tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86746620238179151342024-03-05T03:16:47.632-05:00WiseWorking.comA minute to learn; a career to master!Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.comBlogger139125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-21989801087428436272014-11-04T17:53:00.000-05:002014-11-04T17:53:06.723-05:006th in a Series on Change: Economic vs. Organizational Approaches to Change by Beer & Nohria<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Continuing my exploration of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Change-Management-including-featured-%C2%93Leading/dp/1422158004" target="_blank">HBR’s Change Management Must Reads</a>, I relished the taoistic a-ha of Beer & Nohria’s article, </span><b><a href="http://webdb.ucs.ed.ac.uk/operations/honsqm/articles/change2.pdf" target="_blank">Cracking the Code of Change</a></b> which introduces this idea of Theory (E)conomic and (O)rganizational approaches to change and a discussion of how to best manage this tension. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Theory E change</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> is hard approach driven by shareholder returns and characterized by economic incentives and organizational restructuring. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Theory O change </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">is a soft approach driven by cultural & capability development through learning, teamwork and communication. When this approach is used it is usually out of a long held commitment to employees. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The US favors E while the EU and Asia tend to favor O, or so generalizes the authors. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the case of entrepreneurs, the authors suggest that entrepreneurs can be classified as driven by cash out (E) or culture building (O). </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">You see the taoistic interplay of opposing forces here already, yes? You also discern the tension between the needs to be loyal to shareholders and employees.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>In reality, all companies must use a mix </b>of these approaches. The trick is to <b>balance these to fit the context</b> leadership teams finds themselves in, and to do so avoiding the confusing perception of being "nurturing cutthroats”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The authors suggests </span><b>two approaches to E/O execution, sequencing and simultaneous</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Sequencing</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> is an approach for mixing these approaches over time, and with requisite storytelling to assure that all affected are aware of where in the E/O cycle the organizational culture is operating towards a longer term change objective. It seems that such sequencing would allow a critical mass of focus on one approach to another at any given time with out sacrificing the benefits of either approach over time. The authors suggest that E be sequenced before O as the reverse carries too great a price of employee disaffection. This said, sequencing has the disadvantages of taking a long time and possibly across multiple leadership regimes.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Given these disadvantages of sequencing, the authors offer a faster but riskier and potentially more successful, approach of <b>simultaneous E/O action</b> which requires:</span><div style="font-weight: normal;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. embracing this paradox in goal setting<br />2. setting direction from above while engaging from below so that command and control play well with the grassroots. (Sounds like a Battle of the Bands.)<br />3. focusing simultaneously on the hard and soft elements of change though in proper sequence<br />4. allowing & rewarding experimentation & evolution<br />5. rewarding people to reinforce, not drive, change</span><div style="font-weight: normal;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">These simultaneous dynamics, managed well, result in an environment of candor, listening, debating and learning which has a better chance of building trust & commitment to change. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">This article so resonated with me as it described this tension of opposites, and management of a middle way, which has </span><b>often been hidden in plain sight throughout my career as a change leader</b>. It provides an orderly paradigm to so many seemingly chaotic regimes I have witnessed and been a part of. Fortunately, such blindness has not killed all success and leave me looking forward to even more success in the future now I am educated. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As an after note, <b>I see how these approaches are applicable not only to organizations but also to individuals</b> having applications for my leadership development as well as that of my leadership coaching. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hope this "taoistic" a-ha is as helpful to you and your ongoing change activities as it was for me. </span></div>
Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-20071026812907637532014-11-01T15:45:00.000-04:002014-11-01T15:45:59.714-04:00Does Your Child Need A LinkedIn Profile?<div style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #4d4f51; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 30px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was recently talking with my wife about the topics that is easily among the top five we have discussed in our relationship, "children and how best to prepare them for life." In this discussion she told me about an initiative she heard Philadelphia is piloting to keep track of (high) school children's academic and community service activities from grades to awards to projects to extracurriculars. As she spoke, I replied, "sounds like LinkedIn for kids". Then I wondered, <strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">is LinkedIn for kids?! Yikes! No! Yes. I think maybe it is.</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Leaving the debate of at what age a child should be exposed to LinkedIn aside, it seems to me that LinkedIn could be a nice substitute for those boxes of school, sports and activities memorabilia in the attic and basement, and a more orderly and presentable one at that. <strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A child's LinkedIn profile would</strong>:<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />1. <strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ease preparation and representation</strong> for life's various admissions gauntlets from private schools at various levels to scholarship programs to community service organizations to college to career.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />2. <strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">remind us</strong> of what we, as a family, have invested in, and can be proud of, as we too often forget under the stress of life,<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />3. <strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">remind our children</strong> of their accomplishments over time inspiring their self confidence.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />On the flip side, I fully expect the sentiment that this suggestion puts our children's privacy at risk, is inappropriate blatant exhibitionism and that LinkedIn is too advanced for children. I'd say all these arguments have merit for consideration.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />In response to privacy and exhibitionism concerns, <strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">I'd advise keeping the profile private so that it's an orderly repository for you and your child until an appropriate time for future publication</strong>. In the meantime you don't lose those resume items to poor memory, and your child begins to get an education in how to use LinkedIn as a storytelling platform for their careers.<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />As to the "too advance" point, I'd say you <strong style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">do it for your child without exposing them if they'd are too young the same way you store away savings for their future when they are too young</strong>. The fact is that the experiences we afford our children are an experiential savings asset which they spend later to gain life's opportunities, so LinkedIn becomes an experience bank of sorts. <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />In any case, I thought this an interesting idea, and wonder if it's not a new business opportunity for LinkedIn as parents tend to more readily part with money for their children's welfare than for their own. For many I know, their kid's LinkedIn will look better than theirs. :-)<br style="box-sizing: border-box;" /><br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />I'm very much interested in your thoughts as to additional benefits and caveats regarding this approach.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here are other reads I found on this topic:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. <a href="http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/blogs/mummy-buzz/20130919/kids-urged-to-create-linkedin-profiles" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7b539d; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.yummymummyclub.ca/blogs/mummy-buzz/20130919/kids-urged-to-create-linkedin-profiles</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. <a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-long-before-kindergartners-are-on-linkedin-2013-08-21" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #7b539d; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.marketwatch.com/story/how-long-before-kindergartners-are-on-linkedin-2013-08-21</a></span></div>
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Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-90831590546108961382014-10-30T21:07:00.001-04:002014-11-01T07:34:30.780-04:00As Culture Eats Strategy, Action Eats Fear!<!--?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="no"?-->
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<span style="font-size: large;">So we are most all familiar with the famous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Drucker" target="_blank">Peter Drucker</a> quote "<a href="http://thepeoplebrand.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/PeterDruckerCultureStrategyBreakfast1.png" target="_blank">Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast</a>”. He posits that much good strategy is thwarted by organizational cultures which fights and kills strategies they are uncomfortable with. We know it takes great skill and persistence to shepard innovative strategies through the organization's cultural gauntlets. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Lately I have been experimenting with a variation on this theme, "Action Eats Fear for (you insert the meal)". :-) In this context, action is the proxy of strategy and fear, of culture. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Being on sabbatical, I have more time than usual to be plagued and paralyzed by fearful feelings and thoughts. I have found though that when tempted to bog down in this paralysis, “skillful" action is a reliable antidote.</b> As with myself, so with organizations where we often see that in the face of uncertainty, organizations succumb to a "sickness of fear”, a topic my good colleague <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/pub/bill-drummy/0/213/b7b" target="_blank">Bill Drummy</a> recently called to our attention in a <a href="http://www.heartbeatideas.com/pdf/HeartbeatPOV_TEDMED2014Recap.pdf">TEDMED recap blog post</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In situations where we are experiencing a sickness of fear, we are not so much at fault for being inactive as for being unskillful in the actions we take. This is a conundrum as skillful action is often the child of unskillful action that we learn from. This pondered, a good addition to my original premise is that while Action may eat Fear in the short term, Educated Action breeds Success over the longer term. :-D</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Allen_(author)" target="_blank">David Allen</a>’s (of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0142000280/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=44148741056&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4898590015317763474&hvpone=8.88&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_4rxceo3zpz_e" target="_blank">Getting Things Done</a> fame) Next Action is a good practice to execute this Action Eats Fear strategy</b>. Forgetting about the fear of what could go wrong and what resource is lacking, I find that taking the Next Action is like a lit candle which pushes back the darkness of fear. In each Next Action, one more step toward a goal is accomplished, and hopefully learned from. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I am also finding that sometimes the best Next Action is one of (relative) non-action, taking a nap, sitting in meditation, going for a walk or writing an encouraging note to a colleague who inadvertently crossed my mind. This non-acting action often unblocks the flow of creativity and courage that fear blocks. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">So as Culture Eats Strategy, let’s also remember that Action Eats Fear and be skillful in how we confront to get the change we are working on in the world, however we define it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Bon appétit! </span></div>
