How a Military Training Process Can Help You Lead

Being powerful in translating intentions into reality and sustaining them requires presence and adaptability in the face of life’s circumstances – circumstances that can change every moment.  Where can we turn for tools to support ourselves? The United States military has long taught our special ops teams and fighter pilots a thought process called the OODA Loop.  These teams function in relatively small units who have large assignments with very limited time and resources.  They train incessantly and plan their missions in incredible detail.  Yet, no plan survives its collision with reality and conditions in the field often differ from those on the planning table.

Adherence to the original plan would sometimes mean immediate capture or death and certain failure.  Given their commitment, failure is not an option and "all or nothing" is often the choice.  They must be able to make sometimes dramatic adjustments to achieve mission objectives and extract themselves with minimal to no casualties.

The OODA Loop thought process is an excellent antidote to holding onto the way it was supposed to be, the resources they were supposed to have, and the unfairness of the situation.  The acronym simply means:

1)     Observe the actual “ground truth” – the way that it is and the way that it isn’t rather than how it was supposed to be.  2)     Orient to the actual situation, the observable roadblocks and potholes, the unknowns, and the resources available.  Consider the options and strategies that are available. 3)     Decide on a path and how long you can go before reorientation is required. 4)     Act on your plan 5)     Immediately start the process over

In Organizational Development circles the Action Research people would be most comfortable with this thought process. 

In your world, how can you apply this simple, clear process to return yourself to working on your purpose and priorities?  How can you use to deal with the "Tyranny of Push Content" we addressed in our last post?  How can this OODA loop concept benefit your leadership development?

Dealing With The Tyranny of "Push Content"

Are you overwhelmed with the "tyranny" of emails, newsletters, Facebook and LinkedIn updates, tweets, and phone messages coming at you by the hour?  Do you have a feeling of guilt that somehow you are accountable for responding to all of them, even though you didn’t ask for most of them in the first place?  Is the e-stack in your inbox getting deeper and deeper?  Do you feel like a slave to your Blackberry or iPhone?  Are you spending longer hours responding and giving yourself less quiet time?  Virtually everyone we work with is concerned about this issue, not only for themselves but also for those who work with and for them.  If everyone is sending and responding to the stuff shoved at them all day, when is there time to think and be proactive and who is doing the work?

When we engage clients in conversations for solutions around this issue we hear several categories of reasons why they are complaining yet not able to get a handle on this:

1)   Fear & defensiveness.  There is a message in the stack that has a real zinger in it and they can’t take the risk of missing it. Key people will judge them harshly as being non-responsive or irresponsible.

2)   Beliefs & judgments. "Good people" answer all their emails and messages. If they were just more organized they would have time to be successful at responding to everything.

3)   Addiction. They are hooked on Facebook, Twitter and the like.

4)   Absence of clarity. Vision, goals and priorities are subsumed by the sheer onslaught of “incoming.”  “What I started out to get done when I headed for the office was lost within a half-hour after I got there.”

To me, (and I struggle mightily with this as well), the antidote is:

1)   Remind myself that I did not ask for much of the incoming and never promised to answer it.

2)   Refocus on my strategic priorities regularly throughout the day and ask if what I’m doing is forwarding any of them.

3)   Choose to let the email and networking site updating slide and just sit with the discomfort.

4)   Keep looking for practical processes that support my intention to be the most productive I can be while also being reasonably responsive.

5)   Insist on setting out quiet times and free times to think, relax, and restore, even if I can only fit in a 15 minute break at times.

6)   Insure I get at least my minimum exercise and yoga practice in.

How do you handled the onslaught of incoming? What practices and processes are you employing to keep yourself sane, productive, and on purpose?

It's Time To Renegotiate

As we observe our clients,  and business trends we believe now is the time to renegotiate and "re-contract" all of your relationships.  In our  post called the New Rules from early last year we said, “all bets are off” and "all the rules have changed.”  Given all of the big pictures changes to doing business in the last 18 months or so the New Rules gave us a way to work with our clients to help them navigate the unprecedented challenges. With the new year, new decade and the passage of time we now believe we have reached the next level and it's an important time to re-evaluate and re-contract.  (We also consider this the third step in developing your approach to the year. First step we blogged about was to complete 2009, second step was to create a plan for 2010.) It seems to us almost everywhere we look since January 1^st there is a new, refreshed attitude, (although we do recognize many are still struggling and we offer our compassion and empathy to those still in the midst of major issues).  We see companies "cleaning their closets," making  final changes to their rosters and negotiating to buy or merge. We  observe people leaving, (or getting ready to leave), their current employment,  and starting new jobs. Overall there seems to be a general shift to action mode with a "let’s get to it" attitude.

We just attended a workshop for Vistage Chairs, (www.vistage.com), in the Orange County area this week led by a wise teacher, James Newton of Newton Learning Corp.  During the discussion, James brought up the concept of "re-contracting" with our CEO groups for 2010.  His presentation connected with what I have been experiencing and it has lit a fire to "re-contract" in every area of my life.

There are three fronts to this effort.  The first is to "take the offensive" in areas where your suppliers or partners may be planning on re-negotiating your existing relationships and just haven’t gotten to you yet. Take some time to review these relationships and make sure you are clear on what you want, what you are willing to pay, and how you want to move forward in the future. Be proactive so you aren't caught off-guard and unprepared.

