Posts Tagged ‘History’
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Senator Ted Kennedy is an example of a life well lived. Filled with bumps and valleys he is an example of courage and determination. A perfect life? Hardly. A complex life? Yes. A respected life? Often.
What can we learn from a life well lived? First, there are always “mosquitoes in paradise”. The Kennedy’s were the Camelot family. Wealthy, handsome, privileged. Yet, there were relationship difficulties, health issues, accidents, hurts, and disappointments.
Next, is how the traumas and discomforts were handled. Earlier in his life Ted ran from an accident where a female companion in the car died. At the time it tarnished his reputation and seemed to end the possibilities of a life in public service.
Then there was the plane crash that caused him physical pain for the rest of his life. And for a devout Catholic, there was divorce from his wife Joan. Think about how you might respond to daily public scrutiny. Think about how you would take each setback and make something positive come from it.
Ted was an example of leadership in action. His life was truly a leadership development course. He ended his career as an esteemed Senator who was able to connect people with each other and with ideas of merit. He was an impassioned champion of right choice and good deeds.
Think about how you can learn from his life as a leader, someone who mastered the art of conflict resolution, high level communication skills, and mostly, how to be a good man, an example of a life well lived.
Tags: Accountability, Business, Communication, Conflict, Death, Economy, Education, Ethics, family patterns, Health, History, Leaders, leadership programs, Media, Patterns, Politics, Power, programs, Senator Ted Kennedy, Transformation
Posted in Accountability, Business, Coaching, Communication, Conflict, Economy, Education, Ethics, Fear, Health, History, Honor, Integrity, Leaders, Leadership, Media, Patterns, Politics, Power, Transformation | No Comments »
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Sorry if things are unfair and your dreams are turning from bold colors to faded fragments. Guess what, instead of putting your head down and stewing you do something. The question is “What”? You have a choice; question is “Choose what”? In our “Total Leadership Connections program“ there is a core teaching about patterns and the tendency of the little buggers to replicate in many settings. They just don’t want to let go!
So, this is a time to show who is in charge, you or your story. When we are disappointed with life, when what we want is not happening there is fear, dread that “it” will happen again. After all, you ask, “History does repeat itself, well, doesn’t it”?
The answer is, “Only if you let it”! Patterns of disappointment are often handed from generation to generation, like a fine set of china or a family crest. It is up to each individual to look tough times and disappointments square in the eye and say “It will stop with me”!
Example, been laid-off and the next job is just not happening? Sales lower than ever and don’t show signs of an upswing? Is an impending merger putting you in competition with the new guys? Stress getting you to have too many colds and sleepless nights? Your partner complaining nothing ever works right?
You can either change your physiology or your psychology. Trust me; it’s easier to start with your body. What I mean by that is push the fear aside and move! No, not necessarily where you live, I mean your body. Walk, jog, dance, talk to a friend, talk to a stranger. If you live in the city get to the country for a day, or even for a few hours. If you live in the country, get to a city. To do what you ask? Who cares, just walk around.
You see when we are faced with disappointments and we stay sedentary the old tapes keep playing in our heads. So, become pattern aware. Listen to what your inner voice is saying and begin to reprogram yourself. That’s what real leaders do. The best way to stop the tapes is to move your body, hold your chin up, smile, that’s right, force the smile. You can’t be as sad and disappointed if you pick yourself up, brush yourself off and start to move.
Tags: Accountability, Behavioral Patterns, Diversity, family patterns, Family-Based Patterns, Fear, Health, History, Leaders, Leadership, leadership programs, Management, Money, pattern aware, Patterns, programs, Psychology, Transformation
Posted in Accountability, Diversity, Economy, Fear, Health, History, Leaders, Leadership, Management, Neuroscience, PatternAware, Patterns, Psychology, Transformation | No Comments »
Friday, July 3rd, 2009
Think about when you learned about freedom and the meaning of independence. How old were you? Who encouraged you? Was it an easy passing of the baton or a tug of war? Each of us accepts or rejects the idea of freedom based on how we are given or have to grab what we want and need. There are a myriad of images surrounding Independence Day.
I remember when I was thirteen and let my mother know I would rather go shopping with my friends and that I was capable of picking out some sweaters without her guidance. Ah, Freedom!
