Evolutionary Provocateur

Leading the Way to a Better World

Some people shrug their shoulders when anything related to Change the World comes up. After all, as one woman said, 'what is the matter with it the way it is?'. This misses the point. What most of us know deep down, is that we are at a pivotal place in our evolution as a species and that, 'we are the change we wish to see'. To that end, Peter Gabriel has formed The Elders. Jason Mogus's blogpost at Cornocupia makes the connection quite clear along with the power of Web 2.0 as a vehicle for the kind of connecting that can accelerate growth.

Whether we are working toward integrative health care and all that means, or working to shift internally corporate cultures so that they can embrace the energy that Gen Y brings, it will take an expansive of the thinking and awareness of what paradigms shape perception for the doors of the mind to open and see new light. How and what is your company doing to see and think global?

The Power of Position - Part 3 of the Power series

Clever me. I did parts 1 & 2 and totally forgot part 3....well here it is.

The Power of Position is the 3rd universal expression of power as documented by Angeles Arriens in her book The Four Fold Way.  The power of position speaks to taking a stand. What you stand for; how you stand up for yourself. it also refers to spatial intelligence or where you put things in relation to the space you are in - how to extend respect, set boundaries, align word with action.

In business, the power of position is often confused with authority or the size of the office. Particularly, in hierarchical cultures, the size of the office is assumed to be a statement of importance. Anyone who has ever worked in politics knows that this is illusional at best. Personal power is what ever person has. The power of position refers to how you as a person shows up, knows where they stand, what they contribute, why they are here. Purpose is a natural extension of that conversation of course.

Power and force are frequently confused. Force is one way of wielding power but it is not the same as power. Physicist David Hawkins explains this very well in his book Power versus Force and helps us see how that plays out politically as well. An earlier post I referred to Cy's film www.spentaproductions.com which is about power in politics and how it is used. Head over there or to YouTube for a revealing historical insight into how important one's relationship with power is to the capacity to weild it effective.

Crossing a Bridge

When out hiking this weekend in the mountains behind Vancouver I had to cross a bridge. Normally, with the railings on either side of me this would be a no-brainer. Just do it. Safe and securely sandwiched between the rails. However, this time there was 10 feet or about 2 meters of snow on top of the bridge. So much for secure hand rails.

For my dog, the trip was easy. She has four legs, which is a bit more to coordinate, (she does better than I do with two) but is closer to the ground, less subject to toppling over. For me, who gets a bit unsettled by heights, not so much. First, it was a show stopper. Too many 'what ifs' running through my mind. Then, not to be deterred by the fear of possibility, I returned and walked over, eyes focusing on the other side. Coming back, I took the snowshoes off.

I could not help but notice that leadership feels like that sometimes. Those moments when lying down and waiting till the opportunity passes by would definitely be easier. The better thing to do is to get up and get on with it. 

Especially now. There is lots going on globally that is quite exciting.

First, www.heartmath.org have launched their Global Coherence Monitoring Project. It needs funding and support. To provide either head over to www.globalcoherenceproject.com

Second, Wisdom University is updating research on the Cultural Creatives. If you are one, you are part of a collective capacity for radical innovation that can truly shift how we exist to quantum levels. The technology to solve most of the world's problems exists. The mindsets don't. Hence the need for this group to know themselves as a group and to shed off any notions of limitation or limiting belief.

Third, the desire to fulfill one's destiny is more compelling than ever. Changing gears in mid-point is about settling in on the target for existence. The up-take on Oprah's new program is one example. Business is experiencing it as engagement issues. The evidence is all around us.

Always, it appears to return to how one sees, hears, feels and senses the world around them. Exciting times.

Corporate Leadership-To Much Higher Levels

Citizen lead action is popping up all over the world. Between Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour to Peter Gabriel's vision for The Elders launched by Nelson Mandela, there is growing action to shift the crash course humanity has set for itself. While some are in denial and others keep saying 'its not our fault' the reality is that the global changes have implications for humanity and implications on business.

Much of business powers on - business as usual - struggling with the emotional implications on their employees without recognizing that, as part of a much larger picture, they are power behind the solution.

Many people ask why it takes cancer or some kind of life altering experience to shift the mindset to see and create a different life. The same question is relevant to business.

