Happy 4th ... some thoughts on Patriotism

"There are three kinds of patriots, two bad, one good. The bad ones are the uncritical lovers and the loveless critics. Good patriots carry on a lover's quarrel with their country..." William Sloane Coffin, Jr.  
I am praying that we can find a way to stay with the "lover's quarrel" patriotism and not let our anger turn into loveless criticism or our desperation turn into uncritical love of our own positions.

Coddiwompler! Finally, a word for it . . . →

and a whole new vocabulary for anyone traveling through change - which, I guess,  is all of us.  To travel "with purpose to a destination uncertain" seems a much more appropriate POV these days than the opposite - to travel to a specific destination with means unknown.  

May you all become hodophiles blessed with many vagaries & quiet resferber.

http://hopscotchtheglobe.com/25-words-every-traveller-should-have-in-their-vocabulary/

The Politics of Rage - Healing the Heart

Parker Palmer's work, "Healing the Heart of Democracy" has inspired me since I read it two years ago, and led a short discussion group on his themes.  The book is worth reading in it's entirety, but below are some thoughts that are especially inspirational to me at the center of the "tragic gap".

• I propose that what we call the “politics of rage” is, in fact, the “politics of the brokenhearted.  There’s heartbreak across the political spectrum, from one extreme to the other, and not just in this country.    Violence is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering. 
• There are people on the far Right and far Left who can’t join in a creative dialogue about our differences – say, the most radical 15 or 20 percent on either end.  But that leaves 60 or 70 percent in the middle who could have that conversation, given the right conditions.  And in a democracy, that’s more than enough to do business.
• You often refer to standing in the “tragic gap.”  What is that?  "By the tragic gap I mean the gap between the hard realities around us and what we know is possible – not because we wish it were so, but because we’ve seen it with our own eyes.  For example, we see greed all around us, but we’ve also seen generosity . . . As you stand in the gap between reality and possibility, the temptation is to jump onto one side or the other.  If you jump onto the side of too much hard reality, you can get stuck in corrosive cynicism.  You game the economic system to get more than your share, and let the devil take the hindmost.  If you jump onto the side of too much possibility, you can get caught up in irrelevant idealism.  You float around in a dream state saying, “Wouldn’t it be nice if . . .?”  These two extremes sound very different – but they have the same impact on us:  both take us out of the gap – and the gap is where all the action is.
• …we need to change our calculus about what makes an action worth taking and get past our obsession with results.  Being effective is important, of course…but if the only way we judge an action is by its effectiveness, we will take on smaller and smaller tasks, because they are the only kind with which we are sure we can get results.  I’m not giving up on effectiveness, but it has to be secondary.  
• (Interviewer: Secondary to what?) Faithfulness.   That’s what it takes to stand in the tragic gap  . . . when people are faithful to a task, they often become for effective at it as well. (Interviewer:  What do you mean by “faithfulness”?)  I mean being true to my own gifts, true to my perception of the world’s needs, and true to those points where my gifts and those needs intersect.  If I can say of my like, “To the best of my ability, I was faithful” in this sense, then I think I’ll be able to die feeling that my time on earth was well spent, even though my big goals will remain unaccomplished. (from Interview in The Sun Magazine - November 2012) 

Ordinary Excellence

I am energized and inspired by the time spent this morning as a speaker in the JFFS Women Forward lecture series here in Irvine.  Click below for selected slides related to the topic of the treasures to be found in what we call our "ordinary" lives.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nk1315khvd0cqey/Ordinary%20Excellence.pdf?dl=0

Resume virtues and eulogy virtues

When I retired from my corporate job, I received this same insight as a parting gift -a sneak peek at potential eulogy content - and - surprise - it had nothing to do with my glorious resume.  Nothing about whether my team hit its numbers, released the project on time, or met a satisfaction metric.  It was all about personal connections and the "stumbling" moments we shared.  David Brooks beautiful essay reflects the careful contemplation on this wisdom in his own life and career.  It is a keeper . . .

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9t8tx3lejhjutcu/David%20Brooks%20NYT%204-12-15.pdf?dl=0

Famous! A reflection on the New Year

It has been a year now that I have moved away from my corporate "brand" - and I am full of cliches.  So I won't bother you with those - instead, I offer you something else.  A reflection on Fame . . . what we want to be famous for.  How do we want to be present in all the venues of our lives, even the ones we don't think count for much?  

The below poem by Naomi Shihab Nye is equally at home in the corporate meeting room as in the grocery store line as at your breakfast table.  My wish for us all is every kind of abundant, generous fame in this New Year 2015.

---

Famous - by Naomi Shihab Nye

The river is famous to the fish. 

The loud voice is famous to silence,   
which knew it would inherit the earth   
before anybody said so.   

 The cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds   
watching him from the birdhouse.   

 The tear is famous, briefly, to the cheek.   

 The idea you carry close to your bosom   
is famous to your bosom.   

 The boot is famous to the earth,   
more famous than the dress shoe,   
which is famous only to floors. 

 The bent photograph is famous to the one who carries it   
and not at all famous to the one who is pictured.   

 I want to be famous to shuffling men   
who smile while crossing streets,   
sticky children in grocery lines,   
famous as the one who smiled back. 

 I want to be famous in the way a pulley is famous,   
or a buttonhole, not because it did anything spectacular,   
but because it never forgot what it could do.  

 

"Skeptical Optimism" - the sweet spot for innovation

http://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140825195748-7374576-the-counterintuitive-trait-that-will-make-you-significantly-more-successful

Certain pain is better than uncertain anything?

Humans prefer an electric shock to being left alone with their thoughts http://t.co/wFDS1Mp0Wt via @verge

— Cathy (@growlighten) July 7, 2014

Vintage HR Humor to inspire your Annual Review!

Found this in archives from early days of my startup adventure - late 70's.   Enjoy! 

Driving in the fog

Managing through change is like driving in the fog . . . there are two things you need to NEVER do and one you need to do more.  Whatever you do, don't stop - collisions and pain guaranteed.  You also can't go full steam ahead as if the road were clear.  Curves and crashes guaranteed. A foggy road requires you to pay close attention to whatever is visible, and to take advantage of any momentary clearing.  Stay responsive to changing conditions and keep your destination in mind -- without beating yourself up for not being there yet.  Drive safe!

Reasoning - are we scientists or lawyers?

Provocative article on how humans deal with new information that might challenge our "comfort zone". There are many ways that leaders can use this insight to open dialogue and foster innovation in teams. Excerpt . . . "Reasoning is actually suffused with emotion —by the time we're consciously "reasoning," we may instead be rationalizing our prior emotional commitments. We may think we're being scientists, but we're actually being lawyers. Our "reasoning" is a means to a predetermined end — winning our "case" — and is shot through with biases."

Made-up minds - The Week

The more things change . . .

“ . . . it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability." - Teilhard de Chardin

Was there ever a time that things were stable and predictable?  The management philosophy I learned in business school seemed to think so - all the course material  focused on a mythical “norm” which never seemed to apply in practice.  

But it seems that these days exceptions and surprises have become the new normal.   I am not suggesting that it's time to dump the annual vision ritual or the 5-year plan - but maybe loosen our grip on it a bit.  We still need to reassess our purpose, direction and our definition of success - but not at the expense of being fully connected with reality as it unfolds.  

"To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring." - George Santayana