I’d like to give you a gift that will help you create a plan to achieve your Solution, not a resolution.  Please feel free to download this complimentary E-book called  Solutions Not Resolutions: Thirty Days and Twelve Steps to Achieving Success.  Let me know how it works for you by commenting on this post.  If you need some additional assistance, send your comments and questions for me to respond to.

Happy New Year!  Make 2012 a great year!

Solutions Not Resolutions 2012

“I THINK A MAJOR ACT OF LEADERSHIP RIGHT NOW, CALL IT A RADICAL ACT, IS TO CREATE THE PLACES AND PROCESSES SO PEOPLE CAN ACTUALLY LEARN TOGETHER, USING OUR EXPERIENCES.” ~MARGARET J. WHEATLEY

Harvard Business Review:  http://blogs.hbr.org/pallotta/2011/12/i-dont-understand-what-anyone.html

Paying It Forward

So much is written about leadership and business yet I still find that there is one concept that is missing in most of the literature.  That is the concept of generosity.

In my twenties, I was fortunate enough to have a mentor that challenged me to do things I was afraid to do, thinking that I would fail, or that I wasn’t ready to take on projects that seemed to me to require far more expertise and talent than I thought I possessed.  Yet, each time he presented me with a challenge, I worked hard, met that challenge and developed the self-confidence and resiliency that I later would need in my career.  After working for him for a number of years I was ready to move on and he encouraged me to move to the next phase in my career.  I remember saying to him, “I will never be able to thank you enough or pay you back for what you have done for me.”  His response was “Pay it forward.”  Up until then I had never heard that phrase.  Eventually I came to understand exactly what he meant, but that took some years.

In 2000, there was a movie called Pay It Forward starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment.  The movie was based on a book by the same name and is the story of a young boy who is challenged by his social studies teacher to think of something that could change the world then put it into action.  The boy conceives the notion of paying a favor not back, but forward.  There were three rules for paying it forward.

1. It has to be something that helps people.

2.  It is something that they cannot do for themselves and

3. You do it for one person and that person does it for three other people. 

The philosophy here stems from a desire to help others in recognition for the help one has received.   Goodwill spreads exponentially through society, creating a social movement with the goal of making the world better.

We live in a very competitive world.  Generosity, the act of giving without expecting some kind of repayment is not one found often in business.  What ROI would there be in that?  It is easy to be generous when a company or individual is doing well.  True generosity comes from giving focused on the other person or Rule Number Two – to so something for someone that they cannot do for themselves – just because you can.  It also comes from the belief that there is “enough”, a sense of abundance and creative possibilities that allows one to feel that being generous is as meaningful to the giver as the receiver.

If you believed in the concept of “paying it forward” what affect would that have on your business, on our culture and communities?  Who could you mentor or teach?  What contributions would you be making just because it made a difference for someone?  You may find a completely different ROI awaiting you.  It can be as simple as showing a child a possibility when they feel something is out of their reach.  It could be working pro-bono for a cause you believe in.  It could be providing your employees with a work environment that creates learning and growth opportunities.  You may lose them as they grow as professionals and people but wouldn’t it be something to instill in the next generation of leaders the concept of paying it forward?  Couldn’t that make your company the place this new generation wants to work?

The Baby Boomer generation is struggling with their mortality.  As this generation enters into their Elderhood, many are seeking meaning and a renewed sense of purpose.  This generation is not going to retire. This is the time to pay it forward.  There is wisdom in this generation born out of the changes they have experienced in areas of technology and global, cultural and social shifts.  Let’s make sure to “pay it forward” to the next generation.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2011/12/01/the-solution-to-better-work-life-balance/

For more information on the work ICRW is doing to empower women visit their website at http://www.icrw.org.

Have you ever heard of “The Imposter Syndrome”?  Many women not only have heard of it but live it.  They question their competency, cannot fully embrace their achievements or feel like they will be found out in some way.  Studies show that many women are affected and suffer the consequences from the impostor syndrome.  Women have been were taught to distrust our own opinions and to stifle our voices.

This is not to say all women but this imposter syndrome shows up at all levels in organizations.  Read Jenna Goudreau’s article in Forbes Online here:  When Women Feel Like Frauds They Fuel Their Own Failures

Let me know what you think in the comments area.