The second is to review and update expectations about how things are being done inside your firm. Work with team leaders, department heads, and/or your executives. Get their take on how things are going in their various areas of responsibility and what they see can be improved in 2010. Make as many areas visible and mutually agreed upon as possible in order to have the greatest level of effectiveness and velocity possible. 

The third is to re-contract your relationships in the rest of your life.  Having authentic conversations during quieter moments regarding mutual expectations and arriving at agreements for who will do what, and how you will solve any breakdowns will take a lot of friction out of your relationships. There will be much more opportunity to enjoy your relationships this coming year if you have taken time to work some things out in advance.

I suggest a very simple formula for re-contracting your relationships: 1) Take some time to clearly articulate "what I want from you." Make sure you have reflected before the conversation and are very clear about your priorities. Producing a verbal laundry list is likely to be received with overwhelm so be specific. 2) Take time to listen to "what you want from me." It's critical to be open, curious and receptive. You can't fairly expect to successfully re-contract if you aren't able to really hear what people want from you.  3) Discussion - make sure you have allotted enough uninterrupted time for some thorough discussion.  4) Counter offers - this is critical. Be ready and willing to negotiate. 5) Agreement - the goal is to end the conversation with mutual understanding and acceptance.

We'd love to hear about your re-contracting experiences. Let us know how this works for you!

Ready for 2010? First, complete 2009

It’s the time of year when many of us conduct annual rituals that may include everything from strategic planning sessions for business to making New Year’s resolutions or setting Bold Goals for 2010 and beyond.  We’ve found any such process to be much harder to do when we haven’t completed and let go of the past.  It's very difficult, (impossible?), to really move forward when we are carting the past along with us. The process of letting go can include changing your attitude and perceptions about what the economy did to you, to digging very deep and letting go of some of the childhood stuff that shapes your life. On the fun end of the spectrum, we have for many years put flip chart paper all over our walls when we have a New Year’s Eve party with a simple question on each, such as “What did I start and not complete?” or “What did I accomplish that I haven’t been acknowledged for?” or “What did I screw up that I didn’t get caught for?”  Guests write on the charts all evening with colored markers and sometimes get even more creative with a touch of artistic display as well.  On a number of occasions we have taken them all down at midnight and symbolically burned them.

On a business note, we just completed a week of group meetings with our executive clients where we passed out an exercise with questions for them to fill out and discuss that explored accomplishments and failures in their businesses, practice of leadership, and lives.  One of my favorites is “What must I communicate to be complete with 2009 and to whom?”

A few of the highlights from the executive discussions included discoveries of attachments participants did not realize were holding them back, people around them who they had failed to acknowledge, and places where they were not leading by example.  For a couple of clients who have transitioned into the next phase of life after full-time CEO work, they discovered that there is not much useful and generally accepted language in our culture to describe someone who is no longer working full-time and yet intends to offer a contribution.  This opened up an exploration of advisor, teacher, mentor, sage, and wisdom roles. 

We also were reminded that for many folks the holidays can include a lot of upset, ranging form anxiety around gift giving and office party attendance to remembrances of lost loved ones or unhappy childhood experiences related to the holidays.  The latter is fertile ground for completion work, of course. 

One of the participants in our completion work summed up the experience of working with the exercise as “transition/transformation is a lot of work!”  If you are intending to be powerful in 2010, have big goals, and produce great results, we highly recommend you spend the next couple of weeks completing and letting go of 2009, (and earlier if you need to), in order to create fertile ground for your 2010 vision to come alive.

If you would like to try our exercise format we have included it here as a free download.

Wishing you a happy ending to your 2009 and a fabulous 2010!

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Thanksgiving and Thank You

This week on Thursday the US will celebrate Thanksgiving. We are getting close to the end of the year and many have already begun to reflect on all that has happened. It’s been an extraordinary year on many levels -- politically and financially our country has gone through a lot of change. Many people have also gone through a lot personally in areas including their finances, employment and home ownership. As we come to Thanksgiving, and look back on this extraordinary year, we at 2130 Partners want to say “thank you” and express our gratitude. First to our team, that we fondly call “the collaborative.” We are grateful to have amazing, talented, and committed people to work with, collaborate with and have fun with.

We also feel grateful to all of our clients -- both through Vistage and 2130. We appreciate working with you and getting to do the work we love every day with you.

We also want to thank all of you who read the blog. We especially appreciate the comments, feedback and the dialogue that has occurred. When we started the blog back in February we were hopeful that it could provide a provocative forum and we are grateful for your participation.

We wish you a very happy holiday week! And if you are outside the US, we hope your week is joy-filled as well!

How Will Your Holidays Be This Year?

