though, a PIC follows set procedures and responds to the requests or orders of others in authority – the control tower personnel, the aircraft owner, a chief of operations or the president of the airline. Why? It’s a matter of trust and because most of the time things happen as a matter of routine. But at any moment, should the PIC determine that a situation warrants something other than what’s been instructed by an authority outside of the cockpit then he or she can do anything he or she wants to ensure safe flight of that craft because the PIC has enormous life/death responsibility at his or her fingertips. But authority to override others does not come without a price. When the aircraft finally comes back to earth the PIC must account for, face the consequences of, and if need be pay the prices for all the actions he or she took.
Think about it. When was the last time you felt out of control in a new situation – a new job, a budding relationship, a fresh approach to company governance, whatever - and you got excited because you thought you were finally going to have a little more control in your life and the freedom that you thought might accompany this control. But soon after jumping into the cockpit (if you will) of this new job, relationship for form of governance, you got frustrated or scared or thought things wouldn’t work out and maybe you threw up your hands and wanted to quit. What old data was your mind/body system automatically applying to your new situation? What old thoughts were you bringing forward from your past into the now? There’s nothing wrong with using the past to help the future – it’s part of the genius of being human. But, more often than not, people reach into the past in an attempt to control the now before they truly understand what is really in front of them and what the now actually needs.
How do you know if you’re applying past mental models to a new situation? Listen to your mental chatter, that’s one way. Are you making silent comparisons, seeing someone else’s face in place of the person who’s actually in front of you … or who you’re actually talking with. Are you hearing an old voice? Do you find yourself saying, “Just like son-and-so.” Looking at the results is another way. Do you see old, undesired results creeping into the new scenario? If you do, then it’s time to slow down, stop, and step aside from yourself and ask yourself about what is really going on. Sit quietly. See what comes up for you as you look for patterns. Ask a trusted friend or professional to be your “co-pilot” for a moment or a while – someone who will have no agenda about winning your favor if they say something you like, or losing your favor if they say something you don’t like. Yes, you may be in charge. But in control … this can be an illusion.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Notes from Beijing
Landed in Beijing yesterday, January 24. The Top Human conference here has a much larger scope than what I expected and than what I've seen done by any other training company... not in size ... rather in scope. Eva Wong (Chairperson & President) and Lawrence Leung (CEO) of Top Human are hosting their Third Eastern Summit for Corporate Social Responsibility and Branding.
The conference opened this morning with Eva and Lawrence delivering the keynote presentation, outlining Corporate Social Responsibility as the path of best practice for businesses here in China and throughout the world. Their presentation set the tone for 48 CEOs, business owners and executives representing 48 companies from throughout China in attendance - stressing an alignment of western business thinking with ancient Chinese wisdom & values (Ru) by creating a central code of trust between business leaders and their stakeholders - employees, shareholders, customers, community and partners. (So ... without saying "bushido" that's what they declared the conference would be about ... very conscious of the impact that leaders have on people and the environment.)
Their presentation was followed by Dr. Li Han Jun, CUFE and then by Dr.Li Zhi Neng, of the Research and Development Centre for State Council. These were followed by Corporate Social Responsibility case studies delivered by Ms. Kelly Lau, CSR Director for Nike (China) and Ms. LiuXiaowei, Director of Communications, Shell Oil (China)
Tomorrow ... Friday morning before lunch ... Mr. Esmond Quek, CEO, Hill & Knowlton, China will deliver a presentation on CSR and Branding; andMs. Erika Helms (Executive Director) and Ms. Zhang Zhe (ProgramDirector) both of the Jane Goodall Institute of China will deliver a presentation on Environmental Conservation.
Then for the next five hours Andre' Wai and I will deliver the SamuraiGame® as the conference's experiential centerpiece to raise awareness of leadership, responsibility, trust, warriorship (battlefield =marketplace), honor, respect for people/planet, etc.
Saturday morning following our reflection piece tieing participant experiences from the Game to concrete practices within their organizations, the conference will again revert to "stand up" presentations... as follows:
Saturday Dr. Chen Tian Quan, Party Secretary at Renmin University will present on Confucianism and Management.
William Valentino, GM, Corporate Communications for Bayer China will present a case study on Corporate Responsibility; andForrest li, Managing Director of Debt Capital Markets, China will present a talk on Debt Financing.
Sunday the Summit will end with remarks again from Eva Wong and Lawrence Leung.
This conference is a huge leap from what I have seen other training companies doing in general and vis a vis the Samurai Game. In fact it is quite a spectacular leap for the Game (here called The Warrior Game for cultural & political reasons) as it has taken a place as an experiential tool for organizational awareness and leadership with a focus on how both impact real human beings and the environment (i.e. our planet) especially for the 48 senior executives attending.
The conference opened this morning with Eva and Lawrence delivering the keynote presentation, outlining Corporate Social Responsibility as the path of best practice for businesses here in China and throughout the world. Their presentation set the tone for 48 CEOs, business owners and executives representing 48 companies from throughout China in attendance - stressing an alignment of western business thinking with ancient Chinese wisdom & values (Ru) by creating a central code of trust between business leaders and their stakeholders - employees, shareholders, customers, community and partners. (So ... without saying "bushido" that's what they declared the conference would be about ... very conscious of the impact that leaders have on people and the environment.)
Their presentation was followed by Dr. Li Han Jun, CUFE and then by Dr.Li Zhi Neng, of the Research and Development Centre for State Council. These were followed by Corporate Social Responsibility case studies delivered by Ms. Kelly Lau, CSR Director for Nike (China) and Ms. LiuXiaowei, Director of Communications, Shell Oil (China)
Tomorrow ... Friday morning before lunch ... Mr. Esmond Quek, CEO, Hill & Knowlton, China will deliver a presentation on CSR and Branding; andMs. Erika Helms (Executive Director) and Ms. Zhang Zhe (ProgramDirector) both of the Jane Goodall Institute of China will deliver a presentation on Environmental Conservation.
Then for the next five hours Andre' Wai and I will deliver the SamuraiGame® as the conference's experiential centerpiece to raise awareness of leadership, responsibility, trust, warriorship (battlefield =marketplace), honor, respect for people/planet, etc.
Saturday morning following our reflection piece tieing participant experiences from the Game to concrete practices within their organizations, the conference will again revert to "stand up" presentations... as follows:
Saturday Dr. Chen Tian Quan, Party Secretary at Renmin University will present on Confucianism and Management.
