Sometimes vicarious learning feels very real. That is the case with the earthquake and nuclear devastation in Japan. This is an industrialized society with fast trains, sophisticated technology, tall buildings that gleam in the sun.
When the earthquake came it was an initial relief, they will know what to do. When the tsunami hit we were all stopped in our tracks. Now, with the nuclear tragedy we are all holding our breath.
Most of the individuals I have talked with this week have had similar thoughts. What would we do? How would we handle a crisis of this magnitude?
One of the comments that has been said many times concerns the fact that there has been no looting at a time when in most other places this is automatically expected. There were some nasty comments by Rush Limbaugh about the fact that even in the rescue centers the Japanese have been recycling. His mean spirited remarks made me think of the gentle Japanese and what we can learn from them.
I’ve had the privileged of traveling in Japan many times. This story has come to mind over and over as I watch the news.
I was sitting in a restaurant with a group of colleagues when a man walked over to the table. His English was limited so one of my dinner partners stood up to talk with him. They called me from the table to the side of the room. The man bowed and in his outstretched hand was a tube of lipstick. At first I thought he wanted to sell me something (after all I am an American) and then realized it was my lipstick. It had fallen to the ground when I went to find a tissue in my purse on the way to the restaurant.
I thanked the man, bowed in appreciation and asked by friend if I could give him something as a reward. Of course the answer was that the bow and appreciation were enough. I must admit, and those of you who know me would expect that I desperately wanted to hug him. I did not.
As we watch the quiet reserve that most of the people are showing what can we learn? Mostly that we are all in it together and we all need to find ways, especially as the challenges seem to mount in our world, to show generosity of spirit whenever we have the opportunity. And the opportunities are everywhere.
The following post gives some good ideas on how to get past blocks that keep us stuck in “Nuts, I can’t get the project moving”. Those who have been through Total Leadership Connections can attest that once the old, buried memories are surfaced and faced there is a lightness of being and way to get way beyond the “CANNOTDO’s” in a fast and smart way. Enjoy!
You’re on your second cup of coffee, but you can’t get past the first sentence of your pitch to your boss. Or, perhaps you’re struggling to meet deadlines because you’re so preoccupied with your son’s problems at school.
In a new book called Spark: How Creativity Works, author Julie Burstein-who is a producer of the radio show 360– reworks the radio show’s interviews with leading artists to shed light on how to make creative leaps and accomplishments happen. In a fascinating interview with BNET blogger Laura Vanderkam, Burstein elaborated on how artists get their ideas. In addition to the book’s insights about creative inspiration-Spark is also laced with useful tips on how to overcome blocks and distractions, even if you are not a so-called “creative.”
Some tips include:
Have a warm-up ritual. The hardest part for many can be just getting started. Rather than diving headlong into work, cellist Yo-Yo Ma takes a few minutes each morning to play long, slow notes on his cello he’s nicknamed Petunia. Writer Isabel Allende starts a new book every year on the same exact date even if the previous work is unfinished. That routine is her way of ensuring she always starts a new project.
Look for ideas in ordinary places. Stuck in a cubicle? There may be something on your desk, or down the hall, that could inspire your next great idea-if you look beyond the surface. Many artists find that even banal materials can be a potent source of inspiration. Sound designer Ben Burtt combined the hum of a projector at his night job with the feedback buzz of a broken microphone in his house to create the sound of the light sabers in the Star Wars films. Artist Richard Serra’s steel and rubber sculptures often begin with industrial materials he finds on his travels.
Discover the power of two. Partnering can make for big results. The key is to allow yourself to be challenged by your collaborator. Burstein notes that bluegrass icon Alison Krauss and ex-Led Zeppelin star Robert Plant made collaborative gold in their Grammy-winning partnership forRaising Sand. How? They allowed themselves to be challenged by their partners, rather than defending their egos. Plant brought no pride of authorship: “I wanted to work with people who were going to push me, and…challenge my whole capacity to be a really proper singer.” Filmmaker Ang Lee and his partner James Schamus reveal a similar ambition to push boundaries- Schamus fearlessly immersed himself in Chinese culture to “create compelling stories” for many Lee films and both filmmakers had the guts to rewrite each other’s work while keeping their eyes on the prize at the end-a great film.
