Mark Walsh (www.integrationtraining.co.uk) of Brighton, UK, has just posted on his blog (www.integrationtraining.blogspot.com) an impressive series of responses from teachers around the world regarding how aikido is informing and can be used to inform business, life and relationships. I'm very pleased, and humbled, to have been included in the mix of respondents. Others included were: Richard Strozzi-Heckler, PhD (my teacher and an Allied Ronin Associate), Paul Linden, PhD (Founder & Past President of Aiki Extensions), Quentin Cooke (UK), Pawel Olesiak (Poland - another Allied Ronin Associate), Christian Zandt (the Netherlands) and others.

I appreciate Mark's efforts to include me. This helps spread the word about Allied Ronin's global impact. I will be traveling to the UK mid-October to deliver the Samurai Game® (www.SamuraiGame.org) in Brighton. Mark will be one of the many attending. I'm also headed to Honolulu, Mexico City, Queensland Australia and other places with the Game. Call me if you're interested!!

April 20th, 2009

Not wanting to overdo two points I keep hammering on, but …

You can thank my daughter, Caroline, and her husband, Sean, for this. At they Christmas gave me a copy Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell, whose other books include The Tipping Point and Blink, and said, “You have to have to read this!” I’m usually jumping between three books at any one time, and over the past weekend Outliers finally entered by cycle. Gladwell’s purpose in writing the book is to bring an understanding of success that is outside of the box – especially the box that we’re so used to here in the U.S.

No long entry here, but have to report in on what it’s revealed thus far.

Point #1.

Gladwell opens with a story of an Italian village, Roseto Valfortore, whose inhabitants have surprisingly low rates (almost non-existent) of heart disease. Not only that, those who immigrated from that town to the U.S. and established their own little community in eastern Pennsylvania, reflected the same phenomena.

This led to investigative research – with hopes of uncovering what exactly was going on through the generations. Was it diet, quality of air, amount of exercise, genetics? Alas, the research showed that it wasn’t their diet (they eat meat, fat, etc.). It wasn’t that they are non-smokers (they’re not). It wasn’t that don’t imbibe in achohol (they do). It wasn’t that they have the best 24-Hour Fitness-like facility (they don’t), and it wasn’t their genes (no better than anyone else’s), nor the climate (other towns nearby were comparatively off the charts). The answer was … It was the people of Roseto themselves.

The researchers “looked at how the Rosetans visited one another, stopping to chat in Italian on the street, say, or cooking for one another in their backyards. They learned about the extended family clans that underlay the town’s social structure. The saw how many homes had three generations living under one roof, and ho much respect grandparents commended. – They counted twenty-two separate civic organization in a town of just under two thousand people. They picked up on the particular egalitarian ethos of the community, which discouraged the wealthy from flaunting their success and helped the unsuccessful obscure the failures.”

The research found, in short, that the reason for long life and good health in Roseto pointed in one direction – community.

I am struck by this and how much it mirrors the work of Richard Carlson and Joseph Bailey in their Slowing Down to the Speed of Life.

Point #2

Chapter Two of Gladwell’s work is “The 10,000-Hour Rule”. Here he discusses the profound fact that research shows a major determining factor in high rate of performance in any field is … PRACTICE. Whether it’s soccer, ice hockey, being a violinist, chess, computer programming – those people whose environments supported their putting in the time rose to the top. Not necessarily because they were any better … but because they practiced, practiced, practiced more than anyone else. No matter what … the thing that separates the poor from the mediocre performers is PRACTICE. What separate mediocre performers from good ones is PRACTICE. What separates the good from the great is PRACTICE. Over and over the research shows that at about 10,000 hours of practice a human being enters the realm of mastery.

In short. The truly great performers at anything are those who practice.

I am struck by this and how much it mirrors the work of George Leonard in his Mastery and by Miyamoto Musashi in his Book of Five Rings.

Get the book, Outliers. It’s a good read. You’ll enjoy. But don’t just read. Do something!!!

More later. But right now I have to slow down. This evening I’ll return to the mindful community that I’ve been part of for the past ten years and with them I’ll continue my practice!!

I just received a request from Mark Walsh INTEGRATION TRAINING (+44) (0) 7762 541 855, Business Website: http://integrationtraining.co.uk/ , and blog: http://integrationtraining.blogspot.com/ . Mark lives in Brighton, UK. We met when two years ago when he was in the U.S. studying aikido at the dojo where I train http://www.tworockaikido.com/. He's been very involved internationally with Aiki Extensions http://www.aiki-extensions.org/ and has extensively served in Brazil and Cyprus and elsewhere.

Mark's note today read: "I'm writing an article about aikido and business. Specifically I'm asking aikidoka who are business owners/directors to answer five questions and will collate these. The finished article will appear on my blog which gets around 15,000 visits per year and probably AJ (which gets many more hits) so is a nice piece of publicity for anyone who takes part.If you would fw this onto any other aikidoka business owners you know I'd appreciate it. The questions are below if you'd like to take part. All the best, Mark"

Here then are his questions and my responses - worth making available here at my blog site as well:

What is your business?
My business is Allied Ronin Leadership Training & Consulting http://www.alliledronin.com/, doing business worldwide and serving the public, organizations, government agencies and universities (e.g. the UN Secretariat, AIESEC International, Texas A&M University, Verizon Wireless, Nokia, Societe Generale' Corporate Banking, Organizational Behavior Teacher Society, etc.) with highly experiential leadership and team effectiveness programs - and most known for internationally as the sole facilitator training and certification representative for The Samurai Game® http://www.samuraigame.org/, a creation of George Leonard Sensei http://www.tam-aikido.org/. My blog site is http://www.alliedronin.blogspot.com/

What is your aikido grade and affiliation?
I hold shodan rank and study aikido under Richard Strozzi-Heckler Sensei at Two Rock Aikido dojo http://www.tworockaikido.com/. The affiliation is California Aikido Association http://www.ai-ki-do.org/

How has training in aikido influenced your business?
Aikido directly influences my work -blending, listening, somatics, embodiment of constructive principles, maintaining integrity. These are relevant to everyday life - private, public, business, organizational behavior. In a world otherwise dedicated intellectually to learning sound leadership and management practices, this approach (i.e. using aikido movement and translating into everyday language and business terms) really sticks with people. They open to a whole new world of appreciating themselves, their partners, their families and who they have previously considered their adversaries and competition.

What do you think the wider business community could learn from aikido?
Most importantly: (1) the profound need to become present to what is happening around you (be here now); (2)20to remain in contact with self and others; (3) be mindful in all your actions and behaviors; (4) daily strive to serve others, no matter what; (5) every day is an opportunity to increase one's capacity to relax under pressure; and (6) each and every day presents THE opportunity to practice - practice - practice what is important in life. These are crucial elements and particularly relevant during these times of global economic and political stress (on the macro scale) and family life or being a good student (on the micro scale).

Anything else you'd like to share about aikido and business?
Aikido became a platform for the transformation of my work when I first met George Leonard Sensei and Richard Strozzi-Heckler Sensei in the late 1980's. But I didn't give myself permission to step on the mat until 2000, and then only after suffering a major accident - severely breaking my hip. I figured if I didn't at least give it an honest effort I would forever be saying, "Maybe I could have and I wish I would have." Since then the art:(a) has provided me a foundation for gracefully handling the pressures and stresses of being in business for myself in a highly dynamic and changing world;(b) has become a most effective way to communicate basics that are important fundamentals to business and personal relationships - fundamentals that need reinforcement every day off the mat no matter how successful one is or becomes;(c) provides dynamic and undeniable evidence for individual and group understanding (or lack thereof) of what it takes to be effective in the world - as single person, a person in relationship, a dad, a mom, a teammate, a manager, an executive, etc.; and(d) provides a way (even if only infrequently practiced) to increase constructive capacities regardless of one's career path.
signed - Lance M. Giroux 707-769-0328

BREATHING AND SERVICE

Some Things Need Repeated Attention

"I don't know why it is. Why the next generation can't learn
from the one before until they get knocked in the head by experience.
I'll tell you one thing for sure. The only things worth learning are
the things you learn after you know it all.
Harry S. Truman, 33rd President of the United States
(p. 153, Plain Speaking by Merle Miller)

Before we get started I need to say that this month's article is not about the physical act of breathing, though breathing is a good metaphor to use as we begin. Remember this as we transition about half way through.

In the mid-1970's Miyamoto Musashi and his Book of Five Rings caught the attention of American businesses; a significant feat for someone born in 1584. One of Japan's most revered samurai, Musashi was considered invincible as a swordsman. By the time he was 30 he had defeated more than 60 opponents, all contests to the death. His philosophy focused on practice as the Way for those who want to learn strategy.