William Valentino, GM, Corporate Communications for Bayer China will present a case study on Corporate Responsibility; andForrest li, Managing Director of Debt Capital Markets, China will present a talk on Debt Financing.
Sunday the Summit will end with remarks again from Eva Wong and Lawrence Leung.
This conference is a huge leap from what I have seen other training companies doing in general and vis a vis the Samurai Game. In fact it is quite a spectacular leap for the Game (here called The Warrior Game for cultural & political reasons) as it has taken a place as an experiential tool for organizational awareness and leadership with a focus on how both impact real human beings and the environment (i.e. our planet) especially for the 48 senior executives attending.
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Special Bay Area Event with George Leonard
George Leonard, co-founder of Integral Transformative Practice (ITP), creator of Leonard Energy Training (LET), and associate of Allied Ronin, will open a special program in LET on February 3 in the San Francisco Bay Area and he will teach three of the six scheduled training sessions (Feb 3 & 27, March 17, April 7 & 28, and June 2). This is a rare opportunity to engage with Mr. Leonard who has authored a dozen books, including "The Silent Pulse", "Mastery", "Walking on the Edge of the World", "Education & Ecstasy", and "The Ultimate Athlete" ... and is the inventor and owner of The Samurai Game®. Contact Pam Kramer at pam_kramer22@yahoo.com for program information.
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
A Reflective Reminder
OZ never did give nothing to the Tin Man
That he didn’t, didn’t already have. - America
That he didn’t, didn’t already have. - America
It’s oddly sunny this morning in what has been an otherwise rainy December. I’m looking out the office window at 501 Prospect Street, Petaluma CA. 2006 is about to run out the door. 2007 is walking in. A year beyond what I imagined at the last winter solstice is almost complete. What happened? A lot.
Sometimes I get caught up in the swirl of life and need to take time to remind myself what my journey is all about. That happened this year. This can be a good and necessary thing. Without the swirl we might forget that life takes effort and time and questions and answers. This is fundamentally important. When I notice that I’m getting caught up in the swirl I often engage in conversation with good people and I learn.
Earlier this year Richard Strozzi-Heckler and I were discussing a mutual friend who we were concerned about. Our conversation drifted into thoughts of living one’s last days – a very samurai kind of dialogue. I offered that I would like to live my last breath learning something totally new and yet to be appreciated. Today I’m realizing that shortly I’ll draw and yield my last breath of 2006 and begin breathing my 2007. As I do I’ll ask: What did I learn; what will I discover?
The past year has provided a deep appreciation for an important practice that began in January1975 for me, and then sharpened dramatically in January 1997. The practice of Being Here Now.
Being Here Now may sound too simplistic and esoteric to some folks to warrant serious consideration in the domain of leadership and organizational development, and completely “woo-woo” to others. But the greatest teachers and leaders of the past viewed it as essential, e.g. Marcus Aurelius, “all that is needed is in your way of thinking.” Simple it may be. Easy it is not. Indeed, living in the present moment – physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually - is one of the most difficult and rewarding tasks one can engage in. It transcends action; it is about being-ness. The sages say that this is the key to understanding love, forgiveness and compassion. History’s greatest generals and warriors knew it to be their greatest ally and grounding point when faced with chaos, crisis and fear … and even victory. George Patton supposedly once said, “All victory is fleeting!”
I’m of the opinion that all practices, disciplines, undertakings, missions, abilities, etc. hinge on this single idea. It is the major discipline encouraged by the Allied Ronin offerings, and core to the Allied Ronin mission: Develop strong leaders, teams and organizations who perform through principled and constructive practices. All courses, programs, workshops, retreats, conferences, conversations, consultations and coachings open with Be Here Now as the anchor. It is foundational to the application of the three primary instructional tools employed in all Allied Ronin undertakings: (a) The JoHari Window (Luft & Ingham, 1955); (b) The Five Step Leadership Path (Giroux, 2000); and (c) The Dialogue Process (Isaacs, 1993)
Ten years ago - January 10, 1997 - I fell on some boulders and shattered my hip. My life had been running at a very fast pace… an even faster pace than 2006. That day it was if the universe stopped giving me hints about taking some time to attend to the NOW of my life. Rather, it grabbed me and shook me and threw me on the ground and screamed, “Hey you! Pay Attention! It’s time to stop … to slow down … and to begin to appreciate something.”
Reflecting back on the events of that day I see many immediate lessons – some of them hard to swallow – some I’m still coming to terms with:
• I began to realize that I sometimes live in denial, e.g. I wanted to believe the hip was dislocated, not broken, even though I heard the bone split. (I still deny things)
• I began to understand that sometimes I have to face aloneness, e.g. I was left on a beach by myself unable to get away from the rising tide and the surf while my buddy went to summon police and paramedics. (I still don’t like being alone)
• I began to grasp a more poignant appreciation of other human beings accepting them as they are, rather than as I would want them to be, e.g. lying on the sand I was approached and attended to by a homeless man who I initially pre-judged and feared. Yet he appeared on the scene and simply offered me a hand and some conversation. He kept me awake and possibly alive. (I still wish others would be different sometimes)
• I began to surrender my need to control others, and allow them to do things their way as best they could, e.g. the officers, paramedics, and firemen who finally arrived to take care of me did all the work. I went along for an hour-long wild (and painful) ride in a metal basket through waves, over slippery rocks, up the sand and across Santa Cruz CA in an ambulance. (I still try to control occasionally)
• I began to creatively and playfully deal with loss, e.g. I encouraged the ER personnel who had difficulty removing my clothes to “just cut ‘em off” rather than trying to figure out how undress me which would have caused further pain and possible injury. (I still don’t like losing now and then)
• I started practicing patience and looking at things from another’s perspective, e.g. the surgeon, Dr. Swartz, advised that he and his team would wait until the next day to operate rather than hasten the procedure (which the injury rightfully demanded) even though that to wait through the night would mean hours of severe pain for me. Why did he want to wait? Because he knew that he and his team would do a better job if they could perform in a well-rested state. As a good leader and excellent surgeon he assessed the risks involved, evaluated the situation, gave me his best advice, apologized for the pain, and supplied access to ample amounts of morphine. The next day he and the team did a miraculous job. (I still get impatient and insist on seeing things my way)
The initial eight weeks of recovery from January 10, 1997, opened a new understanding regarding the significance of Being Here Now. Over dinner one night with two friends, Paul and Nancy Nakai, who have been on a similar path of learning, I happened to share my insights. A few days later a book arrived from them for which I am still grateful – “Slowing Down to the Speed of Life: How to Create a More Peaceful, Simpler Life from the Inside Out” by Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey.