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Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-63670339965298575552014-03-17T20:57:00.001-04:002014-03-17T20:57:58.698-04:005th in a Series on Change: Tempered Radicalism by Meyerson<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So this <a href="http://hbr.org/2001/10/radical-change-the-quiet-way/ar/1" target="_blank">article</a> gave me the name for a role I relish but did not have a name for, Tempered Radical! Nice! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A <b>tempered radical is "an informal leader who quietly challenges prevailing wisdom and provokes cultural transformation”</b>. They:
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. "rock the boat without falling out”
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. leverage their differentness in the organization for constructive change
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. effect significant change over time through moderate, local, diffuse, (in)visible, flexible, persistently patient means.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. walk the fine line of dedication to the company (status quo) and change.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5. work largely alone, but are savvy at uniting others
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">6. listen and converse to bring people around rather than pressing their own agenda
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">7. see potential friends where most others see embattled foes
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">8. set an example from which others can learn
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On describing the characteristics of tempered radicals, and I hope you see yourself here, the author talks about the <b>tempered radical’s tactics</b> along a continuum from the personal to the public.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. <b>disruptive self expression</b>, most personal means, where one quietly acts in ways disrupts expectations and improves performance<br />2. <b>verbal jujitsu</b>, where one redirects negative statements & actions into positive change<br />3. <b>variable term opportunism</b>, where one is open and ready to capitalize on unexpected opportunities for short-term change and to orchestrating deliberate long-term change<br />4. <b>strategic alliance building</b>, the most public means, whereby clout is gained by working with allies, and especially in the form of opponents, who are "often their best sources of support and resources”.<b><br /></b>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I love the author’s allusion to the tempered radical’s effect as, “like steady drops of water, they gradually erode granite”.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">May we all see our potential as tempered radicals to effect the change we desire in the world. </span></div>
Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-44580518131554829552014-03-16T18:12:00.001-04:002014-03-16T18:12:13.031-04:004th in a Series on Change: Survival Guide for Leaders by Heifetz & Linsky<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This <a href="http://hbr.org/2002/06/a-survival-guide-for-leaders/ar/1" target="_blank">article</a> especially resonated as the right leaders must survive if we are to survive. Our survival is threatened when too many shy away from leadership because they are afraid they cannot, or will not survive. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />The author <b>talks about leadership as “living dangerously”</b>. The leader is always subject to being taken out, removed or set aside, thus the need for such a guide.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The author asks us to remember that the <b>hazard of leadership which is leaders are asking followers to give up what is dear to them</b>. This was a slap in the side of the head for me! Though true, I had never thought about it this way. As a result, I cultivate new compassion for those we are asking to lead change. I cultivate like compassion for those who undercut change in the name of order, familiarity, security and protection. The author admonishes leaders to pay close attention to the losses, dashed expectations and feelings of incompetence and disloyalty their staff struggle with as part of change. This attention is critical to empathic leadership which balances tough calls with acknowledgment of pain and loss.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I really dug the distinction the author makes between <b>technical change</b> (involving objects and processes) and <b>adaptive change</b> (involving people and their mindsets & practices). The latter is the more challenging and that most change projects fail as they mistake adaptive, for technical, change. We go for the easier task of changing the technical and paying too little attention to how the more challenging human element.<br />The author goes on to talk about the <b>common hazards change leaders face</b>, and must be equipped to address if they are to survive. They are:</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. <b>Character or style attacks</b> as these are often effective (for the opposition) as a distraction from the issue or opportunity at hand</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. <b>Marginalization</b> where the leader is so identified with a narrow set of issues that their broader authority is undermined </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. <b>Seduction by need for approval</b> which causes the leader to hedge on asking for sufficient sacrifice and accountability from their followers and stakeholders</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. <b>Diversion</b> due to overwhelm with too many, or too disparate, priorities which is effective in diluting focus and critical mass of effort.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As leaders we all struggle with these hazards and have or are being threatened by them all the time.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The author contends that <b>resisting sabotage requires environmental management and self management</b>. One might term these the outer and the inner game.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Environmental Management</b>, or the outer game, involves:</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. <b>Operating in and above the fray</b> where the leader is both able to be in the situation as participant, and apart from it as observer, providing the ability to simultaneously act in and upon the change situation. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. <b>Courting the uncommitted</b> where the leader is influential in bring people along and around to the change they envision. I especially like the authors suggestion that leader have coffee weekly with their detractors. Talk about jumping into the lion’s jaws rather than avoiding it.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. <b>Cooking the conflict</b> where the leader wisely gauges the organization’s need for turned up heat to get action, versus a cool down period to avoid burn out or burn up</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. <b>Placing work where it belongs</b> where the leader leaves problem resolution and opportunity capitalization to the troops, and avoids an over-reliance on leadership and the corresponding contempt it can engender. Ultimately, the leader has to move people to take up the message without being the assassinated messenger. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Self Managemen</b>t, or the inner game, involves:<br />1. <b>Restraining the need for control and importance</b> in order to avoid ego trip(up)s and instead facilitate structure and process that channel energy into change.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. <b>Self-anchoring</b> with:<br /> a) <b>psychological repair & moral recalibration</b> which acknowledged that the leadership game by its nature inflicts wounds and erodes one’s moral compass, the effects of which we see regularly in the news.<br /> b) a <b>confidant</b> to maintain external perspective and accountability, and<br /> c) <b>role detachment</b> so that the leader understands that the role of leader is just that, and not one’s true self.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The author asserts that <b>leadership tempts one to become insulated</b> from life with cynicism, arrogance and callousness, and that observing these points of management are ways to engage as a leader while avoiding this latter fate. I love the author's rubric which encourages daily reflection, repair, renewal and recalibration in every leader.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Upon reading this article, one might be tempted to avoid leadership because of its multiple risks but the author asserts that the risk is worth it for the reward of the positive difference that leaders stand to bring into the world. In other words, “no pain, no joy”.</span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">May we all survive well as leaders, and support our leader's survival as followers.</span></div>
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Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-57578053508303570522014-03-01T19:33:00.001-05:002014-03-01T19:33:23.760-05:003rd in a Series on Change Management: Why People Won't Change<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In my reading of the Harvard Business Review article, <a href="http://hbr.org/2001/11/the-real-reason-people-wont-change/ar/1" target="_blank">The "Real Reason People Won’t Change”</a> by Kegan & Lahey, I came across this concept of </span><b>“change immunity”.</b> The insight is that "commitment conflict? is why people resist and even fights change. It is <b>less that they are fighting change than that they are being true to their current commitments</b>. Can’t blame people for that. In fact you can even respect them for it. That said, such immunity can cause damage when change is resisted in lieu of the obsolete status quo. By the way, a "competing commitment" is a subconscious hidden goal that conflicts with stated commitments. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">For me this is a new insight and a caution not to take other’s resistance to change personally. This is not about me. It really is about them and their commitment. This new insight accepted, the question becomes what can be done about it. The authors espouse a </span><b>challenging 3 step process that can be used to overcome “change immunity”</b>. Here is a summation of it and please read the article for better details.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1) <b>Diagnose the Competing Commitment</b> where there is an examination of: a) the change we state we want, b) the commitment required to realize the stated change, c) the undermining behaviors that are disabling the stated change, d) an imagining of performing the commitment (from b) along with an observation of the thinking, (uncomfortable) feeling & actions this calls up, and e) an examination of the worrisome outcome we are working to prevent when we engage in undermining behaviors. This “aha” insight contains the "BIG Assumption".