I first heard that Jobs had passed on twitter – on my iPhone.  I then logged onto my MacBook Pro and read the postings on Facebook and other social networks.  I’m not naive enough to think that Apple is a holy grail of any sort or that Steve Jobs was a prophet.  But he had tremendous impact on the lives of many, many people and on a world that was seeking better ways to communicate and collaborate and innovate.  Jobs like most of us was flawed – but who isn’t?

From fairly humble beginnings he rose to be a technology icon although he has said he did it for the passion of the work.  Here is a link to his speech at Stanford in 2005.  If you haven’t seen or heard it, listen to it.  You will hear a guy, a really bright guy, that had the courage to trust himself and follow his passion even if it was unconventional, eccentric and even though it cost him a public humiliation.  He persevered.  And I for one am grateful.

Steve Jobs:  How to live before you die

Read on at The Creative Brain on Exercise

Then get up and get moving!

Whether you have taken martial arts classes or not, you have probably heard of Aikido, The Art of Peace. Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba between the 1920’s and 1960’s.  The essence of Aikido is non-resistance.  The art focuses on harmonizing with one’s opponent and guiding the force of an attack to a peaceful reconciliation.  It is also a martial art whose tradition has emphasized the moral and spiritual aspects of this art, placing great weight on the development of harmony and peace. “The Way of Harmony with the Spirit” is one way that “Aikido” may be translated into English.

Watching Aikido one notices that there is a dance or rhythm to the movement, two opponents blending together more than clashing. One notices that emphasis is placed on aligning with the rhythm and intent of the opponent in order to co-create an innovative outcome.  It is an art that contains conflict and harmony in the same space.  Practitioners seek to integrate mind, body and spirit into harmonious relationship and intuitive breakthrough action.

I admit readily that I do not practice Aikido (although it is something I would like to explore.)  Yet I couldn’t help viewing this practice as a metaphor for an alternative way of being in business and leadership.  Our western approach tends to be focused on aggression and winning at one another’s expense.

What if instead of viewing our competitors as opponents we must defeat, we saw them, as the opponent is seen in Aikido, as worthy training partners who are challenging us to transcend our limits and develop our skills?

I wonder if we wouldn’t be more successful if we focused on the harmony in our businesses instead of the conflict.  What if we chose to focus on the value we offer our customers, employees and stakeholders?  I speculate that we would be far less reactive and far more creative if we could stay attentive to who we are and what we do well.

To watch Aikido is to watch movement and energy flow around a still center, requiring minimal physical effort of the practitioner.  It means being still within while moving decisively without – a complete paradox that can only be embraced when one considers that the movement is dependent on the stillness for power.  What does that mean for leadership?  Can you lead well when you feel “off-center”?  Are your best decisions made when you feel tired or overwhelmed?  Are you prone to re-act, without considering the long term, if you feel threatened?

Even as one opponent approaches there is a preparedness, a deep inner calm, that is already in place. Do you know yourself that well?  What lies at the core of your leadership and business?  When confronted with difficult decisions, are you well grounded in your integrity so that you make the ethical decision over the easy one?

Maintaining strategic agility is critical for the success of your business.  Being too attached to your past success may impede the creativity needed for your future.  Don’t be so attached to past knowledge that it blinds you to future possibilities.  If your company’s culture is arrogant, not willing to stand in what is called “beginners mind”, then learning anything new will be impossible and innovation will be unreachable. You will not be prepared to “see” if you think you already “know”.

What is Aikido for leaders?  Maintaining a stable core in yourself and in your business focused on the value that you offer and in the values that you hold. From that place, movement is minimal yet powerful because there is little vacillation.  Stay curious and get comfortable with ambiguity.  Keep learning and encourage others to do so.  When met with the unexpected, you will be prepared and able to move with the situation that confronts you, using the force of what approaches to leverage you to success.  Maintain your personal resiliency.  As the leader of your organization, your wellbeing is linked to the wellbeing of the organization.  Cultivate this in yourself and in others.  Know yourself.  Ask others for feedback and take time for reflection.  Knowing yourself will support your preparation for meeting challenges and contribute to the stillness of mind that promotes thoughtful decisions.

Morihei Ueshiba, also known as O’Sensei (Great Teacher), looked at the concept of the Warrior as follows: “The Way of a Warrior is to establish harmony.” “The Way of a Warrior is based on humanity, love, and sincerity; the heart of martial valor is true bravery, wisdom, love, and friendship.”  He viewed Aikido as a way to harmonize with “the movement of the universe.” By applying to leadership the tenets of Aikido we may also arrive at a harmony that moves with the flow of the world instead of in opposition to it.