How does this connect with today, sitting here looking out the office window at 501 Prospect Street, Petaluma CA … with 2006 about to run out the door and 2007 about to walk in? Well, I’m still learning. That’s how.
In 2006 I was fortunate to visit some exotic and historic places: Confucius’ gardens and grave in the ancient city of Qu Fu, Amsterdam’s Dam Square, the Van Gough Museum, the narrow stairs leading into Anne Frank’s room where rests her actual diary and loose paper notes, the snow covered mountains in northern Slovakia, Krakow’s ancient castle The Wawel, Pope John Paul II’s birth place, the dirt streets and brown brick barracks in Osweicim, Poland (Auschwitz), the headwaters of the Wisla River, the Hungarian Parliament and Budapest’s Hero Square, and Hong Kong’s Star Ferry. I rode the cold damp all-night trains from Warsaw to Katowice to Ustron in Poland, and through Gyor to Komarom station in Hungary and then backtracked for hours by car through Gyor because I didn’t study my map … finally arriving at Hungary’s great Lake Balaton. I worked around the globe with a few thousand people, some young, some old, some rich, some poor - Poles, Chinese, Taiwanese, Hungarians, Estonians, Romanians and some from the Ukraine and saw firsthand how their similarities far outweighing their differences.
Without diminishing any of these historic and beautiful places, things and people, I have to say that anyplace can be an exotic, and any moment can be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The power of what’s most important to me continues to be in the here and the now, right where I live. It’s just as beautiful and worth appreciating as the world out there. This doesn’t mean that traveling abroad is a thing of my past. On assignment I’m bound for Beijing in January, possibly Cairo in February, and most likely Krakow again in March. But here’s the truth for me. The unique beauty of Sonoma County and its rolling oak covered hills, the old timers eating stew at Pete’s Henny Penny Restaurant in Petaluma, a particular bench on a local county park hillside, the hawks and ravens riding ridgeline thermals above town of Valley Ford, the unseen insects singing their strange clicking chorus in branches above a driveway, morning coffee and tea at a hometown market, the rose bush that pricks my hand at pruning time after the first winter freeze, the school kids at recess laughing in the playground outside my back yard … all these are as magnificent or more.
Last night in preparation for the upcoming Allied Ronin Leader’s Retreat I watched the Bill Moyers’ interviews with Joseph Campbell - The Power of Myth. At one point Campbell, one of the greatest minds of our time, said, “Where we have sought to travel outward we shall come to the center of our own existence. Where we have sought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.”
You have a strength, a gift, that is uniquely yours. When you find your strength, your gift, and you make a daily practice of developing it, you grow in your ability to constructively influence others to do likewise. This makes you a leader – even if you are not aware of the influence that you have. The more you practice, the more effective you become as a person of influence. This influence, this kind leadership is foundational, and it has nothing to do with title, rank, level of income, position, authority, age, gender or any combination of letters following your name attesting to formal education. Furthermore, when we as individuals come together and collectively practice developing our constructive strengths we grow in our ability to coordinate. In a very real sense, we dance. And with our dance we become strong as teams and organizations. This is important – this leadership through understanding constructive strength and this team and organizational development through coordinated practice. And it is so simple – though not easy. This is what Allied Ronin is fundamentally dedicated to. Nothing less. Nothing more.
Each of us has at least one core quality worth living, worth practicing, worth developing and worth unleashing. Yes, we all have our shadows, our weaknesses and our dark sides. But that we could focus our own and other people’s attention on constructive qualities and strengths rather than on destructive faults and weaknesses, I believe we could re-shape our world for the better. It begins at home. What does this take? A simple commitment to be present with self, with others with our environment, with our community … every day. It demands nothing short of that we Be Here Now.
The 1970’s rock group, America, said it all in one single lyric: “OZ never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t, didn’t already have."
Looking forward to seeing you in 2007 – whenever and where ever that may be!
Friday, December 22, 2006
"The Season of Giving"
'Tis the days before Christmas
And I'm stirring and writing and figuring around here
To get as much done as possible
And close out this year.
So night before last
What do I do?
Watch a little TV.
Maybe you, too.
It's not my normal thing, TV.
But something inside was telling me
"Flip it on, flip it on
And see what you'll see."
And to much of my surprise
What do I find ...
The show that immediately came on: PBS News Hour. But not with Jim Lehrer. The story: "The Many Legacies of Andrew Carnegie" in which Paul Solman (NewsHour Economics Correspondent) interviews David Nasaw - a Carnegie biographer. Seems that Andrew was quite a multifaceted guy. Loved by some, hated by others - even to this day. He believed in survival of the fittest (socially speaking) yet he saw one of his missions as being to pull others along with him.
Proportionately speaking (considering the economy of his day) Carnegie gave away more money than Warren Buffet and Bill Gates combined for the betterment of his fellow human being. Yet, he simultaneously refused to raise his workers wages or give them a shorter workday. He was a complex man ... or as Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation described him, "a man of contradiction."
I felt it an intriguing short episode - especially at this time of year - "the season of giving." I also felt it was significant given the that the Allied Ronin Leader's Retreat is just days away ... that this retreat was inspired in some ways by old legends of how Carnegie, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and Luther Burbank supposedly would slip away from their day-to-day business, get out in nature to camp with each other and talk about ideas. It was for them (I was told) a way of reflecting on life and stimulating their creativity for the future.
You can read the entire PBS interview by going to http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_issues/july-dec06/carnegie_12-19.html
An aside - It was a further interesting vignette given the roots of "human potential movement" from which has come the modern self-help, positive philosophy, personal and professional coaching, etc., etc., industry. All of this was in large part inspired by an early twentieth century assignment given by the great steel magnate, Andrew Carnegie, to a budding young author, Napoleon Hill. The result of which became one of the most sold books written in the English language - "Think & Grow Rich." For background on this see "The Laws of Success" by Napoleon Hill.
And I'm stirring and writing and figuring around here
To get as much done as possible
And close out this year.
So night before last
What do I do?
Watch a little TV.
Maybe you, too.
It's not my normal thing, TV.
But something inside was telling me
"Flip it on, flip it on
And see what you'll see."
And to much of my surprise
What do I find ...
