Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Extraordinary Leadership and Vision

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the people to gather wood, divide the work and give orders. Instead teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Approaching the year-end is a time when many people pause and reflect on what they have already accomplished (highly recommended by this scribe); then look at what they want to create in the new year.

The leadership lesson de Saint-Exupery teaches above certainly applies to when motivating a team or a family or a work unit. My suggestion is to also apply it to our inner dialogue as we look at what is possible for us in 2010 and into a more distant future.

Go big or go home.

Your thoughts about vision...or anything else...can be memorialized here.

With love and respect,

Robert

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Progress or Direction?



“The direction of the mind is more important than its progress.”

Joseph Joubert

I’m continually amazed by the ability we humans seem to possess in extravagant abundance for negatively judging ourselves and our “progress.”

The great teachers in my life have repeatedly counseled that a truly productive exercise is to take a few quiet moments to list our “wins,” our achievements for the year and then:

Accept that you were the source of all that has happened and all that will happen.

Truly, if your direction is positive, you’re already a winner.

As always, your responses are welcome.

With love and respect,
Robert

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Wisdom from Kahil Gibran

“The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?”

Kahil Gibran

Approaching the holiday season seems to bring into sharp focus those important people no longer present in our lives, our failures or our hurt feelings. There are many legitimate motivations for feeling sorrow.

It is helpful to remember this brilliant poet and teacher’s counsel and realize that by fully experiencing our sorrow and putting it in the context of something valuable, we can get stronger and more effective.

Your thoughts are welcome, in fact solicited.

With love and respect,

Robert

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

What to Say and How to Say It




"The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem of what to say and how to say it.”

Edward R. Murrow

Long time readers know that occasionally I’m struck by the elegant simplicity of a quote and quite simply have nothing of real value to add to it.

This is one of those times.

Your communications are welcome

With love and respect,

Robert

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Falling, Falling, Falling

"The bad news is you're falling through the air, nothing to hang on to, no parachute. The good news is there's no ground."

Chogyam Trungpa



It certainly seems to be a time of “falling through the air” for many people. The more challenging notion is that “there’s no ground.”

The gurus constantly teach us that the only “reality” we experience is the one we make up. It’s not an easy concept to grasp—especially for we in the developed world holding our apparent fascination with “things.”

My personal habit is that when I feel stuck or judgmental or confused, to pause and reflect on what reality I am creating and how I can take responsibility for creating it. Only then can I exercise the liberating power of choice—knowing that I chose all of what I am describing as reality and since I chose it, I can choose something more effective.

As always, your thoughts are welcome!

With love and respect,

Robert