tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20216356552223467982024-03-13T23:43:50.357-05:00Conversation KindlingJim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-24783764028843761992014-05-16T07:46:00.000-05:002014-05-18T16:20:13.642-05:00Amateurs Teach Amateurs to Be Amateurs<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOd64ObWZ11fRBGiuCVOYVE-G4m9aHxAiEOkqTJPfMZXPGXklsLfg1M8yvlHZWtJciSjGqxLLcitmeJn_wki0E8D_niHubDC1E45wU0EnBGHyJm8oLEIFkEV_qx9q6oXiP5vsyHWMVxg/s1600-h/beartrap_16_3.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyOd64ObWZ11fRBGiuCVOYVE-G4m9aHxAiEOkqTJPfMZXPGXklsLfg1M8yvlHZWtJciSjGqxLLcitmeJn_wki0E8D_niHubDC1E45wU0EnBGHyJm8oLEIFkEV_qx9q6oXiP5vsyHWMVxg/s400/beartrap_16_3.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343115829491700258" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 268px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>In early 1980, while vacationing in Palm Beach, FL, I stopped in at <span style="font-weight: bold;">PGA National Golf Club</span> one day in search of someone who could help me with my golf game. At the time, I was a decent golfer, but I had plateaued; I had been shooting in the mid to low 80's and high 70's since my early 20's and no matter how much I worked to get better, it just wasn't happening.<br />
<br />
The first place I stopped was the driving range. I figured I'd hit a bucket of balls to warm up before I headed to the clubhouse to schedule a lesson with someone ... anyone. When I went inside the shack to purchase the bucket, I was greeted by a friendly gent who was manning the cash register. I figured he was an early retiree who had moved to Florida to get out of the cold, and was working to make a extra few bucks a week so he and his wife could take advantage of the early dinner specials for seniors put on by every other restaurant in town.<br />
<br />
After smiles, a handshake, and the exchange of first names - his was Mike - he started asking questions. He wanted to know where I was from and what had brought me out to PGA National that morning. He asked me about my golf game. He was curious as to why I had come to the range to practice that day, instead of teeing it up and playing 18 holes.<br />
<br />
I had answers. I told him I was from Minneapolis, MN. He said he loved Minneapolis. He played in the 1959 PGA Championship at Minneapolis Golf Club. He shot 67 in the first round and was tied for the lead at that point. He didn't do so well in the second round and failed to make the cut. I was just a pup in 1959, but attended that tournament. I didn't remember seeing him there, but I started to wonder just who this Mike guy was.<br />
<br />
Next topic. I said I'd come to PGA National to take a lesson from a pro. He asked me why I thought I needed one. I explained my predicament. I hadn't improved in 15 years. I'd read all the instruction books. I'd tried all their suggestions. I'd asked my friends for advice. I'd hit hit thousands of range balls. I'd prayed. Nothing.<br />
<br />
At this point, a young lady came in to take over behind the cash register and Mike suggested we head up to the main golf shop to continue our conversation.<br />
<br />
When we walked in, he pointed the way to his office. Office? Yup. And, his name was on the door: <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mike Krak. PGA Professional. Director of Golf.</span> </span>Hmmmm.<span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>I sat and we talked. Or, rather, I talked and Mike listened. He was trying to understand my golf swing problem from my point of view. He later explained that knowing how my mind worked would help him communicate with me in a way I could understand. Toward the end of our conversation, I glanced up at the wall behind his desk and saw a quote etched on a plaque. The words struck me:<br />
<blockquote style="font-weight: bold;">
"Amateurs Teach Amateurs to Be Amateurs."</blockquote>
I asked him about it. He told me a story. He had been giving golf lessons for over 30 years. He had given 10-15-20 thousand lessons. He had worked with pros - including some who were on the PGA and LPGA tours - and amateurs ranging in handicap from scratch or better to the sky's the limit. He saw a huge difference in how the pros sought to improve their game and how the amateurs did it: the pros sought advice and took lessons from highly qualified golf professionals - folks who make a career teaching the whys and wherefores of the game; almost all the amateurs got their advice from well-meaning friends and family members - folks who claimed to know the game, but didn't. And, when they finally decided to get some real help, they had developed so many bad habits that it was too late to hope for much of anything in the way of real improvement.<br />
<br />
This was the first lesson I learned from Mike. If you're a golfer looking to improve your game, take lessons from a pro. I am always reminded of this when I see a man - it's almost always a man - out on the practice tee trying to give lessons to his wife, or kids, or girlfriend, or whatever. I watch and listen. He hits a shot to demonstrate the proper technique. Wrong. He hits another. Wrong again. It's obvious now that this guy has never broken 120, and he's acting like he's Tiger Woods - or maybe Tiger's teacher. He drones on. He gives one piece of bad advice after another. The person he's trying to teach is hitting one bad shot after another ... things are quickly getting worse instead of better. There are many times I have been tempted to walk over to one of these wannabe golf gurus and say, "You idiot. You hack. You have no idea what you're talking about. You are going to ruin this person for life. Just stop, already." I never have, though. I figure it's better to keep my mouth shut than to have a golf club wrapped around my neck.<br />
<br />
This advice is good in other areas of life, too. If you have personal or family problems that need solving, don't go running to your mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, or your good friend who took Psychology 101 a hundred years ago and rushes home to watch Dr. Phil every day, find a good therapist. If you are in business and are looking for your very own executive coach to help you develop your strength in a certain area, don't just hire the first person who comes along with a piece of paper that says <span style="font-style: italic;">Certified Coach</span>; find someone who's an expert in the area you want to develop and let that person help you chart your course.<br />
<br />
Following our conversation in Mike's office, we headed back down to the range. The first thing he had me do was hit a few balls to warm up. I remember being nervous the whole time. Why? Because as I was whacking away at the first few balls, I remembered a story I heard about Joe Sodd, a teaching professional I knew from Minneapolis. I was hoping that what happened to one of Joe's students at his first lesson with Joe wouldn't happen to me during my first lesson with Mike. Here's the story.<br />
<br />
The scene is the driving range at Interlachen Country Club in Edina, MN. A high-handicap - and rather wealthy - amateur is waiting for Joe, Interlachen's teaching pro at the time, to arrive to give him a lesson. Joe arrives at the appointed time. He asks the amateur to hit a few balls so he can figure out what he needs to work on. The amateur obliges. He puts his head down. He keeps his eye on the ball. He keeps his left arm straight. He whiffs the first ball. He tops the second. He slices the third. He does more of the same. In time, he looks up to ask Joe a question. Joe is not there. He looks around and spots Joe heading up the hill toward the clubhouse. He yells at Joe and asks him where he is going. Joe looks back at him and says, "Give it up. You should have come to me 30 years ago." He keeps on walking. Joe Sodd does not suffer fools gladly.<br />
<br />
When I finished warming up, Mike was still there. Whew! He wanted me to hit some balls for real. Here's our conversation: <span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /><br />Me: "I'll start with my 8 iron."<br />Mike: "What are you aiming at?"<br />Me: "The big tree at the end of the range."<br />Mike: "No you're not."<br />Me: "Huh?"<br />Mike: "You're aiming 40 yards to the right of it."<br />Me: "Huh?"<br />Mike: "Let me show you."</span><br />
<br />
At that point, he moved me aside and placed his feet exactly where mine had been.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 100%;">Mike: "Stand behind me."<br />Me: "Okay."<br />Mike: "Where am I aiming?"<br />Me: "You're aiming 40 yards to the right of the big tree."<br />Mike: "And ...."<br />Me: "Hmmm."</span>He went on to explain that proper alignment is the key to good golf; that if you can consistently line your body up with your intended target, you can create a foundation from which you can craft a sound, consistent golf swing. He finished with these words: <br />
<blockquote>
"If you can't, you'll never be a player."</blockquote>
Ouch! I built my game around alignment after that, and became a pretty good player. Instead of shooting in the high 70s or low 80's, I got to the point where my average score was in the low to mid 70's.<br />
<br />
There's an old saying: <br />
<blockquote>
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will take you there." </blockquote>
It means that unless you have a clearly defined target - like the tree at the end of the range - you're journey will take you somewhere, but exactly where is up for grabs.<br />
<br />
But, while knowing where you want to end up is necessary, it is also insufficient. You must know how to square yourself with your target before you take the first step of any journey you plan to take. Why? Because in business or golf or life for that matter, a small misalignment at the beginning ends up as a huge miss at the end. There is a quote I like that summarizes this idea quite well. It's from chess grandmaster <span style="font-weight: bold;">Alexander Kotov</span>: <br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: 100%;">"It often happens that a player carries out a deep and complicated calculation, but fails to spot something elementary right at the first move."</span></blockquote>
</div>
I took a few lessons from Mike every year after that for at least a dozen years. And, every year we started the same way; he'd ask me where I was aimed. There's more to golf than aiming, of course, and he taught me all the ins and outs in due time.<br />
<br />
One final point. Teachers are in great supply, but great teachers are rare. Advice is in great supply, but great advice is not. It's important to understand the difference.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation</span>:<br />
<ul>
<li>Who are the gurus - the teachers or advisers - in your life? How did you come to pick them? Are they great? Are you sure?</li>
<li>Have you ever taken advice from someone you thought was able and honest only to be disappointed or defrauded? How did it happen? What faulty assumptions did you make? What steps have you taken to make sure it doesn't happen again?</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords</span>: <br />
<blockquote>
"Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both yes and no." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">J.R.R. Tolkien</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Buckminster Fuller</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Hunter S. Thompson</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">A Generation of Swine</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Great things are not accomplished by those who yield to trends and fads and popular opinion." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Jack Kerouac</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second is listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Solomon Ibn Gabirol</span></blockquote>
Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-72306816517553995712014-05-09T17:58:00.000-05:002014-05-18T16:35:50.762-05:00Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKHIkmRw16onLY1RfiIeg54h4C-o0CsW4i20aygt6bQuPFckNT0ozto0fwfkBa1iQFzzB33NTk-a0umPZPV0AQDAR_miUIvtP8DQGiaXY8Aqgi-DpEg9RYwv4kxmtKMWY4bMQbvYI70I/s1600-h/507494_356x237.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcKHIkmRw16onLY1RfiIeg54h4C-o0CsW4i20aygt6bQuPFckNT0ozto0fwfkBa1iQFzzB33NTk-a0umPZPV0AQDAR_miUIvtP8DQGiaXY8Aqgi-DpEg9RYwv4kxmtKMWY4bMQbvYI70I/s400/507494_356x237.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5282061670951501554" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 265px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 399px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Tom T. Hall</span> has spent the better part of his life writing and singing country music. He was inducted into the <span style="font-style: italic;">Country Music Hall of Fame</span> on February 12, 2008.<br />
<br />
One of his most popular songs, <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine</span>, is the story of an old janitor sweeping a barroom floor, and stopping to share his life philosophy with a patron who was still around at closing time. The lyrics:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">"How old do you think I am?" he said.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">I said, well, I didn't know.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">He said, "I turned 65 about 11 months ago."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">I was sittin' in Miami pourin' blended whiskey down</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">When this old gray Black gentleman was cleanin' up the lounge</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">There wasn't anyone around 'cept this old man and me</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">The guy who ran the bar was watchin' "Ironsides" on TV</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Uninvited, he sat down and opened up his mind</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">On old dogs and children and watermelon wine</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">"Ever had a drink of watermelon wine?" he asked</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">He told me all about it, though I didn't answer back</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">"Ain't but three things in this world that's worth a solitary dime,</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">But old dogs and children and watermelon wine."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">He said, "Women think about they-selves, when menfolk ain't around.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">And friends are hard to find when they discover that you're down."</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">He said, "I tried it all when I was young and in my natural prime;</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Now it's old dogs and children and watermelon wine."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">"Old dogs care about you even when you make mistakes;</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">God bless little children while they're still too young to hate."</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">When he moved away I found my pen and copied down that line</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">'Bout old dogs and children and watermelon wine.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">I had to catch a plane up to Atlanta that next day</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">As I left for my room I saw him pickin' up my change</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">That night I dreamed in peaceful sleep of shady summertime</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">Of old dogs and children and watermelon wine.</span><br />
<br />
We all have different ideas about what's important and what's not in our lives. This song suggests another way of thinking about and articulating them.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul>
<li>What are the <span style="font-style: italic;">three things in this world that's worth a solitary dime</span> as far as you are concerned?</li>
<li>How are you making sure these things are getting the time and attention they deserve?</li>
<li>What are the <span style="font-style: italic;">three things in this world that ain't worth a solitary dime</span>?</li>
<li>How are you making sure these things aren't getting more of your time and attention than they deserve?</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><br />
<blockquote>
"If I should die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: the only proof he needed for the existence of God is music."<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>-<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Kurt Vonnegut</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
"There is a general place in your brain, I think, reserved for 'melancholy of relationships past.' It grows and prospers as life progresses, forcing you finally, against your better judgment, to listen to country music." -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Kary Mullis, </span>Nobel Prize lecture, Dec. 8, 1993 </blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Country songs have always told the best stories and no one -- really, no one -- has ever done it better than Nashville. All my life I've admired guitarists like Chet Atkins and Roy Clark who touched me through their sound, but it was those Nashville songwriters who got to me through their words." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">B.B. King</span>, blues guitarist and singer-songwriter</blockquote>
Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-875249099394156212014-05-02T11:30:00.000-05:002014-05-18T16:37:52.645-05:00East of Eden<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX2ZpeREruYYBCozQOjidP-_u9ObW76qoBQ0uvYDDJanmWMtzTJFk3DdxPnkAO8iVo4bsi4oAJxie6X3cPErI-z-CoWAA96FdXE0XX9ctRPVaUSibrr4ZhULWU5N463bM-F4QJhqNq1tE/s1600/East-of-Eden-Posters.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX2ZpeREruYYBCozQOjidP-_u9ObW76qoBQ0uvYDDJanmWMtzTJFk3DdxPnkAO8iVo4bsi4oAJxie6X3cPErI-z-CoWAA96FdXE0XX9ctRPVaUSibrr4ZhULWU5N463bM-F4QJhqNq1tE/s400/East-of-Eden-Posters.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518372384705547330" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 314px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">John Steinbeck's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">East of Eden</span> was published in October, 1952. It became an instant best-seller. It was adapted for film in 1955 by director Elia Kazan. A TV miniseries was aired in 1981, and rumors have it that Universal Pictures will produce another adaption of the novel with a release date of 2009.<br />
<br />
Steinbeck's inspiration for the novel came from the Hebrew Bible. Specifically, it came from Genesis 4: 1-16, which recounts the story of Cain and Abel. The title, East of Eden, was chosen by Steinbeck from verse 16:<br />
<blockquote>
"And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden."</blockquote>
The book explores themes of depravity, beneficence, love, and the struggle for acceptance, greatness, and the capacity for self-destruction. Steinbeck said of it:<br />
<blockquote>
"It has everything in it I've been able to learn about my craft in all these years. I think everything else I've written has been, in a sense, practice for this."</blockquote>
In Chapter 13, Steinbeck described the condition of the world. He said:<br />
<blockquote>
"There is great tension in the world, tension toward a breaking point, and men are unhappy and confused." </blockquote>
He went on to say these conditions prompted him to ask himself three important questions. These same questions are worth asking ourselves today.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul>
<li>What do I believe in?</li>
<li>What must I fight for?</li>
<li>What must I fight against?</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><br />
<blockquote>
"The hardest thing in life is to know which bridge to cross, which bridge to burn." -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> David Russell</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
"I think when people have illustrated the Bible, most of them have been devout Christians. Because they're devout Christians they can't separate themselves from the work. They get mired in piety, so they can't see the darkness. They only see the light of salvation. But if you don't have the darkness to contrast with the light, then what are you offering but cotton candy for Sunday school children? I think that some of the images in this Bible will be disturbing to a lot of people. The Bible is a very disturbing book." – <span style="font-weight: bold;">Barry Moser</span>, illustrator</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<span class="gs_normal">"Lord, give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for - because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Reverend Peter Marshall,</span> a prayer offered at the opening session of the U.S. Senate on April 18, 1947</span></blockquote>
<span class="gs_normal"></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span class="gs_normal">"Stop leaving and you will arrive. Stop searching and you will see. Stop running away and you will be found." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lao Tzu </span></span></blockquote>
<span class="gs_normal"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote>
"Belief? What do I believe in? I believe in sun. In rock. In the dogma of the sun and the doctrine of the rock. I believe in blood, fire, woman, rivers, eagles, storm, drums, flutes, banjos, and broom-tailed horses…" - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Edward Abbey</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">A Voice Crying in the Wilderness</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-style: italic;"></span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote>