The show that immediately came on: PBS News Hour. But not with Jim Lehrer. The story: "The Many Legacies of Andrew Carnegie" in which Paul Solman (NewsHour Economics Correspondent) interviews David Nasaw - a Carnegie biographer. Seems that Andrew was quite a multifaceted guy. Loved by some, hated by others - even to this day. He believed in survival of the fittest (socially speaking) yet he saw one of his missions as being to pull others along with him.
Proportionately speaking (considering the economy of his day) Carnegie gave away more money than Warren Buffet and Bill Gates combined for the betterment of his fellow human being. Yet, he simultaneously refused to raise his workers wages or give them a shorter workday. He was a complex man ... or as Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation described him, "a man of contradiction."
I felt it an intriguing short episode - especially at this time of year - "the season of giving." I also felt it was significant given the that the Allied Ronin Leader's Retreat is just days away ... that this retreat was inspired in some ways by old legends of how Carnegie, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone and Luther Burbank supposedly would slip away from their day-to-day business, get out in nature to camp with each other and talk about ideas. It was for them (I was told) a way of reflecting on life and stimulating their creativity for the future.
You can read the entire PBS interview by going to http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_issues/july-dec06/carnegie_12-19.html
An aside - It was a further interesting vignette given the roots of "human potential movement" from which has come the modern self-help, positive philosophy, personal and professional coaching, etc., etc., industry. All of this was in large part inspired by an early twentieth century assignment given by the great steel magnate, Andrew Carnegie, to a budding young author, Napoleon Hill. The result of which became one of the most sold books written in the English language - "Think & Grow Rich." For background on this see "The Laws of Success" by Napoleon Hill.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
"The Mental Game"
The following article is adapted from Lance Giroux's book "The Mental Game" - ISBN 0-9713892-0-9 available at www.AlliedRonin.com
Do you have a tendency, when you “make a mistake”, to immediately and silently chastise yourself? I've noticed this with a lot of golfers, including a pro that I was providing "mental coaching" for while he was preparing for the US Open qualifications. I noticed it when he was on the driving range and while he was on the course during tournament. As his faded to the right he would stand and shake his head. His face would tense and it appeared, even from the distance that I stood, that he was saying to himself, "I'm a looser." Do you sometimes do something like this, too?
Here's the first lesson and assignment I gave him to work on in this regard:
LESSON #1 - Mental Chastisement.
A human being expresses power through word. To our knowledge, no other creature on this planet has the ability to form and communicate an intricate language. Human beings define themselves and their conditions through word. And human beings CREATE a future for themselves through the way they use word. Word is the result of thought. The formation of word is the self-talk - and is PHYSICALLY MANIFESTED, DEMONSTRATED and REFLECTED in gesture. Often, the individual is unaware that he is doing this self-talk. BUT the self-talk doesn’t lie. It is there.
The body acts on the most hidden word. And it is demonstrated. Others see the self talk, and form agreements with the self talk. This is why individuals who are having a bad day can walk into the presence of someone who is happy and the bad mood changes as well as the experience of themselves and their results. And it’s also why someone who is having a good day can walk into the presence of someone who is in a terrible mood, and the terrible mood can wipe out the happiness that was present. WORDS HAVE POWER!... In fact - words are power.
When someone else forms an agreement with your word, they actually “assist” you in perpetuating that state. For example, if someone sees you physically demonstrating ease, comfort, confidence, problems not getting you down, lightness, etc.. they enter into an agreement with you that moves your state forward into the future... they add power to your state. Similarly, when someone sees you physically demonstrating up-tightness, discomfort, cowardice, problems getting you down, darkness, moodiness, etc... they enter into an agreement with you that moves YOUR STATE forward into the future... they add power in that state.
Your thoughts create a future into which you move. Other people’s mental energy adds substance and form to your thoughts. Those who really know what the Mental Game is will tell you -- “What ever the mind conceives and believes, it achieves” -- like it or not. (Napoleon Hill, who included this into one of the greatest best sellers ever written - “Think and Grow Rich” - didn’t invent that concept, he just reported on it.)
When you allow yourself to indulge in self disgust - you give others the ability to add to your own self disgust. When you indulge in self confidence - you give others ONLY the ammunition to add to your own self confidence.
ASSIGNMENT#1. Spend time each morning and each evening PRACTICING MENTAL RELAXATION. DO IT. Don’t think about it ...JUST DO IT. Don’t concern yourself with results right now. Don’t think about what others might think of you if they knew your were listening to some kind of recorded medidation ... or if they walked in on your “meditation”. JUST DO IT. YOU ARE PRACTICING CALMING AND STILLING YOUR MIND. YOU ARE EXERCISING AND EXTENDING YOUR MENTAL CAPACITY. What is more important to you - Your capacity to achieve OR your image?? "
Do you have a tendency, when you “make a mistake”, to immediately and silently chastise yourself? I've noticed this with a lot of golfers, including a pro that I was providing "mental coaching" for while he was preparing for the US Open qualifications. I noticed it when he was on the driving range and while he was on the course during tournament. As his faded to the right he would stand and shake his head. His face would tense and it appeared, even from the distance that I stood, that he was saying to himself, "I'm a looser." Do you sometimes do something like this, too?
Here's the first lesson and assignment I gave him to work on in this regard:
LESSON #1 - Mental Chastisement.
A human being expresses power through word. To our knowledge, no other creature on this planet has the ability to form and communicate an intricate language. Human beings define themselves and their conditions through word. And human beings CREATE a future for themselves through the way they use word. Word is the result of thought. The formation of word is the self-talk - and is PHYSICALLY MANIFESTED, DEMONSTRATED and REFLECTED in gesture. Often, the individual is unaware that he is doing this self-talk. BUT the self-talk doesn’t lie. It is there.
The body acts on the most hidden word. And it is demonstrated. Others see the self talk, and form agreements with the self talk. This is why individuals who are having a bad day can walk into the presence of someone who is happy and the bad mood changes as well as the experience of themselves and their results. And it’s also why someone who is having a good day can walk into the presence of someone who is in a terrible mood, and the terrible mood can wipe out the happiness that was present. WORDS HAVE POWER!... In fact - words are power.
When someone else forms an agreement with your word, they actually “assist” you in perpetuating that state. For example, if someone sees you physically demonstrating ease, comfort, confidence, problems not getting you down, lightness, etc.. they enter into an agreement with you that moves your state forward into the future... they add power to your state. Similarly, when someone sees you physically demonstrating up-tightness, discomfort, cowardice, problems getting you down, darkness, moodiness, etc... they enter into an agreement with you that moves YOUR STATE forward into the future... they add power in that state.
