Creating Authentic Solutions for Stubborn Systemic Problems
Why would one join a coaching group, get oneself an executive coach, or hire an outside consultant? Why? What’s the purpose? What prompts one’s decision? What does one hope to get out of it? Do expectations match reality? Yes, it’s rather comforting to be surrounded by one’s peers, people who can relate to your own …
On December 15th 1903 Wilbur Wright telegraphed his father and sister “Success Assured”. Mind you, that was two days before he and his brother Orville made the first successful manned, controlled, and sustained flight in a heavier than air flying machine in history—the birth of aviation. You may ask, what bolstered Wilbur’s confidence? I’m telling you, there’s …
It cannot be stated often enough, repeated again-and-again, business IS a system. As a matter of fact, we live our lives in relationships to systems, whether they be economic, social, educational, political, geographic, or family. WHAT IS A SYSTEM? A system is a network comprised of COMPONENT PARTS—including people—and their CONNECTIONS. Every part contributes its own unique …
Continue reading “PREDATORY CULTIVATION ― AN UNFORTUNATE BEST PRACTICE”
Today, on my walk with my dog Enzo, I was wondering about the meaning of BEING a leader. How does one become a leader anyway? And, what is its significance for other people? How does it affect their lives? These musings were prompted by the daily avalanche of descriptors of leadership—what it IS—provided by nearly every leadership adviser, …
Change is an EVENT in the relationship between the desired state and the current state of a business. Events are characterized by a distinct relationship between a CAUSE and an EFFECT. Causes occur either by accident or by choice. Effects are the telltale of the occurrence of an event; effects are the only phenomena we observe or experience, while …
Times and situations that present personal challenges can be interpreted as a Call to Adventure; an invitation to embark on a hero’s journey. Joseph Campbell described the hero’s journey in his epic book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Although every traveler receives the adventure for which s/he is ready, a common theme is the father …
Business education is still organized around Newton’s principle of Reductionism. As a result, the complex organic whole that we know as a business, is broken up into its component parts. Then, each individual piece is analyzed separately, and in isolation of all other parts. The unavoidable consequence of disconnecting parts from each other is severing …
FORTUNA was the goddess of fortune and the personification of luck in Roman religion. The Late Antique author Boethius provides us with a visual description of Fortuna turning her wheel: “Inconstancy is my very essence; it is the game I never cease to play as I turn my wheel in its ever changing circle, filled …
Has the word “leadership” joined the ranks of “**FREE**” or “Sex” aimed at catching a reader’s attention? Stepping into the role of observer, I noticed how nearly every article on business is about leadership in one form or another, and new forms crop up every day. Is it true, then, has leaders’ interest and curiosity …
We’ve all read the books, we’ve all seen the quotes, and we’ve all shared those quotes on social media, so we should all know by now: Nothing changes until we change. Be the change you want to see in this world. Freedom lies on the other side of the wall we built all by ourselves. …