Discover your gift and give it away...

The purpose of my life has been to discover my gift. I have discovered that my gift is to help people navigate through change at a personal and organisational level.
The meaning of my life is to now give my gift away...to share my experience, my learning and my perspective.
I wondered about this life changing quote from David Viscott with the realisation that at every celebration I look forward to the gifts that I can bestow upon my family and friends, with more pleasure than the gifts that I receive. We often talk about "legacy", the meaning of our life and what we will leave as a memory when we depart this beautiful world.
I urge you now to think of the "Micro Legacy" of every interaction that you have. With the cashier in Woolworth's, the bank teller at Westpac, the waitress in your favourite restaurant, the email that you have just sent...how will it be received... and all the people that serve to enrich your life. The meaning in our daily lives is to create a "Micro Change"... to leave people with the imprint of our influence, with the motivation to make a difference in their lives.
Think about it... why are you interested in change...why are you even reading this...why are you here?
The purpose of your life is to discovery your gift. The meaning of your life is to give your gift away.
www.thechangesamurai.com

Are we learning from the past?

In Vol 8 No1, of the Journal of Management Research, Franco Gandolfi explores the lessons that we can learn, if indeed we do learn, from downsizing. In many ways this research is a bit like those obscure results that some even more obscure scientist discovers. Millions of dollars are spent trying to find out why dogs bark and with great applause from their peers the obscure scientist announces its because they are dogs! I guess the point here is that we know that downsizing doesn't always provide the desired results and that the organisational success that was visioned can turn into "profound negative consequences for all constituencies". I didn't really need Franco to spend his time and money on research to confirm that for me. 

The reason being...and this is why I doubt we do learn...is that over 15 years ago the phrase 'Corporate Anorexia' was used to define the strategy (well lets call it a strategy!) of throwing away the baby with the bath water when companies in the mid nineties were retrenching executive after executive and all of their corporate knowledge went with them.

Of course his was just prior to the next fad which was Knowledge Management! Funny.

Anyway lets give Franco a platform. He suggests four main lessons can be taken from this often ill advised corporate re organisation:

1. Prepare well (oh really?)

2. Provide assistance to survivors (sounds like the aftermath of a Tsunami)

3. Have a longer term plan to manage dysfunctional behaviours (what sort of nut house corporations has he worked in?)

4. Count your costs because downsizing can generate costs which are underestimated. (Clever lad this Franco!)

So there you go. Don't say you haven't been warned!

http://thechangesamurai.blogspot.com/

HOT NEWS

Larry Ellison took home more pay than any other U.S. CEO in 2009.

Change-Ability

Knowing that we need to change is one thing, how to do it is another. For some people change is simply a choice of "Yesterday I reacted to everything...from today I will respond professionally"..its that simple..a choice. Yet for others it is a long, long climb to the top of the change hill where the barrier points of change confront us at every level.

Charles Darwin who was born 200 years ago new much about change when he said "It's not the strongest of the species who survive, not the most intelligent, but those who are the most adaptive to change".

Marty Wilson is an author and speaker and he talks about three facts of change that are worthy of note.

1. Life is change. Take a look in the mirror. Consider your first day at school, at work, living with someone, children, mortgages, responsibility, failures, successes and it goes on. Please don't tell me you are not adaptable. The issue is in your choice. Not your ability to change, but the poor choice not to change, when change is the right thing to do.

2. When you chose not to change, you lose the future. I like this one. People get all emotional about not wanting to let go. They want to hold on to what is safe, comfortable...the past. Yet they have no idea how great their future could be and so they lose their future.

3. You can't put change in your diary. There is no right time for change. There will always be barrier points and reasons not to change as life throws stuff at us and the black dog in our heads barks at us not to change because it will be dangerous. Just suck it up and do it.

The Philosopher, Wittgenstein said that "The limits of one's language are the limits of one's world".

http://thechangesamurai.blogspot.com/

HOT NEWS

Private equity is coming back so says Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein. 