Martial art masters remind students that mindful practice and deep breath are foundational for performance and progress. For Musashi these two were embodied realities. He advised others to daily attend to them, especially under the calmest of conditions when no conflict was at hand. In this way, these ideals would become second nature, available and useful at a moment's notice, without having to think about them. With this approach these principles were generally useful for everyday living, and particularly useful during stressful conditions when death was imminent.

We are always practicing something. But most people are practicing things without awareness of their practice or the consequences. They repeat thoughts and actions that become their practices. They don't realize this or where it's taking them. If they did, they might change course. Some practices are healthy. Others, lead an individual into destructive and unsustainable territory.

Normal quiet breathing is both active (inspiration - in breath) and passive (expiration - out breath). In deeper or more rapid breathing the out breath may also be active. Deep breathing can become an object of practice. Through this practice one can develop an ability to bring the body into states of relaxation and awareness, and increase a capacity for flexible action (quick or deliberate) under intense conditions. When faced with surprise, stress, tension, conflict and fear the body automatically moves into rapid states of breathing. With practice, the ability to deeply breath can become second nature, sustaining a person through periods of stress, attack and fear. Establishing a breathing practice is something you can begin and work with on an average day, under any condition, and for as long as you want.

We live within certain boundaries. Breathing is something that you cannot escape. Like gravity, you are subject to and bounded by it. You can't negotiate with it. You can't permanently quit it and remain conscious or alive. You have to do it, or you will pass out or die.

But within boundaries you can learn actions that create many, perhaps infinite, options. Play with deep breathing and you might notice certain positive things occurring for your awareness, sensitivity, attitude and your capacity for effective action under increasing levels of pressure. Surprisingly (or not), you may find your practice creates options and actions, also constructive, for those around you.

This can sound simplistic or foreign. Some may say, "This is way too esoteric." My response: (1) In a courtroom, all other things being equal, an attorney who practices breath control has the advantage over an attorney who hasn't. (2) In an airplane, a pilot who has practiced breath control and who is now facing an emergency, will have an advantage over a pilot who hasn't. (3) A salesman who practices breath control has an advantage over one who doesn't. (4) A soldier who has embodied a controlled breathing practice, shoots more accurately than one who doesn't. The stuff about breathing isn't theory. It's not esoteric or New Age. Lower the voice of your expectations and preconceived notions. - expectations and preconceived notions that become addictions and practiced ways of living in a society used to quick-fixes, instant results, fast food, throw away relationships, drugs for every ailment, ready cash at the ATM, the lottery, and TV reality shows.

Try this. Give breath control, as a practice, an honest daily effort for two weeks. Consciously extend the depth and rhythm of your breath as often as possible throughout each and every day. Set up reminders to keep yourself on track. Notice what begins to happen for you. Pay attention to those you come into contact with, because you might see something constructive happening with them as well. What have you got to lose? Try it. Check the results for yourself.

This month's article is not about physical act of breathing, though breathing is a good metaphor to use as we move forward.

We're always practicing something. Repeated thoughts and actions become practices. Practices that are not constructive and sustainable move groups, organizations and nations into dangerous, destructive and unsustainable territory.

Two hundred ninety-two years after Musashi walked his path, Napoleon Hill's book, Think and Grow Rich, was published. The year was 1937. It, too, caught the attention of American businesses. Today, Think and Grow Rich is one of the most read books of all time.

Hill, a reporter, was sent on an assignment in 1907, to interview Andrew Carnegie. Originally set for two hours, the interview evolved into a twenty-year research project. Carnegie captivated Hill's imagination and suggested he embark on having one-on-one discussions with the world's five hundred most successful people. The interviews were conducted around the globe, during prosperous times and hard times, during World War I and during the Roaring 20's, and ended around 1927. The results proposed some amazing discoveries and possibilities. But Hill's work was not immediately accepted by publishers. Why? It sounded too esoteric.

It took Hill another ten years to find a receptive publisher. During these ten years he and the rest of the world lived through the Great Depression. Hill's text suggested the existence of an important universal secret. This secret, he said, was woven like thread throughout the entire book. He offered that the secret could be revealed on every page, if one diligently looked for it - in other words made a practice of seeking the secret. Today, Think and Grow Rich is arguably the foundation for a widely marketed video, The Secret, and its accompanying book by the same title, which put forth an old and respected idea, The Law of Attraction, placed inside an up-to-date cover. Alas, I doubt that Hill has received, or will receive, proper credit for the influence he had on this most recent iteration.

"[B]efore you begin the first chapter," wrote Hill in his introduction, "may I offer one brief suggestion which may provide a clue by which the Carnegie secret may be recognized? It is this - all achievement, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea!" Then he continued, "If you are ready for the secret, you already possess one half of it; therefore, you will readily recognize the other half the moment it reaches your mind."

Like the martial arts, the business arts have foundational principles, too. Practice is one of them. And as with martial artists, artisans of business or career must attend to and have the courage to uncover the true intentions of what their practices are. In business, money is blood, blood that must flow freely throughout the entire business body, and blood that must be enriched and refreshed by some kind of breath.

What is the breath of a business, without which - or if shortened, or not attended to, or left unstudied, or reduced to slogan status - the blood becomes stale? And without which a business - no matter how well structured - will shrivel or die? Perhaps this breath is SERVICE.

The world is full of smart people, and with every increase in technology we think we're getting smarter. Many people behave as though our technologies and smarts are more important than principles. Some suggest that principles don't matter in a postmodern world. Yet, today's news suggests that corner cutting and sloppiness may be the norm when it comes to the fundamental attitudes of being a SERVANT.

Enron, what brought it down in 2001? Why? (Interesting, the word "why" was once Enron's trademark question.)

Arrogance. Intolerance. Greed. Somewhere along the line that company's pivotal organizational interrogatives became: "Who is our target? What can we get? How fast can we get it? When can we dump the target once we've used it/them up? Where can we hide the truth of our actions?" These questions drowned out a series of more wholesome and principled interrogatives: "What can we honorably provide? Who can we provide it to? On what time schedules can we realistically provide it? Where and how can we do this in sustainable ways such that good occurs for all involved? How can we ensure that trust is built - trust that will carry us and others through tough times when they inevitably come?" And so, a corporate consciousness went adrift without a compass, without a rudder, without conscience, without common sense. It may not have started that way, but over time s-t happens. Lost or less heard were: Whom do I serve? What do I offer? What am I doing? Why am I really serving people and making these offers? Where are we going, honestly? If we keep doing this, where will it lead? What are the long-term consequences of our attitudes and actions?

This month's article is not about Enron, though Enron is a grounding point to use as we move forward.

Most of the people who worked at Enron were good and well intentioned. Enron didn't invent greed. Enron reflected and turned up the volume on it. Enron wasn't a disease. Enron was a symptom of something to be recognize and learned from. But did we learn? Once the ills were exposed, a barrage of bandages, words, slogans, structures, promises and proposed statues treated the issues that Enron revealed. And then what? The hearings were conducted, the committees spoke, the laws were passed, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. We had our morning caffe' latte', our afternoon martini or beer, went bass fishing, attended the symphony or rock concert, kicked the can down the street --- and we quietly got back to the same attitudes and embodied actions that had become habits created by misguided long-term practices. But, we had relief: new jargon, new structures, new systems, new promises and new laws. Whew! We wiped our collective brow and the problem was solved. Yes? No.

The man who for eight years was one of my mentors (1975 - 1983) authored a book. In it he quoted Napoleon Hill, "It would be no great overstatement of the truth if we said that mental attitude is EVERYTHING." Like Hill, he believed in the Law of Attraction. In meetings, in classrooms, in private talks this mentor hammered on the topic of SERVICE as being the foundation upon which Hill's philosophy was based. His opinion was that SERVICE was a major part of the secret. He surmised that those who fail to attend to people and to their needs and to the quality of service rendered, will eventually undermine their own best conceived plans. No one is immune from the ups and downs of business and market cycles. During the period I worked for him we had good and bad days, months, and years. We went through a miserable recession. But, regardless of the ups and downs of our times, we were instructed repeatedly to pay attention: (1) to people, (2) to what they needed and (3) what we were thinking about all of that.

"Service," he used to say, " means - find a need and fill it."
Never did he say, "Service means - create a need and fill it."

There is a big difference between finding and creating when it comes to the needs of human beings.

It is one thing to uncover a need through honorable investigation, reveal this need to someone such that his or her life benefits, and then take action to assist the person so that his or her life benefits. It's quite a different thing to concoct a story (system, scam, ideology, method) in an effort to convince a person (or group) he has a need (manufactured, but in reality nonexistent) and then go about getting that person to buy into the invented story such that the storyteller benefits while the person to be served loses. Sadly, I'm not the only one who has been in a boardroom or backroom and heard a manager or boss or executive or teammate demand: "Our job is to make sure we get as much money as possible out of these people. Promise them whatever, but leave nothing on the table. Our function is to get the cash, understand? Now, how much money do you think we can get out of these people?"