Your thoughts create a future into which you move. Other people’s mental energy adds substance and form to your thoughts. Those who really know what the Mental Game is will tell you -- “What ever the mind conceives and believes, it achieves” -- like it or not. (Napoleon Hill, who included this into one of the greatest best sellers ever written - “Think and Grow Rich” - didn’t invent that concept, he just reported on it.)
When you allow yourself to indulge in self disgust - you give others the ability to add to your own self disgust. When you indulge in self confidence - you give others ONLY the ammunition to add to your own self confidence.
ASSIGNMENT#1. Spend time each morning and each evening PRACTICING MENTAL RELAXATION. DO IT. Don’t think about it ...JUST DO IT. Don’t concern yourself with results right now. Don’t think about what others might think of you if they knew your were listening to some kind of recorded medidation ... or if they walked in on your “meditation”. JUST DO IT. YOU ARE PRACTICING CALMING AND STILLING YOUR MIND. YOU ARE EXERCISING AND EXTENDING YOUR MENTAL CAPACITY. What is more important to you - Your capacity to achieve OR your image?? "
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Allied Ronin: European Tour
November 25-27, 2006
These have been three days of teaching and touring in and around Krakow, Poland. The efforts of Pawel Olesiak and Pawel Bernas to bring the Samurai Game® to their aikido organization, Krokowskie Stowarzyszenie (www.aikido.pl), have paid off. Twenty people attended from various businesses surrounding the city, plus the main radio station serving this ancient capital of Poland. All as a result of email announcements sent out from the two Pawel’s (pronounced “pah’–vel” … which is Polish for Paul). Both 4th dan's they teach aikido and have formed a training organization for the specific purpose of changing leadership throughout Poland by use of the principles and physical techniques found in this martial art.
Sunday evening following my class a tour of Krakow was arranged which included the Wawel – ancient castle and home of one of Poland’s oldest monarchies. Then on to St’s Peter & Paul church, St Mary’s and St John’s and other point of historic interest. This city is filled with churches … attesting to the ability of a spiritual-base culture to withstand and overcome the old Soviet regime days … now frequently referred to by the locals as “the communist times.” Pawel Olesiak, now 40, told stories of what it was like for him to stand in long lines for something as simple as candy. Poland is different now. In fact, the youth I’ve encountered since then, many not old enough to know or recall “the communist times” only have their parents’ stories to understand what it was like. Prosperity and aliveness that looks to future growth is everywhere.
Monday morning was a different kind of tour. While there is much beauty to see everywhere in Krakow – enough to fill weeks of touring – I decided to view this country through a different lens. As beautiful and inspiring as the ancient capital is, the other end of the spectrum which represents the ugliness of human potentiality can be felt in another town just forty kilometers west – Oswiecim, or as the German Nazis of 1941 renamed it, Auschwitz.
I toured only Auschwitz I, as the other location (Auschwitz II – Berkenau) 3 km away, would have taken more time than schedules allowed. But the short tour of A-I was enough for me. Fortunately, a participant in a course I led November 18-19 in the San Francisco Bay Area had prepared me by suggesting I read Dr. Victor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Frankl, a survivor of Auschwitz, recounts what it was like from an everyday standpoint of the captive. He then goes on to expand for the reader the brand of psychotherapy he founded – logotherapy – see
These have been three days of teaching and touring in and around Krakow, Poland. The efforts of Pawel Olesiak and Pawel Bernas to bring the Samurai Game® to their aikido organization, Krokowskie Stowarzyszenie (www.aikido.pl), have paid off. Twenty people attended from various businesses surrounding the city, plus the main radio station serving this ancient capital of Poland. All as a result of email announcements sent out from the two Pawel’s (pronounced “pah’–vel” … which is Polish for Paul). Both 4th dan's they teach aikido and have formed a training organization for the specific purpose of changing leadership throughout Poland by use of the principles and physical techniques found in this martial art.
Sunday evening following my class a tour of Krakow was arranged which included the Wawel – ancient castle and home of one of Poland’s oldest monarchies. Then on to St’s Peter & Paul church, St Mary’s and St John’s and other point of historic interest. This city is filled with churches … attesting to the ability of a spiritual-base culture to withstand and overcome the old Soviet regime days … now frequently referred to by the locals as “the communist times.” Pawel Olesiak, now 40, told stories of what it was like for him to stand in long lines for something as simple as candy. Poland is different now. In fact, the youth I’ve encountered since then, many not old enough to know or recall “the communist times” only have their parents’ stories to understand what it was like. Prosperity and aliveness that looks to future growth is everywhere.
Monday morning was a different kind of tour. While there is much beauty to see everywhere in Krakow – enough to fill weeks of touring – I decided to view this country through a different lens. As beautiful and inspiring as the ancient capital is, the other end of the spectrum which represents the ugliness of human potentiality can be felt in another town just forty kilometers west – Oswiecim, or as the German Nazis of 1941 renamed it, Auschwitz.
I toured only Auschwitz I, as the other location (Auschwitz II – Berkenau) 3 km away, would have taken more time than schedules allowed. But the short tour of A-I was enough for me. Fortunately, a participant in a course I led November 18-19 in the San Francisco Bay Area had prepared me by suggesting I read Dr. Victor Frankl’s “Man’s Search for Meaning”. Frankl, a survivor of Auschwitz, recounts what it was like from an everyday standpoint of the captive. He then goes on to expand for the reader the brand of psychotherapy he founded – logotherapy – see
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Valuable Lessons from the Organizational Behavior Teacher's Society
Each year the Organizational Behavior Teacher's Society hosts a conference for it's members, some of the most influencial OB thinkers and educators in the world. Most who attend the Organizational Behavior Teacher's Conference (OBTC) hold a Ph.D. and are excellent teachers, many of whom are called upon to offer leadership programs attended by MBA candidates from around the globe.
I joined the Society in 2002 and attended the OBTC that year to co-present the Samurai Game® for conference attendees. This past June was my third conference and Game presentation there. Unlike other academic conferences where suits and business outfits are the order of the day - at OBTC a pair of Dockers or a skirt might be considered almost formal. It's not a place for dark auditoriums filled with high brow academitians waiting to slice and dice other presentors delivering research papers. Rather, this is a four-day cornicopia of exercises and lively discussions. Presenters share their best so that the rest of us can take it back home and put it to use in our consulting practices, or in trainings and classrooms. It's truly a win-win atmosphere ... education is at its finest. It's a fun (and often funny), rejuvenating and insightful four days.