I remember when I finally got to take out the family car ALONE. The sense of freedom lasted until I bumped into the car in front of me while waiting for the light to change. The belligerent man motioned me to move to the side of the road so he could examine the damage (there was none!) I was not sure I wanted all that independence.
When I first consulted to do a team building program I felt strong, independent, and ready to take on the world. That was until I walked into the Vice President’s office and saw a large poster of a bulldog with its legs on a mahogany desk. The dog was smoking a cigar and the caption said “I want all of the power and none of the responsibility”.
Think about the many that followed the chant of “Give me liberty or give me death”. How willing are you to stand up for what you believe and what you see as justice. And during this holiday week-end make a commitment to cross the border into the land of the free and the home of the brave. Take a step to release old, worn out patterns of behavior that keep you from being what the world needs now….a pattern pioneer!
Tags: Accountability, Behavioral Patterns, Communication, Conflict, Diversity, Economy, Executive Teams, Family-Based Patterns, History, Leadership, leadership programs, Neuroscience, pattern aware, Team Building, Transformation
Posted in Accountability, Collaboration, Communication, Conflict, Diversity, Economy, Education, Ethics, Executive Teams, Fear, History, Honor, Integrity, Leaders, Leadership, PatternAware, Patterns, Reflections, Team Building, Transformation | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
What happens when a family business is turned over to the sixth generation? Sometimes it takes a miracle going beyond leadership development, management courses, or business training. It takes tenacity, focus, and a huge dose of believing.
In the week-end edition of USA Today (June 12-14) I was struck by an article confirming what we all know, small businesses have been hard-hit by the economy. The article went on to talk about the nation’s oldest family business, Frisbee’s Market in Kittery Point, Maine, had existed for 181 years.
Since I work with family firms I am always intrigued by how any company handed from generation to generation makes changes to keep up with the ways of the world. In this case each generation had put a thumb print on how the store would be run. It went from modernizing back to antique signs and wood floors.
And yet, as the economy plummeted so did sales. The company was headed for bankruptcy auction. Yet, something deep in the core of the family and the sea side community, said “Not yet”!
Here is the miracle. Frank Frisbee ll (whose son Frank lll had died from cancer) was walking through the parking lot when a businessman from Massachusetts drove up to have lunch at the market restaurant. When the story of the end of the family business was told the man from Mass. said he would help. He did not have angel wings; he did however have financial resources. In April, Al D’Amico paid $1 million for Frisbee’s and leased the market back to the family.
Maine is a beautiful, rugged state and when you have a chance to vacation there stop in to see a miracle-in-action at the oldest family business in the U.S.
Tags: Accountability, Business, Communication, Economy, family patterns, Family-Based Patterns, History, Leaders, Leadership, leadership programs, Management, Money, Transformation
Posted in Accountability, Business, Communication, Conflict, Economy, Employers, History, Honor, Integrity, Leaders, Leadership, Management, PatternAware, Patterns, Transformation | No Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
Our 40th “Total Leadership Connections“, (TLC) program is in session and it is comforting to see certain aspects of executive education that lead to organizational innovation do not change. Human universals remain the same over time. Searching for essential values and beliefs are at the core of TLC.
We are honored to have two participants in this program who are Members of Parliament from Ghana. They have traveled from West Africa to gain leadership tools and leadership tips to take back to their country.
My husband Herb and I had the pleasure of spending time in Ghana with a third Member of Parliament who is now a facilitator-in-training. Catherine Afeku is a brilliant young woman who has a passion for the possible. When she completed TLC several years ago her dream was to bring leadership development to her country.
We immediately connected when I told her we do a process called “Sankofa Mapping” in our program. “Sankofa” she exclaimed with pride in her voice, “that is a word from Ghana”. I had come across a film by that name in the 1990’s and was taken with its meaning, “Clear the past to free the present”.
Our leadership program is based on the essence of the word Sankofa. We believe that leading effectively, finding coaching solutions, increasing interpersonal awareness all come from observing, understanding, and transforming patterns from the past.
What a wise culture in Ghana to have one word that says so much.