Our culture has an expectation of the picture perfect “Norman Rockwell” holiday experience. Family gathered around a beautifully set table, a lovely home-cooked holiday meal. Yet for many, many people, the holidays are one of the most stressful times of the year. With the state of the economy and many people’s business and/or personal finances, the holidays may be even more stressful than usual this year. On a professional level, if you are a business owner, entrepreneur or executive your business may still be suffering from the state of the economy. At this time of year when employees are hoping for bonuses, parties or some other sort of acknowledgment, what will you be able to do this year to keep up morale? It may not be realistic from a budgetary standpoint to do much, but with all the stress and challenges, doing nothing just reinforces the sense that “things aren’t right” yet. It’s difficult for a team to perform at their peak when extremely stressed. Finding a way to reassure and boost morale is an important leadership move.

On a personal level the pressure to meet family expectations often increases stress levels and doesn’t necessarily bring out the best in us. Old dynamics and family patterns can make people dread family time during the holidays. The state of the economy may also be impacting the scale of how you normally celebrate, which can increase the stress of what may already be a stressful time.

With all this potential for stress, you may find yourself, or those around you getting “triggered” more frequently. Whether in the work place or at home, are you prepared to be a role model and to lead during these stressful times?  It’s a good idea to take a few minutes to prepare and reflect about this and review your skills for navigating upsets. We have a paper on our web site about managing upsets and there is a great formula at the end for dealing with them. http://www.2130partners.com/articles/

Another key to keep in mind is that when things around us are breaking down there is an opportunity for reinvention. For example, if your company has always thrown a pricey holiday party or given a bonus and that’s not possible this year, why not organize a group charity event?  Take the team out for a few hours and give back to the community in some way as a group. It’s an opportunity to bond, and to build morale through giving back. Perhaps do a competitive food or coat drive within your organization and give a prize to the team or individual that brings in the most donations? Employees can decorate, get promotional and get in the team spirit for a competition like this.

To find charity and volunteer opportunities in the Seattle area you can click here http://bit.ly/304kCa

To find opportunities in Orange County you can click here http://www.volunteercenter.org/

Almost anywhere in the US has a United Way and they also have volunteer opportunities and information.

Perhaps one of the best leadership moves you can make is to collaborate with your team and family about what will happen this year as far as celebrations. Be honest about what you see as realistic and ask for creative suggestions and input. Getting others involved will make them feel a sense of ownership and there are a lot of festive people out there who love a chance to get creative about celebrating.

Most of all, give yourself a break, meaning, be kind to yourself. The more positive your own internal dialogue is, the better you will be able to treat those around you and the better you will be able to successfully navigate what may be a stressful time.

What's Your Comfort Zone?

The term “comfort zone”  has become a popular way to describe how we are feeling about various activities we are taking part in – “that pushed me way out of my comfort zone,” or “that was not in my comfort zone,” are pretty common phrases these days. When we talk about our “comfort zone” what we are talking about is our personal orbit, our range of personal activities. Each of us has a daily routine, a weekly routine and perhaps even a monthly or yearly routine. Generally speaking we are creatures of habit and we develop comfort zones we like, and of course, feel comfortable in.

Often, even when we do try to venture out of it, we are quickly pulled back in to it. There is a dynamic called “homeostasis” which is critical to this. Homeostasis has both psychological and physical implications and what it’s pointing to is the fundamental and biological drive for equilibrium and stability in a system, (and yes, we are including human beings as systems). In effect, homeostasis helps create and regulate our “comfort zones.” This is a very important phenomenon to understand. It works for us in critical ways.  For example, it helps keep our body temperatures stable. As we know, we all have a set-point for body temperature that is on average 98.6 degrees. The homeostasis in our bodies helps insure that when our temperature fluctuates, it comes back to this comfortable set point.  The downside is that when we challenge ourselves psychologically and emotionally in various ways,  there can be a “homeostatic back lash,” and a strong pull to go back to our existing comfort zone until we have solidly established a new set point.

So our comfort zone is somewhat like a thermostat. Unconsciously it has been set at a particular point and when we change it, it takes some time to “heat up or cool down” to the new set point.

An amazing example of this is the research that has been done on lottery winners. It has been found that generally, if someone was poor before winning the lottery, they will end up poor again. If they were middle class, they would ultimately end up middle class again and so on.  This is a powerful example of what happens when our set points or comfort zones are radically and unexpectedly challenged and how powerful homeostasis can be.

As we discuss comfort zones, set points, etc. we want to be clear that this is not a piece about people who plod along and move slowly or people who seem risk averse. If you are a fast-paced, “go go go” type of person that is your comfort zone. What if you had to slow down, be more reflective, bring your energy “down and in” instead of being an “up and out” kind of person?  What if you had to take on a meditation practice? Would you still be in your comfort zone? What if you are a thrill seeker and look for ways to “push the envelope” all the time? What would happen if you lived a more mundane existence and had to experience the ordinary?  Would you still be in your comfort zone?

The thing is, if you want new outcomes, bigger results and to achieve your vision are you ready to expand your comfort zone? Are you ready to alter your personal orbit? Are you fortified and prepared for the inevitable backlash that may come from inside you, but also from those around you who may feel threatened or unnerved by change?  If you are part of their system, their orbit, their comfort zone, and you change, what happens to their comfort zone? If you aren’t ready to expand your orbit, how can you expect your colleagues, team, or employees to do it?