"It is immensely moving when a mature man – no matter whether old or young in years – is aware of a responsibility for the consequences of his conduct and really feels such responsibility with heart and soul. He then acts by following an ethic of responsibility and somewhere he reaches the point where he says: 'Here I stand; I can do no other.'" - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Max Weber</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-71123742708654717662014-04-25T06:56:00.000-05:002014-05-18T16:43:14.815-05:00The Answer to How Is Yes<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTPs_WkbpB5JZlOpPOXOkDT3ZzCmqcTzf68G9pMD_vPwTOuWvzEW4kfMfnDZf_Ok-G_17NqWqh1Pxjo5gea4PQQGRXxodbEpeTP_Eu3j1mfKjh1bB_6S1DUKkI1Z1_wugTM5UCEt6pEas/s1600-h/JAN08+PeterBlock.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTPs_WkbpB5JZlOpPOXOkDT3ZzCmqcTzf68G9pMD_vPwTOuWvzEW4kfMfnDZf_Ok-G_17NqWqh1Pxjo5gea4PQQGRXxodbEpeTP_Eu3j1mfKjh1bB_6S1DUKkI1Z1_wugTM5UCEt6pEas/s400/JAN08+PeterBlock.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309316245007886706" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 390px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 263px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Peter Block</span>, author and consultant, is well known for challenging conventional theories of individual and organizational development.<br />
<br />
In his book <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Answer to How Is Yes</span>, Peter makes the case that we too often short-circuit ourselves by asking "How?" questions prematurely, instead of first pondering the deeper, more important question, "Why?" Many of us have been trained and rewarded all our lives for asking the penetrating questions about how such-and-such a thing might be accomplished. Asking how can make us feel smarter, Block says, but it won’t make us wiser. It just submerges our most important personal and organizational missions in a quagmire of misdirected analysis.<br />
<br />
He proposes a moratorium: <br />
<blockquote>
"If we could agree that for six months we would not ask 'How?' something in our lives, our institutions, and our culture might shift for the better. It would force us to engage in conversations about why we do what we do, as individuals and as institutions. It would create the space for longer discussions about purpose, about what is worth doing. It would refocus our attention on deciding what is the right question, rather than what is the right answer."</blockquote>
He took on a challenging task in his book, advising us to pursue what matters most not only in our own lives, but also in our organizations and through our societal institutions. And, while he acknowledged that risk, uncertainty, and anxiety will accompany any decision to lift our heads up from the mundane and peer toward the ultimate, he said it’s an action worth taking nonetheless. By doing this successfully, he says:<br />
<blockquote>
"We can reclaim our idealism in a materialistic environment, reestablish an intimacy with what surrounds us, and find depth in a world that is happy with a quick makeover."</blockquote>
Peter's advice is more relevant today than ever. And, though it's hard to take up his challenge, it is most certainly worth the effort. For otherwise we’re left with a painful conundrum of the sort described by the novelist <span style="font-weight: bold;">Thomas Pynchon</span>: <br />
<blockquote>
"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." </blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul>
<li>Can you tell a story about a "how" person you have worked for or with, or been married to? Can you do the same for a "why" person? </li>
<li>In your opinion, what are the strengths and weaknesses of a person whose default approach to life is asking "how" quickly and often? How about the person whose nature is asking "why" first?</li>
<li>Would others describe you as a "how" person or a "why" person? Is there a story you can tell to illustrate?</li>
<li>How do you respond to Peter's notion of not asking "how" for six months? Can you imagine what might change in your life or work if you did?</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><br />
<blockquote>
"Dear ones: Beware of the tiny gods frightened men create to bring an anesthetic relief to their sad days." -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Hafiz</span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
"'Goodbye,' said the fox. 'And now here is my secret, a very simple secret. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye.'" -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Antoine de Saint-Exupery, </span><span style="font-style: italic;">The Little Prince</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span> <br />
<blockquote>
"The theme of the Grail is the bringing of life into what is known as 'the wasteland.' The wasteland is the preliminary theme to which the Grail is the answer. . . It's the world of people living inauthentic lives - doing what they are supposed to do." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Joseph Campbell<br /></span>"The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity - even under the most difficult circumstances - to add a deeper meaning to his life. He may remain brave, dignified and unselfish. Or in the bitter fight for self-preservation he may forget his human dignity and become no more than an animal. Here lies the chance for a man either to make use of or to fore go the opportunities of attaining the moral values that a difficult situation may afford him. And this decides whether he is worthy of his sufferings or not." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Viktor E. Frankl</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Man's Search for Meaning</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"One final paragraph of advice: Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast... a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizzly, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk bound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Edward Abbey </span></blockquote>
Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-9704639528050455182014-04-18T09:07:00.000-05:002014-05-18T16:45:03.379-05:00The One Who Stands Within<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYuaQ3fuXdGwPb3zbFYz2OlqFx7kPWE_CQKhBpaH27xzLbQu4qcp2Gp9VL81oL_GqLHT_ljiqKI36ZMaxVZxpNNvVkSLpIo45Q1IXSN-_k7KrQJQAqUhw6fG2ATbMz4_7o4QGJW89-vmc/s1600-h/715px-Oak_Acorn_1550px.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYuaQ3fuXdGwPb3zbFYz2OlqFx7kPWE_CQKhBpaH27xzLbQu4qcp2Gp9VL81oL_GqLHT_ljiqKI36ZMaxVZxpNNvVkSLpIo45Q1IXSN-_k7KrQJQAqUhw6fG2ATbMz4_7o4QGJW89-vmc/s400/715px-Oak_Acorn_1550px.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5344782863847943714" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 299px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>In December of 2004, <span style="font-weight: bold;">John O'Donohue</span> talked to our Masters Forum audience about leadership. And, while acknowledging that leaders need to possess certain skills, he focused on the seven personal qualities he thought underpinned all truly successful leaders.<br />
<blockquote>
"The <span style="font-weight: bold;">first</span> quality that I would like is that a leader would have an <span style="font-weight: bold;">inner life</span> - the person wouldn’t be just an outside, external functionary.<br />
<br />
"<span style="font-weight: bold;">Secondly</span>, they would have a quality of <span style="font-weight: bold;">vulnerability</span>. I don’t mean vulnerability in the sense that they are assailable from every corner, but when you’d look in their eyes, you would know that they knew what it was like to be vulnerable.<br />
<br />
"<span style="font-weight: bold;">Third</span>, I like a leader to have a bit of <span style="font-weight: bold;">solitude</span>, a very rare thing in our times. It’s hard to find it, and a lot of people are terrified of it, and they’ll run from it, but a person that can’t endure their own demons or know them, or have a secret place where they can meet them, can’t be trusted fully in the interaction of combat, where power is the question.<br />
<br />
"A <span style="font-weight: bold;">fourth</span> thing I like in a leader is <span style="font-weight: bold;">imagination</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">vision</span>. Vision is vital. A vision is something that links together the gift of your own individuality with the need that is where you are, it links gift and hunger together in a way that links the best in you toward the best in them. Vision can only be developed if you are awake to the blessings and the potential of your own mind.<br />
<br />
"<span style="font-weight: bold;">Fifth</span>, a leader has to have <span style="font-weight: bold;">character</span>. A person who has character is someone who is not a prisoner of their own ego and limitations.<br />
<br />
"<span style="font-weight: bold;">Sixth</span>, a leader is someone who has the <span style="font-weight: bold;">gift of compassion</span> as well as the <span style="font-weight: bold;">ministry of encouragement</span>. It’s amazing when you think of some of the gifts and abilities that you have, if you hadn’t got that old praise or recognition or encouragement, you might never have crossed over into your own gift.<br />
<br />
"The <span style="font-weight: bold;">seventh</span> thing I think a leader should have is the quality of<span style="font-weight: bold;"> listening</span>. Heidegger said that true listening is worship, and it’s amazing, actually. It’s amazing to be listened to. When you’re truly listened to, a burden and all kinds of old false layering falls away from you completely."</blockquote>
He went on to say that we can't fully develop these inner qualities until we shed the notion that we are the sum total of where we've been and what we've accomplished, and somehow get in touch with who we really are, or <span style="font-style: italic;">the one who stands within</span>.<blockquote>
"Identity is being reduced to biography, whereas in actual fact identity is a far more sublime, substantial, and sophisticated concept. . . . <span style="font-weight: bold;">Meister Eckhart</span> says, 'There is a place in your soul that neither time nor space nor no creator’s thing has ever touched.' There’s a place inside you where no one has ever got to you, where no one has ever damaged you, where you have a niche of tranquility and natural serenity, and a courage and a hope that can never be taken from you. And I think that the intention of prayer, creativity, and true leadership is to somehow bring you into that place within you." </blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul>
<li>Who is <span style="font-style: italic;">the one who stands within</span> you? How is that person like the one you present to the world? Different?</li>
<li>How have you been vulnerable? How has it shaped you?</li>
<li>Is solitude something you avoid or cherish? Explain.</li>
<li>How are you impacting those around you with the ministry of encouragement? Or not?</li>
<li>How is true listening worship?</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><br />
<blockquote>
"Nothing resembles the language of God so much as does silence." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Meister Eckhart</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meister_Eckhart"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></a></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
"You must have a room or a certain hour of the day or something where you do not know what is in the morning paper. A place where you can simply experience and bring forth what you are and what you might be. At first you may think nothing's happening. But if you have a sacred space and take advantage of it and use it everyday, something will happen." -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Joseph Campbell</span></span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote>
"There is a deep power in which we exist whose beatitude is accessible to us. Every moment the individual feels invaded by it is memorable. It comes to the simple and lowly, it comes in the form of serenity...when it breaks through the intellect it is genius; when it breathes through the will it is virtue, when it flows through the affections it is love." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ralph Waldo Emerson</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></blockquote>
Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-181767109725063482014-04-11T11:19:00.000-05:002014-05-18T16:49:57.812-05:00Let's Talk About Me<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_wcJXSqiEz22I6jJ2D8EAVknsOzQsB54vz4JWRirMdh7yA01fE-_FSnln1tPQKA0t3DEEBah6BXygKI4F2fYwcgrEShewDm-9j85p9gsmIuErs2bJWtR0eJ1p2OkfXQeP3QxodGXSOg/s1600-h/Aspet11.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK_wcJXSqiEz22I6jJ2D8EAVknsOzQsB54vz4JWRirMdh7yA01fE-_FSnln1tPQKA0t3DEEBah6BXygKI4F2fYwcgrEShewDm-9j85p9gsmIuErs2bJWtR0eJ1p2OkfXQeP3QxodGXSOg/s400/Aspet11.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293946726153166930" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 323px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a>Brazilian author <a href="http://www.paulocoelho.com.br/index.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Paulo Coelho</span></a> has sold more that 100 million books. His most popular book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alchemist-Fable-About-Following-Dream/dp/0062502182"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Alchemist</span></a>, has been translated into 65 languages. He posted the following <a href="http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2007/10/22/daily-message-121/">story</a> at his <a href="http://paulocoelhoblog.com/">blog</a>:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">I was just leaving St Patrick’s Church in New York when a young Brazilian came over to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">"It’s great to see you," he said, smiling. "There’s something I wanted to tell you."</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">I was equally pleased at this encounter with a stranger. I invited him for a coffee, told him about my awful trip to Denver, and suggested that he go to Harlem on Sunday to attend a religious service there.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> The young man, who was in his twenties, listened to me without saying a word.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> I talked on. I said that I had just read a novel about a terrorist group that launches an attack on St Patrick’s Church, and that the author had described the scene in such detail that I had noticed many things I had never seen on previous visits. That was why I had decided to go to the church that morning.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> We spent nearly an hour together, drank two coffees, and I dominated the entire conversation. Afterward, we said goodbye, and I wished him a good trip.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">"Thanks," he said, moving off.</span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-style: italic;">That was when I noticed the sad look in his eyes; something was wrong and I didn’t know what. Only after walking a few blocks did I realize what it was: the young man had come over to me saying that there was something he needed to talk to me about.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> During the whole time we spent together, I had been in control of the situation. At no point had I asked him what he wanted to tell me; in my desire to be friendly, I had filled up all the spaces, I hadn’t allowed one moment of silence when the young man could have transformed a monologue into a dialogue.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> He may have had something really important to share with me. Perhaps if I had been truly open to life at that moment, I too would have had something to give to him. Perhaps both my life and his would have changed radically after that encounter. I will never know and I am not going to torture myself with the fact that I failed to take advantage of a potentially magical moment: mistakes happen.</span><span style="font-style: italic;"> But ever since then, I have tried to keep alive in my memory that farewell scene and the sad look in the boy’s eyes. I was incapable of receiving what was destined for me and so was equally incapable of giving what I wanted to give, however hard I tried.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul>
<li>Who convenes the meetings or conversations in your life?</li>
<li>Who decides what you will talk about?</li>
<li>Who decides what you will not talk about?</li>
<li>Who decides what the conversational rules are?</li>
<li>Who decides when the conversation or meeting is over?</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><br />
<blockquote>
"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you would rather have talked." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mark Twain</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br />
<blockquote>
"I try to follow the advice that a university president once gave to a prospective commencement speaker. 'Think of yourself as the body at an Irish wake,' he said. 'They need you in order to have the party, but nobody expects you to say much.'" - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anthony Lake</span>, former National Security Advisor</blockquote>
Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-41894033049679702852014-04-04T10:22:00.000-05:002014-05-18T16:52:22.726-05:00Call Me Trim Tab<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFwuoPMxsw3pPhaEGqxgyZOiqZW5SF2_vO4-rjcN6lyZ69_MYF5tS9EJAkjiflREJkOmbTdQ49yLsJSoFA3WHcLx1ZSHL1SH4naD3jYTydXVmmPFq61Yx_WnaJWMIGE7nJI_hM6Cf30d8/s1600/Bucky+Fuller.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7vjse2t1-He4QbZItTxwqJIjnzR3et7OghlXUeb6-I240KgbKSnQ0VO2v-xN4Q_vt4N3kQ_Sphok3OkRb_K9_r1elhsD1mEuO9Z2ONPWdc7jFZrQhQ2F0cKsnCxR40m-Ns1f84eJYCho/s1600/buckminster-fuller-071609-lg.jpg" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller">R. Buckminster Fuller</a> - inventor, futurist, and humanitarian - is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery near Boston. His tombstone reads simply:<br />
<br />
<b>CALL ME TRIMTAB - BUCKY</b><br />
<br />
A <i>trim tab</i> is a small device on a ship’s main rudder that must be turned before turning the large rudder to change course. Fuller saw trim tabs as a symbol for the small but strategic acts that change the course of world events, and he devoted his life trying to determine what a single individual like him - or a small group of like-minded people - could do to better the human condition that large organizations, governments, or private enterprises could not.<br />
<br />
There are many individuals who've changed the course of history. A case in point is<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Rosa </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Parks</span>, whom the U.S. Congress named "Mother of the Modern-Day Civil Rights Movement." On December 1, 1955, she was seated on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. When the driver ordered her to give up her seat so a white passenger could take it, she refused. Her action ignited the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which was among the first dominoes to fall on the path that led to the passing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.<br />
<br />
Most of us are not in a position to change <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">the</span> </span>world, but we are all capable of improving things in <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">our</span> </span>world. Sadly, many of us forget to do the small things that can make a big difference in the lives of those closest to us. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mother Teresa</span> laments:<br />
<blockquote>
"It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start."</blockquote>
Several years ago <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rabbi Joseph Telushkin</span> closed his Masters Forum presentation by sharing five short phrases - <span style="font-style: italic;">trim tabs</span> - we can use to heal broken relationships with those close to us, or deepen ones currently in fine repair. It's a great place to start if you want to go there.<br />
<ul>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Thank you.</span> Gratitude is more than a virtue in Telushkin's view: it is the cornerstone virtue, the one on which all goodness is based. Say thank you often and sincerely.</li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">I love you.</span> Don't be like the man at his wife's funeral, who was overcome by the love he felt for her but never expressed to her. It's not enough to keep love in your heart - it must be continually handed over to the one you love, in words and in deeds. </li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">How are you? </span>This question shows that you care, that you are concerned. Say something to communicate that it matters to you whether the other person lives or dies. </li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">What do you need?</span> Ascertaining what a person needs allows you to give him or her what is most meaningful - and thus, the highest expression of your love. But if you don't ask, you won't know. </li>
<li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">I'm sorry.</span> Once a man came to Telushkin and confessed an inability to come out and say he was sorry for things he had done. Telushkin said, "Can you then say I'm sorry I am unable to say I'm sorry?" </li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul>
<li>What contributions do you dream of making to others?</li>
<li>Dag Hammarskjold, former United Nations Secretary General once said, "It is more noble to give yourself completely to one individual than to labor diligently for the salvation of the masses." Does his statement ring true with you? How does it intersect with your life today?</li>
<li>Of those closest to you, is there one in particular who needs more of your time, attention, and support than you are currently giving? Do you see how applying one or more of Rabbi Telushkin's <span style="font-style: italic;">trim tabs</span> can help repair your relationship with that person? Will you do it?</li>