Where's the common sense for the long haul?

One who spends time creating and filling needs, may gain in the short run, only to eventually lose over the rhythms of a lifetime. People can be mistreated and fooled for a while, but they are not stupid. The human brain (everyone has one) is a growing, evolving, life-sustaining thing. Eventually most people wake up and wise up. Over the long haul, a focus of creating needs, leads to unhealthy scheming, and enhances a capacity for developing dead-end relationships. Such a practice builds: (1) a short-term, self-absorbed, me-focused perspectives, and (2) long-term reputations of disgust and distrust.

One who spends time in the practice of finding and filling needs, places him or herself in accord with other people. Such a person understands that all things have rhythms; they rise and fall. There are no guarantees of success. They know that there are great forces that can stop a business that has even the best intent at heart, and takes all the best action. But over the long haul, one whose focus is on finding needs, builds a capacity for respect for self and for others, and a capacity to return on a new day, even after defeat, no matter how bad things get. This practice of finding and filling need, builds: (1) an observant other-focused mind, and (2) healthy sustainable reputations. Those involved with an honorable SERVANT, experience him or her as refreshing, attractive and valuable, particularly during times of stress. Like breathing, finding and filling needs can be practiced anytime, all the time, anywhere, and for as little or as much as one asks in return, or pro-bono. All that it takes is attitude and a willingness to look.

To paraphrase my old mentor and Napoleon Hill, it would be no great overstatement of the truth that SERVICE (find a need and fill it) is everything.

Service ought be practiced as though it is an art form. It should be daily studied when times were good. Not as a six-hour management course at a company's annual meeting or as a part time undertaking, but with recurring commitment and mindfulness. It's easy and painless to do. Service should be studied and practiced when times are bad. Not out of necessity, or to patch up a mistake, or for the sake of a slogan or slick corporate mission statement. Rather, because it's the healthy thing to do. Generally speaking, people are looking for others that they can trust. Service breeds trust. During good times those with needs can get lazy, become short sighted, and they can tolerate untrustworthy folks and shoddy attitudes. In bad times, however, untrustworthiness breeds contempt; and contempt can be dangerous, if not catastrophic.

It is most important to take time every day to practice the art of SERVING other people, and sometimes just for the sake of sustaining a keen ability to SERVE. I'm not saying that SERVICE by itself will dig us out of the mess we're in. But without SERVICE becoming and remaining a core issue, we'll just keep on kicking the can down the street.

In 1645, Miyamoto Musashi wrote:
"There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice. Timing is important in dancing and pipe or string music, for they are in rhythm only if timing is good. Timing and rhythm are also involved in the military arts, shooting bows and guns, and riding horses. In all skills and abilities there is timing. There is also timing in the Void. This is the Way for (those) who want to learn my strategy:

· Do not think dishonestly.
· The Way is in training.
· Become acquainted with ever art.
· Know the Ways of all professions.
· Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.
· Develop intuitive judgment and understanding for everything
· Perceive those things which cannot be seen.
· Pay attention even to trifles.
· Do nothing which is of no use."

Musashi penned this in his Go Rin No Sho (A Book of Five Rings), a few weeks before he died. These words apply to service in the business arts just as they do to good swordsmanship and breathing in the martial arts. His purpose in writing this had nothing to do with making a momentary heap of cash at the expense of someone else. He wrote in SERVICE to others who would walk their path long after he was gone. He wrote so that they could thrive and survive even the worst of times.

©Lance Giroux, 2009

March 15th, 2009

Peet’s Coffee happens to be one of my favorite blog inspiring hang out’s. And today it is again. I have just returned from:

1. 15 minutes ago – meeting with my friend, Lisa
2. 4 hours ago – lunch with my sensei, Richard, after two hours of training at the new Aikido of Tamalpais www.TamAikido.org
3. 2 days ago – spending forty-eight hours with my two oldest children, Pete and Cari, and their respective clans numbering six kiddo’s of their own … and soon to be increased by one (that’ll be Cari’s third)
4. 6 days ago – returning from a few days in Yi-lan County, Taiwan, conducting my seminar, Developing the Warrior Within™ - which happens to include The Samurai Game® www.SamuraiGame.org

Seems like I’m always returning from something, doesn’t it? My friend, Lisa, tells me I’m “a travel’n man.” Well, whatever; I guess she’s right. Fact is, the past twelve days have been full, full, full.

Stopping for a few minutes here in Peet’s I’m reflecting on just how prejudiced I can be. You know, the kind of prejudice that means I’ve already made up a story which becomes a reality that doesn’t match what is really the reality.

On my way to Taiwan, March 3^rd, I didn’t know exactly what I was in for. I still didn’t know by the time I had arrived into Taipei on March 4^th. But on the ride across the island and through the tunnel that links Taipei to Yi-lan County I started to get the idea that this trip was going to be beyond my imaginings. I had heard I would meet a zen master … a nun who is known throughout all of Taiwan aka Formosa aka The Republic of China. What’s her name? I still don’t know. Everyone just calls her “Sherfu” (teacher). But soon I came to understand that she was the driving force behind my taking that trip and wanting my work to help influence her students and followers – many of whom study meditation, flower arranging, calligraphy and tea pouring as practices in mindfulness.

I was somewhat aghast at the prospect. What could I possibly bring to them, given the sincerity of their already established practices? And, with respect to the three other nuns who make up the core group at their temple, how would they receive such a thing as “developing the warrior within” given their peacefulness? When finally I met Sherfu I told her my concern and asked her point blank. She smiled … a wholly (and holy) delightful smile … and replied, “Oh this and you are just what I want. We need to study leadership and decisiveness and taking a stand and how to fend for ourselves.” As another person, Kay (translator and main link person) put it, “Sherfu wants to toughen everyone up around here. They need to not be so reliant on her. Gotta make ‘em stronger!”

Well, well, well. We had a terrific time together we had. And warriors they were – especially the four nuns - were they ever!!! Surely put a psychological poke in my eye that reminded me to not be so short-sighted in my thinking (what can I possibly bring to them, remember?)

A few years ago I stood at and walked on the Great Wall of China. Last week I stood before four nuns and students on Formosa Island. Which do you think was bigger? The answer is clear to me. Never underestimate a Sherfu.

Questions for Thought

Last fall Dr. Kathleen Kane, Professor of Leadership & Organizational Behavior at the University of San Francisco’s School of Business & Management, advised that she had heard great things about the film Man On Wire – a 2008 Magnolia Film production. In December, I purchased the film and viewed it in preparation for the Winter 2009 Leaders’ Retreat. It was/is magnificent!

Beyond a subtle undercurrent psychological study of Phillipe Petit, the French hire-wire walker who in 1974 strode for forty-five minutes between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, this is a powerful true story of what a few people can do when they set their minds to something.

We used the film at the Retreat. In my preparation prior to the Retreat I sat in my office viewing and was struck with a question coming up from within me, followed by another – and then another. I had to hit the pause button, because the flow of questions would not stop, and get paper and pencil to write down what was being generated. We used these questions at the Retreat. Then last week I used the same list of questions (sans film) for the Samurai Game® delivery I did for the Institute of Embodied Wisdom in Westlake Village, California. The people were left speechless.

A few years ago in conversation with George Leonard he remarked that he had seen and was recommending Touching The Void, adding, “It’s the most powerful film of the human spirit I have ever seen.” I saw that film and afterward had to agree with George’s viewpoint. It is above, if not on par with, The Endurance.

Now, add to that short list, Man On Wire. Get it. View it. View it again.
Here is the list of late night questions that erupted from within:
What do you dream about in life?
What do you risk?
What are you willing to risk
How alive to do you allow yourself to be?
How do you express your aliveness?
What stories do you carry with you about failing?
Who counts with you on things that matter?
Who counts with you on things trivial?
Who do you forgive?
Who do you allow yourself to be forgiven by?
What sounds do you attend to?
What have you noticed about your spirit when the odds are against you?
Who inspires you?
Who do you inspire?
Who do you trust?
Who do you allow to trust you?
What stories do you carry with you about money?
Under what circumstances are you aware of your sense of smell?
How capable are you when you find yourself in the midst of exhaustion?
What can you do with a committed team?
What if the team is just you and one other person?
What if you’re all alone?
What is your daily work of art?
What do you practice?
What colors seek your attention?
How invested are you in planning?
How are you when it comes to spontaneity?
Under what circumstances do you exercise patience?
Under what circumstances do you underestimate yourself?
Under what circumstances do you overestimate yourself?
How do you language this in your unspoken words?
What are your capacities?