© 2011 Alicia M. Rodriguez with contributions by Chris Thorsen, Founder of Quantum Edge.  Article may be reproduced and used with permission and attribution.

Written by Alicia M. Rodriguez, M.A., P.C.C., – Certified Executive and Leadership Coach and “Wisdom Partner”, founder of Sophia Associates, Inc., an international executive and leadership coaching practice dedicated to enhancing leadership competencies, strengthening executive performance levels, creating opportunities for personal learning and developing high performing teams.

FOR INFORMATION AND TO HELP YOUR ORGANIZATION’S EXECUTIVES DEVELOP LEADERSHIP PRESENCE, visit the website http://www.sophia-associates.com or e-mail Alicia@sophia-associates.com

How Do We Prepare Our Kids for Jobs We Can’t Imagine Yet?  Teach Imagination

Sparking Creativity in Teams:  An executive’s guide

Making a Case for Coaching

High performing teams often mention trust and mutual respect as factors in their success.  Take a look at the following article; it’s a perfect example of how providing support and encouragement will set clear agreements about a teams work trusting that with the freedom to do their jobs well comes the accountability that it is accomplished as required.  Success is the outcome.

Dallas’s Secret Weapon:  High Fives

Well, actually, that is not true.  It seems like that at first glance but looking deeper, behind that statement is an assumption and belief of certainty; that anyone actually KNEW what was going to occur, that we actually had CONTROL over our lives and work.  The truth is that we believed we knew, we believed we had control.  The cosmic chuckle is that we didn’t and now that all predictions are in, hindsight is the best tool we have for predicting the future.

Well, actually that isn’t true either.  Relying on hindsight as a predictor of the future is like saying the past will determine our future.  We may be able to analyze the impact of events of the past but what of the nuances that led to those events?  And how do we incorporate the fact that everything is impermanent and changes in ways we cannot anticipate?  Why do we believe that the probability of events repeating is higher than it is of not repeating? Our data is only as good as now.  We have brilliant individuals and the most sophisticated technologies to aid us in choosing where we invest our money, where we buy our homes, where the best jobs are and so on.  We rely on experts who “know” important things.

Well, actually that isn’t true either.  What is knowledge? Essentially, it is what is known.  How can we know the future?  Our temporal horizons reach only as far as this moment.  Our knowledge reaches as far as our access to others who know what we do not know.  If we look out at a future horizon, and we cannot see beyond it, what do we need to do to navigate into the future?  It’s more knowledge, of course.

Well, actually, that isn’t true either.  We don’t need more knowledge.  There has never been greater access to information and knowledge as there is now.  And yet, we are limited by the refusal to acknowledge the unthinkable and by our reliance on what we believe we know as true and real and how this makes us feel safe and secure.

In the book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, the author, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, uses the story of the Black Swan as a metaphor to explore the role of randomness and the futility of predictions. He examines the influence of highly improbable and unpredictable events that have massive impact. In 17th century Europe all anyone had ever seen were white swans; that was the reality and the truth. Because no one had seen a Black Swan, it was improbable at best; therefore the Black Swan did not exist.  That is until 1697, when explorers found Cygnus Atratus in Australia. Nassim argues that most of the really big events in our world that have the greatest impact are rare and unpredictable, and thus trying to rationalize, explain or predict them is essentially useless. September 11th is one such example, and stock market crashes are another.  So are the election of a young African American President and the success of online communities and social networking technologies.  As a friend of mine says, “Who woulda thunk it?”

He introduces the “three ailments” or what he calls the “triplet of opacity” that contribute to our inability to predict the future.  First is “the illusion of understanding, or how everyone thinks he knows what is going on in a world that is more complicated (or random) then they realize”.  Second is the “retrospective distortion, or how we can assess matters only after the fact”.  And third is the “overvaluation of factual information and the handicap of authoritative and learned people”.

Nassim has four suggestions for dealing with Black Swans (both positive Black Swans and negative Black Swans). First he suggests that we make a distinction between positive and negative contingencies.  “Learn to distinguish between those human undertakings in which the lack of predictability can be (or has been) extremely beneficial {blockbuster movies} and those where failure to understand the future can harm {homeland security issues}.”