<li>Has anyone every done a small thing for you that ultimately had a profound impact on your life? What did this person do? What impact did it have?</li>
<li>What makes someone unforgettable?<br />
</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords: </span><br />
<blockquote>
"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mother Teresa</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"To live in love is to accept the other and the conditions of his existence as a source of richness and not as an opposition, restriction or limitation." -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Maturana</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Beware how you take away hope from another human being." -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Oliver Wendell Holmes</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Falling leaves that lie scattered on the ground,<br />
The birds and flowers that were here cannot be found.<br />
All the friends that he once knew are not around.<br />
They're all scattered like the leaves upon the ground.<br />
Some folks drift along through life and never thrill,<br />
To the feeling that a good deed brings until,<br />
It's too late and they are ready to lie down,<br />
There beneath the leaves that's scattered on the ground.<br />
Lord, let my eyes see every need of every man,<br />
Make me stop and always lend a helping hand,<br />
Then when I'm laid beneath that little grassy mound,<br />
There'll be more friends around than leaves upon the ground.<br />
To your grave there's no use taking any gold,<br />
You cannot use it when it's time for hands to fold,<br />
When you leave this earth for a better home someday,<br />
The only thing you'll take is what you gave away."<br />
- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Grandpa Jones</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Falling Leaves</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></blockquote>
Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-187435551069762342014-03-28T15:50:00.000-05:002014-05-18T16:56:45.919-05:00The Warp and Woof of Meaning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTenuNFnwTWeWIgBqzPOLgHtBFv4MU-VqnrODoEYNYcSmaTPOsT1ZWRsOgrtZxFDSiRVy8M4gllwoJ7HcdTZbcOSe47wtuQhYGOj13ff4t_UH-LG890eimc3OJy6uauiLObiSnnWlrCAk/s1600-h/20071206_compass.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTenuNFnwTWeWIgBqzPOLgHtBFv4MU-VqnrODoEYNYcSmaTPOsT1ZWRsOgrtZxFDSiRVy8M4gllwoJ7HcdTZbcOSe47wtuQhYGOj13ff4t_UH-LG890eimc3OJy6uauiLObiSnnWlrCAk/s320/20071206_compass.jpg" height="240" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5300555201797157682" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="320" /></a></div>
In more stable times, we educed meaning in our lives from well-established communities and traditional cultural norms. Today, we can't count on those things. We have to create meaning for ourselves. <span style="font-weight: bold;">John W. Gardner</span>, HEW Secretary in the Johnson administration, and founder of Common Cause, explained in a speech at McKinsey & Company, November 10, 1990:<br />
<blockquote>
"Meaning is not something you stumble across, like the answer to a riddle or the prize in a treasure hunt. Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something. The ingredients are there. You are the only one who can put them together into that unique pattern that will be your life. Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account." </blockquote>
The process of building meaning into our lives is dynamic. We live. We Learn. We make new meaning. We do it all again. To do this purposefully, Gardner suggests we consider the following questions on a regular basis. This is best done in conversation with others who understand the importance of doing so. One possibility is your life partner. Another is your family. Still another is your colleagues at work. In fact, you and your co-workers can use the questions to talk about the meaning you are deriving from your work.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation: </span><br />
<ul>
<li>What things are forgotten in the heat of battle?</li>
<li>What values get pushed aside in the rough-and-tumble of everyday living?</li>
<li>What are the goals we ought to be thinking about and never do?</li>
<li>What are the facts we don’t like to face?</li>
<li>What are the questions we lack the courage to ask?</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><br />
<blockquote>
"The sailor cannot see the North, but knows the needle can." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Emily Dickinson</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Life is tumultuous - an endless losing and regaining of balance, a continuous struggle, never an assured victory. We need to develop a resilient, indomitable morale that enables us to face those realities and still strive with every ounce of energy to prevail. You may wonder if such a struggle - endless and of uncertain outcome - isn't more than humans can bear. But all of history suggests that the human spirit is well fitted to cope with just that kind of world." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">John W. Gardner</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"First we must understand that there can be no life without risk - and when our center is strong, everything else is secondary, even the risks. Thus, we best prepare by building our inner strength by sound philosophy, by reaching out to others, by asking ourselves what matters most." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Elie Wiesel</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Work is about a search too, for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than stupor; in short for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying. Perhaps immortality, too, is part of the quest." -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Studs Terkel</span></blockquote>
Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-71165809280301707962014-03-21T17:13:00.000-05:002014-05-18T17:19:22.415-05:00We're Here to Fart Around<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif0Vhk3E7sx-OZu4WoHJJzRvag75mxfj0iVSN0SMwoU0KVYRYZiMHIBXLTteTNEo2tq24x8S2JGhpFkFmo_-mKGB-ItNlXHtOmvxHgwDpLezk1LaLQVnnwMEd6ZNpAKSd__sH39V7aeQI/s1600/kurt-vonnegut.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif0Vhk3E7sx-OZu4WoHJJzRvag75mxfj0iVSN0SMwoU0KVYRYZiMHIBXLTteTNEo2tq24x8S2JGhpFkFmo_-mKGB-ItNlXHtOmvxHgwDpLezk1LaLQVnnwMEd6ZNpAKSd__sH39V7aeQI/s400/kurt-vonnegut.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486111539906443794" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 300px;" /></a>Author<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Kurt Vonnegut</span> was a contrarian of the first order and a no-holds-barred commentator on the follies and foibles of humankind. And, while he could be sarcastic and dark, Vonnegut often used humor to communicate his views on the basic questions life. This is shown by a story he told David Brancaccio of PBS during an interview for NOW. The date was October 7, 2005.<br />
<blockquote>
"I told my wife I'm going out to buy an envelope. 'Oh,' she says. 'Well, you're not a poor man. You know, why don't you go online and buy a hundred envelopes and put them in the closet?' And so I pretend not to hear her. And go out to get an envelope because I'm going to have a hell of a good time in the process of buying one envelope. I meet a lot of people. And, see some great looking babes. And a fire engine goes by. And I give them the thumbs up. And, I ask a woman what kind of dog that is. And, I don't know. The moral of the story is <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">we're here on Earth to fart around</span>. And, of course, the computers will do us out of that. And, what the computer people don't realize, or they don't care, is we're dancing animals. You know, we love to move around. And, we're not supposed to dance at all anymore."</blockquote>
This a fast-paced, dog-eat-dog, 24/7 world. There is little or no time to<span style="font-style: italic;"> fart around</span>. But, should we make the time? There at least two reasons for doing so. First, to reduce stress. Second, to clear our minds so that new thoughts and ideas can make their way in.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul style="font-weight: bold;">
<li style="font-weight: normal;">What is Vonnegut's story about for you?</li>
<li style="font-weight: normal;">How does it intersect with your life at this time?</li>
<li style="font-weight: normal;">When is the last time you <span style="font-style: italic;">farted around</span>? What did you do? How was it worthwhile, or a waste of time?</li>
<li style="font-weight: normal;">If you think that <span style="font-style: italic;">farting around</span> once in awhile is a good idea, how will you make the time do it?</li>
<li><span style="font-weight: normal;">If you think you do too much of it already, how will you stop?</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span> <br />
<blockquote>
"Remember the scene in Cat Ballou where a very drunk Lee Marvin goes from unconscious to ranting to triumphant to roaring to weeping defeat and then finally passes out? One of the men watching him says, with real awe, 'I never seen a man get through a day so fast.' Don't let this be you." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Anne Lamott</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Bird by Bird</span></blockquote>
Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-30045089508475854262014-03-14T09:08:00.000-05:002014-05-18T17:02:17.109-05:00Perhaps You Have Things to Unsay?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqhHgmAgQP29M_CsPUP4TlD5vx2UcXX-XP69HmnniM3c_KCPGSpfuqt0ndve2sT6cmJNIby7Dx-gm0OaxsPRrhLW1TDH8r7xIOKpF6j22M20r2tHdTuC1P4zZau8uj9ToAmDSYPhS1RM/s1600/2297165464_bd926a093c_b.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiqhHgmAgQP29M_CsPUP4TlD5vx2UcXX-XP69HmnniM3c_KCPGSpfuqt0ndve2sT6cmJNIby7Dx-gm0OaxsPRrhLW1TDH8r7xIOKpF6j22M20r2tHdTuC1P4zZau8uj9ToAmDSYPhS1RM/s400/2297165464_bd926a093c_b.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485775743549431026" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 267px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Benjamin Zander</span> is the conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, author of a wonderful book on living a full life titled <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Art of Possibility</span>, and one of the most inspiring speakers in the world today. In the photo above, he is shown in the process of delivering the final address at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He closed that presentation by relating a story he was told by a woman who had survived her stay in Auschwitz - the most notorious of the Nazi death camps:<br />
<blockquote>
"She said she was brought to Auschwitz when she was fifteen and her brother was eight. On the train that took them there, she saw that her brother had no shoes. She told her brother - 'Why are you so stupid. Can't you keep your things together - for goodness sake' - the way a sister would speak to a brother. Unfortunately, that was the last thing she said to him in her life. Her brother did not survive. Once she came out of Auschwitz, she made a vow and it was: 'I will never again say anything that can't stand as the last thing I will ever say.' "</blockquote>
In <span style="font-weight: bold;">J.R.R. Tolkien's </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Lord of the Rings</span>, there is an encounter between Gandalf and Saruman in which Gandalf says: <br />
<blockquote>
"What have you to say that you did not say at our last meeting? Or, perhaps you have things to unsay?"</blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul>
<li>What is something you need to say to someone important in your life, but haven't? Will you do it? When?</li>
<li>What is something you need to "unsay" to someone in your life, but haven't? Will you do it? When?</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br />
<blockquote>
"The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Harriet Beecher Stowe</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span> <br />
<blockquote>
"If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call you could make, who would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?" - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stephen Levine</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"You can't do a kindness too soon, for you never know when soon will be too late." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></blockquote>
<blockquote>
"If there's any good thing I can do or any kindness that I can show to any person, let me do it now, let me not defer or neglect it, for I may not pass this way again." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Traditional </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Benediction</span>:</blockquote>
<br />Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-15098190483810074712014-03-07T10:05:00.000-06:002014-05-18T17:18:42.914-05:00Crazy Is As Crazy Does<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjspzjbM5UiAJs40Iit2rE1d9JBeN-ydNUVvRdbRY4wxki31WNZIKnabKXI1ouY3jghV-VwP3Zk-n9ahYWyRx5vpDdAftnGd6glYHDh6J_NxCZ4H_4UaAoQfUGCaccTFUkDixuNegpD790/s1600-h/stefano1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjspzjbM5UiAJs40Iit2rE1d9JBeN-ydNUVvRdbRY4wxki31WNZIKnabKXI1ouY3jghV-VwP3Zk-n9ahYWyRx5vpDdAftnGd6glYHDh6J_NxCZ4H_4UaAoQfUGCaccTFUkDixuNegpD790/s400/stefano1.jpg" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333212667422452962" style="cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 263px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></a><a href="http://www.robertfulghum.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Robert Fulghum</span></a>, best known for writing a short essay titled <span style="font-style: italic;">All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten</span>, is one of the very best storytellers in the world.<br />
<br />
One of his finest tales involves his distaste of using business cards to introduce ourselves to one another. He thinks they have some utility - title, company, email address, phone number - but don't convey anything important about who we are. Further, he thinks they limit us to talking with each other about our occupations - as if they matter. For example, he doesn't like saying he's a writer. Writing - to him - is merely the product of what he does. What he does is something broader, and it doesn't fit on a 3x2 card.<br />
<br />
Robert has butted his head against the wall of this conundrum on more than one occasion. Once on a plane, he decided to keep his business card in his pocket and lie; he told a man in a turban - whom he was certain he didn't want to talk to - that he was a neurosurgeon. Imagine his surprise when he discovered that the man in the turban really was a neurosurgeon. But, the man understood Robert's plight. He, too, was chagrined when - upon introducing himself - people began spouting off about their various neural malfunctions, as if that were all he was.<br />
<br />
Another time - on another plane - Fulghum sought out a fellow liar, and without <span style="font-style: italic;">properly</span> introducing themselves to each other, they agreed to lie to one another for the entire flight. The other player introduced himself as a spy. Fulghum said he was a nun. Robert said it was one of the damnedest conversations he ever had: imaginative, informative, and never true for an instant. And, to top it off, an elderly man stood behind Fulghum as they were deplaning, and said, "Have a nice day, sister."<br />
<br />
It's easy to see how role-playing ala <span style="font-style: italic;">Sister Robert</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Secret Agent Man</span> is an interesting way to pass time in a pressurized cabin at 35,000 feet, but you only have to move a couple of clicks away from center to also see it as a way to ramp up the energy level and get the creative juices flowing in small groups looking to add variety to their meetings.<br />
<br />
If your group likes this idea and wants to play with it, here are some things to think about.<br />
<ul>
<li>Be specific about what you want to accomplish. Ask: What result do we want to create? This gets you centered on where you want to end up, and not on the particulars of how to get there. A useful analogy is sailing. Good sailors lock into their destination, and then set their course. And, if they get blown off course, they don't try to get back on the original course; they keep their eye on their destination and chart a new course from where they currently are instead.</li>
<li>Make sure a wide variety of roles are selected. For example, you don't want to end up with two nuns, a priest, three spies, and an FBI agent. Also, avoid typical business roles like accountant, sales rep, etc.</li>
<li>Stay in character. For example, if a person from marketing is playing a trauma surgeon, she shouldn't simply take her knowledge of marketing and spit it out using doctor-speak. She should assume the knowledge base of a trauma surgeon and deploy it as best she can.</li>
<li>Assess the results. You can talk about what happened and decide if and when you want to do it again by holding the following conversation at the end of the meeting.</li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul>
<li>What was supposed to happen?</li>
<li>What actually happened?</li>
<li>What went well, and why?</li>
<li>What can be improved, and how? </li>
</ul>
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords: </span><br />
<blockquote>
"I've always been crazy, but it's kept me from going insane." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Waylon Jennings</span>, from the song <span style="font-style: italic;">I've Always Been Crazy</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"You should never hesitate to trade your cow for a handful of magic beans." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tom Robbins</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Behavioral traits such as curiosity about the world, flexibility of response, and playfulness are common to practically all young mammals but are usually rapidly lost with the onset of maturity in all but humans. Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tom Robbins</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Still Life With Woodpecker</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them,
glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore
them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race
forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty
canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s
never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on
wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While some may see them
as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy
enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Apple Computer</span>, advertisement
</blockquote>
Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-5497549874045663732010-11-30T10:48:00.001-06:002010-11-30T11:29:07.874-06:00Andy Reid and the Redemption of Michael Vick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZ0rWEeBT7vBSGnccexreGAMvQ4EpPLUG-NvzYEaVRLGIt-1cdjTVsyw560Wr3JGZLr2lvRhoORa3U_kgJkUNrza2p10TPiOAVyC0FC9AgYafD3y7gOt1usTFukJD4WI2YddoLrkFJFI/s1600-h/Andy-Reid.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="223" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373588888649050514" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpZ0rWEeBT7vBSGnccexreGAMvQ4EpPLUG-NvzYEaVRLGIt-1cdjTVsyw560Wr3JGZLr2lvRhoORa3U_kgJkUNrza2p10TPiOAVyC0FC9AgYafD3y7gOt1usTFukJD4WI2YddoLrkFJFI/s320/Andy-Reid.jpg" style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;" width="320" /></a></div>When <span style="font-weight: bold;">Andy Reid</span>, head coach of the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles, announced that he had signed <span style="font-weight: bold;">Michael Vick</span>, who had just been released from prison after serving 18 months for running an illegal dog fighting operation in Virginia, to an Eagles' contract, I was both surprised and not surprised. I was surprised that any NFL team would take on the public relations nightmare that surely would ensue; I was not surprised when I heard it was Reid and the Eagles who did it in spite of that. Let me explain further. <br />
<br />
In a 1977 Harvard Business Review article - <span style="font-style: italic;">Managers and Leaders: Are They Different? -</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Abraham Zaleznik</span>, the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership Emeritus at the Harvard Business School, said that most great leaders are "twice born" individuals who have endured a major event such as a tough childhood, a religious revelation, or a life and death experience (a second birth) that leads to a sense of separateness, or perhaps estrangement from their environment. As a result, they turn inward and after a period of self-reflection emerge with a not only a deepened and stronger sense of self, but also relatively free of dependency on the social structures that surround them. This, I think, is Andy Reid's story.<br />
<br />
Reid stepped into a crucible of fire on January 30, 2007 when his two oldest sons, Garrett and Britt, were arrested in separate driving incidents. Garrett, the older of the two, was charged with felony drug possession. Britt was charged with felony drug possession and for illegally carrying and brandishing a hand gun. Both were subsequently convicted of the charges and incarcerated. Reid immediately drew heavy fire from the media and the public, of course, but chose not to respond to any of it. In fact, I'm guessing that if you'd dialed him up on the cell back then, you'd have heard: <br />
<blockquote>"You've reached the voice-mailbox of Andy Reid. I'm sorry I'm not here to take your call. Please leave a message. You can begin speaking at the beep." </blockquote>And even though the cacophony of advice, recriminations, and demands for a "come to Jesus" meeting with the press grew louder and louder, Reid maintained his silence. He turned inward; it was a time for soul searching.<br />
<br />
