NOT Fearing Paris (or for that matter any 'can't be done's)

My French friends and fellow CIYO women's leadership program faculty guides (Laure Le Douarec, Isabelle Pujol, Virginie Allard, Veronique Esvan) decided last year to explore a 'what if?'. What if we decided to host one of our programs deep in the Moroccan Desert - could we do it? why would we do it? would anyone come? what would it take? will it be too cold/too hot? what will it ask of me/us? etc. etc. etc.

This past October they did it. And it was an amazing thing and I count myself lucky to have friends such as these who inspire me with their sense of adventure and self development.

This picture they sent from their entry into the desert inspired me to rediscover a favorite poem: Fearing Paris by Marsha Truman Cooper.

Suppose that what you fear
could be trapped
and held in Paris.
Then you would have
the courage to go
everywhere in the world.
All the directions of the compass
open to you,
except the degrees east or west
of true north
that lead to Paris.
Still, you wouldn’t dare
put your toes
smack dab on the city limit line.
You’re not really willing
to stand on a mountainside,
miles away,
and watch the Paris lights
come up at night.
Just to be on the safe side,
you decide to stay completely
out of France.
But then the danger
seems too close
even to those boundaries,
and you feel
the timid part of you
covering the whole globe again.
You need the kind of friend
who learns your secret and says,
“See Paris first.”

Business is meant to be a collaborative work of art

Today I stumbled across the June 2012 blog post by Joe Gerstandt titled "I am over the 'business case' conversation" referring to his stance vis-a-vis the inevitable request by managers to have someone share with them the ins and outs of the business case for diversity or for inclusive leadership skills.
http://www.joegerstandt.com/2012/06/i-am-over-the-business-case-conversation/#comment-4024

I so loved his clarity, humour and humanity that it inspired me to write up my own 'opinion piece' on the case (business or otherwise) for including the reality of actual human beings with actual differences between them into the theory, practice and discipline of management.

How is it possible I continue to wonder, that in this day and age* it isn't self-evident that treating people** in a way that is inclusive of their diversity/uniqueness is a smart idea as well as a good business idea.
*We are out of the dark ages, right? I am not just imagining that!
**And by people, in a business context I am referring to customers, one's boss, one's teammates, one's employees, community members, vendors, etc. Actual people rather than 'resources' or 'capital' or 'talent assets'.

And before you ignore my little tirade for humanism in business because you assume that I don't have any practical real business world experience, let me remind the reader that I speak from experience and a sense of having evolved my capacity to think and act as a leader in business settings. I started my working career within an industry where 'eating one's young' was (and unfortunately still is) considered an unofficial but appreciated leadership style. I received my MBA from a top business school where (like all other top business schools) more focus was spent on spreadsheet/financial dynamics than on the workforce/leadership dynamics that produce (or do not produce) the output that the spreadsheets/financials try to optimize. I worked within the HR function of a multinational for a significant phase of my career and always felt like the function was too often stuck in the 19th century and yet had so much potential to make a difference if it just could shed outdated mental models. And through the whole journey, I have been intrigued (and dismayed) by how many organizations manage to survive year in and year out despite doing everything possible to kill the unique spirit of their employees.

When I hit my 40s, I began to wake up from the 'be successful', 'get ahead', 'fit in' self-imposed dream I was caught up in. I decided to go freelance to spend more of my time doing work I love in many different settings, and in ways that would be aligned with human-centered values. I now work as an external advisor/consultant/coach. I have learned to not fear the occasional fluctuations in income and that has helped me turn down assignments where the client starts out with what I judge as a combative stance against the obvious. I just say no. I have learned to walk away. I have reached an age when I don't want to have to work so hard to convince anyone in a position of leadership of the obvious. And by the obvious I mean that organzations hold the potential, at their very best and most productively profitable, to be unique works of social cooperation, empathy and creativity; places of connection with others, and a sense of accomplishment, while delivering a product or service and making a return for their investors.

Any other way of thinking of the priorities of organizing, leading, or managing is a) unimaginative and boring (and who really needs that tone in their work interactions?), and more importantly b) as harsh an exploitation of human beings and the human spirit as we nowadays judge indentured servitude to have been in middle ages or as the factory work of children was during the industrial revolution pre-reform phase. Any other way of organizing, leading or managing will certainly allow companies to survive and make a profit for a time (even a long time by human standards), but eventually it will go the way of those other forms of exploitation of the labor and creativity of human beings. And so all I need to do is to keep doing the work I do, and care about the work in my own way and in my own spheres of influence, and ride the wave of the future for as long as I can. And time and the generation to come will take care of continuing to improve/evolve things in the direction of a more humane and mature world of business. Thank goodness for that!

And in the meantime, I continue to work with the willing and the interested and the sceptical but open to the possibility.

We are each 'the banks'

Follow the attached link (http://blogs.hbr.org/haque/2012/06/the_libor_scandal_and_the_pric.html )

to read the HBR article that reminds us that we are all inherently complicit in the messed up business culture of the banks and investment banks.

Each of us.

The banks and their business practices are a reflection of a core societal identity that is out of alignment. They did not helicopter themselves in from outer space with no linkage to what their environments want or condone.

So we each have work to do to heal, to evolve, to set new norms by which to assess what real prosperity, progress, growth, return on investment, etc really means. Business schools need to get their act together.

