20 millenial women to know about. Be inspired. Inspire others. Repeat.

Be inspired.

Know that you inspire others through your authentic choices. It's a virtuous loop.

Sometimes Forbes notices, most of the time Forbes journalists do not call for a quote. No matter.

Keep doing your thing.

http://www.forbes.com/special-report/2013/millenials/millenials.html

  

Watch this trend...women of influence speaking up, millenials aligned and acting on their expectations for a different way of leading their lives. Men in power: you don't have to figure it all out on your own

In a trend that has been gaining momentum over the past 18 to 24 months, more and more women in positions of influence and 'power' are inviting us all to consider new models of what success looks like, for a more sustainable future.

The fact that this is aligned with my values and my consulting work is all well and good. I could sit in the reflected glow of their insights and revel in the 'I totally agree and have been saying this for a while' aspect of it all.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/third-metric-redefining-success_b_3354525.html?utm_hp_ref=third-metric

But what is more heartening to me is noticing the larger pattern: that women leaders of all ages have been the pioneering voices at the forefront of a generational shift that will provide the needed momentum for transformation. On behalf of women AND men.

The 'global millennials' - women and men - have also been asking frame breaking questions about what success should really look like. They have very different expectations for their lives and their careers than those who are, in general, currently guiding companies and institutions. They have begun to drive their 'elders' slightly crazy (which is a good thing) with their pushback and their requests for a different way. They are leaving large corporations when their expectations are not being met, not willing to 'stick it out' and/or 'pay their dues'.

And so, inevitably, things are shifting, and it is the wise leader who begins to restructure her or his organization's collective thinking about models of success and associated practices, so as to attract the talented people that are needed now, and for the future, and so as to keep the talented people they currently employ.

In the gender balance work I do, I coach many of the men in positions of senior leadership who find themselves earnestly wondering what to do, how to do it, when to do it, because these ways of challenging the status quo have been a blind spot for them for a number of reasons.

My advice is often quite simple: "simply ask the women who work in your company and ask the younger people who are entering your organization out of college or high school. You don't have to figure it out all by yourselves."

That is also a feature of the new model of leadership that is emerging: collaborative intelligence is just a smarter and more effective way to address questions of transformation that are pushing against the habitual thinking of the status quo. Embrace the power of collective intelligence available to you, I advise them. It is a lot less work and will point to a much more calibrated course of action. But ironically, embracing a less 'I must know the answers in order to be a leader' is also a mindset change that is not always easy to let go of.

But things are changing. One step. One article. One powerful conversation at a time. Gender dialogues. Generational dialogues. All leading to changes and actions that will reshape the way we work and live together in the future.

The CIYO goes urban. And modular.

 

I am so happy to finally see the dream of offering the CIYO (Coming Into Your Own - women's personal development program) in New York in a modular format of 1/2 Saturday afternoons over the course of 2013. Ours is very much of a Lean Fully Inside in order to Thrive In Your External Presence and Impact, as the inner dynamic creatively and more sustainably informs the other.

 

We have already 15 women signed up and more are interested in subsequent sessions.

 

You can come to one session or two or three or sign up for the series and be part of co-creating this inaugural year!

 

to learn more about the CIYO approach see www.ciyowomensretreat.com

The Dueling Myths of Business. And our lives.

I recently read a brief and thought provoking interview by Art Kleiner of Strategy + Business, with Betty Sue Flowers.

It raises powerful questions regarding what are the prevaling myths that 'run' our organizations. Especially useful if we are leaders, but also useful as colleagues, employees, customers, investors, etc.

And of course, the questions that the article poses are just as applicable to our personal lives.

What are the mythologies we live by without question or re-examination? What myths have we allowed to become habit? What is at risk for us to re-imagine them from time to time?


http://www.strategy-business.com/article/00151?gko=87d33&cid=TL20121220&utm_campaign=TL20121220&tid=27782251&pg=all

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

An end of the year 'exercise'

End of the Year - What Do You Really Want? reminder

Many of you have experienced the Check-In process with the following 'steps':
1. Answer the question "What do you want?" Journal.
2. Answer the question "What do you really want?" Journal.
3. Reflect. Alone or with others. "What insights have you gathered by answering the two questions".