©Lance Giroux, 2009

An Interview With George Hersh

George Hersh, a native of Topeka, Kansas, owns and is CEO of the GMJ Co., Inc., which is comprised of the Sports Associated Companies (MO, NJ and CA), Topeka Transfer & Storage, Capital City Distribution and O'Neil Relocation which is headquartered in Southern California. Additionally, he owns, manages or holds officer positions in a number of other companies in the mid-west, doing business in the savings and loan, construction, commercial real estate and records management industries. He began his career developing and leading companies in 1981 with the founding of Kelly Port Arcade, which he owned and operated for four years. He is married, has three children and currently lives in Topeka.

George was the driving force behind the creation of the Allied Ronin Leaders' Retreat, and has attended every retreat except two since their inception in 2004, with the most recent one being last week, January 24-28. He is very passionate about issues involving children with disabilities. At the most recent Retreat he agreed to be interviewed for the Allied Ronin e-newsletter.

Allied Ronin: You are a very successful person, but it wasn't always that way. What was it like for you as a young man going to college and going into business?

George: It was very confusing. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know what it was. I had great difficulty reading, spelling and writing. I could see words but didn't understand the flow. Comprehension was hard. As a kid I was hyperactive, felt less than and acted out a lot. Honestly, I felt abandoned. No matter how I tried to express myself to my parents, I couldn't articulate what was going on for me, and they didn't understand. These days more kids can be accurately diagnosed learning disabilities, but in the 60's and 70's very few people recognized the signs.

Allied Ronin: How did you cope with this?

George: I learned to protect myself from thinking I was a failure. I wouldn't ask for help, because I didn't want to seen as less than by other people. I found I could do well in areas other than academics, but at the same time I didn't want people to know that I wasn't like the other kids. I had to be ten steps ahead of anyone finding out that I wasn't all that good. Looking back, it served me in many ways because I've trained myself to always be looking ahead for options and opportunities, seeing connections in business that other people don't see and turning problems into solutions.

Allied Ronin: I agree. You are one of the best multi-taskers I know.

Geroge: You're right, I can work on a lot of different things, juggling many balls, and with a lot of energy every day. The worry, though, when I was young, was that someone would find out that I was having difficulty. But the fact is I struggled through three years of college before anyone knew what was going on for me. The feeling inside me was intense frustration. I did a lot of blaming and felt alone.

Allied Ronin. Well, you've taken big steps to correct this. What did you do?

George. Fortunately, in my 30's I found an organization, Learning Techniques www.learningtechniques.com which was able to help. First, they showed me that the issue was the neural connections that help a person learn how to learn didn't form when I was a young person. Your work here at this Retreat, and in the other things you do for people, is about increasing one's awareness of and then actively practicing with the abilities of the right and left brain hemispheres. Learning Techniques opened me to that notion. Then they open me to the fact that the human brain can grow in its capacity to connect and learn throughout one's entire lifetime. They had me doing a lot of patterning work; and as silly as some may think it sounds, it really works. By patterning I mean I spent hours and hours synchronizing my hand and foot movements to speech and eye movements. Here at the Leaders' Retreat you have Madeline Wade and Susan Hammond working with people on that basic idea for increased personal and professional effectiveness. At Learning Techniques I specifically focused on learning to learn. Their program would be more powerful if they expanded on the idea of what's going on for the person who is struggling; in other words, the psychological aspect. I still struggle at times, but things are much better and I love learning. Another thing that worked for me is that I took their program with my brother. Having a partner and family support really matters. He had similar issues. It helped us both, and we're closer because of this.

Allied Ronin. Let's talk about business. We met over fifteen years ago. One of the things I've noticed is that you have great employee retention. How do you account for this?

George. I want people to enjoy what they do. I want them to make money, and they know it. I want their families to prosper. I want them to take care of the customer and be creative about that. The GMJ Companies are all service organizations. So, for example, when a driver from Topeka Transfer and Storage, which is our United Van Lines operation, or from Capital City Distribution, which is our Mayflower operation, is working a job, he or she knows that what is being wrapped, packed and moved involves someone's sentiments. What the average person may see as a cup and saucer, we see as someone's treasured memory. We really do. I guess I'm just sensitive to people's feelings - and maybe it's because of what I went through as a kid. And while both of those two companies are located in Kansas, they have trucks on the road, serving customers coast-to-coast all the time. Those two companies are examples of the way I've always felt about being in business, which is, I often feel that owning a company is small when compared to being a steward of that company. I didn't create Topeka Transfer and Storage (TTS), I bought it. It's a company with a great history and reputation that's over a hundred and forty-five years old, long before I came on the scene. I feel it's my honor to keep that history, reputation and tradition growing. The people who work for TTS generally feel the same way. They are home, and they are headquartered in my parent's hometown. The simple one-person-things really do matter. The same feeling holds true for the people who work for Sport Associated and O'Neil Relocation.

Allied Ronin. Well, tell us a bit about Sports Associated and O'Neil Relocation, the company that's most recently come under the umbrella of GMJ.

George. Both are great companies. I have to say that first of all. When I compare their capacity for service and the creativity of the people who work there, from executives and senior managers to the guy or gal on the loading dock or working a trade show I have to say they are head and shoulders above the rest of the industry.

Sports Associated is known for superior service in the transportation, warehousing and exposition of motorcycles, specialty vehicles, watercraft and other specialty items. The company was started decades ago by two guys with a flatbed truck and a trailer. Today it's history includes a great reputation serving some of the most well-known names in the world, including Yamaha, BMW and Ducati. Whereas many companies support the same expos that we do (Datona Bike Week, Sturgis, Leguna Seca, the International Motorcycle Show, etc.), SAI is known for going far beyond what the others do. Our people do everything except make and man the display. Our operations manager, Roger, is one of the most creative people I have ever met. When a project comes our way his general comment is, "Don't worry, we can get it done." And the fact is - he's right, we do. In other words, we customize our trucks to move the items - hauling more per truck than our competitors. We set up the displays, we remain on site throughout the shows to assist with display management, we tear down the displays, we move and warehouse the displays and the vehicles or items. Because we do this, we have an experience edge that can't be beat. SAI is a world-class operation that, in my opinion, has no equal. No one, and I really mean this, does it better than SAI. I've traveled the circuit, and laid tape myself with the drivers. This company makes me proud. We have customized trailers that are complete high-tech office and display facilities able to provide and serve state-of-art off-site press introductions. One of our most unique clients is Eagle Rider, who we serve nation-wide moving their motorcycles so they can more easily serve their clients.

SAI can adapt to and serve any kind of trade show, anywhere in the US. What I'm also proud of, and I wish more people knew about this, is that SAI can easily and equally serve specialty needs. Imagine an organization, whether company or non-profit or extended family wanting to provide a special event for it's personnel at unique location, say, the Kentucky Derby or the Super Bowl or a World Series Game or the Presidential Inauguration, or just someplace special that an organization or family selected for whatever reason most important to them. Because of our connections (tenting, local contracts, unions, etc.) we can produce a set-up at remote locations that would dazzle anyone. The SAI people are inventive and love what they do. Sorry, once I get started talking about SAI it's hard for me to stop.

You asked about O'Neil Relocation. This is a big operation, and again with a wonderful history which began in 1947. It is the newest company to come under the GMJ umbrella. I have been most fortunate to acquire it and the team of people who make it tick, led by Dennis Allsop who started with the company as a salesman and is now the company's president. O'Neil Relocation is a United Van Lines operation and has significant warehousing facilities in the Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas areas. Our trucks and warehouses serve corporations, government agencies, the military and individuals needing household relocation. We specialize in pad wrapped, lift gate, air ride, containerized equipment. Beyond that, O'Neil moves special products: telecom equipment, school fixtures equipment, and equipment for high-end hotels.

I should mention that when GMJ acquired O'Neil we also acquired Corporate Relocation Service, which is a Mayflower Van Lines operation, and also led by Dennis Allsop.

Allied Ronin. What matters to you?

George. I'd have to say first, it's my family - and this starts with my wife and children, and then my mom and dad, who are both still alive. I've been married twenty-five years. Marcia and I have three great kids, all now in college. My dad is in his 90's and my mom's in her 80's, and they're both still kick'n. I hope I have the energy, insight and wisdom they have when I get to be their age. Then it goes to the people who work with me in the companies. I'm a down to earth guy, nothing slick and flashy, and I really relate to the average person, the drivers and accountants and receptionists who I get to live my life with. My truck, more often than not, is my office. I don't need much. I love people.

Another thing is what I worry about. Now and then I worry that things are too easy for my children. Their perspective of me is that I'm someone who is mostly connecting with people by phone and making things happen between people. And, unfortunately, they think it's easy. I don't know how many times I've heard them say, "Dad, all you do is drive around and talk on the phone." They don't grasp the enormity of the risks I've taken and how much patience that takes, and a willingness to listen to what other people need and have to say.