Fear, Courage and Leadership

This morning in a one-to-one with a client, I was once again reminded how much and how easily even the seemingly most successful people can be derailed from handling the roadblocks and potholes they encounter in life. From my perspective, what stops each of us is fear. It is unconsciously and instantaneously triggered when our Survival Brain connects something in the present with an experience stored in our mental File Cabinet from early childhood. I've heard those incidents described in various ways. John Eldredge in his "Wild At Heart" talks about our "original wound."  I usually think of the very bottom of the barrel as that first negative declaration I made about myself, "I'm no damn good!"  Scratch that one and I'm on my knees.  No way am I going forward, I'm out of here.

As early as 1937 Napoleon Hill, in writing his book "Think and Grow Rich," thought taking on fear was so important that he devoted 48 pages of a 374-page book to it.

Chapter 56 of Yann Martel's wonderful book, "The Life of Pi," is the most effective short piece about fear that I have ever read.  After arguing the importance of expressing your fear by "shine[ing] the light of words upon it" he delivers the coup de grace: "Because If you don't, if your fear becomes a wordless darkness that you avoid, perhaps even manage to forget, you open yourself to further attacks of fear because you never truly fought the opponent who defeated you."

In his new book "Five Questions That Change Everything," John Scherer's first question is "What Confronts Me?"  His very first chapter, Facing Your Tiger, starts digging right in where Yann Martel is pointing us.  You can get a sample of the discussion in John's blog post, Survival Principle #7: Face Your Tigers

As he says, "the bottom line: if you run away from a tiger, your chances of survival are essentially zero.  But, they say, if you turn and face the tiger, you may stand a chance."  He concludes with "Because, let's face it, (so to speak), if you are not facing one of your 'tigers', it's already eating you." 

For me there is a recipe for approaching is creating your fear and for finding your courage.  It's not easy, but it's worth a try.

1) Ask yourself "what are the attributes of the relationship or situation I am confronting (avoiding) if it all turned out beyond my wildest dreams,"  i.e., invent your Yonder Star for the relationship or situation.

2) Pick a modest goal on the path to that Yonder Star.

3) Write a brief Purpose and Intended Outcomes for the conversation(s) you are going to have. Ask what space am I trying to create and what specific results will be achieved?

4) Commit yourself to your goal - face your tiger!

5) Summon your courage. For this purpose I define courage as the willingness to enter into a seemingly dangerous conversation with no idea how you will get back out of it, let alone fulfill your Purpose and Intended Outcomes.

6) Engage. Share your Yonder Star and your commitment. Be vulnerable.

7) Listen and ask questions.

8) Never give up. If you fail, schedule the next round, as many times as necessary.

What have you found powerful to access breakthroughs in courage and your desired outcomes?

What Are You Practicing?

What comes to mind when you read the word "practice?" Perhaps you think of taking your child to soccer, baseball, or football practice? Maybe you think of practicing the piano, (or some other musical instrument)? Perhaps practice in the context of spirituality - having a "spiritual practice." The concept of practice is extremely important. It's easy to see the value of it in the realm of sports. Even the greatest athletes practice continuously. It's not like they get to the top and then they rest. All sports stars in all sports disciplines work to refine, improve and maintain their skills. It's hard to imagine Roger Federer, LeBron James, or Ben Roethlisberger talking about how great it is that they don't have to practice anymore and all they do is play games and tournaments. And it's the same with great musicians.

But what about the rest of us? What if we aren't sports stars or musicians? Do we practice? And if so  - what do we practice? We would like to suggest that not only do all of us practice, but that we are continuously practicing all the time. We all have patterns of thought, emotion and behavior that we are repeating daily, hourly and moment by moment. Constant repetition is practice. Think about it. Don't you have a daily routine? A pattern of the way you start your day? Maybe you get up, take a shower, turn on the TV for news and brew some coffee. If you do that every day, it's a practice. What about your team meetings? Do you always prepare in the same way? Maybe you check emails, create notes, grab some coffee, turn off your cell phone and get to the meeting 5 minutes early? If you do it the same way each time you are practicing. A practice is really any pattern or routine of thoughts and behavior that we repeat and reinforce.

This is true on the emotional level as well. Perhaps you have noticed when you talk to your mom on the phone there is a way in which the same dynamics seem to happen over and over. You may even get off the phone and tell a spouse or friend, "there she goes again! I said 'X' and she said 'Y' just like always. You know how it is." Again, this is a practice. A routine that has developed on a subtle level between the two of you.

In order to really lead your life and business from a place of choice, it's important to build some self-awareness around what you are practicing in the realms of thought and emotion. What habits do you have that are unconscious? In what ways are they limiting? In what ways are they beneficial?

If you find that you are repeating patterns that aren't creating the results you want, what will you do next? It's important to build positive practices for positive change in the areas that you want to experience improvement.

This is a complex subject and requires self-observation skills. If you need help building some awareness contact us. We have a Leadership Profile tool to help you gain new clarity and insight into your personal patterns. We also have Power Hour coaching sessions that can help you gain perspective.