Use the negativity blocking your creativity. Many people have difficult family relationships-creative artists use painful memories or experiences to propel their work. Actress Patti LuPone, for instance, let go of some unhappiness with her mother through her Broadway performance as Gypsy Rose Lee. Screenwriter and director David Milch dealt with hard memories of his brilliant but violent and abusive father through dark portrayals of characters such as Sipowicz in NYPD Blue and Swearengen in Deadwood — flawed, foul-mouthed heroes with anger management issues. Are you fretting over your elderly mother or learning disabled child? Perhaps these situations can yield metaphors for a speech-or more compassion for a colleague.
Do you think you could use any of these tips to improve your work? Why, or why not?
Here is how I feel about the article above:
Good suggestions, especially the last one that fits with what I teach in Total Leadership Connections. If we go to the “dark memories” and resurface by writing a haiku poem, singing a song, or just journaling it begins to untie the “knots” that have turned to “nots” and often stifle creativity. And the best idea is to reconnect with the person behind the memories and actually start talking. I believe we all have so much more creative energy once we reignite the spark. Can’t wait to read Burstein’s book.
Sometimes a good joke is best kept to oneself. I think Kenneth Cole has learned a great lesson and it is positive that he apologized quickly. We are in the midst of vast global changes and this is not really the time for fun and games at the expense of people who are saying “we count too”. In the marketing books I have read recently they all suggest that the best route is to be as “outrageous” as possible. That seems to be the best way to get into the media. Maybe those of us in leadership positions need to stand steady and think before we tweet!
By now, you’ve probably heard about the ridiculous tweet sent out this morning by the designer, which used the volatile situation in Egypt to promote its new spring collection.
Here’s the exact Tweet:
Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo
That tweet caused quite an uproar – rightfully so. And, Kenneth Cole has responded fairly quickly to the crisis by issuing the following statement via Facebook.
Kenneth Cole Apologizes for Egypt Tweet
“I apologize to everyone who was offended by my insensitive tweet about the situation in Egypt. I’ve dedicated my life to raising awareness about serious social issues, and in hindsight my attempt at humor regarding a nation liberating themselves against oppression was poorly timed and absolutely inappropriate,” said Kenneth Cole, Chairman & Chief Creative Officer.
This fairly quick response demonstrates how fast companies are being forced to respond to social media blunders in order to save their brands’ reputation and value.
Should Kenneth Cole have responded even sooner to this gaffe? Sure, but I believe we should accept Cole’s apology and move on.
Tragedies often pull us together, yet, unless we can learn new ways the tragedy sits in us like a knot and we end up judging, blaming and isolating. We have a small window of opportunity to start a deeper, more meaningful dialogue about the why and how we treat each other in an open society. The need is to understand what healthy boundaries means and how we help our children grow into responsible adults who care about each other. It is too late for Jared Loughner and yet, there are so many Jareds waiting to do harm. It is time to stand together and ask how we can all help and get a new dialogue going. The following is a call for our leaders to stand together whatever their political views and find a better way with all of us!
WASHINGTON — On opposite sides of the political spectrum, President Barack Obama and new House Speaker John Boehner suddenly face the same challenge: rise above the anger, suspicion and hostility of their liberal and conservative bases to help a rattled nation deal with the deadly outburst of violence in Arizona.
But what comes after the easy moment of silence?
For now, both men are stepping past the question of what role, if any, the vitriol of the past election campaign played in Saturday’s shooting rampage that left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in critical condition and six others dead. Instead, they’re grappling with the high-stakes test the tragedy presents over how to lead the nation going forward.
Obama, the Democratic president halfway through his term, has spoken of his regret for not having raised the level of political discourse in a deeply divided nation. Boehner, the newly installed Republican House speaker, is second in line to the presidency but has yet to shape his role as a national figure.
For both men, the path ahead is perilous, filled with the political risk of alienating parts of the stunned electorate.
The parties’ rank-and-file supporters handle the nuts and bolts of electoral politics – fundraising, door-knocking and the like. But they also are sources of the red-hot rhetoric that inflames passions, with right- and left-leaning talk radio, cable networks and Internet sites their outlets of choice.
Those Republican and Democratic foot soldiers may not appreciate calls from the top to tone it down, though the center of the electorate, detesting ideological warfare and wanting those in Washington to work together, certainly will.
“All of us are still grieving and in shock from the tragedy that took place,” Obama said Monday, calling for healing and sidestepping any potentially divisive issues. He is to travel to Tucson, Ariz., on Wednesday to speak at a memorial service for the victims, the White House said.