Regulatory agencies need to step up to their missions.
Banks and bank leaders need to clean their houses if they are not in order (not all of them have lost their way along that fine line between advantageous and ethical).
And we each need to become more conscious of our models of wealth.

Lots of work to do. But worthwhile work that will make a real difference to generations to come when done well.

So I write this to remind myself to start doing more of the inner work of self-awareness and the outer work of bringing my best self to the task of cleaning up my own financial choices.
One step at at time.
Together with others who are operating from within the system and with those who are openly trying to dismantle it from the outside, so that the potential for a new and more vibrant model of success can actually find fertile soil.

Wake up everyone - the soft stuff is actually the hard stuff

Why is it that we let ourselves continue to refer to the thorniest business problems - of employee motivation, of vision setting, of integration of values and business priorities, of moral and ethical accountabilities - as the soft stuff?

When we actually know down deep, that the alleged soft stuff is actually the stuff that will undermine our full business delivery if ignored, left unattended or relegated to some dusty rule book.

It’s high time that business professionals stopped buying the rhetoric, faced reality and integrated the full range of business challenges into their accountability thinking.

You can concentrate on the alleged hard stuff of business all you want, but in the end the soft stuff will derail your carefully laid out business plans every time.
As in: culture will eat your strategy for lunch and then smile while you keep plugging away at the metrics, dogmatically restructure yourself into obsolence or reengineer your process for the umpteenth time to no effect.
As in: we can regulate the global Wall Street all we want but in the end if those who lead and work there don't systemically build in a culture of ethical responsibility to their ultimate customers, nothing much will change. And we will continue to invest in ways that have more to do with 18th century dog fight gamblling than an actual investment in companies that matter to us and the future. And so we will all experience and be co-responsible for financial crashes that take us all down together.
As in: we can keep talking about equality and meritocracy in the workplace in company brochures or try to legislate anti-discriminatory practices, but until we realize that open-heartedness and open-mindedness are a prerequisite of leadership, nothing will actually change.

It is time to wake up and face the 'scary' soft stuff, with grace, with determination and with real skills. Yes. It is important to project confidence, know your excel, wield a powerpoint with ease and know the nuts and bolts of your particular preferred area of a business enterprise. But it is also vitally important to you, to your business and to your communities, that as business professionals we also consider such matters as the full value of business in society, the power of work to be one's calling, the chance that you may actually affect another real person's life by what you are able to do at work.

So how about we collectively step up to our fullness, face ALL the stuff as the whole system it is a part of and be the leaders we have been waiting for? It will be daunting, it will be more complex, it will ask the best of each of us. But hey, what else have you got to do with the one and only you that you are lucky enough to be this time around? Be someone else? Live less than the 100%ness of yourself? Go around acting foggy headed? Be perpetually rationalizing away your power? Really?

In praise of the Earth

Sunday April 22nd is the 'official' Earth Day. Whether you are a Climate Change believer or not, a staunch environmentalist or a free trade shopper or a geez maybe recycling isn't such a bad idea after all sort a person......do yourself a favor and at the very least take a moment to notice the ground, the air, the trees, the world that hosts us each and every day. Touch into the awe of it in your own way this Sunday. And maybe a little of it will rub off on all the other days of the year as well.

And here is a John O'Donohue poem that helps me not lose sight of the magic.....

In Praise of the Earth
Let us bless
The imagination of the Earth.
That knew early the patience
To harness the mind of time,
Waited for the seas to warm,
Ready to welcome the emergence
Of things dreaming of voyaging
Among the stillness of land.
And how light knew to nurse
The growth until the face of the Earth
Brightened beneath a vision of color.
When the ages of ice came
And sealed the Earth inside
An endless coma of cold,
The heart of the Earth held hope,
Storing fragments of memory,
Ready for the return of the sun.
Let us thank the Earth
That offers ground for home
And holds our feet firm
To walk in space open
To infinite galaxies.
Let us salute the silence
And certainty of mountains:
Their sublime stillness,
Their dream-filled hearts.
The wonder of a garden
Trusting the first warmth of spring
Until its black infinity of cells
Becomes charged with dream;
Then the silent, slow nurture
Of the seed's self, coaxing it
To trust the act of death.
The humility of the Earth
That transfigures all
That has fallen
Of outlived growth.
The kindness of the Earth,
Opening to receive
Our worn forms
Into the final stillness.
Let us ask forgiveness of the Earth
For all our sins against her:
For our violence and poisonings
Of her beauty.
Let us remember within us
The ancient clay,
Holding the memory of seasons,
The passion of the wind,
The fluency of water,
The warmth of fire,
The quiver-touch of the sun
And shadowed sureness of the moon.
That we may awaken,
To live to the full
The dream of the Earth
Who chose us to emerge
And incarnate its hidden night
In mind, spirit, and light.
~ John O'Donohue ~
(To Bless the Space Between Us)

The Happy Secret to Better Work - another favorite Ted Talk

4 core steps to take EACH DAY for 21 days:
1. Write 3 new things for which you are grateful
2. Take the time to journal about one positive experience you had in the past 24 hours
3. Find the time to meditate and avoid multitasking so that you can focus fully on one task at a time
4. Consider writing a short email to thank or congraulate someone in your network of connections