Also, a person's dream is important, and it's important that people get a chance to live their dreams. My dad and mom's business was savings and loan. Being the renegade that I was, I wanted to go off and do my own thing. Kelly Port Arcade was my start back in 1981. I took an idea and made it happen, and if I hadn't done that, maybe I'd be in the S&L business - I don't know. But, I also have to say that taking care of my mom and dad and their interests is important. Especially these days I've always made that a priority and it's given me satisfaction that I've been able to take care of my parents.

Then, and this goes back to what we were talking about at the start of this interview, it's the future of our communities and our nation - really our world. And that future is up to our kids. No big news here. But, a significant percentage of kids have learning disabilities. Because I had difficulty for such a long time, I have grown up with feelings of inadequacy. Now, I know that's not the truth, but for a long time I sure felt that way. One of my dreams is to create a foundation for kids with learning disabilities because I can relate to them. People learn in different ways. There's no such thing as a one-size-fit's-all kid, just like there's no such thing as a one-size-fit's-all customer moving from one town to another. You showed us a video at the last retreat of Sir Ken Robinson's presentation at TED, "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"

Robinson talked about the need to re-think and re-tool how we educate our children. Some kids learn and process information more through moving their bodies than they do through sitting in classrooms or reading books. Some kids are natural born artists. We need to look beyond reading, writing and arithmetic. We cannot afford to let the genius of our future to slip through cracks simply because it doesn't conform to what we think education is. That is a powerful statement of something that we, you and I, share in common; a desire to expand the creative capacity of people - no matter who they are or where they come from.

Allied Ronin. Thanks very much George.

George. Hey, you're welcome. I hope this makes a difference for someone. Truth is, if I can do what I've been able to do - so can anybody else if they put their mind to it.

(Mr. George Hersh can be reached at 816-483-8900 or email ghersh1@mac.com)

A Lesson In Action

Remember last month's newsletter? The topic was breathing as a practice in the face of fear.

The lesson was punctuated on Tuesday, December 23rd. A score of us attended an aikido class at Two Rock Aikido. Richard Strozzi-Heckler, our sensei, moved us into an exercise for which he is uniquely known: walking, turning, standing. A kind of organized chaos. Random and rapid, yet relaxed. The idea: in a confined and silent room, each of us moves and allows the space between us to appear and disappear revealing opportunity for best action. To be in this swirl you are encouraged to forego a plan, other than to allow a sort of gravity (created by the empty space and those around you) to pull you from one direction to another. Its value, either as a martial arts exercise or life metaphor, may be hard to imagine until practiced. Kind of like ice cream - explain all you want; but it's only through taking a bite that one really understands and enjoys. Such is the way with any commitment. A few minutes into the exercise Richard's voice cut the silence, "Pay attention to your breath! It's the platform of our art."

This month's topic for consideration, again for effective action during times of stress, tension and fear, is humor and laughter.

Google search laughter and you'll find a flood of online articles advising its mind-freeing benefit and remedies for creativity. A belly laugh every twenty-four hours is apparently good heart medicine - emotionally and physically.

Author Laurence Gonzales offers his perspective:

· "Every pursuit has its own subculture, from hang gliders and step creek boaters to cavers and mountain bikers. I love their dark and private humor, those ritual moments of homage to the organism, which return us to a protective state of cool. It unequivocally separates the living from the dead."

· "The fact is you have to deal with these things [fear and terror] to the best of your ability. If you don't work with it, it'll get to you."

· "It sounds cruel, but survivors laugh and play, and even in the most horrible situations -- perhaps especially in those situations -- they continue to laugh and play. To deal with reality you must first recognize it as such --- (P)lay puts a person in touch with his environment while laughter makes the feeling of being threatened manageable."

· "Moods are contagious, and the emotional states involved with smiling, humor, and laughter are among the most contagious of all. It's automatic, and one person laughing or smiling induces the same reaction in others. --- There is evidence that laughter can send chemical signals to actively inhibit the firing of nerves in the amygdala, thereby dampening fear."

· "It is not a lack of fear that separates elite performers from the rest of us. They're afraid, too, but they're not overwhelmed by it. They manage fear."
(p 40-41, Deep Survival, 2004, W.W. Norton publisher)

As for me, I recall a cold January afternoon twelve years ago. Laying seriously injured on Capitola Beach, California, I was alone. My fall from a boulder had completely split my left femur. My friend ran for help and returned an hour later with a bevy of paramedics and police officers. "Are you the victim?" they asked, " We're looking for a dead body." "Yes and no," I confessed. "Yes, I'm the (ugh) victim, and NO, I'm not dead." Into a metal basket I went. The pain - horrendous. Our trek, the rescuers figured, needed to be straight out into the ocean, avoid the big rocks, then circle back onto sand once near the ambulance. The tide was incoming. It was going to be a rough trip and we all knew it. Every step's jarring motion produced in me a scream. So I asked the medics, now up to their glutes in salt water, "You guys mind if I do something strange?" "Nah, go ahead," they agreed; and I began humming loudly - more like groaming (think hybrid hum and groan). The tune, "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera. The medics started to grin and laugh. Through half a mile of surf my groaming continued, mixed with intermittent screams. At times, I was smiling too. What a relieving way to overcome the pain (mine) and the work (theirs). It also kept me conscious. It remains for me an unforgettable journey. And for them, perhaps the strangest, funniest and most relaxed rescue ever.

Returning to Tuesday, December 23rd - a few days ago. Something happened that night that was unexpectedly funny (maybe that's what makes humor so powerful -it evokes spontaneity). Richard was in the midst of testing one of the students. The atmosphere was formal and serious, with high expectation for excellence in a display of deliberate attacks and blends. There was tension in the air. "Show me variations from yokomen uchi," Richard ordered. And he continued, "Now, show me variations from morote dori". And on it went becoming faster and more intense - "from katadori" - "from ushiro waza". Then suddenly, making no sense at all, his voice cracked the tension across the room, "Now show me - sand the floor." For an instant none of us believed what we had heard. I started laughing. The laughter became infectious. A warm wave of relief swept the dojo and the person being tested proceeded with ease, grace and dignity, and filled with breath. The rest of us watching, thoroughly enjoyed the art he displayed.

If you have never seen the film, The Karate Kid the "show me sand the floor" is as meaningless as un-savored ice cream. If you have seen that movie - maybe you're smiling too.

Consider this: laughter increases one's capacity for breath.

In The Face of Fear- Take A Deep Breath

Last month it was Truman’s; “The only thing new in the world is the history we don’t know.” This month the quote is from his predecessor, Franklin Roosevelt, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

The quote is quite relevant given our national and international situation. And it’s concerning on another level. If Jay Leno, of Tonight Show fame, were to do his question-on-the-street sketch, poking microphones into faces and asking about history, many people would be stumped regarding who Truman and Roosevelt were. To stretch the sad humor of this and imagine Jay prodding his innocents with, “Well, let me help you. Roosevelt died on the job and Truman took over. Tell me, for a free foot-long hotdog, who was the vice president where Roosevelt worked?” The odds are we’d see a few people stumble, mumble and finally utter something like, “What company did Roosevelt work for?” OR if they knew Roosevelt’s final job we may hear, “Ahhhh, ummm, Richard Nixon?” Score “one” for Mr. Leno. Score “minus three” for FDR, Harry and the rest of us.

No doubt we are living in fearful and chaotic times that in many ways defy common sense. When last month’s newsletter was a work in progress a gallon of regular across the street cost over four dollars. Today, the same sign advertises it at $1.89. During this same period, the stock market has gone to hell, to the moon, back to hell, and now rests somewhere just above or below sea level depending on where you’re standing. Everybody’s cousin is appearing before the U.S. Congress asking for a bailout. Who will be next? Big oil? Obama and McCain were campaigning like crazy. That election is now history. Obama his more work cut out for him than anyone imagined (or admitted to) six months ago. Mumbai, economic center to one sixth of the world’s population, has just been shaken along by radicals who’s numbers probably couldn’t fill a section of Jay Leon’s Tonight Show theater or full staff the restaurant across the street from the station selling buck-eighty-nine gas.

When it comes to remaining effective during times of change, fear, pressure, chaos and crisis, where is the practical training? Practices were and are available through school: problem solving, test taking, theme writing, working to make the team, trying out for the band or the play. These practices are still available, though in some ways are increasingly weakened. Internet term papers are for sale. Calculators are smart enough to do the step-by-step thinking that used to strengthen a student’s mind. Steroids or other more easily hidden instant enhancers jolt athletic advancement. How’d those kids get so big anyway? Has our public has forgotten the inherent educational value (both right brain and left brain) of music and theater in school; as well as the inherent educational value of work for the sake of itself?

Does the end really the means? What is the end, anyway? Perhaps the means is its only justification.