Shift in Action, launched by the Institute for Noetic Science names 2008 as the year for going deep...deeper into the self and ultimately to tap into the creative force and source of solutions. Jim Garrison from www.wisdomuniversity.org stated that the technology we need to manage ourselves is here. We simply can't see it. Stiff mindsets stand in the way. Fit minds are flexible. They can widen to take in the big picture and narrow down to see the minute nuances that make or break successful navigation. With fit minds comes vision and capacity to see ahead.

That would help right now. The notion that emotion is touchy-feely is so worn out it does not qualify to be antique or any form of wisdom. Emotion is energy and energy powers leadership. Now, we are on the podium of radical change that is happening so quietly few but the most attentive and attuned can sense it. These are now the more advanced leadership skills that are required to shift company culture, and hence radical innovation, to much higher levels. The cross roads is where personal spirit meets business and takes off. We are the leaders we have been waiting for. Oh yeah.... Let Er Buck

The Power of Presence-Part 2 of the Power series

The universal principle 'Show up and choose to be present' is what this is all about. Being present is more than physically being in the room. It is about being aware, there, and energetically present with all four dimensions on full throttle.

Most often we associate value with intellectual prowess, forgetting that there is no shortage of academics or executives/managers who have plenty of intellectual horse power but who can't relate or communicate, preferring instead to pontificate. The four intelligences that are reflected in the capacity to be present include your emotional, spiritual/energetic, physical (the body as a source of intelligence) and the intellect.

This only comes from a disciplined practise of taking personal leadership to a higher level. Occasionally individuals are gifted by a massive amount of charisma, but this does not translate into leadership until four domains are embodied in their character. A 'leader' with charisma, who is tempted by actions that reinforce a need for self-adoration, is not going to be taking the kinds of risks true leadership requires.

We have tossed the word leadership around a lot....quite simply because it is the only word that evokes an image most are familiar with. However, what has become associated with leadership is to be the one who knows it all, has all the answers. Being present and emanating the power of presence requires enough self-awareness and self-security to enable receptivity and curiousity to be the primary drivers of action. Each individual can then take in the unseen, the unsaid, and the hidden thoughts and merge them into a picture that can include seemingly competitive and polar opposites as many sides of the whole picture.

It is an art and a science in my experience. How about yours??

The Power of Communication- Part 1

Angeles Arrien in The Four Fold Way presented three universal powers: power of presence, communication and position. Memorable leaders exemplified all three: Martin Luther King and his unforgettable speeches, Ghandi and others who stand out.

The Power of Communication

Being skilled as a communicator amounts to merging content, context and timing. Obama appears to be a master orator who gains fans outside the U.S. quite simply because he is an effective communicator speaking from a real and genuine place. His core energy and presence, which carries the words, is aligned. The listener has no doubt that his word is good.

There was a time when a handshake confirmed a business deal that, even if it went wrong, the parties could be trusted to sit down and come to an agreement out of mutual respect. It was all in the trust that went with what you said was what you meant...to the heart and core.

When a saleperson does not speak from his own truth, but relies on formula, ultimately it is detected. Robots may be able to communicate but relationships are made with sincere people. Oddly, a quick look at sales blogs reveals not much in the way of the basic skills, even less about the need to be really you in terms of how you communicate with customers.

Self-leadership as it applies to sales at least, is a simple place to gain clarity. It is not in the words. Mastery is found in the zone of awareness where you are attuned to all of the cues that inform timing, , choice of words and the tone - the genuine feeling that each word carries.

Right now, everyone is a leader and leads themselves through each interaction. How you communicate is not a matter of being a master of the language, though that helps, but is more a matter of being a master of assessing the situation and speaking to what matters from a place that is true. Being impeccable with your word is a simple place to start. In environments where there are unwritten codes about conforming or adhering to a party line, that is much easier said than done.

Seeing the Whole and its Parts All At Once

A recent blog over at Leadership Now on integrative thinking caught my eye. First, when 92%of executives feel that the challenges they are facing are more complex than ever before it suggests a different approach is required. Steve Roesler's quote over at All Things Workplace, "Our dilemma is that we hate change and love it at the same time; what we really want is for things to remain the same but get better." -Sidney Harris, pretty much says it all when it comes to recognizing that to make a move, you have to make a move.