“It’s going to be important, I think, for the country as a whole, as well as the people of Arizona, to feel as if we are speaking directly to our sense of loss, but also speaking to our hopes for the future and how out of this tragedy we can come together as a stronger nation,” Obama said.
How – or whether – to do that is an unsettled question among newly empowered Republicans on Capitol Hill.
Boehner has wide latitude, said former House historian Raymond Smock.
“I think he has the potential to have a very important role in how Congress responds and the public tone that is set,” said Smock, director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies.
For now, Boehner is responding as head of the House, not the leader of just one party. In a conference call over the weekend, he told lawmakers of both parties that an attack on one member of Congress is an attack on all.
“What is critical is that we stand together at this dark time as one body,” he said. “We need to rally around our wounded colleague, the families of the fallen and the people of Arizona’s 8th District. And, frankly, we need to rally around each other.”
In one quick action, House Republicans postponed a vote this week that was certain to be divisive on repealing Obama’s health care overhaul. Debate over it last summer prompted threats and vandalism against lawmakers, including Giffords.
Instead, the House was poised to take up a resolution Wednesday supporting Giffords and the other shooting victims.
In Columbus, Ohio, on Monday, Boehner attended the swearing-in of a longtime friend, new Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
“It was a horrible tragedy,” Boehner said of the Tucson shootings. “I’m not going to say anything more than that.”
None of that prevented finger-pointing from the far sides of the political spectrum. Both the left and the right hurled accusations that the other was inciting violence. The suspect’s political leanings weren’t clear.
Some Democrats cast blame on the right-leaning tea party movement and Sarah Palin. She had told her followers “Don’t retreat; reload” last year and used crosshairs to denote congressional districts, including Giffords’, where she wanted Republicans to win.
Conservatives, in turn, said the left is just as nasty in its rhetoric. They pointed out that it was Obama who declared during the 2008 presidential campaign, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.”
Over the weekend, Obama said, “What Americans do at times of tragedy is to come together and support each other.”
The man accused of the shootings, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, appeared in court late Monday. He was ordered held without bail.
The night before the violence, Giffords was trying to show a peaceful path.
In an e-mail to a friend in Kentucky discussing how to “promote centrism and moderation,” she congratulated Republican Secretary of State Trey Grayson on his new position at Harvard University.
“After you get settled, I would love to talk about what we can do to promote centrism and moderation,” Giffords wrote. “I am one of only 12 Dems left in a GOP district (the only woman) and think that we need to figure out how to tone our rhetoric and partisanship down.”
What a roller coaster year for most of us. In this connected world of ours we all sat watching the tragedy that is Haiti. The outpouring of support was heartwarming and there were so many of my friends and colleagues who wanted to share with more than just a monetary donation. There was a feeling of “we’re all in it together and no one wins unless we all do” that brought this planet closer together through the devastation to this small country.
Then we saw the opposite; oil everywhere on our beautiful southern beaches. Helpless sea and air creatures covered with slime, and no accountability. We watched with distaste the devastation that comes from too many people playing the game called “CYA”.
These two major happenings give us pause to consider what constitutes ethical leadership. The Haitian earthquake was an act of nature and the nature of human beings came forward to extend helping hands with generosity of spirit.
The BP oil spill was an act of human error and we watched the dark side of human behavior as the blame game was played and continues to play out.
So, ask yourself this question as we prepare for the new decade: what is your role as a leader, even more to the point what is your role as a citizen of this space ship earth?
What are our responsibilities to each other? How can we get past the rhetoric and polarization that has become a hallmark of our society? What do we have to offer to each other? What commitment can you make to help your small part of the planet be the best it can be?
It’s not just about climate change. It’s not just about worldly goods. It’s about taking the time to think more deeply about the mandate that goes back to our Iroquois ancestors: whatever we do needs to be thought about in terms of how it will impact unto the seventh generation.
Did you ever wonder how BP would have handled deep ocean drilling if thoughts were directed to the long term consequences of behavior rather than to the need to satisfy stockholders?
We need a groundswell of deep thinking; thinking that goes beyond satisfying our present wants and needs. Ethical leadership means considering, as best we can, how present behavior will show up for our children’s children. It’s about you, it’s about me, and it’s about time!
There are so many abstract words that assault us every day. Words like love, hate, loyalty, betrayal, success and failure. Here is one word that we all need to think about as this year comes to a close, accountability.