Andy maintained his separateness for almost a year before he finally agreed to do an interview with <span style="font-style: italic;">Philadelphia Magazine</span>. He was joined by his wife Tammy. The interview is <span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><a href="http://www.phillymag.com/articles/exclusive_a_familys_struggle/page1">here</a>. If you read it front-to-back, you'll get a real sense of how much - and how fundamentally - he changed during his year of self-reflection or "second birth." Here are a couple of things that stood out for me.<br />
<br />
First, when he was asked what he had learned about addiction by participating in Garrett's treatment he said:<b></b><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-weight: normal;">"Because of the chemical makeup of the brain, certain people are more susceptible to drug use and addiction than others. You might be able to have knee surgery, take Oxycontin, and you’re fine. Where Garrett might take a quarter of one, his mind gets hold of it, and he’s got to have more. He’s <i>got</i></span> to have it. You find out that everybody is different. Everybody has their drug of choice, that their mind loves. It’s an epidemic that has attacked America. <span style="font-style: italic;">I was sitting there, in counseling, with good people. They are not bad people, it encompasses everybody.</span>"</blockquote>Second, when he was asked what he had learned about himself he said:<span style="font-weight: normal;"></span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-weight: normal;">"<span style="font-style: italic;">You put it all out on the table. As a parent, if you can’t do that with them, then there is going to be a wall.</span> And so we both put it out on the table. Every emotion, you go through every emotion you can imagine, you go back to when you were a kid and work to the present, the whole shebango. It</span><b> </b><span style="font-weight: normal;">was a great experience. I’m not saying it was fun — but it was an unbelievable experience, an emotional roller coaster.</span>"</blockquote>Third, when he was asked to compare the amount of control a coach has over his team with the amount of control a parent has over an addict he said: <br />
<blockquote><span style="font-weight: normal;">"They’re really very similar, though. In a game, once the whistle blows, and you’re playing the game, now the human element is there, and it’s how you’ve trained them. Some days they are going to throw an interception or miss a tackle. You didn’t train them that way. But you live with it, and you keep on teaching them. <span style="font-style: italic;">That’s why we’re here, we’re here to be teachers. And so you do the same thing at home, you teach them and then let them go. You blow the whistle and let them play. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn’t.</span>"</span></blockquote>Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't point you to the reader comments at the end of each page. See if you can tell the difference between the folks who've walked in the Reid's shoes and those who haven't.<br />
<br />
Back to Michael Vick. In describing the press conference in which Reid announced Vick's signing, sportswriter <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rich Hoffman</span> of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Philadelphia Daily News</span> said in part: <br />
<blockquote>"The coach acknowledged that Vick has been on his mind for months and years. He said that Vick got into trouble at about the same time his sons got into trouble, and that he followed Vick's story from afar and compared it to what his sons were enduring. It was as open and as human as Reid has ever been at an interview podium, and it was clear that not only was this Reid's decision, first and foremost - but that his personal life opened him to the possibilities.<br />
<br />
"At one point Thursday night, he was asked whether he might not have been so open if he had not seen his sons, and the mistakes they made, and what they went through. He said: 'I don't know that. I would hope that I would be, just like I hope the fans would be.'<br />
<br />
"A minute later, he added: 'I've kind of lived that process. I've seen change.'"</blockquote>Did Michael Vick do wrong? Yes, but don't we all? Did he deserve a chance to redeem himself? I say, "Yes." Why? Because I've walked a mile in Andy Reid's shoes, and if it's good enough for Andy, it's good enough for me.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation</span>:<br />
<ul><li>Would you have given Michael Vick a second chance? Why or why not?</li>
<li>Have you gone through a "second birth" experience? If so, how were you changed, and how has your life been affected since?</li>
<li>Has someone given you the opportunity to redeem yourself sometime during your life's journey to date? What happened? Who was involved? How was your life changed? How much did it matter?<br />
</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords</span>: <br />
<blockquote>"There is not a righteous man on Earth who does what is right and never sins." <br />
- <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ecclesiastes 7:20</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Some of the best lessons are learned from past mistakes. The error of the past is the wisdom of the future." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dale Turner</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls. The most massive characters are seared with scars." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Khalil Gibran</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Every kind of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism." <span style="font-weight: bold;">Carl Gustav Jung</span></blockquote><blockquote>"I am not being flippant when I say that all of us suffer from addiction. Nor am I reducing the meaning of addiction. I mean in all truth that the psychological, neurological, and spiritual dynamics of full-fledged addiction are actively at work within every human being. The same processes that are responsible for addiction to alcohol and narcotics are also responsible for addiction to ideas, work, relationships, power, moods, fantasies, and an endless variety of other things. We are all addicts in every sense of the word. Moreover, our addictions are our own worst enemies." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Gerald G. May</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Addiction and Grace</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Every form of refuge has its price." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Eagles</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Lyin' Eyes</span></blockquote><blockquote>"And the truth I see is that the Bible is populated with people like you and me. People who are flawed and imperfect. People who have crooked teeth and bad skin. Who have stinky breath and dirty feet. Who don't always know the difference between right and wrong. Who are self-serving and capricious. People caught in the conflict and dichotomy between good and evil, between the sacred and the profane, between beauty and ugliness, and between the bright and the moronic. People who hope - and many believe - that they are made in the very image of God." – <span style="font-weight: bold;">Barry Moser</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Up to a point a man's life is shaped by environment, heredity, and movements and changes in the world about him; then there comes a time when it lies within his grasp to shape the clay of his life into the sort of thing he wishes it to be. Everyone has it within his power to say, this I am today, that I shall be tomorrow." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Louis L’Amour </span></blockquote>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-44121110110984175062010-11-09T16:03:00.000-06:002010-11-30T14:44:00.288-06:00Playing the Ball Where It Lies<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl4R3o9Ta0LngflVWcZC2BmGaNF3XbSEa1D9P0YbyE1qv8Xs4oQr_SaboEPgVhyw-yPpkrL17aIsWn3j6zMI3SuPSdNdf9O1-zXJSD1FfkbM92tOecE_U75t-E2XISKVyETb53W9HWfZ8/s1600/bobby+jones.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgl4R3o9Ta0LngflVWcZC2BmGaNF3XbSEa1D9P0YbyE1qv8Xs4oQr_SaboEPgVhyw-yPpkrL17aIsWn3j6zMI3SuPSdNdf9O1-zXJSD1FfkbM92tOecE_U75t-E2XISKVyETb53W9HWfZ8/s320/bobby+jones.jpg" width="291" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bobby Jones</span> is certainly the greatest <span style="font-style: italic;">amateur</span> golfer who ever lived, and a strong argument can be made that he should be recognized as the greatest <span style="font-style: italic;">golfer</span> ever. His climb to that dizzying height began in 1923, when he won his first major championship - the U.S. Open - at Inwood CC, Inwood, NY. It ended in 1930, when he retired after reaching the top of golf's Mt. Everest. He won all four majors that year - accomplishing what has come to be known as golf's <span style="font-style: italic;">Grand Slam</span> - including his last competitive outing, the U.S. Amateur at Merion Cricket Club, Ardmore, PA. In between, he won 11 other majors - 3 U.S. Opens, 3 British Opens, 3 U.S. Amateurs, and 2 British Amateurs - in 18 tries.<br />
<br />
Jones accomplished all this while devoting only about a quarter of his time to golf. The rest of it was spent pursuing a law degree, and practicing law once he obtained it. Besides his playing prowess, he is remembered for co-designing and building Augusta National Golf Club and founding The Masters golf tournament.<br />
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Among the many things worth knowing about Bobby Jones, there are two I want to point to in particular.<br />
<br />
The <span style="font-weight: bold;">first</span> involves an incident during the 1925 U.S. Open at Worcester CC, Worcester, MA. During the play of one of the early holes in the final round, his ball dribbled into the rough just off the fairway. As he addressed the ball in preparation to play his next shot, the ball moved imperceptibly. He immediately turned to the nearby tournament officials, and called a penalty on himself. The officials were stunned; they hadn't seen his ball move. They asked if anyone in the gallery had seen it move; no one had. They huddled and decided that since no one had seen the ball move, the final decision was Jones'. Bobby Jones didn't hesitate for one second, and let the penalty stand. He ended up losing the tournament by a single shot. When he was praised for his gesture, Jones replied: <br />
<blockquote>"You might as well praise me for not breaking into banks. There is only one way to play this game." </blockquote>The <span style="font-weight: bold;">second</span>, involves the great tragedy of his life. In 1948, at the age of 46, he contracted syringomyelia, a fluid-filled cavity in his spinal cord causing first pain, then paralysis. He never played golf again, and in due time was relegated to a wheelchair. He died December 18, 1971. He was 69. Shortly before he died, he was asked about his illness. His answer is testament to his deep and abiding wisdom:<br />
<blockquote>"I will tell you privately it's not going to get better, it's going to get worse all the time, but don't fret. Remember, <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">we play the ball where it lies</span>, and now let's not talk about this, ever again."</blockquote>To <span style="font-style: italic;">play the ball where it lies</span> is the most basic rule of golf. Golfers who play by this rule - accepting and handling both the good and bad breaks that come with the territory - are not only able to leave the 18th green with a score that truly means something, but also with the deep personal satisfaction that can only come from doing what's right - win, lose, or draw. Golfers who ignore it - who cheat to win - not only debase themselves in the eyes of their fellows (word gets around) but in their own eyes as well. <br />
<br />
For Bobby Jones <i>playing the ball where it lies</i> was also a basic rule for living a good and noble life, and a true test of character. Do you think he passed?<br />
<blockquote>"For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, He writes - not that you won or lost - but how you played the game."- <b>Grantland Rice</b>, sportswriter</blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul><li>Are you willing to confront the truth of even the worst of the situations you face in your life? Is there a particular lesson you've learned that you can share?<br />
</li>
<li>Do you trust someone who cheats at golf - or any other seemingly innocuous activity - to do right when it comes to the more important aspects of life?<br />
</li>
<li>How do you <span style="font-style: italic;">play the ball</span> in your work and life?</li>
<li>What will the One Great Scorer mark against your name?<br />
</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span> <br />
<blockquote>"The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names." - Chinese Proverb </blockquote><blockquote>"The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">John Ruskin</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Fame is something which must be won; honor is something which must not be lost." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Arthur Schopenhauer</span></blockquote><blockquote>"There's a gigantic gray area between good moral behavior and outright felonious activities. I call that the Weasel Zone and it's where most of life happens." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Scott Adams</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel</span></blockquote><blockquote>"When another is shooting, no player should talk, whistle, hum, clink coins, or pass gas." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Willie Nelson</span>, reciting a rule he enforces at the private golf course he built for himself and all his rowdy friends</blockquote>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-45326269722358552352010-10-01T12:39:00.000-05:002010-10-01T12:39:00.567-05:00A Page of Lost Questions<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCxp1P1nUVD-m73xEhm72pJiuhydhpnRzksJLdItwC6B2vAOJGwVegTzvxAgnuHcltk4RImeirXPTW0AlA-5AtyHFQ7sgzhyqd8AtpMTOFtW55RPXSKsuELextEbIrm2dTOzysEIWsUNg/s1600/4375_John_ODonohue.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 281px; height: 443px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCxp1P1nUVD-m73xEhm72pJiuhydhpnRzksJLdItwC6B2vAOJGwVegTzvxAgnuHcltk4RImeirXPTW0AlA-5AtyHFQ7sgzhyqd8AtpMTOFtW55RPXSKsuELextEbIrm2dTOzysEIWsUNg/s400/4375_John_ODonohue.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486103896994545922" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">John O'Donohue </span>was an Irish poet and philosopher who lived in a small cottage in the West of Ireland. He wrote several books including <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Anam Cara: The Book of Celtic Wisdom</span> and <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Eternal Echoes: Celtic Reflections on Our Yearning to Belong</span>. John passed away on January 3, 2008. He was 52 years old. You can access his <a href="http://www.jodonohue.com/">website</a> to learn more about John and his work.<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>John appeared in the 2004 Masters Forum. He spoke of many things, including his view on the thrill of being involved in a great conversation. <blockquote>"When is the last time you had a great conversation? A conversation which wasn’t just two intersecting monologues, which is what passes for conversation in this culture. When have you had a great conversation in which: you overheard yourself saying things you never knew you knew; you heard yourself receiving from somebody words that absolutely found places within you that you had thought you had lost; you and your partner ascended to a different plane; memories of the exchange continued to sing in your mind for weeks afterward?"</blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br /><br />O'Donohue left us with these questions from what he called <span style="font-style: italic;">a page of lost questions</span>. He said each would lead to a great conversation.<br /><ul><li>Is there someone walking home this evening through the streets of Leningrad that you have never met and never will meet, but whose life had an incredible interest on yours?</li><li>At the angel bar, what stories does your angel tell about you?</li><li>Supposin' you were to take your heart away on your own for a day out, and that you really decided to listen to your heart, what do you think your heart would say to you?</li><li>If you were in conversation with your heart, and you told it how actually, factually short your life is, what would your heart make you stop from doing right now?<br /></li><li>If it is true that nothing good is ever truly lost, what would you like to have back?</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><blockquote>"Our time is hungry in spirit. In some unnoticed way we have managed to inflict severe surgery on ourselves. We have separated soul from experience, become utterly taken up with the outside world and allowed the interior life to shrink. Like a stream that disappears underground, there remains on the surface only the slightest trickle. When we devote no time to the inner life, we lose the habit of soul. We become accustomed to keeping things at surface level. The deeper questions about who we are and what we are here for visit us less and less. If we allow time for soul, we will come to sense its dark and luminous depth. If we fail to acquaint ourselves with soul, we will remain strangers in our own lives." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">John O'Donohue</span>, from his book <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Beauty</span><br /></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video:</span><br /><br />A <a href="http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/john_odonahue/ss_beannacht/ss-beannacht.shtml"> link</a> to a slide show of O'Donohue narrating a blessing he wrote called <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Beannacht</span>.Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-9124561011915899442010-09-24T14:34:00.238-05:002010-09-25T16:35:56.982-05:00Lake Wobegon, Garrison Keillor & Me<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnN7LhzZa2tUsr90uc8mCwduw6pnIwjoK-DzR-DBnaqoh-ddvXIi9ONDxZ51svwd-ltZKY9un2JKjGLmSqgkT5RUtPRVEZQTFfGrnX8EmSQ_Mzdh9Jd3HLZQMLDnZjZEeXhM9UltYMXg/s1600/Copy+of+PHC-Atlanta-09.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518331669138439970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXnN7LhzZa2tUsr90uc8mCwduw6pnIwjoK-DzR-DBnaqoh-ddvXIi9ONDxZ51svwd-ltZKY9un2JKjGLmSqgkT5RUtPRVEZQTFfGrnX8EmSQ_Mzdh9Jd3HLZQMLDnZjZEeXhM9UltYMXg/s400/Copy+of+PHC-Atlanta-09.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 340px; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; width: 342px;" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrison_Keillor"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Garrison Keillor</span></a> is creator and host of <a href="http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">A Prairie Home Companion</span></a> which was first broadcast from the Janet Wallace auditorium at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, on July 6, 1974.<br />
<br />
Today, almost 40 years later, his tales from the fictional <span style="font-weight: bold;">Lake Wobegon</span>, which he calls <span class="body"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"the little town that time forgot and the decades cannot improve</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">,</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">"</span> are</span> heard by over 4 million listeners each week on almost 600 public radio stations here and abroad.<br />
<br />
Speaking about the show's long run on APHC's <a href="http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/about/">website</a>, Keillor says:<br />
<br />
"When the show started, it was something funny to do with my friends, and then it became an achievement that I hoped would be successful, and now it's a good way of life."<br />
<br />
I get Garrison Keillor. I grew up in a small, out-of-the-way Minnesota town - not unlike his Lake Wobegon - and can relate to the yarns he spins about the folks who live there and the warp and weft of their lives.<br />
<br />
I also get Garrison because he and I are pretty close to the same age and grew up with the same stuff spinning around, over, under and through us: the dawn of the nuclear age; the dark shadow cast 'round the world by an evil Soviet Union; <span style="font-style: italic;">The Shadow</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Lone Ranger</span> on the radio; <span style="font-style: italic;">Ozzie & Harriet</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Father Knows Best</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Bonanza</span> on TV; the birth of rock & roll; the tragic deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P Richardson aka <span style="font-style: italic;">The Big Bopper</span>; the civil rights movement; the murders of Jack and Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King; Timothy Leary and trips on LSD; Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and The Kingston Trio; San Francisco, flower children, Volkswagen buses and free love; Vietnam, draft dodgers, war protesters; the Beatles, <i>Helter Skelter</i> & Charlie Manson; Richard Nixon, Watergate, and on ... and on ... and on. Ahh! Yes! "Those were the days, my friend" ... sing along now ... "I thought they'd never end, we'd sing and dance forever and a day." Hmmm.<br />
<br />
Times have changed, of course, just like Bob Dylan said they would, and when I get to looking back on those days of yesteryear, I usually get to thinking about how smart I thought I was; how I had all the answers. Maybe Garrison does too. But, once you get to be our age - Garrison's and mine - and if you still have your wits about you, it slowly dawns on you that you may not have been so smart after all. Or, as <b>Garrison</b> has simply and profoundly stated:<br />
<blockquote>"You get old and you realize there are no answers, just stories."</blockquote>Stories ... they are the principle driver of learning that<span style="font-style: italic;"> sticks</span> in the human brain:<br />