Second, he advises that we avoid narrow-mindedness; the kind of thinking that by extreme focus becomes myopic and prevents us from being open to synchronicities that may appear. He claims it is wiser to invest in preparedness instead of prediction.

Third, he claims that we need to seize any opportunity or anything that looks like an opportunity because they are more rare than we think. In order to see the positive Black Swans we must first be exposed to them so seeking out situations where there is a likelihood of a chance meeting or a synchronistic opportunity to occur should take precedence over daily rote activities.

Here are some questions for you to ponder as you maneuver through this time of emerging possibilities (I like that view better than “storm of uncertainty”).

How would you lead if you embraced (instead of resisted) the inherent unpredictability of our world? If instead of seeking to predict the future you began to prepare for a desired future possibility that you might “imagine”?

How could you instill the value of curiosity in your teams and employees so that they become comfortable with not knowing, exploring alternatives and innovating the impossible instead of merely driving for THE answer or reconstructing what already exists?  What would this kind of thinking do for your services, products and customers?

Where are you or your team seeking to validate what you know instead of inquiring into what you may not know?

What is the impact of what you don’t see?  We have an incomplete view; the stories we tell reflect what is most visible, not what is hidden. What might you not be seeing that maybe someone else may be able to see?  Are you open to being wrong?

Challenging the illusion of control can be frightening; and it could also set you free.

Just came across this blog.  They will be hosting a free webinar conversation on Waking Up the Workplace: Global Conversations to Awaken A World of Conscious Business.  I’ll be on the webinar for sure.

A FREE online teleseminar series exploring how business can be a force for global transformation, with Fred Kofman, Tami Simon, Tony Schwartz, Otto Scharmer, Brian Johnson, Bill Torbert, Bill Joiner, Bob Anderson and others.  March 17 – June 23, 2011.

Sign up for Free at www.wakinguptheworkplace.com

I found a post on their site “Resources for Conscious Entrepreneurs“.  Are you a conscious entrepreneur?  Are you interested in being of service while doing business? Check out these resources and browse this blog.

I’d love to hear your comments on Conscious Business and what you are going to create global change and transform the power of business. Your thoughts?

Scharmer asks as many of us do also: “Why do our attempts to deal with the challenges of our time so often fail? The cause of our collective failure is that we are blind to the deeper dimension of leadership and transformational change. This “blind spot” exists not only in our collective leadership but also in our everyday social interactions. We are blind to the source dimension from which effective leadership and social action come into being.”

In my work with leaders I ask that they pause and pay attention, listen deeply, to what is present in order to move from that place of stillness and clarity to make decisions and take right action.  Leaders, pay attention!  Download Scharmer’s paper and read how he uses his Theory U to unravel how the structure of attention determines the path of social emergence.

Excerpt:

“Successful leadership depends on the quality of attention and intention that the leader brings to any situation.  Two leaders in the same circumstances doing the same thing can bring about completely different outcomes, depending on the inner place from which each operates.”

Read the article here:  Uncovering the Blind Spot of Leadership

As an executive coach, I pay attention to language and the way clients use and misuse language to get results – or not.

Finding Your Ground

Finding Your Ground in Groundlessness

“Hang out with your fear when you’re feeling afraid. Follow its movement. Become intimate with it. Fear is an opportunity. Approach it like a tracker in the forest — watch where it goes, what it does, what it eats, where it eats, where it rests, where it turns, where it stops, where it hides. Embrace it. Stay with it.”

~ Paul Rezendes, author of The Wild Within: Adventures in Nature and Animal Teachings

Paul Rezendes is a friend of mine.  I met Paul in 1993 when he took me tracking in the woods of Western Massachusetts. It was Columbus Day weekend in the Berkshire Mountains and the woods were vibrating orange, yellow and brown. The cold wind whispered invisible paths through the trees as a ragtag group of neophytes entered the woods with the master tracker.  It was an unforgettable day.

Paul’s insights as a tracker apply to today’s CEO reality.  Paul learned about life and leadership from Mother Nature, the most generous and most unforgiving and unpredictable teacher there is.  He knows about finding ground.  He knows how to look for signs that indicate the way to go and that identify the creature he is following.  Paul was schooled in the art of presence and the science of navigation.  Being in the woods and becoming a master tracker meant coming to terms with fear, death, compassion, aggression, silence, the senses, and love.  They all exist in the woods.  Don’t kid yourself; they exist in your environment too.