What does it look like, sound like, and feel like when we are accountable? Since it is winter I’ll give you a visual that may help. It is a snowman. We use this image in our Total Leadership Connections program. Think about building a jolly, rotund ice guy with a carrot nose, raisin eyes and little bits of cut up strawberries for a smiling mouth.
Usually don’t in three parts; base, middle and top. Now think about accountability. Top to bottom; think about what you think, what you say, and what you do. If they are all in alignment you are there, a master of accountability.
If however, what you think is “this will never work” and what you say is “Sure that’s a good idea” and what you do is procrastinate because you are ambivalent, your accountability goes down the drain.
Here is another ; what you think is “this is amazing and I know it is possible” and yet you don’t want the one who came up with the idea to get all the credit you say “Well maybe, not sure, let’s check it out” and then you hold back because this was not your original idea, you internal accountability meter is on the way low side.
Think about it as a way to limit the need for a chiropractor. If you SAY WHAT YOU MEAN and DO WHAT YOU SAY you are in alignment and your accountability quotient will always hit the bell.
Give yourself a gift of working on this most important level of being accountable. It is what makes a leader one to follow.
At CEO we are redefining leadership for the 21st Century and it starts with the integrity of accountability.
How often when we receive a great gift do we think through how the item actually landed in our laps? Thinking about the source of our products is rarely done. We go to a store or click a button on the internet and voila, a finished product is there for us to behold. Ashley Judd gives us pause to think about the source of our technology products. Go a step further and think about the new sweater, the food on our table. Somewhere on the planet is someone who picked the food on a sunny day, someone who sat at a long row of tables and checked the yarn in the sweater, and on and on.
There is a wonderful story that Zen Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hahn tells about the little boy staring into his bowl of cereal and milk saying to his mother “there is a cow in my bowl”. This is systems thinking to the max! I wonder how the world would change if we all did some deeper thinking about the products we buy and where they started.
People steal, they cheat and lie
For the wealth and worth
It will buy
But don’t they know
On Judgment Day
Gold and Silver
Will melt away
~ Hank Williams
Quite literally dripping with electronics, I walk through Dulles airport to my gate. I am holding my iPad, downloading books from Kindle to have to read while on my journey. So far, I’ve chosen Kentuckian Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; she came to mind, of course, because her spectacular book, Poisonwood Bible, is set in Zaire (now DRC). I’ve been meaning to read this one, and the amazing Blackberry Farm, over in east TN in the Great Smokey Mountain National Park, was featuring it in their gift shop. It felt like a good fit, a distracting, companionable counter point to the aim of my trip. I’ve also downloaded something I hadn’t known existed, an Elizabeth Cady Stanton Bible, as well as Dietrich Bohnhoeffer’s Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. I have been studying the 104th. It about says it all, as far as I can tell. I wanted it on my iPad.
I am also carrying my iPhone. Charging it in the lounge, I nearly forget it, and scoop it up hastily. It dangles like a fashionable necklace as I juggle everything: bag, elevator buttons, doors to pull, passport to display, boarding pass.
My iPod is in my bag. I decide I want my full music library, not just the partial one (spiritual, recovery) I have loaded on to my phone. The size is convenient. Goodness gracious, I don’t want to have to have my MacBook Air out just to listen to music, when I could have instead something that fits in the palm of my hand.
Also in my bag is that MacBook Air. I was determined to bring only the iPad, and had loaded classic movies on it, thinking I may want occasionally to take my mind off the matters at hand in DRC, for some lightheartedness, self care, a reminder the whole world is not woe, and that art and movies help with what woe there is. (I have recently adopted an older feller to be a grandfather figure to me, and at lunch the other day he was saying I should be proud to be an actor. “The Germans, God, in the Depression, all they had to turn to was Hitler. We had the movies! What would we have done without them?”) But I am not yet comfortable writing lengthily on the iPad, and have had some scary episodes losing significant chunks of work, and not being able to work with timely, deadlined documents others send me.
I didn’t even want all this stuff. My iPod was in gift basket from an event, about eight years ago (yeah, still rockin’ the classic). My iPad was a gift from a generous producer. My perfectly good previous iPhone was stolen, and Baton Rouge had plenty of the new ones, so, movie star whatever excitement in the store, and I somehow ended up with one. This is typical of the Saturation of Stuff that characterizes much of our society.