In many ways we’ve become effective users of systems that problem solve for us. Question: What happens to one’s effectiveness when systems fail? When the car’s satellite navigation system and your mobile phone or OnStar simultaneously quit, and you’re disoriented without a paper map nearby, what to do? Or worse, an old map is available, but time was never taken to learn to read or use one? Or you learned to read a road map, but the map in the car is a topographical map. Worse yet, you’re in an accident in a desert or forest (even if that’s metaphorical) and there’s no one around with personal knowledge of such a situation to ask for help.

The time for learning effectiveness is best approached long before a need for that effectiveness arrives on the scene. But that luxury (a time for learning) is never lost, though it can be forgotten. Fact is, learning and practicing a skill, including being effective under pressure, can start anytime regardless of age or life situation.

In times of fear – times of chaos, change and crisis – a fundamental need is to have an increasing capacity to remain relaxed and calm under pressure. Why? First, because, the capacity to relax under pressure is a critical and primary component of problem solving, creativity, clear thinking, right and left brain communication, and sustained physical and emotional action. A capacity to relax under pressure allows the brain to function at its best. It allows the body to act at peak performance. Second, the ability to relax under pressure is a (if not the) key component to attracting and unifying others who also subject to the effects of chaos, change, crisis and fear.

Sure, we can muscle, macho and scream at five-day stretches and then numb out on a weekend. We can toke, smoke and tequila through pressure and take our aspirin, Aleve or Excedrin in the morning. We can bark at others in an effort to manage and boss through bad times. But bossing and managing, while related to leadership, are not what real leadership is about. We can fire or ignore people to get to an bottom line acceptable to temporary situations. But try to find those people later when times are calm – and try to keep fear from spreading through the organization (or country) when the layoffs and unemployment come. Channel surfing, Facebook-ing and Twitter-ing have their place. But when they become distractions to effective action, what’s the price?

As of this writing I have been attending a school for almost nine years. When I started, I would go once a week. After a year I stretched it into a perceived maximum of two nights a week. When I started, some of my closest friends and some family members thought this was odd undertaking and a luxury, given my responsibilities and the level of education I already had. The school had no intellectual components, outside of learning to translate some English words into their Japanese components and then into a universal language of embodied action. In some ways I used to think of it that way too, a luxury. I wanted my process and progress to go fast. What I found was the faster I effort-ed, the slower my progress became.

After three years my perspective began to shift. My attendance was drifting away from a luxury; it was becoming important. From this change of perspective I somehow found time to attend classes on a three and then four-day-a-week schedule. My level of effective and efficient professional work increased, as did my international business and travel. Simultaneously, my creative abilities (music, writing and art) began to soar. Social involvement and interaction with people also expanded. My friendships grew, accompanied by more time to spend with others. I found ways to attend related classes in the cities, towns and countries where my business took and takes me. Regardless of differences in teaching styles and competency levels, ALL of the teachers in these other places addressed the same basic message of the teacher at the school where I started and where I still live.

The message? Learn to become increasingly effective under pressure. Don’t learn about it. Learn it. How? Presence yourself. When you enter into pressure situations breath deeply in a measured rhythm, slow down, connect with your environment and others - including those you feel pressured by. Turn often and look from the perspective of the pressure and adversaries as they move and especially as they come toward you. Continue to breath deeply. Hold a relaxing image – a quality of peace and strength – in your mind. Don’t quit. Continue to pay attention. Continue to breath deeply in a rhythm.

Continuing. Learn to become increasingly effective in situations not involving pressure. Don’t learn about it. Learn it. Be Here Now. How? When you enter into these situations breath deeply, slow down, connect with others and the environment around you. Turn often and look from the calm perspective of the people and the environment within which you find yourself. Continue to breath deeply. Keep this quality of peace and strength in your mind for the future. Create a mental image of it that you can recall with all your senses. Don’t quit. Continue to pay attention to your breathing. Reflect on this when you prepare to enter into or are in situations of pressure.

The above may sound a bit esoteric. Overwhelming practical value it does have, of that is rarely understood until its practice is given honest effort.

Over thirty years ago I met a man who for a time became my mentor. In many ways he was very exceptional and successful at his skill and his business – a skill and business that demanded very little physical effort other than long hours of standing. He passed away eight years after we met. Throughout those eight years he often said to those who worked with him, “Some of you are going to want to invalidate the lessons we are studying because they don’t fit your background or because you think you’re smarter than this or because you are looking for instant gratification.” Then he would add, “Here’s a challenge. Take just one of these lessons and practice it with a sincere desire to DISPROVE it. I’ll guarantee you, you won’t. But go ahead and try anyway. Why? Because, if you honestly try to disprove a lesson through its practice you’re going to be practicing the process which makes it work. These lessons and principles have been around for thousands of years; they have withstood the acid test of time. The only thing that hasn’t been proven is – you, and your willingness to stick with it.”

The first lesson in all of his encounters? How to relax under pressure.

The way all his lessons and exercises began? “Pay attention. Take a deep breath.”

Another Day. Another Leader.

November 1, 2008, sitting at Pete’s Coffee on South Petaluma Boulevard, in Petaluma, California. Three days to go in a contest, a process, that started two years ago, and arguably for some long before that. And it will continue past Tuesday. You can bet on it. The headlines of our local newspaper, The Argus Courier, read “Record number of Petaluma voters” – and indicates that more than 90% of those registered may cast ballots. That’s good news.

The plea for leadership is strong and loud. Yet, unfortunately it’s also numbing. That’s sad news. I wish that weren’t so – the numbing part. But it is, as evidenced by a medium complaining how long this process has been underway, and how wonderful it will be when it’s over. How come that’s sad? Because we cry out for leadership when our times are bemoaned, or when we feel victimized by the economy or stressed because of a war or the downslide of the stock market or global warming or based on whatever situation we’re in. But when things are cushy and pleasant and easy and there’s no perceived threat, either internally or externally, leadership as a topic is at best either something reserved for an MBA semester elective; or a slogan in some mission statement that isn’t really a mission statement but actually an advertisement some focus group spent a couple of hours playing with (man am I tired of slogans). At worst leadership as a study in practice is something left as a discretionary spending budget line item when our organizations can afford a management retreat which really isn’t a retreat nor does it have much at all to do with leadership but rather is a sit-around-the-bar-session-knocking-back-cocktails-and-beer-while-discussing-blends-grapes-the-pour-and-nuances-of-the-day’s-last-putt. Have another cigar? Think I will, thank you very much.

Truman as quoted by Miller was often short and to the point, e.g. “The only thing new in the world is the history you don’t know.” (p. 69, Plain Speaking). He understood the need for average persons to wake up to how much they matter in life. I imagine this was so for him because he understood that he was an average man. FYI, 1973 a lowly second lieutenant in the Army, married with dependents (me at that time) was making about $550 per month. A four star general with 30 years of service, married with dependents was making about $2800 per month. Kind of makes one think, especially in light of the roller coaster of the past months. And all of us, 2nd Lt’s and Generals alike, sat in hour-long lines waiting to fill our cars with gas.

So at this moment and for this month’s newsletter and blog, I think I’ll rant a bit.

First. Leadership isn’t academic, though it definitely should be a topic in every school from grade one through all doctoral levels. It should be included in dialogue in all extracurricular activities such as music, sports, art, home economics, etc. Why? Because those activities really aren’t extracurricular. They are educating half of the brain, the right half, the activities that enhance full mental capacity and they are just as important as the left-brain activities commonly referred to as curricular, i.e. reading, writing and arithmetic. Someone, somewhere should be asking the following questions in our schools all the time: who and what is influencing you; who and what are you influencing; how is what we have been doing and studying going to be of influence in life when you step outside this room or off this playing field? We don’t need to tell our kids the answers to these questions, because the answers will change.

Second. Leadership isn’t about having the right slogan. It’s about everyday reality. It’s not reserved for some time when some person or some team occupies some office or position or has some kind of title affixed to some name or has amassed some certain level of fortune and is then entitled to be called Leader. Leadership is as present and as simple as the average person making coffee, taking time for shampoo, washing hands or the dog or the car, raking leaves, saying something simple to your son or daughter, putting gas in the truck or changing the oil. [Maybe changing oil should be left off the list because some folks have forgotten that lubricants, like old ideas, need changing; and yet lubricants, like old ideas, are universally necessary!]

Third. Leadership should never, ever, ever be attended to only when we have set aside enough discretionary funds to attend a retreat. In fact attending a retreat should not be hinged to discretionary funds. Refreshing the mind (i.e. going on retreat) ought be thought of as something necessary for good mental, emotional and spiritual regularity. We don’t consider the respective parentheses associated with refreshing physical regularity (i.e. meal time and toilet time) as things reserved for when our pockets are flush with cash. We get it about that – bodily inflow and outflow are essential to physical health. But when it comes to the digestive processes of the mind, the heart and the soul – ahhhh, some-a-day when there’s enough money and time, maybe we’ll attend to the inflow and outflow of that. In case you haven’t noticed, our yesterdays are quickly becoming the some-a-days that we should have been attending to. [I said this was going to be a rant]

Fourth. Let’s be straight. You and I are being influenced all the time by someone or something. Additionally, we’re influencing someone else and/or some situation all the time. Influence surrounds and binds us and it flows through us. Influence is the essence of what it means to lead. I realize this may sound rather Yoda-ish. Alas, some have either forgotten the lessons of Star Wars Episode IV or they have never seen the movie.