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2) <b>Identify the Big Assumption</b>, that generates our competing commitment. Do so by creating a sentence which inverts the competing commitment and reveals what we are really afraid of. For instance, I have a commitment to publish a book and on doing this exercise realize that publishing a book conflicts with my commitment to assuring that I do not make a “public" mistake. This explains why the book is still not published. Realization of this assumption helps as knowing what my conflicting commitment is, I can better choose to choose a more important commitment. Big assumptions are so difficult to identify and forsake because they “create a disarming and deluding sense of certainty”, and certainty is where its at, until its not.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3) <b>Test & Replace the Big Assumption</b> where one confirms, via direct experience, how much their Big Assumption is unconsciously controlling their behavior, and deliberately plans alternate behavior which support their stated commitment.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The author further makes the point that groups are as susceptible to commitment conflict as individuals. As you can imagine, getting individuals to work through this process is tough enough so getting groups through it is exponentially grueling, but fortunately not impossible.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To lend proper perspective, the author notes that this process takes several hours to work through and a long time to ultimately act on in terms of reversing the undermining behaviors which support the status quo.
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The author acknowledges that “bringing these issues to the surface and confronting them head-on is challenging and painful-yet tremendously effective. Ultimately this process is about "understanding the complexities of people’s behavior, guiding them through a productive process to bring their competing commitments to the surface, and helping them cope with the inner conflict that is preventing them from achieving their goals.”
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Good stuff and goodness help us in applying it for ourselves and our organizations.
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Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-6468204366591194362014-02-26T18:27:00.001-05:002014-02-26T18:27:52.692-05:002nd in a Series on Change Management: Howard Jacobson’s Career Capital & Averted Loss<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a part of this series on insights from the literature on ChangeManagement, I want to share an insight related to change resistance as a form of prudent "career capital" investment, retained control and averted loss. These ideas came from a presentation, <a href="http://digitalhealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/HowardJacobsonSlidesFallSummit2013.pdf" target="_blank">"Driving Change: A Marketing Model"</a>, I saw at the Fall 2013 <span id="goog_1257502535"></span><a href="http://digitalhealthcoalition.org/" target="_blank">Digital Health Coalitio<span id="goog_1257502536"></span>n</a> Summit by Howard Jacobson, PhD of Vitruvian. </span><br />
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In this deck, he does a great job of recasting my view of change resistance from mere fear to additional views like: 1) career capital investment, 2) retained control and 3) averted loss.<br />
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The key resonant idea he talks about in his presentation is <b>career capital</b>, a resource we have all worked to accumulate over time and which we are loath to invest unless we are sure of a positive return. When viewed this way, stakeholder slowing down and resisting change makes sense, as it allows time for <b>“loss aversion”</b>, a great term the author uses, and helps the perception of <b>retained control</b>. One might even say that change is irresponsible if it does not come with sufficient proof of positive outcomes in these areas.<br />
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I know that as change leaders, I often am not seeing it this way. I realize I might make more progress, and better business cases, if I empathized with how my stakeholders perceive change in these ways. This insight cautions me to be more patient, persistent, thorough (and curiously courageous, as the author calls for) in how I plan and conduct my interactions with those I'm asking change of.<br />
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On reflection, it also causes me to be mindful of the ways in which I resist, and sometimes even work against change, in those cases where I believe, usually unconsciously, that change is a loss of control and a negative investment of my own career capital. </span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 13px;"></span>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-71958901761144953682014-02-25T20:23:00.000-05:002014-02-25T20:23:31.738-05:001st in a Series on Change and Its Management, or what I learned from HBR on Change Management<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As part of my regular saw sharpening, I decided to read the "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Change-Management-including-featured-%C2%93Leading/dp/1422158004" target="_blank">HBR 10 Must Reads on Change Management</a>" recently. It is truly 10 of the best articles I have read on the subject and I highly recommend it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It was both encouraging and discouraging to read. It demonstrated that change can be managed, ( I rather say shaped, sheparded and guided) but not without great patience, persistence, discipline, savviness and a touch of luck. As a change manager myself, I am newly challenged, encouraged and committed upon this read so much so that I am going to write a series of blogs about what I have learned for both my remembering and executing. In all these reading the three most resonant points that came out were that change:</span><br />
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1) is a<b> continuous process</b> and when you think you are done, you are only transitioning to some new phase which hopefully continues in the direction you were working on and not some other.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2) <b>requires self change and care</b> if you want to survive it well and be the authentic force it requires in order to occur successfully, and<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3) is <b>more easily opposed and thwarted than achieved</b>, thus change management is not for the faint of heart, or weak of constitution.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As I consider the change we are working to shepard in our own conservative organizations, these readings brought home the fact that our own lack of knowledge, savviness and discipline in approaching change execution has hurt us, and I hope these writings will help to remedy some of that.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I will write about my insights from these readings over several posts, as a series, so stand by.</span>
Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-55003281592592960142013-11-28T12:06:00.001-05:002013-11-28T12:06:58.784-05:00Reframe: "Being Let Go" or "Being Let Forward"?<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: 18px;">A while ago I did a talk on “<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/cadelarge/career-branding-for-mid-career-for-slide-share-11-28-13" target="_blank">Branding for Mid Career Professionals</a>” for a group of mid-career executives who had recently been let go from their jobs, something I can empathize with as having been in this same chair. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">In the midst of this discussion, I had an intuitive reframe when I used the term, “being let go”. <b style="font-style: normal;">The reframe was that “being let go” can, with a twist of perspective, be reframed as “being let forward”.</b> <i>(Caveat: I say this soberly with respect for how serious and traumatic being let go can be.)</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">The a-ha of this reframe for me, and I will only speak about me, is that I know that when I was let go, I was in a state of extreme attachment to the script, mental map, culture and routine of the company I had worked for for a number of years. This attachment, while comforting and seemingly secure, was also holding me back in some areas of my development. Certainly, I would have preferred to have continued my development in this company but on reflection, I realize that they letting me go was an opportunity for me to be let forward in terms of my personal growth. In the decade since that letting go, I see that I have grown more by way of this separation than if it had not happened.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>The point here is that if we can stay with our current companies we probably should and will, but when we do not have a choice, and increasingly we do not, see the "letting go" as an opportunity of being "let forward" is a valuable and energizing reframing that can do us more good than not.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;">I hope this reframe will be useful to you someday, but not any day soon.</span></div>
Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-2408764600572615712013-11-28T09:41:00.001-05:002013-11-28T09:41:55.861-05:00Fun, Even in Most Difficult of Situations and People. A-Ha!!!<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Recently while coaching one of my clients we stumbled across a discussion on the value of fun. In doing so, I reflected on the most compelling definition of fun I have ever heard. <b>Fun is a surprise, an a-ha, that teaches us something new.</b> It is a compound effect. We all are surprised, at times, but do not perceive we have learned anything new. We also have situations where learn but do not experience it as a surprise. When these two effects of surprise and learning come together, we have fun. No wonder fun is such a high value for so many. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It really is a shame how either through fact or perception we miss so much fun in life, and at work in particular. In our discussion, we both came to the joint conclusion that fun is more in our control than we thought, for if we saw more of the learning in daily surprises, too often referred to as problems, we would perceive our lives as more fun. Conversely, if we constructed learning experiences for others and ourselves to include more elements of a-ha and surprise, we would also perceive our lives as more fun. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Herein we see that the level of fun in our lives is more in our control than we thought based on our perception, and that we have more power to inject fun in the lives of others with a bit of creativity and planning on our part. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>The big lesson for me in this rumination is that even the hardest and most difficult of situations and people can be seen as fun if I also recognize the elements of surprise and learning they almost always contain.</b> A-ha!!! </span></div>
Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-8868586357276794062013-04-20T16:46:00.000-04:002013-04-20T16:47:21.113-04:00Do You Come "Batteries Included"?<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This past week I spent a day in New York, NY at the East Coast HQ of Google participating in their ThinkHealth event. During this event I had the pleasure of seeing the presentation, The Reimagination of Healthcare, by my good industry colleague, <a href="https://twitter.com/stevenkrein" target="_blank">Steven Krein</a> of <a href="http://www.startuphealth.com/" target="_blank">StartUp Health</a>. During this presentation, he introduced this idea of <b>"batteries included"an analogy that applies to people who give versus drain energy </b>from a situation. He talked about how badly we need people in our lives and businesses who come with batteries included. He also challenges us to be people who come with our batteries included. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In our lives and work we are moment by moment faced with challenging situations. We are also all experts at identifying how and why challenges can/will NOT be overcome. When we stay in this posture and do not proceed to the <a href="http://wiseworking.blogspot.com/2011/02/on-second-thoughts.html" target="_blank">second thought</a> related to how we can/will overcome challenges, we have our batteries strapped on.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So ask yourself the next time you are in that interaction that is challenging, or tackling a challenge, consider if you are "batteries included", or if you need to go back home and get them. :-)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thanks again Steven for a great new concept to live by. </span></div>
Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-63959202411282004312013-04-07T13:09:00.000-04:002013-04-07T13:09:04.673-04:00Everyday Greatness
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yesterday I spend a day with a few hundred men at my church at our annual Men's Retreat and one of the topics which came up for consideration was how we as men achieve greatness everyday in our missions to be all that God is calling us to be in this life time. Surely there are as many answers to this question as there are pairs of ears to hear it. As I sat and meditated on this, my own answer emerged and I'd like to share it here.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. <b>Practicing the Great Commandment</b> as stated in the Bible, to love God, self, neighbor and enemy. Its seems to me, and I have increasing personal experience to confirm this, that an intention of love in all actions does as much as anything to bring out our unique greatness as anything else. It overcomes inappropriate ego drive, hate, fear, undue selfishness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2.<span class="s1"> </span><b>Resisting comparison</b> as this practice robs all perception of greatness of its effectiveness as one's greatness is one's unique posture to occupy in the world and if you use a comparative definition another's will always seem to overshadow your own. Knowing my own posture and cherishing and being satisfied of the unique greatness of that is critical to showing up as great everyday. I recommend my prior post on this topic at, <span class="s2"><a href="http://wiseworking.blogspot.com/2008/01/self-comparison-better-than-other.html">http://wiseworking.blogspot.com/2008/01/self-comparison-better-than-other.html</a>.</span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. <b>Developing mastery</b>, a practice of operating at a level of high creativity in a space of one's natural giftedness for purposes that benefit one's self, network, community, society and the world. I highly recommend Robert Greene's lecture on this topic at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sYmQFPXmJA"><span class="s2">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sYmQFPXmJA</span></a><span class="s1">. </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. <b>Practicing patient persistence</b> as achieving greatness as a result of practicing the first 3 points requires patient persistence. This path is not easy and continually dis-courage-ing, one must cultivate a commitment to proceeding with patience and not prone to giving up knowing that greatness is a journey more than a destination and that at anytime we are great, if only in the eyes of our mothers, and have the potential to achieve even greater degrees of greatness. I recommend my prior post on this topic at: <a href="http://wiseworking.blogspot.com/2007/11/patience-persistence-2-practices-worth.html">http://wiseworking.blogspot.com/2007/11/patience-persistence-2-practices-worth.html</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So here is to our showing up and acknowledging our greatness everyday.</span></div>
Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-52307715713704456862013-02-10T13:59:00.003-05:002013-02-10T14:02:06.181-05:00Lessons from "The Trip to Nowhere"!<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">This past Christmas my wife and I finally got around to striking another item off our "someday maybe" list by taking the vaunted "Trip to Nowhere". </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To topline it, this endeavor involved getting up the morning after Christmas, packing (overnight) bags, donning layers (against the winter cold) and going to the airport with no clue of where we were going. Once there, we use an iPad app, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/airportzoom/id463790712?mt=8" target="_blank">Airport Zoom</a> to randomly pick 6 cities, Roulette style, we would target for a one week vacation. The city to which we could get the first affordable ticket is the one we would go to regardless of location, climate, interest or attractions.The point is that we would be together on an adventure. The fun is that we would not know from moment to moment what we would need to wear (we resolved to shopping for any needs we detected upon arrival), where we would sleep (we booked rooms the afternoon of most days), where we would eat (we scanned <a href="http://www.yelp.com/" target="_blank">Yelp's</a> "Best Breakfasts" list every AM after checking the weather), etc. As you can see, based on one's perspective, this can be seen as a lot of fun or a lot of di-stress.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We ended up in Los Angeles (Santa, Monica, Santa Barbara and West Hollywood) for 5 days having the most fun and, at times avoiding the biggest arguments, of our lives. On this trip, I learned a number of things anew that I work to practice as I realize that really if we are perfectly honest and conscious, every moment is potentially a "trip to no where" as joy and tragedy are always simultaneously at the doorstep. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Lessons from the Trip:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So here is what I learned:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u><span class="s1">See the Unplanned as Fun!</span><b>:</b></u> The unplanned nature of this trip is what made it an adventure. It was a good break for hyper planners like my wife and I. We learned that the thin line between fun and di-stress is how you look at it and what you call it. The body experiences the same emotions either way. The common element in any fun to di-stressful situation is SURPRISE! I have decided to practice seeing surprise more often as fun than as something to be distressed about.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u><span class="s1">See the Partnership Potential in Conflict.</span><b>:</b></u> The nature of the cosmos is conflict and this nature can be particularly painful in relationships, and even more so in unplanned contexts, like a Trip To Nowhere. We were continually tempted on this trip to tip into tiffs over complications caused by the fact that it was all unplanned. We had to continually submit to the better temptation of remembering that we were partners on an adventure, and in that see how partnering resulted in more creative solutions and meaningful outcomes that would have been missed if we had succumbed to an adversarial stance. I have decided to bring this set of eyes and ears to every conflict in my life. I am sure my glasses and hearing aid will fail me sometimes but even a less than perfect execution of this lesson will result in a greater number of excellent results than otherwise. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>Be Open To Options & Shape It As You Go With It.<b>:</b></u> You can imagine how: 1) sitting in an airport during one of the busiest travel periods of the year with no reservation and no option to return home (that was one of the impromptu rules of the game) and hoping you can find 2 seats on a flight to a randomly selected city, or 2) sitting on a beach in a rental car in Santa Barbara (which we found out is a top LA Metro holiday vacation location) discovering that all the hotel rooms in town are gone, can be interesting. I learned though that by staying alert in the moment with a relaxed focus and avoiding "horribilizing", we were able to see options that we would normally have missed, to get cooperation from people who normally would not have cooperated and to: 1) enjoy those circumstances that were other than what we have hoped and 2) better influence and shape those circumstances that came closer to what we had hoped versus not. This practice of openness and shaping were newly "a-ha'd" for me and my practice is renewed as I see that even not getting what you want can be enjoyable, and you can get what you desire more often when you stay open to shaping what arises in the moment.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u><span class="s1">Do It While You Can.</span><b>:</b></u> While on and after this trip, my wife and I realized that there would never be an ideal time to take such a trip, and we felt extremely blessed that we were willing to make the time, courage and means to do so. This is true of so much in life. There is <a href="http://wiseworking.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-you-use-your-reasons-determines.html" target="_blank">most always a reason not to</a> and more often we need to make the reasons to do it while we can. The news teaches us daily that there is no guarantee that we will get to do it later. So as the Charle Parker composition instructs us, "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1n4yr4SmA4" target="_blank">Now Is The Time</a>".<span class="s3"> </span> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><u>Pack Lean & Plan for Every Climate.<b>:</b></u> So one of the peculiarities of this sort of trip is that you do not know where you are going to end up as you must go where the available airline ticket leads. We did not know if we were going to end up in Alaska or Jamaica. We packed light, with overnight bags, and wore layers so we could shed for the Caribbean, or bulk up for the Arctic. This seemed to me to be a metaphor for life itself. As I mature, what I have accumulated materially and otherwise feels heavier and heavier. While one cannot make it in the world with no luggage, I am cognizant of the need to be more choiceful about what I keep in my luggage and the size of my bag. I also have to be ready for the most frigid and balmiest of situations, using them to cultivate the confidence to know I can shed or get what's needed in any situation that arises. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">So there you have it, one of the most adventurous and instructive vacations of my life. Though apprehensive, I am glad I followed the lead of my lovely bride who tookk me into and through it. </span></div>
Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-8483214556995292262012-11-25T10:44:00.000-05:002012-11-25T10:44:29.756-05:00Responsiveness is Better than Perfection
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The last few years this mantra has come to be a signature one in my working with individuals and teams. Many of us are groomed to achieve perfection, and many of us have made good lives for ourselves striving for this illusion. The illusion is fine, I suppose, if you can do so productively. What I see though, is that most do not chase this illusion too productively. Or maybe a better way of saying it is that most could be more productive if the toxic energy of self-condemnation resulting from a lack of perfection, were converted to the energy of self-encouragement, compassion and persistence resulting from a spirit of responsiveness. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>I see responsiveness as a good alternative to perfection</b> for a few reasons:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1) Its <b>Achievable </b>as responsiveness to ever changing requirements, environments and situations is achievable whereas perfection is not and especially given its subjective nature.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2) Its <b>Adaptive </b>as responsiveness does not presume the achievement of perfection but instead continually adapts to new requirements of change to achieve the best productive goal from moment to moment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3) Its <b>Positive </b>as responsiveness consistently sets up an open, alert, hopeful, generally positive outlook regarding the next steps. This is energy is light, fluid, fun, more prone to hatching the next creative solution versus the relatively heavier, condemnatory, often stagnant and guilty energy that comes with an expectation of perfection.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Now for those of us who are addicted to the requirement of perfection, take a read at my WiseWorking post, "<a href="http://wiseworking.blogspot.com/2007/10/perfect-is-enemy-of-good.html"><span class="s1">The Perfect is The Enemy of the Good</span></a>". I think it important that we understand that giving up perfection does not mean that we cannot be excellent. I even submit that we can be more excellent if we strive for less perfection, and truth be told, the world does excellently with more excellence than with any perfection.</span></div>
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Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0Philadelphia, PA, USA39.952335 -75.16378939.757580499999996 -75.479645999999988 40.1470895 -74.847932tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-40511551278035657362012-11-03T08:56:00.001-04:002012-11-03T08:56:58.335-04:00Workshop Slides: Social Media for Professional Use<br />
Here is a link to slides from a workshop, "Social Media for Professional Use", I developed and delivered recently. I developed this workshop for those who avoid social media because they only think of it as a personal hazard and waste of time and fail to use it for all the benefits it can bring to their careers and education.<br />
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Enjoy and I hope this is helpful to you. I am interested in your thoughts on this topic and please do share with friends and colleagues.<br />
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Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-44181893588474439062012-08-12T12:23:00.001-04:002012-08-12T12:23:26.591-04:00Silent Retreats: Taking a vacation to your Self<b id="internal-source-marker_0.4663823670707643" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Imagine. </span></span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Imagine committing yourself to 3 days, or even 1 for that matter, where you exist in silence. </span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">You </span>do not speak<span style="font-weight: normal;">. (You might even hang a sign around your neck like I do noting you are "observing silence".) </span></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">You </span>do not check the media<span style="font-weight: normal;">. </span></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">You </span>restrict your sensory input to things natural and developmental <span style="font-weight: normal;">at the spiritual, psychological, emotional, physical, self-relational and non-commercial levels of life. </span></span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">You </span>restrict your activities<span style="font-weight: normal;"> to sitting, meditating, walking (preferably in nature), contemplating, exercise and reading or listening of a spiritually self-developmental nature. </span></span></span></b><br />
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<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This is my own version of a silent retreat and I do them at a retreat center or at home. </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">On a whim I did a 2.5 day silent retreat at <a href="http://www.pendlehill.org/" target="_blank">Pendle Hill</a>, the Quaker Retreat Center in Swarthmore, PA, USA last year and to great benefit. I am doing another this year as part of my late summer vacation. </span></span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Contemplating these retreats are painful (for my ego) <span style="font-weight: normal;">owing to the privation of my regular ego-sustaining activities related to work, social relations, the media, etc.. That said, </span>my soul loves them as its normally neglected “Small Voice” gets to be center stage<span style="font-weight: normal;"> for a while. I call these retreats "vacations to my Self" because they induce, after about a day of ego craving (akin to going cold turkey), a certain monastic state where I feel myself going “internal”, “dropping down”, re-attuning (some would say re-atoning, or re-at-One-ing, get it!) and reconnecting with my self and my Self. In this space, I experience healing (from the cuts and bruises of being in the world), connection (to the Essential Wisdom that it takes to be better when I reenter the world) and rest (that I so need and have neglected on a daily basis when I was in the world). </span></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All during this time, </span><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the ego fights to assert itself</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> telling me that the world may end if I come away from the news, email, the internet, conversations with family, friends and colleagues, etc.. I am amazed at the degree I believe this and I admit, as I am human, that I do let those most important to me know I am reachable once a day via SMS and I do check once for about 5 minutes in the evenings. And yes, I set a timer to assure its only 5 minutes. :-) </span></span></b><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">One must </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">remember</span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"> that the Sabbath is for me, not me for the Sabbath. That allowed, those who know me know that I should have dropped dead from being away from my internet connection and SMS the 23 hours and 55 minutes between those checks but alas I survive, even thrive, after a day or so. I can tell you that one of the great benefits of such a retreat is reconnecting to the premise that while the world may want me, it does not need me. This humbling premise is good for health and perspective.</span></span></span><br />
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I intend to continue to engage these retreats multiple times a year and for greater lengths of time over time. I recommend them and would love to chat about your own intention and experience in this area if you care to share. You know where to reach me at craig@wiseworking.com. </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">PS - Here is my delicious book mark list on this topic if you want to read more: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://delicious.com/cadelarge/silent_retreats">http://delicious.com/cadelarge/silent_retreats</a>.</span></span></b>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-43848105878360407612012-08-06T22:38:00.000-04:002012-08-06T22:38:14.003-04:00Mini Book Clubs: Subject Matter Expert Speed Dating?!<br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I recently experienced an efficient and productive encounter at the request of a good colleague, <a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/madelyn-blair/0/573/796" target="_blank">Madelyn Blair</a> of <a href="http://www.pelerei.com/" target="_blank">Pelerei</a>. On a periodic basis she summons 3 colleagues to a half hour-ish book club where we each take 5 minutes to discuss the key takeaways of a book we've recently read and then the group spends 5 minutes asking a few questions and engaging in a mini discussion about the book discussed. The books are typically related to a topic relevant to the group like say storytelling, knowledge management or creativity. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">At first I thought this format wouldn't be useful due to its brevity but I have to say I found it refreshing in its brevity. We got on the teleconference, got to it with little rambling, pontificating or editorializing (which can be the drawback of longer book club formats), made our points, asked our questions, received our benefit and bid ourselves adieu until next time. It was also a great way to meet new interesteds in disciplinary areas of interest and without consuming too much time. It struck me as a form of speed dating with subject matter experts. ☺</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This mini book club approach is quite interesting and I look forward to doing this regularly and encourage you to explore the same for yourselves. </span></div>