And that is how I, on my way to Democratic Republic of Congo to educate myself first hand about conflict minerals and advocate for a clean supply chain, am at the same time utterly complicit. My electronics, received as gifts or purchased, profit armed militias and support slavery. I am financing mass rape as I enjoy these ridiculously Global North ultra-efficiencies and conveniences, for large scale rape is the preferred predation mining interests use to humiliate and terrify local populations, in order to control resource areas. The UN notes that virtually every mine in DRC is militarized. This means little to no tin, tantalum, and tungsten is mined free of brutal exploitation, extortion, violence, rape, rape, rape.
My phone vibrates (thanks, tungsten). My music plays, using stored electricity, thanks to tantalum. My laptop screen lights up and hums, thanks to the tin used to solder its circuit boards, and the gold used as an electronics component. I e-mail my human rights traveling partner, Enough Project Co-founder John Prendergast, and compose letters to the Congolese sister I sponsor through Women for Women International. I hurt, even as I try to help, via the very actions and tools I use to try to make a difference.
What good is gold
And silver, too
If your heart’s not good and true
Sinner, hear me when I say
Fall down on your knees
And pray
AppIe is known for the clean lines of their products, the alluring simplicity of their designs. Dare I….go so far….as to suggest…this signature cleanness is stained by the shit and urine of raped women’s leaking fistulas?
I dream of the day when Apple and other electronics companies fully commit to tracing, auditing, and certifying the minerals they use in their products, and rape minerals are successfully excluded from the marketplace. We no longer have lead in our paint. Companies report with full transparency contents and manufacturing processes in order to assure public health and gain consumer confidence. This is no different. It is a minimum standard of conduct.
I dream of the day when North Americans recoil in horror at the introduction of an otherwise revolutionary and exciting electronic product that lacks TAC….when the queues are expressions of solidarity for 11-year-old mine slaves, women whose vaginas have been perforated by object insertion rape, and families forced to eat one another in each other’s presence.
In fact, I have just decided what I want for Christmas, which will be here before I know it.
What do you want, this holiday season?
I board my flight.
I turn on my iPad.
I write this diary.
I hurt, even as my life is dedicated to helping.
For I’d rather be
In a deep dark grave
And know that my first soul was saved
Than live in this world
In a house of gold
Than deny my kind
And doom my soul
I rest on the flight to Brussels, but I do not sleep. I recall something I have been thinking about lately, aspiring to apply it to genocidaires, to FDRL, to Congolese military, to all armed militias, even the ones who make people eat each other.
My friend Victor Chan recounts in his book with the His Holiness the Dali Lama an exchange between HH DL and a fellow Lama, who had been tortured by the Chinese.
“Were you ever afraid?” HH DL asks his brother.
“No,” replies the man.
“Really? You never felt fear?” presses the great spiritual leader.
Pause.
“Yes. I was afraid I would lose compassion for Chinese,” is his surprising concession.
I have this book on my (yes) iPod. If I get a massage, I listen to it, or Archbishop Tutu’s wonderful book, which has the added benefit of being in his own irresistible voice. When I heard this line, “Yes. I was afraid I would lose compassion for Chinese,” it took my breath away.
My spiritual growth cannot afford the convenience of hate. The cost is too great. It makes me no better than they. I am asked to examine the violence in my own thoughts, where all violence starts. I am asked to regard even “justified anger” as a dubious luxury. I am asked to remember, I have no idea what I am capable of, under such circumstances. I am asked to love my enemies.
What is this grace, that allows me to feel mercy for the murderer?
This essay is excerpted from a trip diary by actress and humanitarian Ashley Judd. She traveled to eastern Congo with John Prendergast, Co-founder of the Enough Project at the Center for American Progress (www.enoughproject.org), to raise awareness of how the global trade in conflict minerals fuels rape and sexual violence as a war weapon. For more information on the campaign against conflict minerals, visit www.raisehopeforcongo.org.
Time has gone by and Tom has let his anger rock and roll. Now he can take a deep breath and be more reasonable. He decided that for his own personal development he would not just shrug his shoulders and “let it go”.
He wrote a letter to Jim and then sat with it for a week before he emailed it. What he told me was once he pushed the send button he felt a new freedom that was unique and different. Tom grew up in a family where the natural tendency was to sweep all conflict under the rug. The family was always roller coasting over the carpets.
They never, and that is never talked about hurts, upsets, or feelings of betrayal. As Tom said, this was the very first time he was taking the tiger by the tail and telling his truth.