You may believe that you know what is next.  You may believe in your plan and in your strategy.  You may believe that the course you have plotted for your organization will take you to the destination you have envisioned.  You may have mounds of data born of hours of analysis and research.  You may have the best and brightest working for you.  But do you really know?  Really?

Nothing is as certain as uncertainty.  You are in the woods and it gets dark here.  Storms rise up from nowhere.  You encounter your own variety of unforeseen situations in the form of new technologies, competition, market crashes, and cultural, global and social shifts.  How will you find your ground when there you stand on groundlessness?

You have all the skills and tools that certainty can buy.  You know how to set goals, create strategies, and execute plans.  You’ve been told that with enough data, with the best knowledge and information you can arm yourself with all the tools for manifesting that vision you have for your company.  And you rely on that.  You reward that knowledge.  You rely on success models to navigate through today’s extreme complexity.  And in all of this is an underlying assumption that this will keep you safe and stable.  It won’t.

The Keen Observer

This environment is calling you to be present and engaged in a completely different manner.  Like the tracker, pausing to sniff the winds, dig through the leaves for signs and listen to the tiny movements in the environment that can indicate what is approaching, if you pay close attention with a genuine openness and curiosity. Like a tracker, become a keen observer. Projecting your belief about what should be there will keep you from seeing what is there.  Here is a new skill to develop, one that runs contrary to what you have been taught.  Curiosity and imagination can be as valuable if not more valuable today than information and knowledge.  They allow you to receive your new reality and then respond to what is right there.

Look for data in unexpected places

Remember that your metrics aren’t the only data that is relevant.  Scan the horizon. What’s happening in your industry, in your society and in the places that you can impact or that impact your company? Who is successful and what are they doing that is different and inspired? Model for your leadership team this attitude of curiosity and your appreciation for imaginative thinking so they can model it for others.

Improvise

You must learn to invent and improvise in order to take advantage of the possibilities generated by chaos.  Game changing innovation often comes out of chaos. New markets, new products, new services are created out of challenging old beliefs and assumptions.  Find a way for your people invent and create.  Start asking: “What if…” questions.  They will tap their own ingenuity given the opportunity to work on something they care about.  Innovation comes from groups of individuals that are passionate about something and that have a platform to share information, combine ideas, test innovations and learn from each other’s failures and successes.  Think Wikipedia and crowdsourcing companies Threadless (T-shirts), John Fluevog Shoes (open source footwear) and even Lego (yes, you can design your own models) as examples of radical game changers.

What are your patterns of thought?  What ideas, behaviors or values do you default to when you feel lost? Who do you have around you that can point out your familiar ground?  Applying control can have the opposite effect creating more chaos instead of fluid movement towards new possibilities.

See the big picture

Learn to see the whole without judging the individual elements as good or bad.  Like the hawks that fly through the woods, widen your field of vision, keep a sharp eye on the discrete movements while seeing the entire sky, learn to stay centered and focused within yourself.  An effective leader cannot be reactionary, changing course without understanding the whole environment and discerning the inherent complexities.

Cultivate a reflective state

Reflection is one of the skills that will help you leverage complexity and imagine possible scenarios to accomplish your leadership objectives. How often in your day do you pause to open your mind in a reflective manner, with no agenda crowding out your senses and wisdom?  Make time for silence.

The Empty Cup

Ultimately, you will find your ground within yourself.  Cultivate your wisdom and personal clarity as a priority for finding your ground when you most need it.  Get to know yourself. Be an empty cup, receiving what comes towards you with grace. Build your resiliency in all domains – mind, body, heart and spirit.

On that day in 1993 Paul told me something that has made a world of difference for me.  He said, “This animal I am tracking is my own trail.  A trail to a deeper knowledge of self.  More intimacy with self.  That to me is what tracking is all about…all self exploration…How can you do anything else?”

I would suggest that leadership is “a trail to a deeper knowledge of self”.  Today’s groundlessness can be met with strength when you know who you are and what you stand for.  That is how you will find your ground.

© 2011 Alicia M. Rodriguez is founder of Sophia Associates, Inc., a leadership development firm offering executive coaching and custom learning services.  www.sophia-associates.com Contact info@sophia-associates.com

To read the paper I wrote detailing my tracking experiences click here:  Tracking The Soul V3 2011

Check it out at Don’t Compete: Change the Game More recent blog posts on technology and web too.  Happy rummaging!