Feeling Overwhelmed? You're Not Alone

One of the expressions we hear often from our clients these days, in reference to themselves and/or their team members, is overwhelm. Whether they say it or not, we definitely see it and also its consequence - inaction-- quite regularly.  Another, (and perhaps more precise), word that describes what we see is 'unraveled.'  "Overwhelm" is actually a fairly general word, a sort of "catch all" phrase. So what are people really saying when they use it? It could mean they are drowning, engulfed, rendered totally ineffective by decisive defeat or, at the least, impaired severely in spirit and health. If they are unraveled, we could also say they have fallen apart. Regardless of the precise wording, when people are in this state there seems to be no access to freedom, creativity, leadership, productive action, or even good health.

Since it seems to be almost epidemic right now, we thought we'd throw out the start of a recipe for getting beyond overwhelm and unraveling and ask you if you have some good ingredients to add to the mix.

1) Breathe - in particular, exhale. Take 10 deep, slow breaths several times a day to send the "all clear" signal to the part of your brain that is on alert and condemning you to fight, flight, freeze or appease thinking.  Don't underestimate the power of this simple, and always available practice.

2) Re-examine "The New Rules"  in our April 3^rd posting.

3) Ask yourself "which, or how many, of The New Rules am I resisting?"

4) Identify where you are trying to hold on or what you are trying to hold on to. Pay close attention - are any of your pet beliefs being threatened?

5) Ask, "Am I willing to let go, to allow myself, the team, and events to unfold?"

6) Ask, "If I weren't afraid, what Yonder Star would I be pursuing?"

7) Ask, "What is the most impactful action I/we can take to forward progress in fulfilling our Yonder Star?"

8) Do it. Take action. Purposeful action will clear your brain, help clear the bad chemicals from your body, reconnect you with the people around you, and restore your spirit.

"The more we allow ourselves to unfold the less we are likely to unravel." - Irwin Kula, Embracing The Sacred Messiness of Life

What practices do you have for returning yourself to center, getting your focus back, and restoring yourself to purposeful action?

Sustainability Amid Scarcity

In the face of dramatic economic dislocation, the bogyman de jour, and unrelenting change, how will I divine how to proceed, whether individually or collectively? At what level of collaboration should I be concerned anyway?

A new magazine called “Yes!” has sprung up in the Pacific Northwest whose focus has great relevance to this question. Its mission is to support you and other people worldwide in building a just, sustainable, and compassionate world. The new summer edition is completely dedicated to articles about “The New Economy” which address the opening question in this blog posting head-on.

One article, “Age-Old Wisdom for the New Economy” is an interview with Rebecca Adamson, a distinguished Native American leader. She shares indigenous people’s age-old knowledge that drives to the heart of the matter of who to be with regard to the entire swirl around us. Following are a few of the many highlights in that article.

“An indigenous system is based on prosperity, creation, kinship, and a sense of enough-ness. It is about sharing.” She contrasts that with our recent economic gain focused society where “individual property rights are treated as exclusive.” She observes that a background of scarcity, or the notion that there’s not enough, drives this focus - we’re going to run out of _____ (fill in the blank for yourself).

We find scarcity running rampant with many of our clients. There’s not enough money, not enough time, not enough good people, not enough responsibility, not enough you name it. We also see many people pointing fingers at others for trying to get “theirs,” - Wall St. bankers going after huge pay and bonuses, for example - without realizing that it is the very paradigm in which our economic lives have been built that is at the root of the problem. You and I are not immune to, or separate from, that paradigm. It has been said that fish don’t know they are in water.

We invite you to examine where, in your own life, scarcity is running the show. What are the consequences of that belief, both for you and for those around you? What is it costing to allow that way of being to continue?

Rebecca offers an antidote that we invite you to try on for a period of time long enough for you to observe its effects. “Maintain the stance of abundance through tough times and through good times by having a spiritual base and good values - by caring about something other than yourself.” She continues, “Abundance comes not from stuff. In fact, stuff is an indication of non-abundance. Abundance is in the sacred: it’s in the connection of love. We find abundance through hard times when we find each other.”

The way we express her perspective is that abundance is a place to come from, a context to generate for your life and the lives of those around you. It takes intentional intervention on your part into the everyday noise of talking heads, threat levels, crises, and very real changes to the way things have worked or been done in the past. Generate it and then generate it again and again. Notice how your relationship with abundance/scarcity shifts. Discover how what you do and how you do it takes on new direction and meaning.

The Value of Cooperation vs. Competition

As many have written, (including us), these are extraordinary times. The thing is, they are likely more extraordinary than most of us realize. During today's Maestro Month Conference lecture, scientist/spiritualist and best-selling author Gregg Braden explained we are in a rare window of time and this generation is experiencing the greatest number and greatest magnitude of challenges of any generation in the last 5,000 years. He also says that other experts and great minds agree these challenges are being driven by natural cycles that are so rare we forget they even exist. (No wonder we all feel so stressed and overwhelmed!) The balance of this post is based on notes from Gregg's amazing lecture today. In 2005, experts from many fields gathered to ask in essence, "what's going on?" from a meta perspective. The journal Scientific American released an issue about this symposium called Crossroads for Planet Earth. On the cover, the subtitle is "will we choose to create the best of all possible worlds?" The bottom line of this symposium's outcome is that choices we are making right now during these months and years in the immediate future will determine our long-term outcome - and whatever is going to happen is going to happen soon. This means each of us - including you and me - are determining our collective futures by the actions and choices we are making right now.