We grow blind the fact that, regardless of station or age or title or whatever else we want to call it, we are always leading and being led all of the time. We get so used to the influences that press on us daily (or the influence that we have on others) that we numb out to them. It doesn’t mean that they (we) are no longer of influence. It merely means that we are no longer conscious of this influence at work.

Some influences that touch us (or that we are) are attractive: beautiful music, vivid colors, sweet odors and tones and textures, supportive voices and the like. Some are repulsive: yellow tarps over spread next to overturned smoldering cars; hateful graffiti splashed across walls or doors; anguished faces viewing the remains of cherished children or parents suddenly gone; the homeless one passed out late at night inside a post office; spittle on the sidewalk; the roll of untrusting eyes or the sneer of disgusted lips; sharp unforgiving comments; raw vulgarities of racial, ethnic or sexist slurs; the dull dazed look of a drugged kid sitting on a curb. Either way, pleasant or ugly, we don’t notice or we pretend we don’t notice or we walk quickly on by or we soon forget. We become, as Marshall McLuhan put forth in a 1969 Playboy magazine interview, so used to the environment we’re living in that we no longer see, feel or hear it talking to us or about us or from us. (“I don’t know who first discovered water, but we’re pretty sure it wasn’t the fish,” McLuhan.)

Today is November 1st. By the time these words are delivered and posted in e-newsletter form or at www.AlliedRonin.blogspot.com either a McCain or an Obama will be the President-elect of the United States. As I write these words that outcome is a mystery. By the time these words get posted and delivered online that outcome will be history. Both Obama and McCain are leaders. So are you.

US citizens are involved in a grand experiment, an experiment rooted 2,500 years ago in the ground of ancient Athens. An experiment that Abe Lincoln wrote of as being “of the people, by the people and for the people.” We are not separate from government, no more than we are separate from nature. True, we can think of ourselves as separate. But thinking that we are separate does not change the fact that we are connected, no more than thinking the world is flat changes the fact that it is round. We are the government. Some may reply, “How naïve!” OK, but where does that kind of cynicism lead? There are people alive today by trainloads wishing they could get here or wanting their own land to change so that could enjoy the freedom to actually exercise this kind of naivety at home. Last month’s newsletter addressed some lessons learned by viewing the US from outside our borders. Add to that this thought: the things you and I do here over the next few days either through action or inaction may be small, but in time they make a difference. On Election Day or on any other day millions, actually billions, of human beings living elsewhere see the truth of this and wonder why we have such difficulty seeing it for ourselves.

When you read this whether you voted or didn’t vote in the election of November 4, 2008 – you voted. And your vote was counted. You contributed somehow to the outcome.

Bringing it back to everyday stuff of the average person. Like the man sitting on the bale of hay and the boy in his arms in the photo above - we’re all influencing and being influenced all the time by someone or something. What influence does the boy have on his father? What influence does the father have on the boy? You can’t see either of their eyes. Yet it’s clear that on that day they were each looking in different directions, existing simultaneously in the same place yet holding vastly different perspectives. You may not be the boss. You may not be the manager. You may not be the person in charge. You may not be the employee. You may not be office temp. You may not be the father or the mother. You may not be the son or the daughter. You may be big. You may be small. But somehow right now you are a leader. You’re affecting an outcome.

Who and what are you influencing? Who or what is influencing you? Stay alert!

Juxtapositions.

November 5, 2008 at Majestic Hotel, Guangzhou, China. Travel here, long. A thirty-hour day.

Sitting in economy class window seat not my ideal way spending hours and hours inside one plane, San Francisco to Tokyo. But tracking gps progress and noticing when we were above Aleutian Islands led to a magnificent view that otherwise wouldn’t have been afforded. Mountains. Snow. Volcanic craters. Glaciers. Ocean. Blue sky. Clouds. Un-real!

Flight from Tokyo to Guangzhou on Northwest Airlines, US owned and staffed. Safety announcements done in English. Flight departs from Japan and lands in China. Hmmmm. Go figure.

Guangzhou and I was one of first off the plane. But was almost last of a plane load going through PRC immigration. Why? The inspecting officer needing no glasses to see, sat very still studying and contemplating my passport. My passport, like me, has successfully passed PRC scrutiny many, many times the past four years. Not certain she, the immigration officer, was seeing what she wanted, she, who didn’t wear glasses, had me remove mine (glasses always worn and pictured on my passport) so she could get a better gander at me. Look hard she did, again and again. I passed her test and walked on. Go figure again.

Midnight checked into the Majestic Hotel. My associates let me know they were hungry, and suggested I eat. OK. They thought perhaps best if we could go to a nice restaurant, after all I’m guest in their country. I suggested we dine at all-night-eat-where-only-locals-do-at-a-small-one-room mom and pop shop that we walked past down an adjacent alley. Perfect. Our over bowls of pork soup, dumplings, won ton soup conversation? McDonnald’s in America vs. China.

Go figure some more.

Getting Beyond Prejudice Today

It’s been a busy time at Allied Ronin the past month as the maples and elms make their annual change of color turning hillsides across Sonoma County amber, orange, yellow and an occasional red. As I write these words I feel rather Garrison Keillor-ish (www.prairiehome.publicradio.org). Part of me that lives within a fantasy, a nostalgic journey that starts with the words, “It’s been an interesting time in my hometown.” But unlike Keillor my last month and a half has been everywhere but at home while fall colors emerge across county landscapes.

Aug 31 to Sept 3 involved travel to Mexico City with an overland trip west into the mountains near Valle de Bravo for leadership training and Samurai Game® www.SamuraiGame.org delivery to the CEO and senior execs of Walt Disney Mexico. Sept 5-7 was an aikido seminar at Incline Village, Nevada (Lake Tahoe) hosted by Truckee Aikido and conducted by Richard Strozzi-Heckler (www.TwoRockAikido.com) and Linda Holiday www.northbayaikido.org. Sept 11 - 19 were two leadership trainings in China: the first, a public offering in Yongkang (small town”of 300,000); and the second, a corporate program for the owner and the eighty senior managers of QSRY Manufacturing Company in Hangzhou (small city of 3 million). Both trainings were co-ventured with Vision Consulting (Hangzhou) and involved the Warrior Game™, as the Samurai Game® referred to for political reasons inside China. Brighton, UK, was the next stop (October 1 – 3) for visit with Mark Walsh (www.integrationtraining.blogspot.com) and a meeting he arranged with interested individuals there. Thank you Mark!

The next eight days I ventured east to Krakow, Poland, to work with Pawel Olesiak and Pawel Bernas and conduct a team effectiveness training in Krosno (minutes north of Slovakia and minutes west of the Ukraine) under their umbrella of Aiki-Management. Again involving the Samurai Game®, this time for BN Office Solutions. Attending the Krosno program were the CEO and senior managers of BN’s Krosno operation, plus German and Russian teams. The entire journey closed with a special aikido class I was asked to instruct in Krakow on Oct 8, before dashing across country to Warsaw for a series of flights back to the US.

Over the last forty-five days I’ve met a few hundred interesting folks. No Pastor Inkfist of Lake Wobegon’s Lutheran congregation. No Lefty or Dusty of “The Lives of the Cowboys” fame. And, certainly not one private eye named Guy Noir searching for “the answers to life’s persistent questions.” But interesting people none-the-less and real. I’m amazed at just how similar to us in the US other peoples of the world actually are. Yes, there are differences, but the differences are minor when compared to the overwhelming same-nesses when you get below the surface. An unwillingness to make mistakes causes some people of Hangzhou to get extra quiet. I’ve seen the same thing on college campuses across America. Uncertainty causes some Germans to get strangely boisterous while sitting in a mostly Polish speaking audience. To me, a boisterousness very similar to some experiences I’ve had in the Washington, DC area. High levels of interaction aligned with significant personal discovery makes for soaring spirits in Mexico. Could have been a Las Vegas, Nevada, crowd as far as I’m concerned.

The more I experience the world firsthand the more I wish others could too. Maybe our planet would be a bit more peaceful and trusting and at ease with itself if people around the globe got to know each other face-to-face. This was the underlying theme of my July 1st newsletter and blog (www.AlliedRonin.BlogSpot.com). True, there will always be problems, greed, liars, thieves and some very dangerous people walking in and out of our lives. But in general the majority of people are most likely regular folks trying their best to live, raise families, move forward and get along with others. If we could see past our prejudices and self righteous viewpoints we might be actually be able to see people for who they are – which is pretty good for the most part. At least, that’s the way I see it.