As the end of the year approaches, it doesn't hurt to do this little exercise for yourself. And no, it doesn't completely mess up the process if you know there are two questions. You just need to be a little more observation with your internal dynamics as you prepare to answer question 1 and then question 2.

But I also came across this more in-depth thought provoker article from Robert Fritz (structural dynamics guru guy), And have found his suggested steps for reflection worth sharing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title of his blog post: If you limit yourself to what seems possible or reasonable, all that is left is compromise

Since the time we were young, we have been taught to limit our aspirations. The question, "What do you want?" is translated into, "Given limitations, what do you want?"

When we ask people what they want, too often they are a lost. It isn't that they don't want things. It is that they have absolutely no idea how to think about the subject. On the one hand, they can only think in terms of what seems possible, reasonable, or available. On the other hand, they are looking for something that will enrich their lives, enable them to become more involved, and fulfill the promise they intuitively understand and for which they long - something they can't seem to find by discovery or revelation or from traditional goal setting courses or from the self-help world.

If you limit your choices, all that is left is a compromise, one that is incapable of inspiring the type of deeper involvement that most people crave. You can't invest your life spirit in a compromise.

Here are a few tips:

1. Separate what you want from what you think is possible

You don't know what is possible, only what seems probable. If you begin to censor yourself before you even have a proper discussion with yourself, you are going to end up limiting yourself to only those things that seem doable. You are light-years away from thinking in terms of what you truly want. From this limited menu, there may not be much you actually want to order. No wonder it would be hard to know what you want when this were the case. Whatever you are left with is pretty unappetizing. Do NOT consider if what you want is possible when thinking about it. We divide and think: first a truthful understanding of what we truly want to create in our lives; then considerations about the strategy that might enable us to create it.

2. Rethink everything

We have all made certain promises to ourselves when we were young. We may have changed our minds. We are not stuck with some idea we had years ago. It is best to enter into a conversation with yourself with a clean slate, turning over a new leaf, a fresh start.

3. Start small

Most people are not in the habit of thinking about what they want. They react or respond to the circumstances they find themselves in, and so they can only think situationally. The best way to learn anything is to start small, build muscles and stamina, and create a body of experience. Make sure that these small things are really things you want. Get into the habit of checking with yourself about that.

4. Don't think in terms of payoffs.

Too often, people are not able to think about what they really want because they expect the result to do things like make them happy, give them satisfaction, enlightenment, and a host of other payoffs. This burdens your ability to think in terms of what you want because you are speculating about the chances of the payoff being significant. Once you think in terms of the outcomes you want and not the payoff, you are free to get involved on the good days and the bad days. Remember, your emotional experiences are like the weather: sometimes it rains and sometimes it's sunny. Don't think in terms of consistent emotions. Think in terms of only one question:

What do I really want?

So, if you limit yourself to what seems possible or reasonable, all that is left is compromise, and you can't invest your life-spirit into a compromise. This is a principle that, once taken on, can enable you to organize your life around your highest aspirations and deepest values.

CIYO Alumnae Spotlight - Musician Virginie Robillard

Virginie Robillard is an amazing CIYO Alumna who lives in Paris. If you are visiting France, do take a moment to find out if she is performing during your visit. She is amazing!

And during our Sept 2011 CIYO in France, she played a beautiful piece (Sicilienne) by 18th century woman composer Maria Theresia Von Paradis. Since we don't have a clip of her playing it, I am sharing Zuckerman's own beautiful version.

Occupy your own center

Various friends of mine, the occasional pundit on tv, my next door neighbor yesterday......they all keep asking what is the clear demand of the Occupy movement participants.  Something about the question keeps triggering me. So rather than attribute it to some genetic predisposition towards chaos inherited from my anarchist Italian grandfather, I’ve started to wonder….....

I think I get irritated by the question because it is my belief that an emergent collectively informed movement cannot have a 'clear demand list' until it has had time to test its ideals against the realities of the societal and political system of which it is a part of. And because rather than defering responsibility to 'them', this sort of movement provides each of us with an opportunity to rediscover our own core responsibility.

I see the Occupy 'movement' at one level as simply demanding that we each wake up and think about what is and what is not right in a healthy society. And from that thoughtful awareness, take what action would be more aligned with our values. And to me, that root cause 'demand' is both powerful and a hell of a lot more demanding of me/us personally, and collectively than simply considering whether I support the Occupy movement or the status quo.