Each morning opens with an "overall session" that most participants usually attend. This year one of these sessions was conducted by Dr. Karl Weick. Who is he? One of the most respected OB'ers in the world. Of him Diane Coutu (The Harvard Business Review) said in April 2003:
What can we do to better recognize and manage the unpredictable? Few people are better qualified to answer that question than Karl E. Weick, the Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology at the University of Michigan Business School at Ann Arbor, and professor psychology at the university. Over the span of his career, Weick has become world renowned for his insights into why people in organizations act the way they do. His book The Social Psychology of Organizing, first published in 1969, turned organizational psychology on it head by praising the advantages of chaos, demonstrating the pitfalls of planning, and celebrating the rewards of "sensemaking." These insights were expanded in a later book, Sensemaking in Organizations (1995). Most recently, Weick -along with University of Michigan colleague Kathleen M. Sutcliffe - has turned his attention to Managing the Unexpected (2001). [Managing the Unexpected]
On the morning of June 20th I along with 200 other OBTCer's attended Karl Weick's overall session: "Drop Your Tools." What he had to say hit me between the eyes and in the heart. Weik proposed that people often take counterproductive action when faced with the chaos of radical change. He suggested that the tools (skills, methods, beliefs,ways of communicating, etc.) we spend so much time and money on to learn, use and own, can begin to "own us". If we do not remain vigilant these tools can become deterrents to our success. Thus in the very moments when needs are high for correct action we might find ourselves hampered by our habitual adherence to and/or an identification with a tool; and for the sake of the illusion of security we often don't deal with reality. By holding on to something we've paid dearly for and have now become identified with, Weick suggested, we can hinder (at best) or destroy (at worst) what's really important in our lives. The boundary that separates the "who that we are" from the "what that we use" becomes blurred. This is dangerous.
Listening to Weick open his talk about how hanging-on can be counterproductive was not a new idea to anyone attending his session. But as he employed an analogy and laid out the research he had done to illustrate this concept he got to me and to everyone else. What he talked about was down to earth, easy to see and understand, and it was profound.
Using well documented case studies Weick talked of highly skilled men and women who fight forest fires. He spoke specifically about those who lose their lives because of their refusal to Drop Tools when surrounded by immediate life-threatening danger. Even though these individuals and teams he spoke of knew exactly what they were supposed to do when ordered to "Drop Your Tools", a very high percentage of them took the opposite course of action and consequently lost their lives. Think about it ... well trained fire fighters running as fast as they can to save themselves, hearing the lifesaving scream from their team leaders to "Drop Your Tools" ... and even passing on the order ... yet blindly continuing to hang on to chain saws, shovels, axes, heavy ropes, blades and even gas cans. Holding tightly to weight that they have been repeatedly told will cost them precious seconds and could cause their death, these people attempt to outrun hell storms of caused by unexpected wind shifts, down drafts or explosions. Weick further showed evidence that is not unheard of to find that many team leaders who issue the "Drop Your Tools" order then slow themselves down and pick up the same tools that others have jettisoned. Some of these leaders died because they lost the split second advantage they needed to effectively survive a radically changing situation. Leaders who survive often relate how surprised they are to find themselves out of harm's way and look down at their hands to find a tool that wasn't theirs. On reflection some remember having picked it up thinking "it's too valuable to leave behind." Some have admitted that they even slowed down and looked around "to find a safe place to put the tool so that it (not I) could survive the fire."
As an outsider to fighting forest fires this can sound insane. But when I think about my own life and my own changes I'm no longer an "outsider." What happens to these fire fighters happens to many people in different scenarios. It illustrates that the value of a tool, technique, belief or way of being can and sometimes does bizarrely surpass the value of an individual's life.
Weick's comments first struck a professional chord in me. I found myself pondering: "What do I rely on to perform or advance my work? Am I willing to drop some of these things in order to progress, OR have I become so identified with my tools that they own me?" As he continued to speak, thoughts of my profession faded and I began to consider the person I am and the precious relationships that I have and want. Here I took a deeper look. As I write today I am still looking.
What have I relied on (in some cases sadly) as a means of survival when it comes to relationships? What tools (opinions or certainties) have I been carrying that address my responses to other people or about relationship, men, women, children, parents, lovers. What have I been carrying through my life that I thought was needed for success but now weighs me down? Have I become blind? Did I pick up tools to serve an important need back then which now no longer exists? I'm just hanging on out of habit? Do these tools really serve me, particularly in meaningful ways, with someone new? Where have I stopped being "the me that I am" only to become a blind operator of an embodied practice that was once learned, but now mostly protects me from worn out fears and past mistakes?
In a spirit of respectful service and growth, perhaps we could all consider similar questions.
Dr. Karl Weick's comments delivered at the 2006 OBTC are not yet available online. Rather than wait until they are, I decided to find out when he has used the "Drop Your Tools" analogy elsewhere. Here for your reading and thought is "Drop Your Tools: An Allegory for Organizational Studies", published in the Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ), June 1996. His article challenged the ASQ examine the tools it was using that needed to be dropped.
Take time to hit the link to "Drop Your Tools". Read the article ... translate it into what matters for you ... give it some attention and think about it. Something valuable is being illuminated here.
Best wishes,
Lance
I joined the Society in 2002 and attended the OBTC that year to co-present the Samurai Game® for conference attendees. This past June was my third conference and Game presentation there. Unlike other academic conferences where suits and business outfits are the order of the day - at OBTC a pair of Dockers or a skirt might be considered almost formal. It's not a place for dark auditoriums filled with high brow academitians waiting to slice and dice other presentors delivering research papers. Rather, this is a four-day cornicopia of exercises and lively discussions. Presenters share their best so that the rest of us can take it back home and put it to use in our consulting practices, or in trainings and classrooms. It's truly a win-win atmosphere ... education is at its finest. It's a fun (and often funny), rejuvenating and insightful four days.