Secondly, integrative thinking, as noted at Leadership Now, is about recognizing that it is possible to see the parts and the whole simultaneously without bursting a brain fuse. For some people this comes naturally; for others it must be developed. The delightful aspect of that reality is that no matter what, it requires an expansion of how many ways there are of thinking about any given situation.

The fact that things are more complex creates a wonderful gateway for understanding just how you do think and when the boundaries are feeling pushed. This is typically the spot where rebound takes place, back to that safe place where everything was separated into its nice neat piles with clear demarcation lines. That road inevitably leads back to the tempation to simplify by falling back into rote and reliable thinking patterns that frankly, are not effective when the going gets more complex.

Seeing the big picture and its component parts simultaneously demands more advanced skills to see into the situation, using intuitive insight residing in everyone, and then working with the ability to visualize, also innate to all. The joke is you can't get there from here, where here means relying on the thought patterns and love to sort and catalog.

The first step is to know where logical analysis has become more dominant over intuitive insight. The second step is to know what you trust. When those two are clear, so are the options and a whole new field of choice.   

       

The New Psychology of Leadership

A recent article in Scientific American Mind by the same title presents the dual notion of leader being defined by the circumstances versus the circumstances defining the leader, the latter being more of a situational calling forth higher levels of leadership. It is an interesting question. Group behavior itself is leadership and is drvien by the social identity that helps group's coordinate and take action.

This brings the conversation back to the consciousness of the follower. If the follower follows blindly, then...well history shows us plenty of examples of the results. For many, group leadership is a matter of belonging, of social identity where values are shared and it may or may not include the capacity to stop the bus and make sure there is clarity on the direction.

Corporately, leadership is at an interesting crossroads quite simply because many of the things that we thought leadership was about: tough love, top down, or use of authority, are in question given the divergent range of values. Cooperation and support are the bylines for today's leadership. The characteristics of a leader of the past are not the same as the one's today.

The conclusion of the article is that 'for leadership to function well, leaders and followers must be bound by a shared identity and by the quest to use that identity as a blueprint for action.' This, for some cultures, could  mean a bit of a shift.

How well do leaders in your company embody this understanding and way of thinking?

Learning-Beyond Thinking

Dr. Bruce Lipton pointed out in one of the audio interviews posted earlier on this site that as long as you are thinking your subconscious is doing the driving. That got me thinking about learning. Most, if not all learning tends to be run through the cognitive sifter first which decides what it will let in or out. All of this is according to a frame of reference that is pretty limited in terms of possibilities.

It means that learning has to be different if there is a hope of cutting through the patterns that drive limit. This is where the horses fit in. Horses, as Nick Zeniuk put it, are a mirror for the subconscious. Mastering the invisible forces starts with being able to see what lies beneath and then utilize your more advanced skills sets to discern what the pattern means and whether to clear or keep it. The more ways you have of surfacing what you can't see, the more clear you become on your personal talent and how to be effective.

Intuition communicates in a variety of ways. Some say that their intuition has failed them from time to time. I am not convinced. I have experienced confusion over the source of message: intuition or fear. The only way to really know how the intuition speaks to you is by exploring all the different venues for expression. Arna at www.theceh.com utilizes intuitive art. Pierre Goirand from France utilizes the body. All of these are forms of learning that allow you to discover what is not evident.

Despite easy judgements about what is flaky and woo~woo and what is not, learning must take on a variety of forms to really access human talent and potential that lies in the heart brain, not just in the mental processor.

What have you noticed about how you learn and what vehicle your intuition uses to communicate with you? 

Who the Bleep Are You?

The sign on the surf shop window reads: It is only after you have lost everything that you are free to do anything.

Not everyone would see it that way. Job loss, divorce and other life changing events create openings where the freedom to create the life you want to lead emerges. Not everyone sees it that way though. Some freeze in the frame of lost identity. Some see themselves as victims of external forces beyond their control.

What this points to is an opportunity to be aware of how your outlook on life shapes your reality and then to develop the flexibility to adapt when things change unexpectedly.

Most people leave a large part of themselves at home when they go to work. Some are defined by work. What defines You?