<blockquote>"If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten." - <b>Rudyard Kipling</b></blockquote>Stories ... they keep us from losing our way: <br />
<blockquote>"If you don't know the trees you may be lost in the forest, but if you don't know the stories you may be lost in life." -<b> A Siberian Elder</b></blockquote>Stories ... they help us connect with others in a deep, meaningful way:<br />
<blockquote>"We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. One of our ancient methods is to tell a story begging the listener to say — and to feel — 'Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought.' " -<b> John Steinbeck</b></blockquote><b>Conversation:</b><br />
<ul><li>In <i>Dreamgates</i>, <b>Robert Moss</b> wrote: "Australian Aborigines say that the big stories - the stories worth telling and retelling, the ones in which you may find the meaning of your life - are forever stalking the right teller, sniffing and tracking like predators hunting their prey in the bush." <b>What is the big story you are meant to tell?</b> <b>How will it find you?</b></li>
</ul><ul><li><b>Hannah Arendt</b> has said: "Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it." <b>How do you understand what she is saying?</b></li>
</ul><ul><li>When he is talking to leaders,<b> Peter Block </b>often says: "Our ability to facilitate the learning of others is absolutely dependent on our own consciousness and on our willingness to make our own actions a legitimate subject of inquiry. Allowing the personal to become public is the act of responsibility that initiates cultural change and reforms organizations. Our need for privacy and our fear of the personal are primary reasons why organizational change is more rhetoric than reality. Real change comes from our willingness to own our vulnerability, confess our failures, and acknowledge that many of our stories do not have a happy ending." <b>Do you typically share these kinds of stories? Why or why not? </b></li>
</ul><b>Afterwords:</b><br />
<blockquote>"The eye of understanding is like the eye of the sense; for as you may see great objects through small crannies or levels, so you may see great axioms of nature through small and contemptible instances." - <b>Francis Bacon</b>, <i>Sylva Sylvarum</i> </blockquote><blockquote>"Proverbs are always platitudes until you have personally experienced the truth of them." - <b>Aldous Huxley</b></blockquote><blockquote>"The leader who says ‘I don’t know’ essentially says that the group is facing a new ballgame where the old tools of logic may be its undoing rather than its salvation. To drop these tools is not to give up on finding a workable answer. It is only to give up on one means of answering that is ill-suited to the unstable, the unknowable, the unpredictable. To drop the heavy tools of rationality is to gain access to lightness in the form of intuitions, feelings, stories, experience, active listening, shared humanity, awareness in the moment, capability for fascination, awe, novel words and empathy." - <b>Karl Weick</b></blockquote><blockquote>"Self-disclosure is the act of revealing yourself to others – your thoughts, feelings, intentions– telling your story. Another word for self-disclosure is 'intimacy'. This word is commonly associated with sexuality. But it really refers to familiarity and closeness. Intimacy can be understood better by pronouncing it as 'in-to-me-see' – a clear reference to self-disclosure. Why is intimacy so important? It builds understanding, trust, compassion, and commonality – all of which are essential to effective relationships. When you begin to understand other people’s stories, your heart softens. You find that their sorrows and joys are similar to yours, and that you have more in common than you ever thought. You draw closer and become more tolerant, more supportive, and more understanding." - <b>Mark D. Youngblood</b>, <i>Life at the Edge of Chaos</i></blockquote><blockquote>"'I would ask you to remember only this one thing,' said Badger. 'The stories people tell have a way of taking care of them. If stories come to you, care for them. And learn to give them away where they are needed. Sometimes a person needs a story more than food to stay alive. That is why we put these stories in each other's memory. This is how people care for themselves. One day you will be good story-tellers. Never forget these obligations.'" - <b>Barry Lopez</b>, <i>Crow and Weasel</i></blockquote><blockquote><span class="body">"A minister has to be able to read a clock. At noon, it's time to go home and turn up the pot roast and get the peas out of the freezer.</span>" <span class="bodybold">- <b>Garrison Keillor </b></span></blockquote><blockquote><span class="body">"They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad that I'm going to miss mine by just a few days.</span>" - <b><span class="bodybold">Garrison Keillor </span></b></blockquote><blockquote>"Even in a time of elephantine vanity and greed, one never has to look far to see the campfires of gentle people." - <b><span class="authorNameRegular">Garrison Keillor</span></b></blockquote>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-63523336898283509842010-09-17T12:23:00.000-05:002010-09-18T16:28:58.087-05:00For Beowulf, Nothing Failed Like Success<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglOPCUI_jwttBITNF6s_6Ak1aDbzQKzo88HiI3AHBBqSXRQNKH1eHz9iNqGL3bFUFbo4GJFeAdNuyRzRkV2MZ4Q8b1_ghS1gtvjWRvfwz3XiU5x3bGorNnGT4J0R_zbeKKW6Hmzeg2UxA/s1600/Beowulfkkl.jpg"><img style="float: right; margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglOPCUI_jwttBITNF6s_6Ak1aDbzQKzo88HiI3AHBBqSXRQNKH1eHz9iNqGL3bFUFbo4GJFeAdNuyRzRkV2MZ4Q8b1_ghS1gtvjWRvfwz3XiU5x3bGorNnGT4J0R_zbeKKW6Hmzeg2UxA/s400/Beowulfkkl.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518368045708932066" border="0" /></a>In my freshman year of college, I enrolled in English Literature 101. On the first day of class, the teacher stood behind the podium and began reading the epic tale of <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Beowulf</span>. I listened, but in vain; I couldn't grasp a thing she was saying. And, as soon as the two hours of that initial class period had passed, I headed to the office and dropped the class. I tried not to even think of Beowulf after that.<br /><br />That all changed on a sunny St. Patrick's Day a few years ago when real-life wizard <span style="font-weight: bold;">Brian Bates</span> appeared at The Masters Forum, and told the story of Beowulf in words that even I could understand.<br /><br />A little about Brian. He teaches psychology at the University of Brighton, directs the Shaman Research Program at the University of Sussex, and is an adviser to the Ford Foundation's project on worldwide indigenous wisdom. He is the author of several books including: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Way of Wyrd</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Real Middle Earth</span>.<br /><br />Back to <span><span>Beowulf</span></span>. Here's the story as I now understand it:<br /><span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><blockquote><span>A monster named Grendel was attacking the castle of King Hrothgar of Denmark each night, killing and devouring his soldiers and guests. No one could stop him.</span><br /><br /><span>A great warrior from afar, Beowulf, hears of the king's plight and comes to the rescue. He succeeds in slaying the monster.</span><br /><br /><span>It turns out, though, that the monster has a nasty ol' mother who rears up out of her swamp and takes over where Grendel left off. Beowulf takes out the mother as well.</span><span> Hrothgar is forever grateful.<br /><br />Beowulf returns to his own people, the Geats. He serves them well; becomes their king.</span><br /><br /><span>Fifty winters pass. Beowulf has grown old.</span><br /><br /><span>One day, an evil dragon shows up and begins to beat on the Geats. Beowulf decides that he - and he alone - will slay the dragon.</span><br /><br /><span>Beowulf preps for battle. As he heads out to meet the dragon, he asks 12 of his warriors to join him. He gives them </span><span>a direct order to stay out of the battle.</span><br /><br /><span>The battle rages. Beowulf is getting his ass handed to him. His warriors can see he needs help, but they have no idea what to do; besides they are scared witless. They head for the hills. Well, at least 11 of them do. The 12th, Wiglaf, decides to help the old man out. He does it by rushing in and distracting the dragon just long enough for Beowulf to strike a killing blow. The dragon goes down for the count. Minutes later, it's lights out for Beowulf as well.</span></blockquote></div>There are several lessons to be learned here for accomplished leaders and high achievers of all stripes.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br /><ul><li>Why do you think Beowulf decided to face the dragon by himself? Have you ever done the same in some instance in your work or life? Is it typical of you?</li><li>Do you think he considered the possibility he would die? Why or why not? Do you consider the possibility of failing when you decide to go it alone?</li><li>The story says Beowulf invited a few of his warriors to come along for the ride, but only to observe. Why? Have you ever done the same?</li><li>The warriors didn't rush to rescue Beowulf when he got into trouble. In fact, 11 of 12 turned tail and ran. The story says they fled because they didn't know what to do to help. This suggests that Beowulf had not mentally or physically prepared his warriors to fight such a battle. Why do you suppose he failed to do so? How about you? Are you truly developing your subordinates, or merely entertaining them with your brilliance? Explain.</li><li><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Nothing fails like success</span> is an old saying. How do you interpret it in light of this story? How do you interpret it in terms of your own life and work?<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><br /><blockquote>"Often when one man follows his own will many are hurt." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wiglaf</span></blockquote><blockquote>"The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Okakura Kakuzo</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">author</span><br /></blockquote><blockquote>"It seldom happens that a man changes his life through his habitual reasoning. No matter how fully he may sense the new plans and aims revealed to him by reason, he continues to plod along in old paths until his life becomes frustrating and unbearable. He finally makes the change only when his usual life can no longer be tolerated." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Leo Tolstoy</span></blockquote><blockquote>"People hear what they want to hear and disregard the rest." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Simon & Garfunkel</span>,<span style="font-style: italic;"> The Boxer</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Firefighters are most likely to get killed or injured in their 10th year on the job, when they think they've seen pretty much everything there is to see on the fires. They become less open to new information that would allow them to update their models." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Karl Weick, </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Wired</span>, April, 2004</blockquote>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-66019498561683121962010-09-10T15:00:00.037-05:002010-09-26T18:59:35.910-05:00Schindler's List<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtgIf30FQqpdYkUZRnEABfVNkxzp5bxS70YgyWrEmZsIWbxwS4-L-rMpOsA8G5eLJR6Tsd7PM6Exjwbq9dM_bqSnP7xd_trPVXaYTD0dqXFtpZcq_T3g8ebQZT49xRFRX60yM3QM3VCyc/s1600/1zd896d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtgIf30FQqpdYkUZRnEABfVNkxzp5bxS70YgyWrEmZsIWbxwS4-L-rMpOsA8G5eLJR6Tsd7PM6Exjwbq9dM_bqSnP7xd_trPVXaYTD0dqXFtpZcq_T3g8ebQZT49xRFRX60yM3QM3VCyc/s320/1zd896d.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>As the 1993 film<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108052/" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Schindler's List</span></a> opens, Polish Jews are being relocated from the countryside to a crowded ghetto in Krakow. The year is 1939. World War II has just begun. Shortly thereafter,<span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><a href="http://www.oskarschindler.com/11.htm" style="font-weight: bold;">Oskar Schindler</a> - played by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Liam Neeson</span> - a successful businessman and member of the Nazi Party, arrives from Czechoslovakia hoping to manufacture field kitchenware and mess kits for the German army. He acquires a factory by bribing SS officials and brings in accountant and financier <span style="font-weight: bold;">Itzhak Stern</span> - played by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ben Kingsley</span> - to help him run it. Among the first things Stern does is advise Schindler to staff the plant with Jews from the ghetto; he said this would give him a dependable, low-paid work force. Schindler sees the financial benefits and quickly agrees. For Stern a job in a war-related plant means survival - at least in the short term - for himself and other Jews working for Schindler.<br />
<br />
Schindler initially treats the Jewish workers with indifference, seeing them as a nameless, faceless mass instead of individuals with rights and equal worth to gentiles such as himself. He changes on this score as the film moves on, though, and eventually spends his entire fortune and risks his life on many occasions to keep Stern and more than 1200 other Jews out of the Nazi death camps.<br />
<br />
Why did he do it? What made this man do what no other German had the courage to do? This is the question people - including the Jews saved by Schindler - are still asking today.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Keneally" style="font-weight: bold;">Thomas Keneally</a>, author of <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Schindler's Arc</span> - later renamed<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Keneally" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Schindler's List</span></a> - hints at why he thinks Schindler did it when he says in the book:<br />
<blockquote>"Schindler grew up in a strong Roman Catholic household with deeply religious parents. Their nearest neighbors were a Jewish Rabbi and his family, and the Rabbi's two sons were Oskar's best friends for years."</blockquote><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Spielberg" style="font-weight: bold;">Steven Spielberg</a>, who turned the novel to film, said in an interview in <span style="font-style: italic;">Der Spiegel:</span> <br />
<blockquote>"Oskar Schindler was simply <span style="font-style: italic;">ein guter Mensch</span> whose sheer humanity forced him to take great personal risk to save his Jews."</blockquote>A decade before Spielberg's <span style="font-style: italic;">Schindler's List </span>won seven Academy Awards, a British producer and director, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Blair" style="font-weight: bold;">Jon Blair</a>, made <span style="font-style: italic;">Schindler, </span>an 80 minute documentary on the life of Oskar Schindler for British Thames Television. The film won a British Academy Award for best documentary in 1983, but left few clues as to why Schindler did what he did. Blair was quoted later as saying:<br />
<blockquote>"Oskar, this big man with a big heart and big connections, loved to be loved and needed. But I always thought that it was a weakness in my film that I couldn't explain Schindler's motivation, and Spielberg told me the same about his - it seems impossible to crack that enigma."</blockquote>Perhaps Schindler himself didn't know for sure. In a 1964 interview he said:<br />
<blockquote>"The persecution of Jews in occupied Poland meant that we could see horror emerging gradually in many ways. In 1939, they were forced to wear Jewish stars, and people were herded and shut up into ghettos. Then in the years '41 and '42, there was plenty of public evidence of pure sadism. With people behaving like pigs, I felt the Jews were being destroyed. I had to help them. There was no choice."</blockquote>The most plausible explanation may have been revealed in a 1965 conversation between Schindler and <a href="http://www.forward.com/articles/10298/" style="font-weight: bold;">Moshe Bejski</a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>- a Schindler Jew and later an Israeli Supreme Court justice. When Bejski asked him why he did it, Schindler answered:<br />
<blockquote>"I knew the people who worked for me. When you know people, you have to behave towards them like human beings."</blockquote>The story of Oskar Schindler is not merely one about an altruistic and morally decent man - though Schindler was that. It is, in the main, the story of a man who gets to know his workers through personal encounters, and comes to see them as individual human beings with hopes, dreams, fears, and passions just like his own. And, once he grants them humanity, he feels a strong pull to assist them. I think this idea is best expressed near the end of the film when Schindler introduces Stern to his wife. He says:<br />
<blockquote>"Stern is my accountant and my friend."</blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br />
<ul><li>How does this last explanation for Schindler's behavior make more or less sense to you than the others considered?</li>
<li>Why might it be important for leaders to build personal relationships with their followers?<br />
</li>
<li>Why might they want to keep from getting too personally involved?</li>
<li>What is your philosophy in this regard? How is it working for you? Have you ever thought there might be a better way? Have you experimented with it? What happened?<br />
</li>
<li>What is your reaction to the statement: <span style="font-style: italic;">Your people are not </span><span style="font-style: italic;">human resources</span><span style="font-style: italic;">, they are </span><span style="font-style: italic;">human beings</span><span style="font-style: italic;">? </span><br />
</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords: </span><br />
<blockquote>"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." - <b>Edmund Burke</b></blockquote><blockquote>"We ask ourselves, 'How could the German people not have known what was going on, long before the Panzer divisions moved into Poland in September of 1939? How could they not have known about Bergen-Belsen?' Well, a system to administer evil without interference is usually firmly entrenched before anyone notices - you don’t get the opportunity to see it coming. As Mussolini intuited, if you just make the trains run on time, people will be happy. So, if you’re simply getting on with life - paying taxes, changing diapers, wondering how you’re going to make the car payment next month- you’re not really paying attention to what having the trains run on time might mean." - <b>Barry Lopez</b>, in an interview with Christian Martin, <i>Michigan Quarterly Review</i>, Fall 2005</blockquote><blockquote>"They came for the communists, and I did not speak up because I wasn't a communist. They came for the socialists, and I did not speak up because I was not a socialist. They came for the union leaders, and I did not speak up because I wasn't a union leader. They came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up for me." -<b> Martin Niemoller</b></blockquote><blockquote>"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." - <b>Viktor Frankl</b>, <i>Man's Search for Meaning</i></blockquote><blockquote>"After the war we reassured ourselves that it would be enough to relate a single night in Treblinka, to tell of the cruelty, the senselessness of murder, and the outrage born of indifference: it would be enough to find the right word and the propitious moment to say it, to shake humanity out of its indifference and keep the torturer from torturing ever again. We thought it would be enough to read the world a poem written by a child in the Theresienstadt ghetto to ensure that no child anywhere would ever again have to endure hunger or fear. It would be enough to describe a death-camp 'Selection,' to prevent the human right to dignity from ever being violated again. We thought it would be enough to tell of the tidal wave of hatred which broke over the Jewish people for men everywhere to decide once and for all to put an end to hatred of anyone who is 'different' - whether black or white, Jew or Arab, Christian or Moslem - anyone whose orientation differs politically, philosophically, sexually. A naive undertaking? Of course...." - <b>Elie Wiesel</b>, speaking of his book <i>Night</i> in his 1986 Nobel address</blockquote><div class="O"><blockquote>"Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?" - <b>William J. Bennett </b>- in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997</blockquote></div><blockquote>"We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm." - <b>George Orwell</b></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video:</span><br />
<br />
This scene takes place near the end of the movie. The Germans have surrendered. Schindler, who will now be seen as a war criminal by the occupying Soviet army, is taking his leave. It is a powerful expression of the deep affection that Schindler has for those he saved, and of theirs for him.<br />
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<br />