We can go back through the history of the earth by drilling into and examining the ice cores in Antarctica. In doing this, scientists have discovered that these changes in earth cycles are really intense and they are also brief, so the transition we are currently experiencing is unlikely to go on for generation after generation. In fact, it will likely be only one generation. So we as a civilization must respond now. The choices each of us are making today will determine our collective future.

What scientists have discovered looking at archaeological records is civilizations that cooperate make it through these great transitions. Civilizations that didn't cooperate collapsed by reacting from fear, competition and aggression. By trying to "hold on to theirs," they essentially destroyed themselves. This is the value of looking at the past. We can see what worked and what did not. So the choice is clear - are we going to be fearful and fight and compete or are we going to help one another?

If you are not a believer in reviewing ancient history, how about the results of some recent scientific studies? Between the years 1998 and 2000, 400 studies were designed to identify the optimum amount of violent competition in a species. They looked at numerous varieties of species and the findings were consistent - the optimal amount of competition is "zero." They found that cooperation among species is what insures their survival. So the only way we can make successfully make this transition is to examine and rid ourselves of our notions of 'Darwinian competition' and learn to cooperate and help each other. This means at every level and on a global scale - not just how do I cooperate with my next door neighbors and others in business? But how do nations cooperate with other nations?

It is predicted that this transition will be complete relatively soon. It started in the 1980s and may be complete as early as 2016. We have already met and transcended many challenges and we have shown that while facing these unprecedented challenges, we are surviving and finding ways to solve our problems.

So know that it's a rare time. These changes are stressing all of our systems e.g. how we produce energy, and food and economics and also our personal lives. Systems that are sustainable will continue, and those that cannot will break and make way for something new. While this is happening we can insure the successful outcome of the changes and transitions by cooperating, collaborating and helping each other out.

So ask yourself - who have you helped today? Did you come up with a great cooperative joint venture with another company that will create a "win win" for both businesses? Did you help a colleague get an important project approved or completed? Did you make time to help a neighbor, a friend, or someone in one of your communities? Did you create just a little peace by letting someone get on the freeway more easily or make a safe lane change? It will take a cumulative effect of many cooperative acts great and small, but we can do this if we do it together from a mindset of cooperation instead of a mindset of competition.

Many thanks to Gregg Braden for his work and to Maestro Conference for hosting lectures by luminary thinkers for free!

Leadership Lessons from "The Blind Adventurer"

Every once in a while something comes along that is well beyond extraordinary.  The opportunity to hear Erik Weihenmayer, known as "The Blind Adventurer," give an hour and a half presentation on his experiences, motivations, lessons learned, and extraordinary worldview, was just that. Erik has reached the summit of the seven most challenging mountains in the world, including Everest, and successfully returned.  Erik's views are particularly applicable in navigating the New Rules for Reality 2.0 that we have been talking about. He emphasizes the essential role of vision, which he describes as "who you will be versus what you will do," when confronting the unknown. He views himself, and anyone who is in a transformational leadership mode, as a pioneer - someone who reaches into the darkness, the unknown, and then channels fear and adversity into action and fulfillment. To him, such people are alchemists who can turn straw into gold through being the light that shines for our vision.

His view of "summiting," which is such an all-important focus for climbers, is that it is a symbol that we can transform our lives and even the very face of the earth.  He asserts that there are summits for each of us, regardless of the venues in which we find ourselves, summits that express the essence of who we really are.

 He quoted a Buddhist saying from the prayer service on Everest prior to summiting as "The nature of mind is like water.  If you do not disturb it, it will become clear."  Quieting the mind is crucial to being present, making powerful choices, and dealing with the risk and pain that leadership in the face of fear, resistance, and unrelenting change demands.

 He makes a point that is fundamental to our work in 2130 Partners. "When you set your rope team up right, leadership comes from the most amazing places."  Further, as in the focus we have on legacy, he says "the most important part of leadership is how we pass it on to others."

 Erik is an amazingly awesome and simultaneously amazingly regular guy.  We urge you to hear him in a number of You Tube clips and also to buy his book, "Touch the Top of the World: A Blind Man's Journey to Climb Farther than the Eye Can See: My Story

What Does Leadership Mean These Days?

As many have written, the model of leadership known as “command and control” is on the way out. “Command and control” has been the cultural paradigm of leadership for a very long time. It is all about having an authoritative leader, who knows most, (if not all), the answers and loyal troops who follow this leader. Hallmarks of this style include motivation through authority and fear. It also encourages the troops to follow the rules and policies and “fall in line,” versus being creative and innovative. To a large extent this style creates dependency of the troops on the leaders, and rewards status quo. It is not a particularly efficient model of operation. So what does ‘leadership’ mean now? Clearly that is a complicated question. At 2130, we believe to understand that question you need to start with "who are leaders now?" How do you define them? From our perspective, we believe that everyone can and should be a leader -- that leadership is not dependent on having a particular job title or rank in an organization. We’ll let Suzanne Frindt, one of our Co-Founders explain it:

So how do we all become leaders? What are the skills required? These questions are fundamental to the work we do at 2130. There are a lot of leadership theories out there, (and a lot of good information and great writers). However, our focus is on the day-to-day experience of leadership. Theories are great until you get back to the office and find frustrated employees, team relations breaking down, and challenges with vendors and partners. We believe it’s critical that leaders, (meaning everyone interested in leading their business and their life), build practical day-to-day skills and capacities so they can create the results they want.