Tags: Behavioral Patterns, Business, Coaching, Collaboration, Communication, Consulting, Education, Executive Teams, History, Leaders, Leadership, leadership programs, Management, Power, Sankofa, Team Building, Transformation
Posted in Accountability, Business, Coaching, Collaboration, Communication, Consulting, Education, Executive Teams, Leaders, Leadership, Management, PatternAware, Patterns, Power | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
Finally, the “soft stuff” is gaining more attention. We have known forever that the people part of work enviroment is the foundation of, well everything! Even the best product will tumble into the abyss if not tended with care. So, one wonders, why does it take times of crises for us to wake up?
My research inicates that when days are tough there is a natural regrouping back to “the clan or the tribe”. We can see this happening now. Family and friends are once again more important than the material possessions we have been worshipping these past few decades. In the long ago past we could not survive without the collective energy of others. We seem to be remembering that important theme, “We are all in it together and no one wins unless we all do”. This mantra is the basis of all the pattern aware programs we have developed at CEO and that we partner with HR to present.
I believe HR is in a vital position to take the lead and offer practical and stimulating ways to help employees be authentic contributors. Now, more than ever, creative energy and insightful innovation are required to help us diminish the elevated fear of these uncertain times. HR is the place to go for programs that enhance well being and employee engagement. There is an abundance of evidence that it is cost effective for staff to get along.
This is the time for resources to be allocated to help all employees find real meaning in their jobs. It is the time to reconnect with the ancient wisdom that a collection of people seen as a “clan or tribe” can help each other and work together for the benefit of all. It is individual in a positive way. So these difficult times present a real opportunity to reevaluate what really matters at work. Carpe diem!
Tags: Business, Collaboration, Communication, Economy, Executive Teams, History, Leadership, pattern aware, Patterns, Team Building, Workplace Relationships
Posted in Business, Collaboration, Communication, Diversity, Economy, Employers, Executive Teams, History, Leadership, PatternAware, Patterns, Team Building, Workplace Relationships | No Comments »
Monday, December 8th, 2008
The good I see coming out of all these economic woes is the capacity for all of us to once again look in the mirror and decide if we are living authentic, transparent lives. Going to a meeting in a private jet one day and coming to a continuation of the meeting in a hybrid car the next can be seen as media pressure. So what! Wherever the pressure comes from it is good. Any time we have to reassess and say “no” to old patterns that have gotten us stuck we no longer have to be a “NOT SEE.”
Perhaps these complex and frightening days are really what we need for sustainable change to happen. Perhaps we can all become conscious of the vital fact that our behavior is not isolated, that the way we conduct ourselves does matter, and that if we are not behaving in a responsible way people can see right through us and will no longer turn a “blind eye” and maybe we will finally rid our society of “NOT SEES.”
Tags: Boss, Business, Diversity, Economy, History, Leadership, Management, Media, Politics
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Sunday, December 7th, 2008
Our world was split and splintered on this day almost 70 years ago when word came that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. And in a few weeks Barack Obama, the President Elect and his family will vacation on that same island. So I began to think about destruction and rejuvenation and more importantly, what do we learn when we take time to scour the past to change the present.
While war is no longer a focus in the Hawaiian Islands, it is certainly raging in many other parts of the world where there are beautiful beaches lying in disrepair. Perhaps it is time to consider more deeply how the past imprints the present. Perhaps it is time to really look for the patterns that connect rather than get caught in doing the same things over and over.
Back in 1978 noted anthropologist Gregory Bateson challenged us to rethink the basic assumptions upon which we have built many of society’s institutions when he said: “Those theories of man which start from his most animalistic, maladaptive, and lunatic psychology turn out to be improbable first premises from which to approach the psalmist’s question “Lord, What is Man?” Faulty epistemology. And this narrowness led up to a failure to discern the pattern which connects.”
Becoming PatternAware™, both personally and as a nation may lead us into new, fertile territory if we begin to ask more questions with depth and have the patience to search for answers that help us connect the dots. Lessons from the past show us that we are all connected and truly no one wins unless we all do.
December 7 can be honored by wreaths and remembrances, and also by examining priorities for healthy survival not just of ourselves but also of ensuing generations.
Tags: Business, History, Media, Politics, Psychology
Posted in Business, History, Media, Politics, Psychology | 1 Comment »