<object height="356" width="435"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/EsBlYbMn788?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/EsBlYbMn788?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="435" height="356"></embed></object>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-88219075218072700342010-09-03T12:50:00.001-05:002010-09-26T19:05:21.971-05:00I've Got a Secret. You've Got a Secret.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxjU434f0bxOnNXFBFJqIeycFW-XNjaxvxXmI1mWEmealqLxEyUmsxEcJen5o8VmVZpEmo5r81I0GtQtNHL_NdLKzEJBwLZCclq_NotNzFKv4VozNfCvyWZP2xyaJJ47q2mx4Ks1uvong/s1600/Penelope_at_work.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485764525575862018" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxjU434f0bxOnNXFBFJqIeycFW-XNjaxvxXmI1mWEmealqLxEyUmsxEcJen5o8VmVZpEmo5r81I0GtQtNHL_NdLKzEJBwLZCclq_NotNzFKv4VozNfCvyWZP2xyaJJ47q2mx4Ks1uvong/s400/Penelope_at_work.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 258px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 346px;" /></a>I don't know <span style="font-weight: bold;">Penelope Trunk</span>, but I'm sure I'd like her if I ever got the chance to sit down and talk with her a bit. I discovered her when I listened to a presentation she gave a couple of years ago at The Executive Forum, a business lecture series based in Denver, Colorado, and run by my friend Margie Mauldin. What I liked best about Penelope was her candor; it was a real breath of fresh air to hear someone talk in such a plain way about things that really matter, but are rarely - if ever - discussed around the water coolers or in the rest of the nooks and crannies of corporate America.<br />
<br />
Ms. Trunk is even more candid in her blog <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/">Brazen Careerist</a>, which has nearly 35,000 subscribers. I'm a semi-regular reader, and happened on a post a short while ago I really liked: <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2009/04/13/i-hate-david-dellifield-the-one-from-ada-ohio/">I Hate David Dellifield. The One from Ada, Ohio</a>. Here's the crux of it. The help she normally has to watch her kids while she works was not available during Spring Break, so she spent most of that time being a stay-at-home mom. She had figured out earlier in her life that this wasn't something she seemed to be genetically coded to do, so toward the end of her time at home with the kids - and in what she says was a moment of innocent desperation - she Twittered:<br />
<blockquote>"No school today and the nanny's on vacation. A whole day with the kids gets so boring: all intergalactic battles and no intellectual banter."</blockquote>In seconds, men from all over cyberspace started firing shot across her bow; they were telling her she was a bad mom. One of those shots - in particular - really ticked her off. It was fired by - you guessed it - David Dellifield of Ada, Ohio:<br />
<blockquote>"@penelopetrunk sorry your kids are a burden, send them to OH, we'll enjoy them for who they are"</blockquote>You can read the rest of her post for yourself. And, you should; the tap dance she does on his head is really well choreographed. What I want to pick up on here, though, is something she said about a third of the way through her riff:<br />
<blockquote>"Parents need to be able to say that parenting is not fun."</blockquote>She's right, of course. Parenting is not all grins and giggles. Kids are cute - but not 24/7 cute - when they're young; largely a pain-in-the-butt when they're teenagers; and who knows what after that. And, we parents should be able to say so without having some self-appointed referee toss a penalty flag.<br />
<br />
An even larger point is there are way too many things we don't get to say these days without being derided, shunned, or cast out of our tribes. This is especially true in the workplace; it's true in most of the other places we habituate as well.<br />
<br />
Secrets. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Paul Tournier</span> says:<br />
<blockquote>"Nothing makes us so lonely as our secrets."</blockquote>And sick. I think much of the fear and sadness we experience in our lives is rooted in keeping things we really need to talk about hidden behind a facade of good cheer. How sick can we get trying to suck it up? Watch <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QejogMds5M">this YouTube video</a>; it answers that question very directly. It was produced and uploaded by a young girl who wanted to share her story of self-immolation, self-injury, and redemption in hopes it might be of help to others who find themselves in the same boat.<br />
<br />
If you watched all the way to the end, you were surely struck in some way, shape, or form. Perhaps you wondered why she didn't cry out for help sooner; it's the logical thing to do, after all. Maybe you thought she was weak or lacking willpower, that all she needed to do was "Just say no!" And, why not? Lots of people have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps. Another possibility is that you breathed a sigh of relief when you found she entered a treatment program, because you know they work. Don't they? Most likely, though, your heart went out to her, and you wish you had been there to help. But, how? She tells us at the end:<br />
<blockquote>"Don't judge me by the scars on my arms, instead help me to throw away the blade."</blockquote>It shouldn't have to get that far. If we - individuals, families, communities, the world at large - could develop a less judgmental and more understanding ethos, people in trouble would be willing to step forward and ask for our help much sooner. And, if that were to happen, fewer people would <span style="font-style: italic;">put their hands on the blade</span> in the first place. This is an extreme case, of course, but not uncommon. We all most certainly have family members, friends, co-workers, close acquaintances, and others we know suffering in a private hell we don't have a clue about. And, most of us are living in one of our own as well.<br />
<br />
Secrets. Accept them as gifts when they are offered. Give them as gifts when you can.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation</span>:<br />
<ul><li>What are some things that just aren't discussed at work? Which of the things you named do you think should be open for discussion? Why? Which do you think are better left unsaid? Why? How about at home?</li>
<li>What is your personal experience with secrets? How readily to disclose them to others? Have you found confiding in others to be helpful or hurtful? Is there a story you can tell to illustrate? How are you receptive or not receptive to having others confide in you? How do respond when someone really opens up to you? Is there a story you can tell about helping someone who took the risk of being vulnerable with you?</li>
<li>Have you ever been stunned to learn something about another person that you could never have guessed? How could you have known sooner?</li>
<li>Do you have a deep, dark secret? If you were willing to share it at all, who would you share it with and why?</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords</span>:<br />
<blockquote>"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Diane Arbus</span></blockquote><blockquote>"All secrets are deep. All secrets become dark. That’s in the nature of secrets."<span style="font-weight: bold;"> - Cory Doctorow</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Someone Comes To Town, Someone Leaves Town</span>, 2005</blockquote><blockquote>"The shadow is the long bag that we drag behind us in which we've stuffed all the dark parts of ourselves that we would like to keep secret." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Robert Bly</span></blockquote><blockquote>"The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them - words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than than, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried when you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for the want of a teller but for the want of an understanding ear." -<b> Stephen King</b></blockquote><blockquote>"Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don't want it. What appears conceit, cynicism or bad manners is always a sign of things no ears have heard no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Miller Williams</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Ways We Touch </span></blockquote><blockquote>"The day will come when, after harnessing space, the winds, the tides and gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, we shall have discovered fire." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Teilhard de Chardin</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></blockquote>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-39303214493105914522010-08-27T17:18:00.002-05:002010-09-26T16:32:54.855-05:00What Do You Know of What You Speak?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBReAR44RggGKNXObL0GCaQ0oVy_w8X2CGg_Ln_H6ExzUqa15qx6XL3orspDX-8xzZpMLUhAzqEF_4d0TP3QHi6Nk2ru1jZ9uG5InxKmCqeP6Vna1n-ZqY6V9-H6OEip2Dju-_9Ys9EFw/s1600/112525-050-915A4502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBReAR44RggGKNXObL0GCaQ0oVy_w8X2CGg_Ln_H6ExzUqa15qx6XL3orspDX-8xzZpMLUhAzqEF_4d0TP3QHi6Nk2ru1jZ9uG5InxKmCqeP6Vna1n-ZqY6V9-H6OEip2Dju-_9Ys9EFw/s320/112525-050-915A4502.jpg" width="246" /></a></div>In early 1838, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ralph Waldo Emerson</span>, a Unitarian minister at the time, was asked to address the graduating class of the Harvard Divinity School. The address was to be given on July 15th. Ironically, he got the invitation only a few days after he had decided to leave the ministry because he felt that organized religion could no longer command respect. Still, Emerson accepted the invitation, and on a beautiful July evening in Boston he spoke to the audience of seminarians about to enter the active Christian clergy. Most of what he said that night was the standard stuff of commencement addresses. One thing, though, stood out. He told a story about bad preaching.<br />
<blockquote>“I once heard a preacher who sorely tempted me to say, I would go to church no more. Men go, thought I, where they are wont to go, else no soul entered the temple in the afternoon. A snow storm was falling around us. The snow storm was real; the preacher merely spectral, and the eye felt the sad contrast in looking at him, and then out of the window behind him, into the beautiful meteor of the snow. He had lived in vain. He had no one word intimating that he had laughed or wept, was married or in love, had been commended or cheated, or chagrined. If he had ever lived and acted, we were none the wiser for it. The capital secret of his profession, namely, to convert life into truth, he had not learned. Not one fact in all his experience, had he yet imported into his doctrine. This man had plowed, and planted, and talked, and bought, and sold; he had read books; he had eaten and drunken; his head aches; his heart throbs; he smiles and suffers; yet was there not a surmise, a hint, in all the discourse, that he had ever lived at all. Not a line did he draw out of real history. The true preacher can be known by this, that he deals out to the people his life - life passed through the fire of thought. But of the bad preacher, it could not be told from his sermon, what age of the world he fell in; whether he had a father or a child; whether he was a freeholder or a pauper; whether he was a citizen or a countryman; or any other fact of his biography. It seemed strange the people should come to church."</blockquote>Emerson's preacher failed - at least in Emerson's eyes - because his discourse left Emerson asking himself: "What does he know of what he speaks?"<br />
<br />
In today's world, we are bombarded by <span style="font-style: italic;">preaching</span> - religious and otherwise. And, as the words rain down, a lot of us never think to ask "What does she know of what she speaks?" If we would, though, we could quickly separate the <span style="font-style: italic;">preachers</span> who truly<span style="font-style: italic;"> know</span> from the legion who don't. One way to approach this issue is to simply ask anyone who's <span style="font-style: italic;">preaching</span> to you "How do you know that?" Another is to use a simple tool - <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Bullshit Detector</span> - from author and economist <span style="font-weight: bold;">Thomas Sowell</span>: <br />
<blockquote>"Much of the self-righteous nonsense that abounds on so many subjects cannot stand up to three questions: Compared to what? At what cost? What are the hard facts?"</blockquote>There is a flip-side to this coin, of course, and it concerns our own <span style="font-style: italic;">preaching</span>.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation</span>:<br />
<ul><li>When <span style="font-style: italic;">you</span> are teaching or preaching or selling or otherwise giving advice, do you routinely provide evidence that you know of what you speak? If so, how do you do it? Is what you provide sufficient? How do you know?</li>
<li>If not, what is a case you can make for doing so? If you are able to build a strong case in favor of doing this, how would you go about making it a habit?<br />
</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords</span>:<br />
<blockquote>"I am not ignorant that when we preach unworthily, it is not always quite in vain. There is a good ear, in some men, that draws supplies to virtue out of very indifferent nutriment. There is poetic truth concealed in all the common-places of prayer and of sermons, and though foolishly spoken, they may be wisely heard." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ralph Waldo Emerson</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Some people do not listen to a speaker unless he speaks mathematically, others unless he gives instances, while others expect him to cite a poet as witness. And some want to have everything done accurately, while others are annoyed by accuracy. Hence one must be already trained to know how to take each sort of argument." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Aristotle</span></blockquote><blockquote>"After having propounded his famous theory of relativity, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Albert Einstein</span> would tour the various Universities in the United States, delivering lectures wherever he went. He was always accompanied by his faithful chauffeur, Harry, who would attend each of these lectures while seated in the back row! One fine day, after Einstein had finished a lecture and was coming out of the auditorium into his vehicle, Harry addresses him and says, 'Professor Einstein, I've heard your lecture on Relativity so many times, that if I were ever given the opportunity, I would be able to deliver it to perfection myself!' 'Very well,' replied Einstein, 'I'm going to Dartmouth next week. They don't know me there. You can deliver the lecture as Einstein, and I'll take your place as Harry!' And so it came to be ... Harry delivered the lecture to perfection, without a word out of place, while Einstein sat in the back row playing 'chauffeur', and enjoying a snooze for a change. Just as Harry was descending from the podium, however, one of the research assistants intercepted him, and began to ask him a question on the theory of relativity ... one that involved a lot of complex calculations and equations. Harry replied to the assistant 'The answer to this question is very simple! In fact, it's so simple, that I'm going to let my chauffeur answer it!'" -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> Source Unknown </span></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-6247812601910279202010-08-20T15:57:00.001-05:002010-09-25T16:34:56.608-05:00An Architect's Vision<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6TczjLKz89ES_9z8L4MtoP9Xz5a4BBkHM-pS2cWlkEqoxKw8kRc6XHgXfW1rXzS27HXUypLIdJwKCsLMQ1MDAPQ38ChOnoCE8aMbwhA-Jz5CERCt86WUu-1uHniTjBzni0ivt1Vmywo/s1600/Daniel1+%28c%29+SDL.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486108150156338658" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6TczjLKz89ES_9z8L4MtoP9Xz5a4BBkHM-pS2cWlkEqoxKw8kRc6XHgXfW1rXzS27HXUypLIdJwKCsLMQ1MDAPQ38ChOnoCE8aMbwhA-Jz5CERCt86WUu-1uHniTjBzni0ivt1Vmywo/s400/Daniel1+%28c%29+SDL.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 400px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 248px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Daniel Libeskind</span> is a world renowned architect. He is most famous for being selected by the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to oversee the rebuilding of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the <span class="mw-redirect">September 11, 2001 attacks</span>. He titled his concept for the site <span style="font-style: italic;">Memory Foundations</span>. Some of his other projects include the <span class="mw-redirect">Jewish Museum</span> in Berlin, Germany, the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England, and the Wohl Centre at Bar-Ilan University, <span class="mw-redirect">in Ramat-Gan</span>, Israel.<br />
<br />
Libeskind gave a presentation titled <span style="font-style: italic;">17 Words of Architectural Inspiration</span> last February at a <a href="http://www.ted.com/">TED</a> event<span style="font-style: italic;">.</span> The 17 words form the basis of his vision for the future of architecture. You can watch the presentation <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_libeskind_s_17_words_of_architectural_inspiration.html">here</a>. If you do, and if you happen to be an architect, you will most likely find yourself either nodding in agreement with what he says, or calling him a fool or worse. I say this because I didn't find many neutral opinions in the "Comments" section.<br />
<br />
As I listened to him speak - with nary a shard of architectural savvy in my bones - I started to wonder how many of his 17 words can help form a vision for building a more satisfying and meaningful life. And, without doing much stretching, I can make a case for the relevance of all 17. What I want to do here, though, is to take just a few of the words and share the connections I made.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Optimism vs. Pessimism</span><br />
<br />
Libeskind believes that architecture - more than almost any other profession - must be anchored in an optimistic view of the future. <span class="transcriptLink">He said:</span> <br />
<blockquote><span class="transcriptLink">"You can be an general, a politician, an economist who is depressed,</span> <span class="transcriptLink">a musician in a minor key, a painter in dark colors.</span> <span class="transcriptLink">But architecture is that complete ecstasy that the future can be better.</span>"<span class="transcriptLink"></span></blockquote>There's not much to argue with here. Optimists fare better in nearly all aspects of life ... and studies have shown they live longer too. So, if you're a pessimist ... you have one more thing to be pessimistic about. On the other hand pessimism doesn't have to be a life sentence. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Seligman">Dr. Martin Seligman</a>, former president of the American Psychological Association and recovering pessimist, has shown that we can cross the bridge from pessimist to optimist by developing three specific cognitive skills. You can read about them in his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Learned-Optimism-Change-Your-Mind/dp/0671019112"><span style="font-style: italic;">Learned Optimism</span></a>, which he wrote because his daughter kept telling him how big a grouch he was.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Hand vs. Computer</span><br />
<br />
While admitting that the whole practice of architecture today relies heavily on the computer, Libeskind is adamant that the <span style="font-style: italic;">hand</span> should drive the computer, instead of the other way around. He says this because he full-out believes that his best ideas come from an unknown, unseen source deep inside him and have to be teased out into the light through <span style="font-style: italic;">hand</span> drawings and sketches. That being done, he is only too happy to open his computer and begin the process of turning his sketches into blueprints. He closes with a question for his fellow architects: <br />
<blockquote>"How can we make the computer respond to our hand rather than the hand responding to the computer?"</blockquote>This comparison raises several interesting questions. On a practical level, you might ask whether the technology you are using in your work and your life is your servant or your master. Do you really have to jump to answer your cell every time it rings? Should you open PowerPoint the minute you start preparing a presentation or should you sketch it out on paper first? Should email or text messaging be the default option in your communication with the important people in your life? On a philosophical level, you might wonder if you are living a life of your own design or following a template designed for you by others or even by circumstance. On a spiritual level, you could ask whether the fundamental choices you make are informed by your conscience - the voice inside you that tells you what is moral and good - or that which is expedient and self serving. I could go on with my list, but I am sure you get the idea. You can read more about this notion in the book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shop-Class-Soulcraft-Inquiry-Value/dp/1594202230"><span style="font-style: italic;">Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work</span></a> by <a href="http://www.matthewbcrawford.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Matthew B. Crawford.</span></a> You can also read more abut Matthew's ideas in his <span style="font-style: italic;">New York Times Magazine</span> article <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/24/magazine/24labor-t.html?_r=1"><span style="font-style: italic;">The Case for Working With Your Hands.</span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Raw vs. Refined</span><br />
<span class="transcriptLink"><br />
In this instance, Libeskind said he thinks of raw as "naked experience, untouched by luxury, untouched by expensive materials, untouched by the kind of refinement that we associate with high culture." And he believes that the creation of sustainable environments in the future will depend on the use of raw space or "... </span><span class="transcriptLink">a space that isn't decorated,</span><span class="transcriptLink"> a space that isn't mannered in any source,</span> <span class="transcriptLink">but a space that might be cool in terms of its temperature,</span> <span class="transcriptLink">might be refractive to our desires.</span> <span class="transcriptLink">A space that doesn't always follow us</span> <span class="transcriptLink">like a dog that has been trained to follow us,</span> <span class="transcriptLink">but moves ahead into directions of demonstrating</span> <span class="transcriptLink">other possibilities, other experiences,</span> <span class="transcriptLink">that have never been part of the vocabulary of architecture."<br />
