July 28, 2009
I’m seeing it everywhere. Things that people shouldn’t be talking about. This is a time of economic uncertainty. People are experiencing financial pressure, job loss or perhaps a job change. Many may be experiencing a lack of direction for career, professional or personal life; others are facing an unknown future or disillusionment with their career or industry. So, this is a time when many people really see very little that is positive.
But, I’m seeing opportunity everywhere. Many of my colleagues are having their best year ever. Many colleagues who have had challenges have also created opportunities elsewhere and are moving forward with strength. Throughout the beginning of this year, so much conversation was centered around the uncertainty in the global economy, a global recession, depression or worse. Very few people were talking about opportunity.
For me, truthfully, I was ignoring most of the conversation that was going on. And, as the year goes on, I’m hearing from a lot of people who have been choosing to not participate in the negative “reality”. It’s exciting. People are realizing that now is a major time of opportunity. Whether it be corporate, professional, or personal opportunities… they are out there.
The other thing that I’m hearing a lot about is…. Renewal. People are seeing this as a good time for renewal whether for organizations or individuals. People are getting ready for new directions, new strategies, and new futures. Now may be a time of uncertainty, but it is also an amazing time for opportunity and renewal.
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Observations, Simply World Class | Tagged: depression, economic uncertainty, economy, future, opportunity, recession, renewal | 
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Posted by mindscape
July 22, 2009
Just attended a convention for my profession – professional speaking. It’s a convention in the United States that I go to each year and it brings together a lot of my colleagues — 1500-2000 of us. One message that I kept hearing over and over was that the people there were going to the convention for many reasons but that for many the most important was the relationships. In fact, many said that they got as much learning from their conversations as they did from the various plenary and breakout sessions. Some were there solely for the learning and connecting that happened outside of the plenary and breakout sessions.
For many of you, this may not be a surprise, and certainly it wasn’t for me as I feel that way too. It was, however, a nice reaffirmation that learning comes in many forms and that you don’t just have to learn from books, a lecture or other more traditional ways of learning. It also reminded me that one of ways that we learn the best is when we are in a state of play! It is easy to forget that a lot of our most important learning is done before the age of 6 and certainly before the age of 12 while we are playing. And, if we were to look back at our high school and university or college days, we would agree that the professors and teachers that made the course material engaging, were the very best. These professors tended to be the ones who got the teaching awards, and, they get the simple truth that the best learning is play.
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July 14, 2009
Recently, I’ve been reminded of something… how the words that we use, define who we are. They define our spirit. They define our perspective. They define our nature. And, I believe that we have the ability to change the words that we use, and thus, change who we are.
The words that we use informs the person listening to us of who we are, and, it informs us of who we are too. It reinforces thought patterns that we have around our perception of ourselves.
Let me give a couple of examples that I’ve noticed recently. A colleague of mine uses the term “committed” in conversation when he’s telling you what he is going to be doing over the next while. I think that this is great for a number of reasons. He is creating external commitment by telling other people like myself what he is going to be doing and accomplishing over the next short timeframe. This is so important as those of you who have been to my programs know. But, he is also reinforcing the external commitment by saying, “I am committed to doing……. ” out loud. I respect this deeply as it defines who he is.
Another example is my own mother. She will often use the word “stretch”. She will use it in the context of a phrase like, “Oh, that’s so good. That will certainly stretch you.” She likes to see when people are being stretched and sees the value in us being challenged. Looking back on her career, much of what she did was being “stretched”. The work that she did challenged her in many ways, but she felt it was important, important that she be “stretched” and that she know she could handle the challenge. That defines part of who she is.
So, I plan on Observing [from The Performance Shift Model] the words that I use over the next while. It will be interesting to see how I define myself. I hope you will join me. Let me know what you discover.
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Posted by mindscape
July 8, 2009
I’ve been reading a great book on storytelling called “Did I Ever Tell You About The Time…” by Grady Jim Robinson.
http://www.amazon.com/Did-Ever-Tell-About-Time/dp/0071342141
It’s a wonderful book for people who tell stories. The main kind of story that Grady Jim focuses on is the Hero’s Journey. In my opinion, this type of story is the most important and common story that we have as humans. We see this story everywhere.
In the hero’s journey, we see a person who leaves his or her normal situation, faces a challenge, and then returns a new person to be welcomed back to their world and people. We even see this story in the recent loss of Michael Jackson. Love him or not, he had and created many stories and journeys. And, these stories appealed to many people. People were drawn to more than just his music, they were drawn to the story of a young boy who left the ordinary world of youth and went off to conquer the entertainment industry. And, did.
Whether it be books, television, the newspaper, the radio, music, your story telling aunt, or your own observations each day, there are stories that surround you daily. They are the way that we communicate — the way that we define ourselves. They are an intimate part of society, of our humanity, and what makes us human.
Pay attention to your stories and the stories that support you.
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