The essence of the letter was about how he felt marginalized and frustrated when Jim did not invite him to the party. He did not castigate Jim, nor did he offer a defense, He merely talked about how he felt.
That’s it. The email was a short paragraph; maybe four sentences. Once it was in cyberspace and out of his hair he got a glass of wine and toasted himself for not avoiding the situation, for not pretending it didn’t matter. Merely saying how he felt and then letting it go was like lifting a fifty pound chimp from his shoulders.
That’s it! Jim has yet to respond, if in fact he ever does. No longer matters. Tom could meet him and shake hands and be curious as to the forward motion of his life. No anger, no desire to prove himself to Jim, nothing except a pleasant calm feeling, as Tom said the feeling is like the color and sound of a clean, clear waterfall, continuously moving in a healthy, comforting way.
I received an email from a friend who was hopping mad. He had mentored Jim, a younger colleague; taken tons of time to help him learn the ins and outs of the company, introduced him to the real champions who had the ear of the big boss. He lent him a car when his was in the shop after an accident; took him to dinner when finances were a bit tight.
Fast forward one year. His coaching and cheerleading had done wonders. The guy got a great promotion. He was on the high potential list of movers and shakers. My friend should have been standing proud. He helped another human being and that is good. So why is he so mad?
Turns out that as Jim moved up the proverbial ladder of success he had developed some signs of “early Alzheimer disease”. He suddenly couldn’t remember his old friend’s name; seemed to have forgotten the helping hand.
Jim threw a party last week and guess who wasn’t invited. Now mind you, nothing negative had happened to cause ill will. Jim, my friend guessed, was no longer in the same league, and so good-bye.
Here is an important question we discuss in our Total Leadership Connections program: what are the deeper ethics of relationships? How do we behave when it is time to move beyond those who have helped you at an earlier time in your career? What happens when you bite the hand that fed you? How do you respond when you have helped and now you need help and it is not forthcoming?
I would appreciate comments from any of you who have given to others and been pushed away. I would like to hear from those of you who have cut the relationship cord with colleagues and what have been the short and long term implications.
There is an underlying epidemic of discounting or being discounted that causes fascinating and long term ramifications that is rarely discussed. Let’s open these cans of worms and learn better ways to be with each other.
Tomorrow I’ll tell you how my friend is handling this disappointing situation.
One of the key jobs of successful leadership is to monitor workplace relationships and help employees get along at work. During this holiday season, people issues seem to escalate and the best workplace cultures are those that can regulate stress in the same way that the temperature in the office is monitored and regulated.
We now know enough about brain physiology that we can do a great deal to modulate team conflict and improve the essential people skills to get along in a more productive way.
We can literally talk to ourselves in shorthand to make changes happen quickly and effectively.
Here are five ways that workplace leadership can take the bull by the horns and have everyone start to change their minds in the blink of an eye.
1. Situation selection: we can decide where to put our focus by asking ourselves or each other “what do I/you want as an outcome of this discussion”? 2. Better solution search: we can take time to write down or discuss alternative choices for the outcome of the present tension. When we focus on intentions that will create a better outcome for the largest number of people, we are thinking in systems’ terms, and positive emotions begin to stream into the room. 3. Sing it: that’s right, go into a quiet place, even a closet if need be, and sing the annoying conflict situation. It is amazing how many nuances come clear and how this bit of whimsy opens creative parts of the brain to help bring new perspectives to mind. 4. Write it: Singing not your thing? Then write a poem. Haiku which is short and simple to do often gives better solutions after one or two attempts. Haiku is an ancient Japanese form of three lines. Line one has five syllables, line two has seven and line three has five. It can be about anything, although usually there is some reference to nature, clouds, rain, sun, etc. 5. Reappraisal: Reinterpret the meaning of what is going on – depersonalize and see the situation as if you were watching a play so you can see beyond the concrete, visceral setting of the moment.
Research indicates that it is mentally taxing to suppress feelings. They are the most difficult part of working together. It is like taming a lion and then getting that lion to do your bidding. There is great power in being a leader who models depth of emotion and then exhibits ways to keep this feisty beast from taking over.
I believe all leadership and executive programs would do best to include a module on taming the beast of emotions, rather than attempting to avoid or deny them. And this season especially, when so many employees are feeling the pinch of financial difficulties, helping them learn how to face tensions and tough emotions and learning from them is the sign of a successful leader.
This is a day Kenneth Cole will like to forget! 