Our Productive Interactions program is designed to help people do just that and our next session is on Friday, July 17th in Orange County. We’d love to see you there. (Click here for more information.) If you can’t make it, we are going to do more posts in the future to help people understand the value of interacting productively and how you can build those skills.

In order to lead your life, you gotta shake loose...

One of the keys to being the leader of your life is shaking loose of some larger cultural ideas that limit creativity, freedom and the ability to generate the future you want. Mike Cook at Vitalwork, delves deeply into some of these larger cultural constraints in his book, 'Thrive: Standing On Your Own Two Feet in a Borderless World." In particular, he points out a key issue that when left unexamined, limits our ability to lead our lives.

The issue is an attitude of "entitlement" that developed in employer-employee relationships during the industrial era and is now rapidly being displaced. In Mike's description, entitlement means “I deserve this job, and to be taken care of by my employer.” On a broader level it connects to expectations about "what I should receive" as a result of position, hard work, loyalty, birth rite, etc. To us, this shift is at the heart of the fear that dominates our lives and airwaves in the USA. Whether from loss of a job, sharply reduced financial reserves, loss of perceived political power, or safety from foreign threats, the sense of “I have a right to this” is being significantly threatened.  

This is a difficult and complex cultural shift.  As an antidote, try using Mike's "Engagement Model" - specifically, "be engaged,” with what you want to get done in your lifetime. To engage is to choose to involve yourself in, or commit yourself to something, as opposed to remaining aloof or indifferent. Here are some of the steps:

Practice being present to the way things are and the way they are not, while leaving your opinions and judgments about it aside. (This relates to one of 2130's key Operating Principles -  'Nothing is wrong or broken here.")

Give up trying to fit yourself into what the world seems to want or value at any trendy moment. Start pulling out the authentic you that you have always dreamt of being and start designing yourself from that goal or "Yonder Star." 

You may find it useful to connect with a really good friend. We would define that as one who listens powerfully and tells you the truth versus what you want to hear. You could also go to a coach or a group consisting of folks on a similar path.  It is often much more transformative to hear your thoughts out loud and as they are said back to you from another, truly supportive person's perspective.

To play in "Reality 2.0: The New Rules," let go, reinvent yourself, and get on with your life!  Trust David Whyte's  observation that "the soul would rather fail at its own life than succeed at someone else's."

The Debilitating Role of The Bogeyman

We were recently introduced to a great blog called "synthesis" written by Shafeen Charania. (Thanks so much Barbie for the comment on our blog that led us to read synthesis!) In his most recent post, "basest instincts," Shafeen writes about fear at the level of panic. He shines a light on the incredible downside that results from fear driven leadership, whether in society or an organization.  He also reminds us how often the resultant sense of panic can be destructive. 

If we look back at history it seems that over time, society goes from "terror to terror." Whether the "Red Scare" of communism in the 50s, or more recently Al Qaeda, immigration, and the Bear market -- and even this week, Swine Flu. This got us thinking about the mythology of the "bogeyman."  The idea of the bogeyman crosses cultural boundaries and seems to have been around since the Middle Ages.  According to Wikipedia, "The bogeyman has no specific appearance, and conceptions of the monster can vary drastically even from household to household within the same community; in many cases he simply has no set appearance in the mind of a child, but is just an amorphous embodiment of terror." This idea of an "amorphous embodiment of terror" is important. It speaks to the power of the imagination, and what happens when fear takes hold because of an idea or possibility and the mind runs with it. We're not saying there's never anything to be afraid of and we're not recommending reckless disregard for safety or consequences. What we are pointing to is that often the level of fear exceeds facts and reality, and there are significant consequences when fear is "driving the bus." There is no doubt that fear can be a motivator. However, the often ignored question is, 'What outcome did we get as a result of fear driving the process? Did we get what we wanted? What were the costs or consequences?'

In light of our proposed "New Rules" it's easy to see that the costs may even be far greater than Shafeen portrays.  When fear, or the latest version of "the bogeyman" is in charge, the survival part of our brain takes over, (literally, our neurobiological defense mechanisms kick in), and we are limited to fight, flight, freeze, or appease reactions.  That's it. Only four options. Nowhere in that list is the ability to be present, creative, observant, thoughtful or collaborative, and yet these are the very attributes needed to be effective during these challenging times when all the rules have changed and no one knows the new rules yet. Creating and executing from a shared Yonder Star™? Not available to leaders and teams who are driven by fear and focused on survival. 

So all of this begs the question - Where is the bogeyman in your life and your business?  What bed is he hiding under, or, as portrayed in the Pacific Northwest, what green fog is about to get you? 

To dramatically raise your own and your organization's performance, identify and displace "bogeyman thinking" with Vision-Focused Leadership™. Actively collaborate from an orientation of vision versus an orientation of fear and we predict you will experience significant and positive outcomes. 