</span><br />
Here I think relationships. I like mine raw or as open, juicy, and authentic as possible. I don't much like them refined or dry, stilted, and managed. All relationships? No, not all. Most, then? Yes. Including work relationships? Yes. Why? Because the more time I can spend with people I've come to truly know and care about, the better my life is for it.<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />
Conversation</span>:<br />
<ul><li>How are you generally optimistic or pessimistic? Would the people who know you best agree? Why or why not?</li>
<li>How do you work with your hands? Does doing so bless your life? If so, how? If not, why not?</li>
<li>How is a relationship either <span style="font-style: italic;">raw</span> or <span style="font-style: italic;">refined</span> as you see it? What is the balance between the two in your life? If it needs to shift, how so. If not, why not?<br />
</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords</span>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>"Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Langston Hughes</span></blockquote><blockquote>“I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day, a fresh try, one more start, with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning.” - <span style="font-weight: bold;">J. B. Priestly</span></blockquote><blockquote>"I promise you the sloth approach is the most successful life-maintenance program. So many of us waste our time being angry at our bosses, our families, our president, or even our God. The Sloth Plan, on the other hand, helps us to accept that there is no real hope for change. Power is in the hands of an elite, entitled few, and there is no reason to waste our lives howling in the wilderness." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Wendy Wasserstein</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Sloth</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Deep down in people there is love and craving for the beautiful. There are many who go through their whole lives without ever knowing when they have liked or what they have liked." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Robert Henri</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Art Spirit</span></blockquote><blockquote>"'Hunches,' his mother used to call them. The boy was beginning to understand that intuition is really just a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life, where the histories of all people are connected, and we are able to know everything, because it's all written there." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Paulo Coelho</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Alchemist</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Friedrich Nietzsche</span></blockquote><blockquote>"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.'" - <span style="font-weight: bold;">C.S. Lewis</span></blockquote>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-1149825245864208302010-08-13T08:33:00.000-05:002010-09-18T15:46:45.156-05:00Lay These Words Upon Your Heart ...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYPOeQo_KZsRMCl3OgAvF7Aa3Z5t1_kI-4hC0Vn0kyT8yFGznMfiwy-gD2I-DIRNPQ1D67xIyy27oiPzP6ChqT3LqcIiYOCSpiyMW80cplLsGLx25X08Ix9tnD8WzUa0bzsSBRt0VRBI/s1600/jacobneedlemanlrg.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 342px; height: 278px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdYPOeQo_KZsRMCl3OgAvF7Aa3Z5t1_kI-4hC0Vn0kyT8yFGznMfiwy-gD2I-DIRNPQ1D67xIyy27oiPzP6ChqT3LqcIiYOCSpiyMW80cplLsGLx25X08Ix9tnD8WzUa0bzsSBRt0VRBI/s400/jacobneedlemanlrg.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485774856318544786" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Jacob Needleman</span> is a professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University and the author of many books, including: <span style="font-style: italic;">Why Can't We Be Good?</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Wisdom of Love, Time and the Soul,</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">The Heart of Philosophy</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Lost Christianity</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Money and the Meaning of Life</span>.<br /><br />More than a decade ago, we invited Jacob to do a special evening presentation for our Masters Forum members. His topic was <span style="font-style: italic;">Money and the Meaning of Life</span>.<br /><br />Since that time, I've made it a point to keep in touch with his work, and early this year bumped into a transcript of a speech he gave at Indian Springs School on January 22, 2004. The speech was about the great unanswerable questions of life; the questions that come from a deep place within us, such as:<br /><ul><li>Who am I?<br /></li><li>Does God exist?<br /></li><li>Is there a soul, and is it immortal?<br /></li><li>What can we know?<br /></li><li>What ought we do?<br /></li><li>What is good and evil? </li></ul>A great body of ideas and teachings has been built up over thousands of years to help people as they try to answer these questions. This wisdom is alive in every culture of the world, and forms the basis for all the great religious traditions and spiritual philosophies of the world. It was studied, practiced and passed on by mystics, saints, and great philosophers. It comes in many forms: words and stories; pictures and symbols; modes of behavior; and various forms of art. According to Needleman:<blockquote>"The great stories and images of the world don’t usually reveal their meaning to us right away. These great stories, these fairy tales, these Biblical images, these myths, these great works of art - sometimes they’re not there to convince the brain, the head which is rational - but they’re there to make a kind of end run around the rational mind, which is sometimes connected to the superficial sense of ego; to do an end run, and go down in the direction of the heart. And later on, as the years pass, and suddenly life does something to you, some shock, some disappointment, some triumph, some extraordinary thing, and suddenly, 'Ah! That’s what the story meant, that’s what the story was telling me!' So try to let these stories come into you and slowly radiate their meaning."</blockquote>Jacob told a story to drive his point home; it's an exchange between a pupil and a wise old <span style="font-style: italic;">rebbe</span>: <blockquote>"And so, the pupil asks the wise rebbe about a passage in the Bible, in the Book of Deuteronomy, which is part of the Torah, the heart of the Old Testament. There is a sentence there that says to 'Lay these words upon your heart.' The words, which sum up the fundamental belief of the Hebraic tradition, are these: 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.' (Deuteronomy 6: 4-6) And the pupil asks the rebbe, 'Why does it tell us to lay these words upon our heart? Why doesn’t it tell us to put them in our heart?' And the rebbe answers, 'It is because as we are, our hearts are closed, and the words can’t get it in. So we just put them on top of the heart. And there they stay. There they stay until someday, when the heart breaks, they fall in.'"</blockquote>He ended his time on the dais by saying: <blockquote>"The great wisdom: study it in all its forms, and someday when your heart breaks, either in great sorrow or in uncontainable joy, it will fall in, and you’ll understand this other level of human values that every school worthy of the name is trying to lead you toward."</blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br /><ul><li>How is your life guided by the <span style="font-style: italic;">deep wisdom of the heart</span> Needleman refers to?<br /></li><li>What words are <span style="font-style: italic;">laying upon your heart</span>?</li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><br /><blockquote>"Where is the life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" -<span style="font-weight: bold;"> T.S. Eliot</span><br /></blockquote><blockquote>"Australian Aborigines say that the big stories - the stories worth telling and retelling, the ones in which you may find the meaning of your life - are forever stalking the right teller, sniffing and tracking like predators hunting their prey in the bush." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Robert Moss</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Dreamgates</span><br /></blockquote>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-22720965490607909012010-08-06T15:31:00.000-05:002010-09-18T15:41:31.305-05:00The Heart Aroused<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinw03SEafgdst1dbnsInVNndlskc83FmBAsiE0pw345f3b0P2SLISuCFdcj6rix2PDMcwtx1GNwzcr1PTWNy2yAKpQr0eUIw3OFGzxqIqfn8e_HoZ7GOOEzd_vqMCp4_NyEmd7zvu00Gc/s1600/DavidWhyte25.jpg"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 327px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinw03SEafgdst1dbnsInVNndlskc83FmBAsiE0pw345f3b0P2SLISuCFdcj6rix2PDMcwtx1GNwzcr1PTWNy2yAKpQr0eUIw3OFGzxqIqfn8e_HoZ7GOOEzd_vqMCp4_NyEmd7zvu00Gc/s400/DavidWhyte25.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5518356067229803426" border="0" /></a>When author and poet <span style="font-weight: bold;">David Whyte</span> appeared in our Masters Forum series some years ago, he began with a story of how he got started working with corporations. He said that not long after he became a professional poet, an American businessman cornered him following a speech and said he wanted to hire him to work with his company. When Whyte asked why, the man said: <blockquote>"The language we have in the corporate world is too small for the territory of relationship we've entered." </blockquote>Whyte accepted the invitation. He said he was intrigued with the possibility of helping business folks move past jargon and begin to communicate with each other using words of the heart. His first book - <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America</span> - centers directly on that theme.<br /><br />Whyte told us the poetry we should read, think about, and even write ourselves, is poetry that'll lead to self-discovery, or re-remembering. For example, one of the poems he read - <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Lost</span> by <span style="font-weight: bold;">David Waggoner</span> - asked us to re-think what it means to be lost. Lost compared to what? We may not always know where we are - and that may be a blessing rather than a curse - but the world always knows where we are, and what our part in it is.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;">Stand still. The trees ahead and the bushes beside you</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">And you must not treat it as a powerful stranger,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Must ask permission to know it and be know.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">I have made the place around you.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">If you leave it you may not come back again, saying Here.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">No two trees are the same to Raven.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">No two branches are the same to Wren.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">If what a tree or bush does is lost on you,</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">You are surely lost. Stand still. The forest knows</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Where you are. You must let it find you.</span></blockquote>Another - <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Love After Love</span> by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Derek Walcott</span> - describes the life we bury underneath our everyday behavior and the deal we can strike to get it back.<br /><blockquote style="font-style: italic;">The time will come<br />When, with elation,<br />You will greet yourself arriving<br />At your own door, in your mirror,<br />And each smile at the other's welcome,<br />And say, sit here. Eat.<br />You will love again the stranger who was yourself.<br />Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart<br />To itself, to the stranger who has loved you<br />All your life, whom you ignored<br />For another who knows you by heart.<br />Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,<br />The photographs, the desperate notes,<br />Peel your own image from the mirror.<br />Sit. Feast on your life.</blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br /><br />In addition to poetry of the heart, Whyte talked about conversations of the heart. He called them <span style="font-style: italic;">courageous conversations</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">.</span> He said we shy away from them, but cautioned us not to do so. He said we need to involve ourselves in them from time to time to re-remember that which gives meaning to our lives. He gave us questions to help us think about some of conversations we might be ducking. He hoped turning the lights on for us in that way would prompt us to go forth and have the conversations.<br /><ul><li><span>What is the courageous conversation I am refusing to have with myself with regard to my work, and the present life threshold on which I find myself?<br /></span></li><li><span>What is the </span><span>courageous conversation I am not having with my partner or spouse, my children or loved ones?</span></li><li><span>What is the courageous conversation I am not having with my immediate work group, or with my immediate supervisors, associates and subordinates? What is the courageous conversation I can personally initiate to start things moving in this immediate circle?</span></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><span></span><blockquote><span>"If I had to live my life again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week. The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness." </span><span>-</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Charles Darwin </span></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote><span>"Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me." -</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Sigmund Freud</span></blockquote><blockquote>"One demands two things of a poem. Firstly, it must be a well-made verbal object that does honor to the language in which it is written. Secondly, it must say something significant about a reality common to us all, but perceived from a unique perspective. What the poet says has never been said before, but, once he has said it, his readers recognize its validity for themselves." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">W. H. Auden</span></blockquote><span></span><blockquote><span>"One of the things you get when you say you're a poet is, 'Oh, you're a poet! Well that's interesting. Our daughter, Tiffany, she's eleven, she writes poetry.' And my revenge fantasy is that I ask this guy what he does and he says, "Well I'm an investment banker." And I say, 'Really! Because our son, Timmy, was playing with some change on the floor the other day. It's such an interesting connection...'"</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span>-</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Billy Collins, </span><span style="font-style: italic;">Poet Laureate of the United States, 2001</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></blockquote><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-36759466448891535452010-07-30T12:24:00.000-05:002010-09-18T15:53:24.539-05:00You'll Never Walk Alone<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBfTfgDF3MyyozATDU9Wh4d5Xl_K9_hLkZcfJTYZbHN63TqvWI4JJUztTuQ1yLk2BSeI-YTdp8lL6vIO7mAgl4oBv40sS_roFRSMTmMkNlRGuhsG8K9Gc4OiILLykZgw1voX4DhkSy70/s1600/highres_4054094.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 284px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjBfTfgDF3MyyozATDU9Wh4d5Xl_K9_hLkZcfJTYZbHN63TqvWI4JJUztTuQ1yLk2BSeI-YTdp8lL6vIO7mAgl4oBv40sS_roFRSMTmMkNlRGuhsG8K9Gc4OiILLykZgw1voX4DhkSy70/s400/highres_4054094.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491592959911376194" border="0" /></a>There is a quote from <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tony</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Campolo</span>, pastor and author, that I've had in my files for years. I've kept it because it jarred me when I first read it, and has challenged my thinking about life since. Here's what he said:<br /><br />"I have three things I'd like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don't give a shit. What's worse is that you're more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night."<br /><br />I've never been able to argue with his assertion; I've only been able to ask myself why I think he's right, and on that score, I've come up empty.<br /><br />There's another quote I came across recently that's helped me begin to answer my question. It comes from <span style="font-style: italic;">Shadow of the Wind</span> by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Carlos Ruiz Zafon</span>:<blockquote>"Television, my dear Daniel, is the Antichrist, and I can assure you that after only three or four generations, people will no longer even know how to fart on their own and humans will return to living in caves, to medieval savagery, and to the general state of imbecility that slugs overcame back in the Pleistocene era. Our world will not die as a result of the bomb, as the papers say, it will die of laughter, of banality, of making a joke of everything, and a lousy joke at that." </blockquote>Or, as <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tom Robbins</span> asked about the TV set in <span style="font-style: italic;">Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates</span>: <blockquote>“Does it not posses the power of a totem pole and the heart of a rat?” </blockquote>Is television to blame for the fact so many of us have become so numb and disconnected from the violence and suffering that whirls around us like a doomsday machine? I think so; at least in part.<br /><br />A case in point. I was up late reading and watching TV when the first reports of the February 13, 2009, plane crash at the Buffalo, NY airport started coming in. For a few minutes, I gave my full attention to the TV, but soon I was back to reading and glancing up every now and then to see if anything new was happening. I fell asleep before long, and slept peacefully through the night. In the morning, I turned the TV back on and found out that 50 people had died in the crash. At that point, I did what I think many of us did that morning: I acknowledged that some people I didn't know died in a plane crash in a city far away, and went about my business. After all, we see stuff like this on TV all the time.<br /><br />Then ... I got a wake-up call. I had wandered back to the family room. The TV was still tuned to a cable news channel. I watched - mindlessly at first. I noticed that a young man was being interviewed. I figured the reporter would be asking the same banal questions reporters always ask in similar situations, and that the young man would answer in pretty much the same way others I've seen standing in his shoes did. The reporter didn't disappoint, to be sure, but the young man's answers stunned me. All of a sudden I was awake, and personally involved. In a nutshell, here's what happened. The young man told the reporter he had planned to stop by the airport on his way home from soccer practice to meet his sister's plane. He told him he had learned she was on the ill-fated flight, and no one had made it out alive. The reporter asked the first banal question: <span style="font-style: italic;">"What has been going through your mind the last few minutes?"</span> The young man said he just talked to his Father - who was vacationing with his Mother in Florida - to relay the bad news, and said he was really worried about his Mother. The reporter then asked him another banal question: - <span style="font-style: italic;">"How are they taking it?"</span> His answer was anything but banal: <blockquote>"To tell you the truth, I heard my mother make a noise on the phone that I've never heard before."</blockquote>All of a sudden I was there with him. I conjured up a vivid picture of his parents dealing with their grief in a small motel somewhere in Florida. I thought back to the time in my life when I had to pass the news to my future wife - we had been dating for about six months at the time - that her 14 year old brother had died in a freak accident. I remember trying to come up with the words to comfort her. I couldn't so I just held her. She cried herself to sleep. I thought about the struggle our family has been going through to help one of my sons deal with a serious substance abuse problem, and the nights I've stayed awake waiting for him to come home, and hoping the phone didn't ring first. This is hard stuff, and you pretty much end up dealing with it by yourself. Even those of us who thought twice about the 50 folks who died in the dark of night in Buffalo, were able to quickly put it our of our minds and go back to our daily routines. For those closest to the victims, however, life will never be the same.<br /><br />In the future, I hope to remember that there are real people - with real families and friends that love them - behind the pictures we see and the sound bites we hear on TV. And, if I can do that, maybe I can also remember to stop to say a prayer asking God to <span style="font-style: italic;">walk</span> with them in their time of great need.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Conversation:</span><br /><ul><li>What is your reaction to the Tony Campolo Quote?</li><li>Have you experienced the sudden loss of a close friend or family member?<br /></li><li>If so, how did you cope? Did you walk through your pain or deny it?<br /></li><li>If not, have you ever helped someone deal with a tragic loss? Explain.<br /></li></ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><blockquote>"You cannot put a cheap band-aid on a sacred wound; there is no way through pain but to walk through it." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Dr. Robin Smith</span></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span> <blockquote>"We are lonesome animals. We spend all our life trying to be less lonesome. And one of our ancient methods is to tell a story, begging the listener to say, and to feel, 'Yes, that’s the way it is, or at least that’s the way I feel it. You’re not as alone as you thought.' " - <span style="font-weight: bold;">John Steinbeck</span></blockquote><blockquote>"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving much advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a gentle and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Henri Nouwen</span></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Video:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The interview discussed above.</span><br /><div><iframe src="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22425001/vp/29174323#29174323" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" height="339" width="425"></iframe><style type="text/css">.msnbcLinks {font-size:11px; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; color: #999; margin-top: 5px; background: transparent; text-align: center; width: 425px;} .msnbcLinks a {text-decoration:none !important; border-bottom: 1px dotted #999 !important; font-weight:normal !important; height: 13px;} .msnbcLinks a:link, .msnbcLinks a:visited {color: #5799db !important;} .msnbcLinks a:hover, .msnbcLinks a:active {color:#CC0000 !important;} </style><p class="msnbcLinks">Visit msnbc.com for <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/">Breaking News</a>, <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032507">World News</a>, and <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072">News about the Economy</a></p><p class="msnbcLinks"></p><p class="msnbcLinks"><a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032072"></a></p></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">You'll Never Walk Alone</span>, Celtic & Liverpool Fans</span><br /><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xfgqi-UahE8&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xfgqi-UahE8&hl=en_US&fs=1?rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></embed></object>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-38371283743290579592010-07-23T14:20:00.033-05:002010-09-26T17:25:14.064-05:00Lectio Divina<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3j-rxlwA0lG_mhSsVq-cGkqAiA9kIsBUO86pvauoda8H_w5gVO9xEd2GmmWppUZGhhXEldXAVH3OZM4UzjaXyh2BmfYCH8_cI5sEJTnT4VoKOEUgBSrbSonVqsNZdPSz4g9B22pa7_w/s1600/roman_catholic_monk-other.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK3j-rxlwA0lG_mhSsVq-cGkqAiA9kIsBUO86pvauoda8H_w5gVO9xEd2GmmWppUZGhhXEldXAVH3OZM4UzjaXyh2BmfYCH8_cI5sEJTnT4VoKOEUgBSrbSonVqsNZdPSz4g9B22pa7_w/s640/roman_catholic_monk-other.jpg" width="311" /></a></div><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=2&ved=0CB0QFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FLectio_Divina&ei=mxnTS4v8K4m48wSouvSqDw&usg=AFQjCNGMgRTEaJjtBz2qBDWhJ7TA2iS4qQ&sig2=qPmMAkuhW6M2f1xl3XS7YA" style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lectio divina</span></a> is the ancient Benedictine monastics' practice of slow, meditative reading of Scripture intended to promote communion with God and to increase knowledge of God's Word. It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen and, finally, pray and even sing and rejoice from God's Word, within the soul.<br />