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<br /></div>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-49401961097650610222012-06-14T20:38:00.002-04:002012-06-14T20:40:01.683-04:004 Insights for Success: Miami International University Commencement Address 2012<span id="internal-source-marker_0.08142527681775391"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b id="internal-source-marker_0.08142527681775391" style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miami_International_University_of_Art_%26_Design">Miami International University of Art & Design</a> Commencement Address given by Craig DeLarge at the James L. Knight Center, Hyatt Regency, Downtown Miami, Miami, FL, June 13, 2012</span></b><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Greetings administrators, professors, parents, and more importantly graduates of the Miami International University (MIU) Class of 2012. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am so honored to address you this momentous day when we celebrate not only the completion of your requirements for your respective degree, </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">whether it be an Associate degree, Bachelor degree or Masters degree,</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> but also the commencement, or beginning, as the word denotes, of your contribution to the society and the world, as creatives, artists, designers, innovators, managers, and leaders. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I am also honored to be here at MIU as it is so exciting to see the work you are all doing here, on one hand, to advance both the theory and practice of the creative arts, and on another to set a new accredited standard in this region for practical creative education and practice. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I also salute those to have supported these students to this point in their careers be they parents, other family members or friends for truly this achievement of your loved one is yours also as this achievement is a return on your investment of love, encouragement, time and money also.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I want to now share a few insights with you I know to be true, at least based on my experience and what I have seen of the experience of others in my life, professionally and otherwise to help you on your way.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> I also understand that your President Fleming shared similar advice at your New Student Orientation and it seemed to have worked to get you here so a reminder will allow you to begin the rest of your career as successfully as you are ending this time at MIU. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">They are to: 1) patiently & persistently follow your bliss, 2) engage your life and career with a sense of Passionate Detachment, 3) live your your life’s Mission, and 4) remember that while you can make it, you cannot make it alone, you must be part of a Community to succeed.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Now for the first point. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Patiently & Persisently follow your bliss</b>. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Campbell">Joseph Campbell</a>, the great authority on myth and story, who teach about the importance of seeing our lives as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monomyth">The Hero’s Journey</a>, implores us all to <a href="http://www.jcf.org/new/index.php?categoryid=31">“Follow Our Bliss”</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I especially admire all you who have completed this course of study as one who started college as a design major and then switched for fear that I would not be good enough. It so heartens me to see the courage in you that I did not find in myself for in this you are already following your bliss. I also again applaud you family members and friends who are supporting your loved one in their bliss as more of us can take a lesson from you.</span><br /><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Leaving this place and going forward into your respective careers, I encourage this class to use the patience, persistence and courage you have exhibited so far as a continued lever to carry yourself forward into a blissful career and vocation as creatives. Patiently persist to sharpen your skill, experience, reputation and community. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Remember that patience gets all things done, and persistence wins. Expect challenge and opposition and use them as weights that build the muscle of character, spirit, knowledge, expertise and relationship. Resist the temptation to use them as excuses to become burdened, held up, embittered and demoralized. Even what you have achieved today, though you may have felt impatient and discouraged at times along the way, is the result of patient persistence as so many others have talked about doing what you have done but you have DONE it. Savor this knowing that as you have accomplished this you are capable of accomplishing many other things you want in your lives and careers.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. The second point I want to share with you is that of <b>engaging your life and career with a sense of </b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><a href="http://wiseworking.blogspot.com/2010/08/passionate-detachment-paradox-worth.html">Passionate Detachment</a></b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">n his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sweat-Small-Stuff-small-Series/dp/0786881852">Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Carlson_(author)">Dr. Richard Carlson</a> talks about the practice of passionate detachment. In a nutshell, </span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>passionate detachment is an approach to life work, which focuses on “right execution” of process more than the outcome</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. In this “state of grace” we learn to enjoy the journey confident that the journey, pursued with the right spirit, will get us to the right destination, even when that destination is different than what we had originally envisioned.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I encourage you today to learn, if you have not already, to <b>love the process, and trust the outcome</b>. Life is such that one can hardly guarantee many outcomes no matter the effort invested, but one can guarantee the quality of attitude, focus, spirit and energy they bring to the process. In this fashion, whether they reach the originally desired outcome or not, they can say they have enjoyed the journey. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. The third point I want to share with you is that of <b>living your life’s </b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Mission</b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bolles">Richard Bolles</a>, author of the job seeker & career changer’s bible, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Color-Your-Parachute-2012/dp/1607740109">What Color Is Your Parachute</a>, implores us to cultivate a mission in life which goes beyond just a job or a career plan, or the acquisition of material possessions and status. He suggests that key clues to one’s mission can be found in exploring one’s 1) talent of delight, 2) places & settings which appeal to them and 3) purposes, ways to improve the world, which resonate with them. You will be tempted and certainly have periods in your career where you lose your connection to mission, and may even have to remake your mission. This is to be expected. That being as it is, I beg you to seek reconnection for such reconnection is a high levee against the flood of despair, cynicism, discouragement and bitterness that you will see too much of in your work life. While this may be true of others, work to avoid it being true of you.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">4. A fourth and final insight I want to share is related to that of <b>Community for while </b></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><a href="http://wiseworking.blogspot.com/2009/06/we-can-make-it-but-not-alone.html">you can make it you cannot make it alone</a></b>.</span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Contrary to the American myth of rugged individualism, there truly are no self-made successes, though I imagine there are many failures who attempted to be "self-made". Always remember that you are part of a rich and vibrant global community of creatives. This community started in the design environments and programs who experienced before MIU, then here in the classrooms and studios of MIU and now on to the agencies, consultancies, practices and companies where you will further sharpen your respective gifts and grow your legacy in the world. This community needs your fresh ideas, energy and perspective, even though they may not always be willing to admit it. This community is here to welcome and encourage your growth and contribution in it. Be willing and committed to being a part of this community as life-long learners and contributors, and eventually as leaders and mentors, for we are taken care of as we take care of one another.</span></span><br />
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<b style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.917969); color: #222222; font-weight: normal;"><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">So remember: 1) Patient Persistence, 2) Passionate Detachment, 3) Life’s Mission, and 4) Community. As you are true to these, they will be true to you.</span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are blessed to be coming out of school into a global economy where design continues to be on the ascendancy and more important, available and valuable than ever. <b>Design is capable of truly impacting the world’s intractable problems and ungrasped opportunities from poverty and hunger, to improved relations among people and peoples, to healthcare, to education, to spirituality, to increased productivity in our work and play.</b> </span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Design is solving these problems and capitalizing on these opportunities, and you are the latest generation of carriers and practitioners of this brilliant expertise. Do not forsake its power in your hands to shape and change the world on every level from idea, to belief, to feeling, to action. Take this responsibility seriously and carry it out faithfully. The world depends on it!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Thank you for your time and attention this afternoon. Congratulations again to you all! May you enjoy every challenge and success your life has for you, and may we all benefit from your contribution and gift in the world. </span></span><br />
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<span style="vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Salu!</span></span>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-40161561920233070692012-06-02T06:45:00.000-04:002012-06-02T06:45:16.865-04:00Every Annoyance, A Button & A Projection (And Every Pleasure also)<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Recently, at Coaching School, I learned a powerful mind trick which (figuratively) changed the color of the sky for me! The trick is around the idea of perceptual projections and taking responsibility. I will not explain this perfectly but let's give it a go. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>We all have our buttons.</b> Our ways of believing, assuming and interpreting which cause us to be annoyed or pleased by things which happen in life. So much of life's angst and compulsion, whether over things we avoid for annoyance or pursue for pleasure, is exasperated by our lack of consciousness around how, when & why our buttons are pushed. With consciousness, we can reduce the dominance of our buttons so that we can recover more astutely, proact (versus react) more wisely and generally improve our quality of relationships (with ourselves and others), work and life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>We all have our projections.