Leadership: The Danger of 'Tool Seduction'

We suggest you pick up a copy of High Altitude Leadership: What The World's Most Forbidding Peaks Teach Us About Success by Chris Warner and Don Schmincke.  It's got a 5 star rating on Amazon.com and for good reason.  We are especially drawn to the subject this week as one of our Vistage KEY Executive Group members is actually on Mt. Everest.  Warner and Schmincke have extensive climbing experience combined with being esteemed trainers in the leadership field.  They have studied successful and failed behaviors in the Death Zone (above 26,000 ft.) and find many parallels to the challenges faced by entrepreneurs, professionals, CEO's and managers.

The lesson we are focused on today is from the Chapter called "Danger # 3: Tool Seduction."  They describe a variety of tools from structures, procedures and reliance on resumes to constant change programs and make the point that the answer does not lie in the tools. "The problem isn't with the tools but in how you relate to them "(think Reality vs. Reality 2.0).  They observe that Tool Seduction happens because "tools offer hope, and they make people feel that they have the right answer."  Their Survival Tip: "Remember two things: Behavior, not tools, drives results, and adapt or die. "

In the Leadership Choice Point™ model that we teach in our Productive Interactions™ courses, we demonstrate how each moment is the opportunity to choose between correlating your actions with your Yonder Star (vision/goals), your hoped for predictability, and your fears.  To us, Tool Seduction occurs heavily in the hoped for predictability zone and is compounded by fear.  Correlate your behavior with your Yonder Star and you will often find that you are relating to the tools differently or perhaps even leaving some behind.

Leadership Fundamentals: Courage

We have been challenging your thinking and your relationship with reality in our recent posts, especially with Reality 2.0: The New Rules.  So, in the face of the challenge, how do you begin to address The New Rules and function effectively? To us, the most important capacity that will be required of you is courage. We are not, however, talking about a stereotypical picture of courage that might be portrayed in any number of old cowboy or war movies.  We are asking you to consider a very different perspective that looks much more like presence, vulnerability, patience, and active listening.

The phenomenal management consultant, poet, and naturalist, David Whyte, describes this capacity as developing a friendship or fierce relationship with the unknown. He speaks eloquently, and at some length, on the subject in his 2 CD set: Midlife and the Great Unknown: Finding Courage and Clarity Through Poetry, which we urge you to purchase at: http://davidwhyte.stores.yahoo.net/audio.html.

We don't know any better material to support you in developing the kind of courage required to continue to investigate Reality 2.0 or to deal with the ultimate paradox - that there isn't one - reality that is... Of course, there never really was just one reality, even though many of us say “but in the real world” fairly frequently.

One of the Operating Principles that we use in all of our engagements, group work, and in our lives for that matter, says it as: "Explore truths - mine, theirs, and ours." Foundational to this Operating Principle is that "truth" is relative and often widely different for different people. Courageously bringing Exploration Listening to your relationships will give you new openings for action in leading your business and your life.

25 New Dimensions to Challenge Your Thinking

In his article “Moon Shots for Management,” (www.hbr.org, reprint R0902H) Gary Hamel writes eloquently about new dimensions that will be required for leadership as we go forward in what we are calling Reality 2.0. He introduces us to 25 challenges for Building a New Agenda for Management Innovation. These challenges are based on the outcomes of a conference of scholars and business leaders held in May 2008 to lay out a roadmap for reinventing management.

We see these challenges as totally consistent with the theme and conversations to date in this blog and the New Rules discussed last week. Our view, however, is that a critical additional dimension to this project is the shift in mindset that will be required in each of us for these new ideas to be effectively developed and implemented. In fact it is a prerequisite for success.

Ignoring this dimension will most likely result in these opportunities being ignored, resisted, or minimally effective at best. We will be addressing pathways to creating this shift over the coming weeks.

We recommend that you go to http://managementlab.org/future and participate in the survey about these 25 ideas. You will be able to add your voice to the development of the work, rate the progress of your own organization, and identify the most significant barriers you face.

Take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to challenge your thinking and grow your leadership.

Leadership: The New Rules

In our last two posts we shared two powerful perspectives on the depth and breadth of the dramatic changes going on in our world. Confronting the unknown range of impact from these changes can be both shocking and freeing. To move you into engagement, we are asserting a set of New Rules as part of what we are calling Reality 2.0^TM and inviting you to try them on. We are not claiming that they are the Truth or an extraordinary economic insight on our part.  Rather, they are a proposition meant to provoke fierce investigation of reality and stimulate creative thinking.  They are intended to bring each of us more present to our world and to call forth far more effective actions on our parts.  Reality 2.0^TM: The New Rules 1) All Bets Are Off 2) All The Rules Have Changed 3) All Contracts Are Invalid/Restructurable 4) It's Never Coming Back 5) No One Knows The New Rules 6) Fear Is Everywhere 7) If I Try To Hold On To Any Of The Way I Think It Was I Will Die 8) Play Ball!

Our clients have begun exploring these rules with each other in our group sessions and are having insightful and  productive conversations.  Several have introduced them in conversations with their teams as a way to break through the veil of fear and pretense that has many people frozen.  Test-drive them yourself and let us all know what you learn.