So what if ‘their’ essential demand were that we should each stop worrying about their demand list and instead consider what it would take for each of us individually to fully Occupy our own mind, heart, spirit, body? and out of that place of center, what would we then be like when interacting with others who share our neighborhood, our countries, our world? And how often are we really in that state of being with ourselves and one another? And how often do we want to be?

Just musing....

What is your work? What are you most passionate about? What is one thing you've always wanted to do or experience?

If you feel like hosting an informal dinner gathering for a group of relative strangers who you just know have some amazing lives........you may want to send out some pre-gathering questions and ask them to do a Reply All (or for a more kinetic version, have them write their answers on sticky notes as they come in and have them wear them as they mingle and mix around the room).

1. What do you call your work these days?
2. What are you most passionate about?
3. What is one thing you've always wanted to do or experience?

Give it a try. You may be surprised at the answers and the level of connection that can blossom as a result.

And most importantly, have fun hosting and being hosted!

CIYO'ing - mid November update

Just back from beautiful Windhorse Farm in Nova Scotia, a family run (by Jim and Margaret Drescher) sustainable farm and forestry program.

Windhorse Fram is only 1.5 hours from Halifax, Nova Scotia and they have beautiful facilities for individual retreats, family reunions or leadership development programs nestled in 300 acres of beautiful farmland and forest. See www.windhorsefarm.org for their upcoming events and more details.

CIYO'ing - early September 2011 update

Just back from two weeks of CIYOing.

Abiquiu NM CIYO 2 Sept 16-20 - Then a CIYO 2 (for alumnae of our programs) in New Mexico.
During our stay, in addition to two outdoor outings, we incorporated a visit to the newly opened Rising Moon Gallery and Art Center where we spent 3 hours being guided through an intuitive art session. http://www.risingmoongalleryandartcenter.com/?page_id=437. We also had a skype group session with one of the country's best astrologers, Debra Silverman of http://www.debrasilvermanastrology.com/

One of our very gifted artist participants, Marguerite Drescher of Windhorse Farm in Nova Scotia, created this beautiful montage of her pictures of our time together.
CIYO 2 New Mexico VIDEO  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfySTv-4AZ8

Ojai CA CIYO Sept 11-14 -  We held a CIYO program in  Ojai California at the beautifully restful Ojai Retreat Center (an ideal place for a mellow personal retreat or a small workshop - their maximum occupancy is 12 - www.ojairetreat.com). And with catering by the very talented private chef Robin Goldstein (http://www.playinginthekitchen.com/index.cfm).

As always if you  are interested in registering for an upcoming Coming Into Your Own (CIYO) - leadership from the interior to the exterior program for women, please see my events page or go to www.ciyowomensretreat.com/events.html

The Girl Effect - learn about it, blog about, support it

A prioritization of the education and empowerment of women and girls raises the standards of living and the quality of life for the entire community. Not just the women and girls involved, but also for men and for boys. Development aid and donors have figured this out and are leveraging this dynamic in many different ways.

But one doesn't have to focus exclusively on developing countries to recognize the power of this feminine dynamic. So wherever you are, learn more about what truly makes a difference and consider what might be your individual role to play in the Girl Effect. It's all about choices.

Learn more at: http://www.girleffect.org/learn/the-big-picture

What is your uniqueness? And what is the beautiful uniqueness of someone else? (it could even be a someone you don't particularly like)

Whatever you may think of Lady GaGa's music, take a moment today to celebrate your own 'born this way' uniqueness. And then celebrate in some way just one other person's uniqueness. Go ahead. Give it a try. You'll both feel so much better.

What is yours to most fully create? - Round 1 Inquiry

From the place of Vision: What is the potential?
From the place of Intuition: What does is it feel like?
From the place of Truth: What are the dilemmas I am facing or will face?
From the place of Perspective: What do I need to see (that I may be missing just now)?

photo by Tessa

What's your thread?

The Way it is by William Stafford
There's a thread you follow. It goes among
things that change. But it doesn't change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can't get lost.
Tragedies happen; people get hurt
or die; and you suffer and get old.
Nothing you do can stop time's unfolding.
You don't ever let go of that thread.