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Standing on the Shoulders of Others

9/25/2017

 
Picture
September 25, 2017
Clear Confident Leader Weekly Observer, Issue #52
From the Greenbelt of Boise, Idaho, Passing the Fall Equinox  





​You stand out in the crowd only because you have these many, many carrying you on their shoulders.
– Desmond Tutu
 
  
 
 
 
 
Last weekend in Sonoma I listened to Country Singer RaeLynn, and IndyCar Driver Charlie Kimball, talk about performing in front of the crowd assembled. Neither could imagine doing what the other does: singing for a live audience, and racing at high speed.
 
During qualifying the day before Charlie had challenges with his car. A little more than an hour before he stepped on stage the problems seemed worse, as he spent most of the practice session in the pits with the team working on the car. The car was moved to the garage for final adjustments prior to the afternoon race, and Charlie left to speak.
 
RaeLynn’s singing of the national anthem went well. The race was intense: 203 miles through 1020 turns at an average speed over 103 miles per hour. Charlie and his team persevered through the challenges, and he finished eleventh.
 
Both RaeLynn and Charlie have overcome significant adversity to rise to high levels in their professions, including living with Type 1 Diabetes for more than ten years. Each gives credit to the people that support them, and the teams that make what they do possible.
 
As one of my teachers says, “I stand on the shoulders of my teachers, and offer what I do so that you may stand on mine.” I find it important to consider:
  • Who has helped me get to where I am, and how do I thank them?
  • How do I help others get to where they want to go?
 
Let’s help each other create a better future today!

Our Words Create Worlds

9/13/2017

 
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September 13, 2017
Clear Confident Leader Weekly Observer, Issue #51
From the Greenbelt of Boise, Idaho, Leaves turning colors
 
Language is primarily generative and creative.
– Chalmers Brothers

Language helps us both to interpret and make meaning of the world around us.
– Doug Silsbee
 
Whether you think you can, or think you can’t – you’re right.
– Henry Ford
 
I was in a conversation regarding the world we live in today. Here are some views:
  • The world is flat. No, the world is round.
  • The earth rotates around the sun. No the sun travels around the earth.​
  • The earth is a dynamic living sphere traveling in an elliptical spiral as it follows the sun moving through an expanding universe.
 
The words we use in the narrative of our minds and in what we express to those around us create and reflect our perspectives.  I share the examples above as a metaphor for many conversations that occur today, in which arguments arise from taking a simpler point of view and holding firm that it is “RIGHT”.
 
Reality it seems is more complex than we’re willing to consider and discuss. Yet finding ways to discuss the complexity, and create generative approaches together, are what we need most urgently to address the challenges we face.
 
To paraphrase Einstein, we can’t solve today’s problems with the same level of thinking that created them. We must evolve our sense-making and conversations to survive and thrive. I encourage:
  • Acknowledging and simply describing the complexity we live within.
  • Discussing how together we can discover creative solutions that support all of us.
 
Let’s face and discuss the complexity of where we are, and create a better future today!

Cultivate Resilient Effectiveness

9/5/2017

 
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September 5, 2017
Clear Confident Leader Weekly Observer, Issue #50
From the Greenbelt of Boise, Idaho, Sun red with smoke
 
For each of us to deliver on our biggest aspirations—to take advantage of new opportunities or meet new challenges—we must grow into our future possibilities.  – Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey.
 
We transform and evolve through practices. We are what we practice. Our bodies reflect what we practice. Practices are linked to values, ethics, care, and commitments.  – Richard Strozzi-Heckler
 
I was practicing Aikido. My training partner was eight inches taller, and his forearms twice the size of mine. I’d offer both arms, and he’d grab them from behind. If I slipped into reacting with the normal human responses of fight, flight or freeze, I was ineffective.
 
We practice to learn and grow. In Aikido I practice to develop new response-abilities to each grab, blending and creating better outcomes in the moment. Like most of life it isn’t something we can learn solely from a book or on our own, we need practice partners. Working with someone equally committed to both of us learning and growing is joyful.
 
Back and forth we went, each of us taking turns grabbing and being grabbed to learn the feel, and cultivate resilient effectiveness within us.
 
Switch partners said our Sensei. Now I was training with someone eight inches shorter, and her forearms two-thirds mine. Similar practice, with a different feel, all to cultivate our ability to creatively respond to the challenges we face. We train with an intention of dissolving the conflict through compassionate action that takes care of both people.
 
These practices help me realize, it is easy to react to what life throws at me and try to cope, just to get by and then disengage as soon as possible. It takes discipline to explore what can I learn and create in each moment, and how do I stay engaged to act with compassionate action and take care of myself and those involved.
 
We don’t need to stay stuck in our reactions, we can choose how we want to respond. We have new opportunities to practice each day with every person we see and meet. It helps me to reflect on:
  • Who do I want to become?
  • What am I committed to create?
  • What will I practice each day to grow my response-abilities?
 
Let’s cultivate resilient effectiveness, and create a better future today!


    A Clear Confident Leader engages, inspires, and assists people to develop themselves, enabling them to create new possibilities and a better future today.

    ​The Observer focuses on practical steps to generate clarity, confidence, and leadership in ourselves and those around us. 

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