Most leadership experts...

Most leadership experts argue that the best way to to manage change is to create harmony among the key stakeholders. Sounds okay, but hey...Saj-Nicole A. Joni, CEO of the Cambridge International Group thinks differently and he may have a point!

Research indicates that for large-scale change or innovation initiatives, a healthy dose of dissent is usually just as important. Within an acceptable range of competition and tension, dissent will fire up more of an individuals brain, stimulating more pathways and engaging more creative centres. The point is that too many people often agree, creating an environment of head-nodders. When something clearly is not right the head-nodding continues and the company falls over. Take a look at Lehman Brothers. At the time of its collapse in 2008 they reportedly had one of the strongest cultures of teamwork and loyalty on Wall Street!

Something to think about!

Don't Feed the FEAR!

The language that we use is important...very important. It is not just the self talk that psychologists advise we adopt that is important, but also our communication with other people.

And when I say communication I mean the whole portfolio of interactions from body language to tone of voice.

Colleagues and clients will pick up on any negativity and it will spread. Our negativity and poor use of language becomes a plague that can sweep through a team and organisation destroying any hope of a positive outlook.

Most success is founded on the basic principles of positive thinking. It's easy...you just choose to think, act and speak with a positive language. The impact will be amazing as we change our language from "it may work" to "It will work".

Never underestimate the power of influence that you have on clients. Don't feed their fear...feed their confidence instead!

One day I...

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!"

This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck." He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment.

As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you . Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so.....

"Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't."

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Courtesy Shelley Taylor-Smith

Formulating a Positive Point of View

To formulate a positive point of view, you must replace your ingrained negative patterns of thinking. It's possible to replace these ingrained patterns of thinking because the personal point of view is primarily learned. This principle of human behavior is explained more fully in the following two points.

Our personal point of view develops as we grow up. You may have learned personal values, work ethics, or parenting while growing up. For example, as a parent, when you say anything to your children, you may feel that you sound like your own father or mother. This is because we learned parenting from our own parents.

As adults we tend to act according to what we have learned. We learned our predominant point of view, positive or negative, and tend to live this out. This view manifests itself in our behavior when we manage a negative situation.
To better understand how we tend to live according to our predominant point of view, consider the following example. If a person has learned a predominantly negative pattern of thinking while growing up, then it's possible the person will have the following thoughts in the workplace.

I believe it's a jungle out there.
I believe it's a dog-eat-dog world out there.
I am stupid and incompetent.
No one ever gives me a break. They are always out to get me!

The real danger of negativity is that it feeds on itself. There is both good news and bad news associated with the fact that our predominant pattern of thinking manifests itself in our behavior.

The bad news is that many of us learned the pessimistic pattern of thinking.
The good news is that we can unlearn this pattern and learn a positive point of view.

To unlearn a pessimistic point of view successfully and develop a positive one, always keep this idea in your thoughts: "I choose how to view a situation." This idea is the basis for developing a positive point of view.

When you say, "I choose how to view a situation," you can choose to view things optimistically, and you gain control. This can help you avoid your pessimistic pattern of thinking in negative situations.

Choosing a positive response starts by being aware of how a situation affects you. You can recognize if you are reacting negatively by being aware of the signals, or indicators, from your body and mind. An indicator you can anticipate is your increasing stress level. Your thoughts become confused and worried, and you develop a short fuse. You find it difficult to smile.

Remember, by choosing to view things optimistically, over a period of time you can internalize and lock in what you have learned and begin to formulate a more positive point of view.

Courtesy of Shawn Grant

The Power of the Coffee Bean

You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again. A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.' 'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied. Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. 'Which are you?' she asked her daughter.

'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or coffee beans? Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a break-up, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavour.

If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or coffee beans? May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

Live your life like the coffee bean and let the ripple of your actions change the world!

Courtesy of Maganathin Marcus Veeraragaloo