Mindfulness

There is no doubt that these are uncertain times.  No one has access to a magic crystal ball.  The reality is that you are working in uncharted territory with no clear answers.  Yet as a leader, you are there to provide a vision and navigation for your company.  How do you do this in these turbulent times?

For years eastern cultures have practiced “mindfulness”.  This is not “New Age” fluff. Jon Kabat-Zinn, teacher of mindfulness meditation and the founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center defines it as: “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way; on purpose, in the present moment, and
non-judgmentally.”  At its core mindfulness is about being present to what is right in front of you.  It is a quality of attention and heightened awareness, both of your internal landscape and external environment, that provides clarity and serenity; just what is needed when economic storms are stirring.

Over the last 25 to 30 years researchers^[1] have discovered that the mind and the body are intimately connected. It is now known that thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and stress all have a great impact on health and illness.  Research has shown that individuals who practice reflective techniques tend to enjoy greater health and well-being. In particular, the ability to concentrate attention can promote deep relaxation in the body, and that the ability to be more mindful in each situation can help break habitual patterns of response to stress.  It is only by cultivating this heightened awareness that you can recognize your default patterns and purposefully choose alternative actions rather than react out of impatience, fear or distress.

Your reactions to stressful events become so habituated that they occur essentially out of your awareness, until, because of physical or emotional or psychological dysfunction, you cannot ignore them any longer. These reactions can include tension, illness, emotional stress, controlling behaviors and perfectionism.

Today’s leader is facing unprecedented challenges and greater levels of complexity than ever before.  Many of these challenges weren’t even imagined ten years ago due to advances in technology, world economies and interdependence between nations and rapidly changing demographics.  There is no handbook.

Leaders will find their experience and expertise limited in the face of such ambiguity. You as an individual can only see so far.  The “lone wolf” leader cannot succeed.  In order to lead powerfully in today’s world, you will need to tap wisdom and experience beyond your own and encourage collaboration between individuals, groups and organizations to access knowledge and information that is beyond your current scope. It will take a collective, creative effort to solve the problems we are experiencing in our world.  Emerging leaders will be the ones inviting others to the table to create the unimaginable.  Autopilots need not apply.

The Buddhists use the term “beginners mind”, a term that refers to an attitude of openness and lack of preconceptions just as a beginner would.  In a world that rewards the right answers, you must shift to “beginners mind” embracing the unknown and become the person who asks the right questions.   Albert Einstein is credited with saying “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”  This is particularly true today. Old solutions rehashed fall short.  Default models of success won’t work.  Traditional ways of thinking won’t create new opportunities.

Purposefully creating conditions for success in the present moment, in the presence of the inevitable myriad of distractions that occur, requires mindfulness and calm.  Creation and innovation only occur in the present moment, not in the past and not in the future. Enlisting domains of knowing that encourage presence may be unfamiliar to you.  It requires practice and vigilance. Many successful executives over-use one domain, usually the intellect, without becoming adept at tapping other leadership domains. Enlist all four domains of knowing – the intellect (mind), the emotional (heart), the body (somatic) and the spirit (meaning-making and inspiration).  Each of these domains can expand your leadership repertoire and practicing in each builds awareness of your own (and others’) thinking, feelings, sensations and motivations.  This leads to inspired leadership.

Mindfulness is paying attention – to the “gut feeling”, the furrowed brow and the shallow breathing or the run-on thinking that diminishes your capacity to function at your best. Engaging your discomfort instead of avoiding it will teach you to manage what triggers your stressful situations more effectively.  You will learn that your most productive time is the time you are least busy and pre-occupied.  Allowing time to be reflective not only supports your resiliency and calms you physically, but also induces clarity of mind and a focus on what is essential, truly important and central.  From this place of calm and centeredness, you may become the leader that moves your company, and even your community, from breakdown to breakthrough.

If you think that cultivating mindfulness is just new age fluff, think again.  On second thought, don’t think.  Just pay attention…

Why Wisdom Notes?  Because you don’t have time to read every article, book or white paper on leadership development, talent management and organizational development. We do that for you.  We scan the internet and our community of resources and choose items of interest that you can access quickly and read at your convenience.

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