Each morning opens with an "overall session" that most participants usually attend. This year one of these sessions was conducted by Dr. Karl Weick. Who is he? One of the most respected OB'ers in the world. Of him Diane Coutu (The Harvard Business Review) said in April 2003:
What can we do to better recognize and manage the unpredictable? Few people are better qualified to answer that question than Karl E. Weick, the Rensis Likert Distinguished University Professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology at the University of Michigan Business School at Ann Arbor, and professor psychology at the university. Over the span of his career, Weick has become world renowned for his insights into why people in organizations act the way they do. His book The Social Psychology of Organizing, first published in 1969, turned organizational psychology on it head by praising the advantages of chaos, demonstrating the pitfalls of planning, and celebrating the rewards of "sensemaking." These insights were expanded in a later book, Sensemaking in Organizations (1995). Most recently, Weick -along with University of Michigan colleague Kathleen M. Sutcliffe - has turned his attention to Managing the Unexpected (2001). [Managing the Unexpected]
On the morning of June 20th I along with 200 other OBTCer's attended Karl Weick's overall session: "Drop Your Tools." What he had to say hit me between the eyes and in the heart. Weik proposed that people often take counterproductive action when faced with the chaos of radical change. He suggested that the tools (skills, methods, beliefs,ways of communicating, etc.) we spend so much time and money on to learn, use and own, can begin to "own us". If we do not remain vigilant these tools can become deterrents to our success. Thus in the very moments when needs are high for correct action we might find ourselves hampered by our habitual adherence to and/or an identification with a tool; and for the sake of the illusion of security we often don't deal with reality. By holding on to something we've paid dearly for and have now become identified with, Weick suggested, we can hinder (at best) or destroy (at worst) what's really important in our lives. The boundary that separates the "who that we are" from the "what that we use" becomes blurred. This is dangerous.
Listening to Weick open his talk about how hanging-on can be counterproductive was not a new idea to anyone attending his session. But as he employed an analogy and laid out the research he had done to illustrate this concept he got to me and to everyone else. What he talked about was down to earth, easy to see and understand, and it was profound.
Using well documented case studies Weick talked of highly skilled men and women who fight forest fires. He spoke specifically about those who lose their lives because of their refusal to Drop Tools when surrounded by immediate life-threatening danger. Even though these individuals and teams he spoke of knew exactly what they were supposed to do when ordered to "Drop Your Tools", a very high percentage of them took the opposite course of action and consequently lost their lives. Think about it ... well trained fire fighters running as fast as they can to save themselves, hearing the lifesaving scream from their team leaders to "Drop Your Tools" ... and even passing on the order ... yet blindly continuing to hang on to chain saws, shovels, axes, heavy ropes, blades and even gas cans. Holding tightly to weight that they have been repeatedly told will cost them precious seconds and could cause their death, these people attempt to outrun hell storms of caused by unexpected wind shifts, down drafts or explosions. Weick further showed evidence that is not unheard of to find that many team leaders who issue the "Drop Your Tools" order then slow themselves down and pick up the same tools that others have jettisoned. Some of these leaders died because they lost the split second advantage they needed to effectively survive a radically changing situation. Leaders who survive often relate how surprised they are to find themselves out of harm's way and look down at their hands to find a tool that wasn't theirs. On reflection some remember having picked it up thinking "it's too valuable to leave behind." Some have admitted that they even slowed down and looked around "to find a safe place to put the tool so that it (not I) could survive the fire."
As an outsider to fighting forest fires this can sound insane. But when I think about my own life and my own changes I'm no longer an "outsider." What happens to these fire fighters happens to many people in different scenarios. It illustrates that the value of a tool, technique, belief or way of being can and sometimes does bizarrely surpass the value of an individual's life.
Weick's comments first struck a professional chord in me. I found myself pondering: "What do I rely on to perform or advance my work? Am I willing to drop some of these things in order to progress, OR have I become so identified with my tools that they own me?" As he continued to speak, thoughts of my profession faded and I began to consider the person I am and the precious relationships that I have and want. Here I took a deeper look. As I write today I am still looking.
What have I relied on (in some cases sadly) as a means of survival when it comes to relationships? What tools (opinions or certainties) have I been carrying that address my responses to other people or about relationship, men, women, children, parents, lovers. What have I been carrying through my life that I thought was needed for success but now weighs me down? Have I become blind? Did I pick up tools to serve an important need back then which now no longer exists? I'm just hanging on out of habit? Do these tools really serve me, particularly in meaningful ways, with someone new? Where have I stopped being "the me that I am" only to become a blind operator of an embodied practice that was once learned, but now mostly protects me from worn out fears and past mistakes?
In a spirit of respectful service and growth, perhaps we could all consider similar questions.
Dr. Karl Weick's comments delivered at the 2006 OBTC are not yet available online. Rather than wait until they are, I decided to find out when he has used the "Drop Your Tools" analogy elsewhere. Here for your reading and thought is "Drop Your Tools: An Allegory for Organizational Studies", published in the Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ), June 1996. His article challenged the ASQ examine the tools it was using that needed to be dropped.
Take time to hit the link to "Drop Your Tools". Read the article ... translate it into what matters for you ... give it some attention and think about it. Something valuable is being illuminated here.
Best wishes,
Lance
Friday, November 03, 2006
A Review of "Conscious Business" by Fred Kofman
A review by Matthew Brannagan- an Allied Ronin affiliate
“Consciousness is the ability to experience reality, to be aware of our inner and outer worlds.”
Too few businesses concern themselves with the levels of consciousness present within their companies. Fred Kofman's Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values is an illuminating view of the effects a methodology grounded in values-based business practices and leadership can have on an organization, and their personnel. This well detailed book expertly weaves a principled approach to business etiquette with a developmentalist’s insight into personal growth. Key to Kofman's teaching is the concept that conscious actions and communications are a central component of a successful business, and a happy work force.
Born and raised in Argentina during a period of military dictatorship, Kofman saw at an early age the impact unconsciousness can have on the truth. He lived for many years in a place where the truth was distorted to control social order. Years later, while working as a researcher on organizational learning at MIT, he realized these same behaviors were at work in meeting rooms throughout the business world. In an effort to create some positive change in the workplace he formed his consulting business, now called Axialent, devoted to “helping leaders realize their true greatness and express it at work.” Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values is just one of his many contributions to that cause.
By weaving an elaborate tapestry of sound academic knowledge, and personally relevant stories he has created a text that should be required reading for all those wishing to achieve success in business. He illustrates beautifully the trappings that exist for a business that overlooks consciousness, while providing a fully equipped toolkit for organizations seeking to develop an approach to business that aligns with values as important to a businesses success as they are to the individuals they employ. From a social and cultural standpoint, his teachings extend far behind the framework of business relations, as he offers insights into communication, right leadership, integrity, and consciousness that are as relevant to relationships, families and communities as they are to the leading companies he represents.For businesses, however, he brings forth, with vivid detail, the intelligent and skillful means in which organizations can create an organizational culture that fosters responsibility and integrity, and values communication and accountability, while developing leaders whose strong ways of being will invite organizational success at all levels. This is where Kofman is at his finest as Conscious Business serves it’s readers with answers to questions for many of the scenarios that diminish the level of consciousness of businesses who are seeking to raise it.