</b> Our life experiences, and habits of perceiving and thinking cause us to see what we are looking for rather than what is there. We get emails and hear emotions in words, that are not there. We see body language and jump to defensive conclusions about what people are meaning, thinking, feeling, which may not be true. Requests are made of us and we hear and see threats that on further reflection do not exist at the level of threat we originally perceived. Situations occur which are different than our plans and we assume malice in the forces of change which is often not really there. Pleasurable & satisfying experiences are experienced and we too mindlessly and habitually pursue them as comfort & soothing mechanisms when it might be better to address sources of our discomfort in more sustainable and productive ways. So much of life's angst and compulsion is fueled by our projections on situations and people, which if seen as projections (not necessarily reality) would free us to be more positive, resilient, energized and influential.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>What I learned was that the vast majority (I am not ready to admit to all) of my annoyances (and pleasures) are my projections</b>, and that because they are my own creations, I can take responsibility for what I create and how I respond to those creations. I can take responsibility rather than blaming, being angry with or annoyed by with others, or on the other hand, being co-dependent and addicted to the liking and approval of others. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>As I increase my "projection consciousness" and my willingness to take responsibility for them, the complexion of the world truly changes. </b>I can then see that my annoyance at unreasonable requests is a projection of my fear of failure when put in a time or resource bind. I can see that my anger over others disagreeing with me, either in word or body language, is a projection of my insecurity over being liked and approved of. I can see that when someone does not keep their promise to me and I become aggressive and interrogative, this is a projection of my need for control and my tendency to distrust those things that threaten my sense of control. I can see that when I elect to socialize on FaceBook for an hour too long rather than work on my book manuscript, this is a projection of my desire for comfort against my fear of being rejected as an author. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>With these and myriad other "projection realizations", I overreact less, approach myself, others and situations with more composure and compassion, and engage more mindfully</b> to enable more productive process and outcomes in every area of my life, as well as the lives of those I interact with. These realizations also challenge me to ponder what my projections say about me. They also call me to take responsibility for my being, believing, feeling, thinking and doing at an entirely higher level. I am convinced this is an essence of maturity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I have to tell you that this has been such a magnificent breakthrough for me, but challenging also as <b>taking responsibility for my own projections is so much more difficult than situational mindlessness or blaming others for pushing my buttons & projections.</b> The fact is that no one or situation can push a button that is not available to be pushed. Another fact is that our projections, left in the field of unconsciousness, are ruthless masters that drive us in ways we know not but they can, with consciousness, be converted to productive servants. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">May we all increase our "projection consciousness" and reduce our "buttons" so we can be more productive and response-able in how we go about our work and lives. </span></div>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-65517801954211539722012-04-30T22:31:00.001-04:002012-04-30T22:32:50.564-04:00In Defense of Corporations<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This post is inspired by a coaching conversation I had recently about the evil that corporations do and the potentially questionable ethics of carrying on a corporate career that could be seen as collusive with this evil. This is a worthy question, and one I have mulled over often in my more than 2 decades in global corporations. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I am of the opinion that corporations, like hammers are neutral tools, capable of good and evil in the hands of good or ill-intentioned wielders. The fact is that most <b>all corporations are simultaneously producing good and bad ends</b> at least unintentionally, if not intentionally, and that can be said of most all things in the cosmos. </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This fact, conjured the thought that <b>corporations need defending, on one hand against the assumptions that they are inherently evil, and on another hand against the evil they do when there are not enough powerful, influential well-intentioned players at the corporate decision-making table</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Corporations have their merits & demerits. They have enabled more wealth creation, personal/professional development, etc., for a greater number of people (to wit, our middle class) to a greater degree than any force in history. They have also been behind some of the most devastating occurrences of human-inflicted harm to other humans and the environment seen in history. <b>Because corporations have so much power to do good and evil, it is important that they have good people in and around them to defend them against the evil they might otherwise do.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For this reason <b>I encourage those who have corporate expertise to stay in the game, both inside and adjacent the corporate as forms of light and salt to both keep clean and preserve the cultures and intentions of corporations</b>. I get that corporate life can be demoralizing, ethically ambiguous, unfair, unreasonable, confusing, etc., and that such triggers thoughts of escape for most of us. That said, <b>if we can adopt an approach where we connect our corporate work to personal meaning and societal purpose, versus ego aggrandizement & lifestyle elevation, we can recommit to defending corporations and influence them to be a greater good, than evil, in the world</b>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I have, for a number of years, deliberately worked to get more clear and deliberate about what industries, disciplines, situations, problems and purposes, I want to focus my energy on. I have targeted those corporations whose raison d'être, going beyond making profit, resonates with me. Working in those corporations are more satisfying as I know that my work in helping the corporation is helping achieve the purposes I want to see in myself and the world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">This is not to say that corporations are perfect but to say that <b>they are really good tools for positively touching the lives of lots of people when used in the proper way</b>. I am blessed to have the opportunity to contribute to that as well as to be a change agent and influencer to keep it from as much evil as might result if I were not there. And, by the way, even when I leave the inside of the corporation, I intend to use my experience and influence to continue to develop ethical servant leaders who defend corporations from evil.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b>I encourage us all to choose our corporate defender role and play it well.</b> Whether as inside manager, leader, contributor, influencer, innovator and change agent, or as outside consultant, influencer, stakeholder, accountability agent, or regulator-legislator. All these role are useful in defending corporations by balancing their power, maintaining their ethical agenda, and maximizing their ethically profitable performance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Effective defending to us all!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-3167838261715962352012-04-28T17:10:00.000-04:002015-02-27T15:06:47.584-05:00I Love (Organizational) Politics! And you should too!<div>
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This blog post has relocated to a book, </span><a href="http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;" target="_blank">The WiseWorking Handbook</a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">. Please visit it there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Please purchase a copy at Balboa Press (</span><a href="http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">http://bit.ly/1wfqwBU</a><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">For signed copies, reach me at <a href="mailto:craig@wiseworking.com">craig@wiseworking.com</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Thanks in advance for reading the book and spreading the word about it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Finally, please rate it at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-WiseWorking-Handbook-Craig-DeLarge/dp/1452561354" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>, <a href="http://www1.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wiseworking-handbook-craig-a-delarge/1120943084?ean=9781452561356" target="_blank">BN.com</a>, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24347398-the-wiseworking-handbook" target="_blank">GoodReads.com</a>, and other websites where books are sold and reviewed. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS8bcPtas5NX5ThzEW8_mhJWYB9adGZ-xatQzaIXnpIbpYCxaOCkFNTWqR3WsFAcv5yK0qMZ1cbc4n5Ht0PmoHZCtwIi57bnjHzvC3KxT5bIu08GUYxwaMIzjPe6JA3Ym4K6A78uR-vGc/s1600/The_WiseWorking_Handbook+AMAZON+IMAGE.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS8bcPtas5NX5ThzEW8_mhJWYB9adGZ-xatQzaIXnpIbpYCxaOCkFNTWqR3WsFAcv5yK0qMZ1cbc4n5Ht0PmoHZCtwIi57bnjHzvC3KxT5bIu08GUYxwaMIzjPe6JA3Ym4K6A78uR-vGc/s1600/The_WiseWorking_Handbook+AMAZON+IMAGE.png" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><b>What readers are saying:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">"<span style="color: #222222;"><i>The WiseWorking Handbook</i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> is written in a down to earth, engaging style.” </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">- Bud Bulanich</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Get this book. Read it. Keep it handy for when you need a little inspiration or some solid advice on how to work wisely and increase your value at work.” - Bud Bulanich</span></span>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-35713613908842551402012-04-26T05:28:00.000-04:002012-04-26T06:39:26.130-04:00What Professional Coaching Is Not?<br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Along with understanding what coaching is, as I wrote about in a <a href="http://www.wiseworking.blogspot.com/2012/04/coaching-what-is-it-whats-in-it-for-you.html">prior post</a>, it is just as </span><b style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">critical to understand how coaching is unlike other helping modalities </b><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">like mentoring, consulting, therapy, friendship, and even sports coaching. With this understanding, we can be sure to engage a coach to play the right role in our lives as well as to have the right expectations. Note that while coaching techniques can be utilized in any one of these roles, the role of a coach is formally distinct from each of these roles. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Let me summarize.