A symbolic example of prejudice (mine) happened in Krakow on October 7th. Driving the three hour drive from Krosno returning to Krakow, Pawel Olesiak asked me if I’d like to visit “a famous salt mine”. Trying to be a good diplomatic American I said, “Yes.” But internally I felt the opposite. I grew up in a mining community. I know mines. I remember tales of the salt mines of Siberia. My imagination carries images of Aleksandr Solshenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago, and I read his book “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.” When I was cadet at West Point and later assigned to a regular army outfit as a junior officer, Poland was very much a part of the Soviet regime – a regime that remained entrenched in Eastern Europe until Mikhail Gorbachev proposed “perestroika” and allowed for the emergent voice one Lech Walesna, culminating with a final exit of Soviet forces from Poland in 1993 and ushering the demise of the USSR over the next few years. That was not long ago. These things are very vivid real memories of Pawel’s Olesiak and Bernas, my associates who were born into that system – but who in no way ever want it back.

So on October 8th I went along with Pawel Olesiak’s suggestion and visited the salt mine at Wieliczka (www.krakow-info.com/wielicz.htm). The story and picture of that visit are at my October 1st blog entry. The short version for today’s newsletter posting – I had (based on my imaginings and my personal history , my limited vision and my thinking about what I believed to be true about mines) incorrectly judged what I would find deep under the ground just outside Krakow. What I thought I would find was dull. What I actually found was vivid and beautiful. What I thought I would find was mundane. What I actually found was magnificent. What I originally felt in agreeing to the visist was compliance. What I resultantly felt upon making the visit was gratitude. My visit to the salt mine a few miles outside of Krakow on October 8, 2008, was one of the most incredible things I have witnessed in my life. It is something I’m glad I saw; something I will remember for a lifetime. It’s a good thing my prejudice did not over rule a decision to be a “diplomatic American”- a gracious guest in someone else’s territory. If it (my prejudice) had won, I would have lost.

Here are some questions to ponder this October and going forward into November and on into 2009. Given the news of the day; given the enormous economic, political and ecological crises and choices facing our nation and our world right now – not figuratively, but in reality – what will we do? Not for some future consideration or buck-passing or kicking a can down the street past Pastor Inkfist’s church or Left’s and Dusty’s ranch or along the sidewalk in some dark city that knows how to keep its secrets, but is safe because of an office light that shines on the 12th floor of the Acme Building – an office belonging to some Guy Noir. No. Choices that live in the reality of our time - right now and right here – this day and over the next few weeks. My tutor of many years ago used to say, “If you’re not part of the solution you’re still part of the problem.”

How many of our choices will be made from looking scantly and only at the surface – the way I looked at the salt mines outside of Krakow before taking the time and action to venture down beneath the ground? Will we take the time to look beyond the rhetoric, beyond any misinformation, beyond the surface? Will we dig deeply now when it actually matters? Will we examine the truth and invest for the long haul? These are questions leaders must ask. And because from my perspective we are all leaders (influencing something or someone all the time no matter our age, title, gender, education, etc.) – these are questions that we (you and I) must ask and answer, not once in a while but on a continual basis. In this regard we are all responsible and had best make informed choices. If we err then we need be willing to accept our errors and chose anew. If we do not err then we need to remain vigilant because tomorrow, next month, next year or forty years from now there will be new challenges, new choices, new crises and we’d best practice for that now while we can.

October 9, 2008 - Heathrow Airport - London

It's been a grand time in the UK and Eastern Europe this past week. First - Brighton, England on October 2-3 - very calm fall weather - beautiful city, lots of energy - vibrant people and sights. Like Santa Cruz (the people are) multiplied by factor of 10- far out clothes, shops, coffee houses, etc. I took the "coach" there from Heathrow and visited friend and aikidoka Mark Walsh. We spent hours & hours walking around and linked up with Peter Hamill of Roffey Park Institute and a few other folks for dinner on Friday. One of them being John Whitmore who was introduced through a connection with my friend and associate Lisa Ludwigsen www.SchoolGardenco.com . Actually it's "Sir" John Whitmore ... he's a knight, and author of Coaching for Performance. His book bio acclaims: "Sir John Whitmore began his career as a professional racing driver, driving for the highly successful Ford team at Le Mans and won both the British and European Saloon Car championships in the 1960s."

Friday after dinner was spent two hours of training at the dojo where Mark trains in Brighton. First hour was kashima, which I've seen but not practiced before. Three visiting senseis - all Brits - who study in France under Jaff Raji http://www.aikido-jaffraji.com and were visiting and one of them led the hour kashima before open hand aikido ... my good luck. I'm also wanting to learn the "soft" high fall - and one gave me a few minutes of time after class on that - enough for a sense, but lots of instruction & practice is needed. I'll (hopefully) get a bit more tomorrow night on the "soft" highs here in Krakow - but no guarantee on that and you'll understand as you read on. Falling softly has been something I've wanted to know for over 10 years ... and as it any embodied practice will help me "fall softly" in all areas of life - a talent needed during turbulent times.

Arrived in Krakow Saturday, and Sunday drove to Krosno where led a Samurai Game workshop for BN Office Systems (Monday & today) hosted by Aiki-Management www.Aiki-Management.pl - organized by my associates Pawel (pronounce "pah-vel") Olesiak and Pawel Bernas (who run A-M and are senseis in Krokow). It was three hours of narrow curvy roads through what could have passed for a mix between southern Oregon and the hills/valleys around Gettysburg on first a clear then turned cloudy leaf changing fall day -- very green grasses and pastures, a cow or and crops in many people's yards - owner-built very sturdy homes, but the farther we got towards the Ukraine border the more there were family built wood homes - some log other plank - about 100 to 200 years old still comfortably lived in. It's extremely beautiful country.

On the drive to Krosno we're comparing notes about what they require on shodan exams and what's on ours www.TwoRockAikido.com . When I explained the tanto kata that Richard Strozzi-Heckler teaches - Pawel Olesiak got very curious because he had never heard of it. I explained that it's a "Richard thing" and probably makes sense it's relatively unknown. We're driving these countryside back roads (two cars wide - cars passing and headed straight on to cars coming our way) we're talking and moving thru it. At breakfast on Monday he says, "You have to teach Wednesday's aikido class at our dojo in Krakow so everyone can get whole hour on this kata. You have to do this!" (imagine a forceful Polish accent and you'll get the picture) I start to object, and Olesiak says, "No ... you have to do this." Bernas (pronounced burnah-sh) just sat silently (which is his usual MO) and grinned and shook his head "yes, yes, yes". Thursday morning at breakfast before we completed the program for BN Office Solutions Olesiak says, "We're telling you - word's already on website and email already sent so more students will come tomorrow night's class. So you got to do this thing."

Soooooooo my thoughts were ... "Tomorrow's going to be an interesting day" - visit a famous salt mine outside of Krakow in the morning, teach aikido, rush to train station to catch an all-night train Krakow to Warsaw in time for 6:30 am flight to UK & arrive Gatwick, grab another bus for hour and half ride to Heathrow, fly to LAX, hop a plane to SFO ... and on back home an all day Thursday excursion.

And that's almost what happened ... but things different when then happen than when planned. As a good tourist I agreed to visit the mine but with the prejudiced thought "salt mine?" I was wrong - it was incredible - a must for anyone who visits the Krakow area, the Wieliczk Salt Mine - see www.cracow-life.com/poland/wieliczka-salt-mines and the photo taken hundreds of feet underground of the church carved inside a cavern. Seven hundred years old, and 1000 feet underground now no longer in operation as a mine, but one of UNESCO most favored places of interest in the world. I took lots of pictures of this most historical and interesting place - beyond description. A reminder to me of how easy it is to prejudge things ... and how unaware we are when limited to our own history contained by our borders.

Wednesday night began with an hour of "basics" at the Krakow dojo ... with about 40 others I was a student. Then I immediately led the advanced class with 17ish or so. It went great. The "Pawel's" couldn't have been happier with the knife kata.

Was supposed to transit Krakow to Warsaw by train to catch my plane, but last minute changes were underway because as Olesiak said, "Polish trains - you can't depend on them. If you're even thirty minutes late it'll be bad." So they hired a guy to drive ensuring me timely journey from Krakow to Warsaw.

Timely it was ... more like something from James Bond. Spiriting away from the dojo at 10pm to a dimly lit parking lot across town in Krakow. Jumping from one car to another - handshakes all around with "dobrydania" (good bye). The driver, a guy named Peter (friend of theirs who they described as "professional driver" spoke only Polish) raced me out of the city. What was supposed to be a 5 hour drive was accomplished in 3 and 1/2 hours. Several near misses on the drive with two being extremely wild. It was better than a movie!

Life's never what you expect it to be - and it can be a blast. It's all in the attitude.