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The four-step process of <span style="font-style: italic;">lectio divina</span> is fully described in a paper - <a href="http://www.valyermo.com/ld-art.html" style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Introduction to Lectio Divina</span></a><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>- written by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Fr. Luke Dysinger</span>, O.S.B. in the Spring of 1990. Here is a shortened version mostly in Fr. Dysinger's words:<br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">LECTIO: Reading/Listening</span>. The art of<span style="font-style: italic;"> lectio divina</span> begins with cultivating the ability to listen deeply as we read the Scriptures; to hear "with the ear of our hearts" the "faint murmuring sound" of God's voice touching our hearts.<br />
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This reading or listening is very different from the speed reading which we <span style="font-style: italic;">moderns</span> apply to newspapers, books and even to the Bible. <span style="font-style: italic;"> Lectio</span> is reverential listening; listening both in a spirit of silence and of awe; listening for the still, small voice of God to speak to us personally - not loudly, but intimately; gently listening to hear a word or phrase that is God's word for us.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">MEDITATIO: Meditation. </span>Once we have found a word or a passage in the Scriptures that speaks to us in a personal way, we must take it in and "ruminate" on it. The image of the ruminant animal quietly chewing its cud was used in antiquity as a symbol of the Christian pondering the Word of God. Christians have always seen a scriptural invitation to lectio divina in the example of the Virgin Mary "pondering in her heart" what she saw and heard of Christ.<br />
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For us today these images are a reminder that we must take in the word - that is, memorize it - and while gently repeating it to ourselves, allow it to interact with our thoughts, our hopes, our memories, our desires. Through <span style="font-style: italic;">meditatio</span> we allow God's word to become His word for us, a word that touches us and affects us at our deepest levels.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">ORATIO: Prayer</span>. Next is <span style="font-style: italic;">oratio</span> - prayer understood both as <span style="font-style: italic;">dialogue</span> with God, that is, as <span style="font-style: italic;">loving conversation</span> with the One who has invited us into His embrace; and as <span style="font-style: italic;">consecration</span>, prayer as the priestly offering to God of parts of ourselves that we have not previously believed God wants. In this consecration prayer we allow the word we have taken in and on which we are pondering to touch and change our deepest selves. Just as a priest consecrates the elements of bread and wine at the Eucharist, God invites us in<span style="font-style: italic;"> lectio divina </span>to hold up our most difficult and pain-filled experiences to Him, and to gently recite over them the healing word or phrase He has given us in our <span style="font-style: italic;">lectio</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">meditatio</span>. In this <span style="font-style: italic;">oratio</span>, we allow our real selves to be touched and changed by the word of God.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">CONTEMPLATIO: Contemplation</span>. Here, we simply rest in the presence of the One who has used His word as a means of inviting us to accept His transforming embrace. No one who has ever been in love needs to be reminded that there are moments in loving relationships when words are unnecessary. It is the same in our relationship with God. Wordless, quiet rest in the presence of the One Who loves us has a name in the Christian tradition -<span style="font-style: italic;"> contemplatio</span>. Once again we practice silence, letting go of our own words; this time simply enjoying the experience of being in the presence of God.The most authentic and traditional form of Christian<span style="font-style: italic;"> lectio divina</span> is a solitary or private practice. Today, however, "group <span style="font-style: italic;">lectio</span>" has become popular and is widely practiced in many different forms. Here is one form of group process from Fr. Dysinger:<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">1.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Listening for the Gentle Touch of Christ the Word: The <span style="font-style: italic;">Literal</span> Sense</span><br />
<ul><li>One person reads aloud (twice) the passage of scripture, as others are attentive to some segment that is especially meaningful to them.</li>
<li>Silence for 1-2 minutes. Each hears and silently repeats a word or phrase that attracts.</li>
<li>Sharing aloud: A word or phrase that has attracted each person. A simple statement of one or a few words. No elaboration.<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></li>
</ul> <span style="font-weight: bold;">2. How Christ the Word speaks to ME: The <span style="font-style: italic;">Allegorical</span> Sense</span><br />
<ul><li>Second reading of same passage by another person.</li>
<li>Silence for 2-3 minutes. Reflect on "Where does the content of this reading touch my life today?"</li>
<li>Sharing aloud: Briefly: "I hear, I see __."<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></li>
</ul><blockquote><ul></ul></blockquote> <span style="font-weight: bold;">3. What Christ the Word Invites me to DO: The <span style="font-style: italic;">Moral</span> Sense</span><br />
<ul><li>Third reading by still another person.</li>
<li>Silence for 2-3 minutes. Reflect on "I believe that God wants me to __ today/this week."</li>
<li>Sharing aloud: at somewhat greater length the results of each one's reflection. Be especially aware of what is shared by the person to your right.</li>
<li>After full sharing, pray for the person to your right.</li>
</ul><blockquote><ul></ul></blockquote>I am sure you can readily see the value of studying the Scriptures in this way, but why not consider using the same process to gain deep, life-changing insights from sources other than sacred texts? "Why not?" you say. Okay. Here's a way to give it a shot in a group setting.<br />
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In preparation for the group sit-down, the convener should pick a story to be contemplated and discussed. A great place to start is my book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/See-New-Now-Lenses-Leadership/dp/0615318967/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272136221&sr=1-1"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">See New Now</span></a>, which contains 24 stories specifically written to be used in this way. And, if you go <a href="http://seenewnow.com/">here</a> and click on "Click to Look Inside," you'll find you can read three of the stories. Here is a synopsis of each:<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Scent on the Floor</span><br />
When a frustrated Estée Lauder poured a bottle of perfume onto the carpet at the finest department store in Paris, she changed the future of her company. The "scent" you leave behind can build your business or tear it down.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Baboon Reflex</span><br />
Baboons rarely hunt successfully in packs, because longstanding fears and feuds lead them to fight with each other instead of chasing their prey. Fear is deeply embedded in humans, too – much more so than we might imagine. Recognizing our hair-trigger fear reflex makes for more effective organizations and individuals.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Balance Pole</span><br />
The great high-wire artist Karl Wallenda fell to his death because he wouldn’t let go of his balance pole. Companies and individuals sometimes need to let go of their most cherished practices and beliefs.<br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation: Lectio Divina Style</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Listening to the Story: <span style="font-style: italic;">Literal</span> Sense</span><br />
<ul><li>One person reads the story aloud (twice) as the others listen for a word or phrase or that is especially meaningful to them. </li>
<li>Silence for 1-2 minutes. Each hears and silently repeats a word or phrase that attracts. </li>
<li>Sharing aloud: A word or phrase that has attracted each person. A simple statement of one or a few words. No elaboration.</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. How the story speaks to me: </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Allegorical</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> sense</span><br />
<ul><li>The story is read by a different person </li>
<li>Silence for 2-3 minutes. Reflect on "Where does the content of this story touch my life today?" </li>
<li>Sharing aloud: briefly, "I hear, I see __"</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. What the story invites me to do: <span style="font-style: italic;">Moral</span> Sense</span><br />
<ul><li>A third person reads the story.</li>
<li>Silence for 2-3 minutes. Reflect on “I believe this story is telling me to __ today/this week.” </li>
<li>Sharing aloud: at somewhat greater length the results of each one’s reflection. Be especially aware of what is shared by the person to your right.</li>
<li>After full sharing, make an offer of support to the person sitting at your right.</li>
</ul><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords:</span><br />
<blockquote>"You will not see anyone who is really striving after his advancement who is not given to spiritual reading. And as to him who neglects it, the fact will soon be observed by his progress." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Saint Athanasius</span></blockquote><blockquote>"At fixed hours time should be given to certain definite reading. For haphazard reading, constantly varied and as if lighted on by chance does not edify but makes the mind unstable; taken into the memory lightly, it goes out from it even more lightly. But you should concentrate on certain authors and let your mind grow used to them." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">William of St. Thierry </span></blockquote><blockquote>"The Scriptures need to be read and understood in the same spirit in which they were written. You will never enter into Paul's meaning until by constant application to reading him and by giving yourself to meditation you have imbibed his spirit. You will never understand David until by experience you have made the very sentiments of the psalms your own. And that applies to all Scripture. There is the same gulf between attentive study and mere reading as there is between friendship and acquaintance with a passing guest, between boon companionship and chance meeting." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">William of St. Thierry</span></blockquote></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">Link: </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.umilta.net/ladder.html">Guigo II, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Ladder of the Four Rungs </span>(Classic Text on Lectio Divina)</a>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2021635655222346798.post-16881788994348420132010-07-16T05:19:00.000-05:002010-09-18T15:56:14.057-05:00Knowers and Learners<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zPcJhNap3nUz51mC3g1TPWAlYQYvXtk6Nsjc8oYyWwvp_ClbsTo6D3xvDLrGwUA2ha_eBXR4U2fZbMpnpmlP3YhlZHVs-b801bp6e9lvfAYyLpSU1_ahEGktkoPFktuPqQ5Ih5XHMuw/s1600/digest20031_bethell1b.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 330px; height: 358px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5zPcJhNap3nUz51mC3g1TPWAlYQYvXtk6Nsjc8oYyWwvp_ClbsTo6D3xvDLrGwUA2ha_eBXR4U2fZbMpnpmlP3YhlZHVs-b801bp6e9lvfAYyLpSU1_ahEGktkoPFktuPqQ5Ih5XHMuw/s400/digest20031_bethell1b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5486500416012061362" border="0" /></a>Former longshoreman and writer <span style="font-weight: bold;">Eric Hoffer</span> said:<blockquote>"In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists."</blockquote>Hoffer made that statement many years ago, but it's never been more important to truly understand what he meant. To help me think about it, I like to draw a clear distinction between <span style="font-weight: bold;">knowers</span> and <span style="font-weight: bold;">learners</span>.<br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Knowers</span> see learning as a destination; <span style="font-style: italic;">learners</span> see it as a journey</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Knowers</span> seek certainty; <span style="font-style: italic;">learners</span> seek plausibility</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Knowers</span> see their truth as the only truth; <span style="font-style: italic;">learners</span> are open to others' views</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Knowers</span> base their self esteem on being right; <span style="font-style: italic;">learners</span> base theirs on contribution</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Knowers</span> can't be wrong, so if they make a mistake they find someone or something else to blame; <span style="font-style: italic;">learners</span> can make mistakes, admit they don't have all the answers, and continue to be part of the solution</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Knowers</span> find it difficult to adapt to change, and become weaker, less effective, and less influential over time; <span style="font-style: italic;">learners</span>, who more readily adapt, become stronger, more effective, and more influential</li></ul>A story that illustrates the difference between <span>knowing</span> and <span>learning </span><span>i</span><span>nvolves former NHL star <span style="font-weight: bold;">Brett Hull</span> and what happened to some advice he gave me to pass along to my two hockey-playing sons.<br /><blockquote>"First, make sure they get the basics down cold, because you can’t be a great hockey player if you can't skate, pass, and shoot. Second, have them develop a <span style="font-style: italic;">signature move</span>, or something they become really well known for."</blockquote>When I sat my boys down to pass on Brett’s advice, they both got the <span style="font-style: italic;">work on the basics</span> part right away. They were a little slow on the uptake, however, when I told them they needed to develop a <span style="font-style: italic;">signature move</span>. Once I explained, each had a different reaction.<br /><br /></span><span>My oldest</span> – the <span style="font-style: italic;">knower</span> – said he already had one - scoring goals - and sprinted off. He spent most of the rest of his hockey career trying to do that, and the older he got, the less successful he became. In his senior year of high school, his coach told him that his strength was playing defense. Once he got that through his head - it was either that or sit on the bench - he led his team to the Minnesota State High School Tournament. Despite his success, however, he still sees his hockey strength as scoring goals. He is a <span style="font-style: italic;">knower</span> in all other aspects of life as well, and I often wonder if it's a trait he inherited - from his mother of course. <span>I say that tongue-in-cheek, but I really can relate to the following classified ad: <blockquote>"FOR SALE CHEAP! Complete Set of <span style="font-style: italic;">Encyclopedia Britannica</span>. 45 volumes. Excellent condition. $100 or best offer. No longer needed. Got married last week. Wife knows everything."</blockquote><span>My youngest</span>, on the other hand, proved himself a <span style="font-style: italic;">learner</span>; he looked at me and said: <blockquote>“Dad. How can I get a one of those moves?”</blockquote> I asked: <blockquote>“What are you really good at?”</blockquote> He said: <blockquote>“I really like to hit people.”</blockquote> So, we had a brainstorming session and he came up with the idea that he would be the <span style="font-style: italic;">Little Assassin</span>, the fastest, meanest, little son-of-a-gun on the ice. This combined a couple of ideas. First, he was the smallest - and fastest - kid on his team. Second, we had just seen the movie <span style="font-style: italic;">The Day of the Jackal</span>, which is about a real assassin. From that day on, he was exactly that. And though he became a really good hockey player, and developed many other skills, he was always known best for his toughness. Is he still a <span style="font-style: italic;">learner</span>? No, he's a teenager.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conversation:</span><br /></span><ul><li><span>Are you a <span style="font-style: italic;">knower</span> or a <span style="font-style: italic;">learner</span>? How so?<br /></span></li><li><span>What kind of questions do you ask yourself? Are they serving you well?<br /></span></li><li><span>Do you spend more time searching for answers to questions you know to ask, or searching for new questions?<br /></span></li><li><span>What was the last truly new question you asked? How did you come to ask it?<br /></span></li><li><span>What are the most basic assumptions you hold about how the world works? How long have you held them? Have you ever really challenged them? If you did, which to you think would hold up? Which may not? Why?</span></li></ul><span><span style="font-weight: bold;">Afterwords</span>:<br /><blockquote>"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stephen Hawking</span></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span><blockquote>"The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">William Blake </span></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span></span><blockquote><span>"It's the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Tom Stoppard</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Arcadia </span></span></blockquote><span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><span><blockquote>"The very liveliness of a culture is determined not by how frequently explorers discover new continents of knowledge, but by how frequently they depart to seek them." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">James P. Carse</span></blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span><blockquote>"The adventure is always and everywhere a passage beyond the veil of the known into the unknown; the powers that watch at the boundary are dangerous; to deal with them is risky; yet for anyone with competence and courage the danger fades." - <span style="font-weight: bold;">Joseph Campbell</span><br /></blockquote>Jim Ericsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03290724141360584604noreply@blogger.com4