Unique to this book is an approach rooted in what he calls the three dimensions of business: the task, or It; the relationship, or We; and the self, or I. Though most businesses focus almost exclusively on the task, or It, the teachings in this book implore organizations to create equanimity amongst these three dimensions. With this approach the I, We and It all contribute to who the organization is Being, what they are Doing, and what results they are Having, ultimately making an enormous impact on what the organization and its employees are Becoming.Later, Kofman outlines the ways we interact with one another at work, including:
• Communicating to understand each other.
• Negotiating differences to make decisions.
• Coordinating actions through mutual commitments.
Then he brings together the conscious and unconscious ways in which we can address those challenges. What he offers is a conscious approach to business, where responsibility and integrity can overwhelm, and overcome, unconscious means such as manipulative communication and narcissistic negotiation. By directing attention to who an organization is Being, and what they are Doing, positive gains are certain to be made in the results they are Having.
Among the many compelling stories utilized throughout the book, is the one of a manager, William, and his boss, Zack. In this all too common scenario Zack responds to difficult news from William by using the principles of unconditional responsibility, taught to him by Kofman, to manipulate and shame William. While Zack attempted to utilize a tool he had learned, he did not do so skillfully, and the result was an increased friction between the two. What is reminded in this book, however, is that business success is not the ultimate goal, in fact it is merely one of the many means that we utilize to pursue our happiness. With that in mind we must focus on what Kofman calls the “success beyond success”, or the alignment with our values and our happiness that is beyond the organizational success. This commitment to success beyond success encourages focus on essential integrity and happiness, which provides further support for a “leap in consciousness.”
In regards to consciousness, Kofman describes seven important qualities that are apparent in conscious business and individuals: unconditional responsibility, ontological humility, essential integrity, constructive negotiation, authentic communication, emotional mastery and impeccable coordination. The concepts are simple to identify, but difficult to maintain in practice, and Conscious Business provides a roadmap for organizations and individuals to not just learn what these concepts are, but how to incorporate them into one’s personal and professional practices. In so doing, readers will be able to meet the invitation offered at the end of the book to “take these skills and enter the market with helping hands.”
“Consciousness is the ability to experience reality, to be aware of our inner and outer worlds.”
Too few businesses concern themselves with the levels of consciousness present within their companies. Fred Kofman's Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values is an illuminating view of the effects a methodology grounded in values-based business practices and leadership can have on an organization, and their personnel. This well detailed book expertly weaves a principled approach to business etiquette with a developmentalist’s insight into personal growth. Key to Kofman's teaching is the concept that conscious actions and communications are a central component of a successful business, and a happy work force.
Born and raised in Argentina during a period of military dictatorship, Kofman saw at an early age the impact unconsciousness can have on the truth. He lived for many years in a place where the truth was distorted to control social order. Years later, while working as a researcher on organizational learning at MIT, he realized these same behaviors were at work in meeting rooms throughout the business world. In an effort to create some positive change in the workplace he formed his consulting business, now called Axialent, devoted to “helping leaders realize their true greatness and express it at work.” Conscious Business: How to Build Value Through Values is just one of his many contributions to that cause.
By weaving an elaborate tapestry of sound academic knowledge, and personally relevant stories he has created a text that should be required reading for all those wishing to achieve success in business. He illustrates beautifully the trappings that exist for a business that overlooks consciousness, while providing a fully equipped toolkit for organizations seeking to develop an approach to business that aligns with values as important to a businesses success as they are to the individuals they employ. From a social and cultural standpoint, his teachings extend far behind the framework of business relations, as he offers insights into communication, right leadership, integrity, and consciousness that are as relevant to relationships, families and communities as they are to the leading companies he represents.For businesses, however, he brings forth, with vivid detail, the intelligent and skillful means in which organizations can create an organizational culture that fosters responsibility and integrity, and values communication and accountability, while developing leaders whose strong ways of being will invite organizational success at all levels. This is where Kofman is at his finest as Conscious Business serves it’s readers with answers to questions for many of the scenarios that diminish the level of consciousness of businesses who are seeking to raise it.
Unique to this book is an approach rooted in what he calls the three dimensions of business: the task, or It; the relationship, or We; and the self, or I. Though most businesses focus almost exclusively on the task, or It, the teachings in this book implore organizations to create equanimity amongst these three dimensions. With this approach the I, We and It all contribute to who the organization is Being, what they are Doing, and what results they are Having, ultimately making an enormous impact on what the organization and its employees are Becoming.Later, Kofman outlines the ways we interact with one another at work, including:
• Communicating to understand each other.
• Negotiating differences to make decisions.
• Coordinating actions through mutual commitments.
Then he brings together the conscious and unconscious ways in which we can address those challenges. What he offers is a conscious approach to business, where responsibility and integrity can overwhelm, and overcome, unconscious means such as manipulative communication and narcissistic negotiation. By directing attention to who an organization is Being, and what they are Doing, positive gains are certain to be made in the results they are Having.
Among the many compelling stories utilized throughout the book, is the one of a manager, William, and his boss, Zack. In this all too common scenario Zack responds to difficult news from William by using the principles of unconditional responsibility, taught to him by Kofman, to manipulate and shame William. While Zack attempted to utilize a tool he had learned, he did not do so skillfully, and the result was an increased friction between the two. What is reminded in this book, however, is that business success is not the ultimate goal, in fact it is merely one of the many means that we utilize to pursue our happiness. With that in mind we must focus on what Kofman calls the “success beyond success”, or the alignment with our values and our happiness that is beyond the organizational success. This commitment to success beyond success encourages focus on essential integrity and happiness, which provides further support for a “leap in consciousness.”
In regards to consciousness, Kofman describes seven important qualities that are apparent in conscious business and individuals: unconditional responsibility, ontological humility, essential integrity, constructive negotiation, authentic communication, emotional mastery and impeccable coordination. The concepts are simple to identify, but difficult to maintain in practice, and Conscious Business provides a roadmap for organizations and individuals to not just learn what these concepts are, but how to incorporate them into one’s personal and professional practices. In so doing, readers will be able to meet the invitation offered at the end of the book to “take these skills and enter the market with helping hands.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
