Thursday, April 17, 2008

The Greatest Love of All

“‘The greatest love of all is happening to me...’ So goes the popular song. It's a great song. It speaks to the heart, and deeply. It strikes powerfully to uplift the human spirit, at the quest for self-love and self-esteem, the pride in being alive that each of us is entitled to experience simply by being born a human being.”

                   from “Living an Extraordinary Life”
                   by Robert White

 

I promised to “lighten up” this week. How’s the above?

Offered with love and respect,

Robert

Saturday, April 12, 2008

How Important is Authenticity?

(Representative Men was Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1850 phrase for the great men in a democracy”.)

“Is there some common quality among these Representative Men who have been most successful as our leaders? I call it the need to be authentic—or, as our dictionaries tell us, conforming to fact and therefore worthy of trust, reliance or belief. While the charismatic has an uncanny outside source of strength, the authentic is strong because he is what he seems to be.”

                                                      Daniel J. Boorstin

Here in the USA we are overwhelmed with communications about our coming presidential election. Hopefully we’ll not get so fatigued by the claims and counterclaims of leadership excellence that we tune out.

Perhaps of more lasting importance to you and me is the societal shift that calls for each of us to express more leadership in our families, organizations and in our communities. 

And whether it is in evaluating a political candidate or setting a standard for ourselves in a leadership role, Boorstin’s counsel is wise:  is the candidate what “he (or she) seems to be?” Are we gaining our strength from acting consistent with what we profess to be?

Tough questions, I know. Perhaps next week I’ll lighten up a bit.

Offered with love and respect,

Robert

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

An Extraordinary Minute -- Churchill at his Finest

“Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Sir Winston Churchill

This pithy communication is reported to have been the entire text of a speech Sir Winston once gave at a commencement ceremony.

Clearly, in England’s time of greatest need for leadership during World War II, Winston Churchill communicated a stand for “honour and good sense” and never giving in.

Of course, we need to have a purpose noble and compelling enough to summon this kind of stand, this expression of courage. Once we discover it and claim it for our own, all that remains is total commitment, to never, never, never, never...Give in.

Offered with love and respect,

Robert

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Which Seminar Will Support the Creation of Your Extraordinary Life?

Over the years, I've observed that people's desire for personal growth and development springs from two broad categories of motivation:

1. they are on a "growing edge," an awakened desire to accomplish something personally or professionally that their prior education and experience hasn't adequately prepared them for; or

2. they feel stuck in some pattern of thinking or reacting that is not producing the results they want in life. Perhaps they're experiencing unsatisfactory relationships with family, friends or colleagues; perhaps they have problems in their career or with their business results; perhaps they're struggling financially; examples of the "wrecks or near wrecks" that occur in life.

With the ever increasing pace of change impacting our personal and professionals lives, many of us are turning to books and other media, seminars and life coaching for more enlightened and effective answers.

If I can help you make better informed and more effective choices that support you in your personal development planning and actions, it would be my great pleasure.

Of course, like the cowboy philosopher Will Rogers said, "Never ask a barber if you need a haircut!" I'm always going to be advocating for you to jump in, read that book, hire that coach and do that seminar--especially if it is one of ours!

This first post lists and talks about a group of high-impact experiential learning events that I'm most familiar with and that I mostly recommend. I'd love it if you could add to the list along with your recommendations.

With love and respect,

Robert

Several friends have asked me to "be critical" in a review of their latest book or recorded program or seminar. It's a real problem for me: I want to contribute and support them; yet, my "wiring" is so critical (often a problem in all my relationships) and I fear damage to our friendship when I'm being honest and direct.

The following "quick hits" are offered in the context of me being hyper critical and I'll do my best to keep the tone upbeat and respectful ... while still honoring the reality that I actually do know a bit about this material. Read my bio (which, of course, is laudatory because I wrote it) and notice that I've founded and led companies that have graduated over 1 million people from high impact experiential learning events. (LifeSpring, ARC International/Life Dynamics and Extraordinary People) I've also attended many other programs and will identify those in my comments below.

Your feedback is sincerely appreciated and will guide the future of this site. Here goes .....


The following programs are derived directly and indirectly from a training methodology often referred to as the "LifeSpring Model" ... details and recommendations below

Extraordinary People http://www.ExtraordinarySeminar.com

PSI Seminars http://www.psiseminars.com/

Context Associated (The More Course) http://www.morecourse.com

Asia Works http://www.asiaworkstraining.com/

CSA Europe http://www.csaeurope.com/

Insight http://www.insightseminars.org/

Pathways http://www.pathwaysseminars.com/

Resource Realizations http://www.resourcerealizations.com/

Worldworks http://worldworksinc.com/index.php

Next Step Asia http://www.nextstepasia.com/

Summit Education http://www.summiteducation.com/

ChoiceCenter http://www.choicecenter.net/

With well over a million and perhaps two million graduates over the past 30 years, this highly interactive learning experience model has proven a success experience for many people.

WHAT YOU'LL LIKE: Usually very strong in having participants actually experience what's true for them around relationships, personal responsibility, intentionality, their core values, life vision and much, much more. Common feedback after the experience is "the seminar changed my life and I would have paid ten times the tuition for it."

WHAT YOU MIGHT NOT LIKE: You must come to the seminar prepared to participate--these seminars are not academic, you'll need to "jump in" to get maximum value. Also, most (not all) of the above companies expand their business by asking you, the satisfied graduate, to introduce and refer your friends to the seminar.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Talk to recent graduates about the quality of the seminar experience and did the seminar make a real difference in their lives; whether the seminar leader/trainer was respectful and coherent; and how much pressure is being applied for additional enrollments. While it is not an issue for me, you need to be comfortable with all of that to get maximum value.

ROBERT'S RECOMMENDATIONS: No shyness here ... I work hard to have our Extraordinary Seminars be the very best experience for the maximum number of people. You can learn more and even register at:

http://www.ExtraordinarySeminar.com

That said, I recently audited an Insight 1 seminar led by Joe Hubbard and consider it absolutely first class in content and delivery. I also know the people behind the Summit Education company and their Trainers--based on my "knowing" of them, you can expect a great experience there also.

In my next post, I'll list some more approaches to accelerated learning and personal development. Remember, your input is needed and wanted!