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">1. Coaching is unlike mentoring & consulting in that <b>coaches do not give advice</b> from their past experience or current knowledge, but rather facilitate the client's advising themselves through various techniques of questioning, listening, affirmation and validation. <b>A core assumption of coaching is that the client has their own answers</b> and needs an en-courage-ing non-judgmental space within which to surface those answers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">2. Coaching is unlike therapy in that <b>coaches work with clients on achieving future optimal being, thinking and action</b>, versus the healing of past wounds whose result are current emotional, psychological and relational imbalances. Professional coaches are not trained therapists though they are trained to identify situations where referral to therapy is appropriate. Coaches may even work in tandem with a client and therapist in appropriate cases. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">3. Coaching is unlike friendship in that <b>coaches are unencumbered with the agenda of being liked or accepted, but rather hold the client's agenda</b> of having the result they want in their lives. This freedom allows the coach to be transparent in facilitating the client's planning, honest and credible in the client's affirmation, and unrelenting in holding the client accountable for execution.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">4. Professional coaching is unlike sports coaching in that <b>coaches focus on the creation of win/win scenarios and results</b> in the client's life, while sports coaches, classically focus on win/lose outcomes, and for good reason. On a field of battle, one must win and render their opponent a lose, however on the field of life, one has the greater choice of rendering their stakeholder, even if an opponent, a winner also. This is the result that coaching looks to facilitate to the degree the client is willing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As you can see, these are rather simple, but key, distinctions to be considered as you think about the role of a coach in your life and business.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">If you want to talk more about this topic and how coaching might work for you, please reach to me at craig@wiseworking.com.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Be well and blessed.</span></div>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-66160149120739203332012-04-21T15:27:00.000-04:002012-04-21T15:27:46.756-04:00Coaching: What Is It? What's In It For You?<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have been a practicing coach for a over a decade now, and recently, at the encouragement of many of you reading this, entered <a href="http://www.ipeccoaching.com/">iPEC Coaching School</a> to up my game and earn my professional certification, as I look forward to impacting the society and world to a greater degree via this calling for the rest of my life. It has been so interesting to me that for most of the time I have been coaching, in the past, I have not been coaching but rather mentoring and consulting. Sigh!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">What I have learned is the distinction between coaching and other helping modalities, friendship, mentoring, consulting and therapy, all of which may contain elements of coaching but which are not purely coaching.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">I have learned that <b>a coach is someone retained to</b> provide: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">1) a<b> non-judgmental, non-advising space for listening</b> to the wishes and plans of the client, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">2) <b>affirmation & validation </b>of the client's plans and progress in execution of those wishes & their corresponding plans, </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">3) <b>examination of barriers</b> to the execution of the client's plans and </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">4) <b>accountability</b> for continued forward movement in execution of the client's plans, and especially in times of discouragement, breakdown and internal & external resistance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">As I have practiced this stricter coaching model, I have been continually gratified by <b>clients' expression of this process' impact</b> <b>on their clarity of thinking, sense of affirmation, relaxation, hopefulness and commitment to having certain results in their lives and organizations.</b> </span><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">These effects on client-leaders result in influential change in themselves, and by extension, their families, teams, organizations, networks, and society, that the world needs badly. This is important for we are all damaged whenever any one of our potential is not realized, and I see coaching as discipline which can make significant impact in reducing this damage.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">By the way, I am looking for leaders and leadership teams to work with, and especially those who are challenged with influencing and implementing significant change. You know where to reach me if you need me. In the meantime, whether with me or some other coach, I encourage you think about coaching to help you towards a greater degree of your own potential.</span></div>
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<br /></div>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-23672522978086480722012-04-09T05:26:00.002-04:002012-04-09T08:02:42.332-04:00Is it a Prison or a Bridge? What are your Transferabilities?<b id="internal-source-marker_0.2243973882868886"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">So often in my coaching of others and my self, I come across the topic of how one views their past experience.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A typical response is that experience is a prison which traps one in an industry, role, network or familiar set of challenges & solutions. One deems that their reputation in one area disqualifies them from doing other things. While there is some truth to this, it is not as true as we too often think.
</span></b><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A better response I encourage, though I recognize its difficulty from personal experience, is to see our past experience as a bridge to every other type of service and opportunity we are inclined to pursue. This is easier said than done, but alas not impossible. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Possibility is rooted in believing that your past experience is a bridge, and not a prison.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here are </span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">a few bridges to contemplate</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">:</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">1. Any experience develops a set of </span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">transferable skills</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> useful in a variety of other scenarios outside your past experience. Inventorying your transferable skills is critical and I advise you to not attempt this on your own but with other trusted colleagues as we all have blindspots and underestimations rgarding our skills.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">2. Your past experience has cultivated a network of contacts </span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(transferable relationships)</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> who have contacts far afield of your current industry, role, etc. who can help you research, connect with, and bridge over to new possibilities for yourself. Strategic analysis and leveraging of your network is critical. People are typically more willing to assist us than we are willing to reach to them so I encourage this, and remember the value of the </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpersonal_ties" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">strength of weak ties</span></a><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">3. Your past experience has exposed you to a number of industry and business scenarios </span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(transferable experience & knowledge)</span><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> which while “old hat” to you are new challenges to others who can benefit from your knowledge and wisdom. Here is where research of developments in other industries, or other sectors of your current industry, is useful to enable you to ascertain where your experience can possibly add more value. </span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As I encourage my coachees to filter these transferabilities in their own pasts through the perspective of bridge, versus prison, it begins to open up new possibilities for what they might do with their backgrounds in different context. I think this mindset and skill is going to be more and more critical for all of us as we face a locally & globally competitive job & career environment which is asking us to be more nimble, flexible and creative about our prospect.
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<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">May you always have the eyes and ears to see and hear how your prisons are really bridges! Happy transferring!</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com28220 Millman St, Philadelphia, PA 19118, USA40.0703334 -75.207064440.0217284 -75.286028399999992 40.118938400000005 -75.1281004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8674662023817915134.post-67298257102086397272012-02-17T17:11:00.001-05:002012-02-17T17:11:39.011-05:00Musings On The Paradox of Certainty<span id="internal-source-marker_0.7734115445055068"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I like certainty but it bores me when its not making me feel secure. </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I like uncertainty because it excites me when its not scaring me and making me anxious. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">What of this paradox and the pendulum swing back and forth between its extremes?</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Like so many things in life, how you perceive the extremes is more important than the extremes’ realities I suppose. The more we need certainty, the more we are its slave and lorded it over by its absence. The more we accept uncertainty, the less we are its slave, and more free we can be. Hmmm.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I continue to work at cultivating my comfort with the discomfort of uncertainty understanding that most perception of certainty lies in one's confidence that they can influence certainty for themselves more than in the idea that anyone is going to make things certain for them. <b>It occurs to me that this is one of the hallmarks of maturity and true adulthood.</b></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span><br /><span style="background-color: white; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b> May we all attain to this</b>, and on the way not overestimate the degree to which we have arrived, nor underestimate the distance we have come toward that arrival. <b>May we all be certain in the face of uncertainty.</b></span></span>Craig A. DeLargehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15126946839767008624noreply@blogger.com0