Presence at School: Co-Creating the Future of Education 02/12 by The Voice of Leadership | Business Podcasts

Have you ever been negatively impacted by a toxic leadership culture? Hierarchical command and control leadership is no longer serving organizations. We can do (much) better than this, and co-create a better future. And it's urgently needed!  The challenges leaders face today are more complex and thorny, more global and require more collaboration and creativity than ever before.  So, of course, it's time to think and work differently, and honestly, it's so much more fulfilling and humane!

I had the privilege of being interviewed this week with Jane Weber and Roelien Bokxem, my partners at PresenceAtWork and PresenceAtSchool. I am bringing their co-creation - Collective Leadership for intact exec and leadership teams - to the US, and also working to bring this incredible training to 17 - 24 year olds - our future leaders. 

To learn more about what makes this Leadership program special, listen in to understand both the genesis and essence of this highly experiential and transformative learning. It is not about making money (although we all need to sustain ourselves, of course!). And this comes through loudly and clearly in this internet radio program, in part due to the masterful interview with Linda Lombardo.

Presence at School: Co-Creating the Future of Education 02/12 by The Voice of Leadership | Business Podcasts

Gratitude and Why I Work - Part 1

Erin (11), me (mom), Ryan (19), Kelsey (21) on Thanksgiving Day, 2014 at my parent's home where I grew up

In the US, we begin "the holiday season" with a day of Thanksgiving. This is my favorite holiday, because it is truly all about gratitude, family and centers around the tradition of "breaking bread" together.  Traditionally, this is a harvest meal, where everyone contributes, and then comes to celebrate and give thanks for a "bountiful harvest", and for all that enables us to be together once again, year after year.

This Thanksgiving, my family, including these 3 wonderful souls that I have the joy of calling "my children", gathered on a snowy day on Cuyler Hill, at my mom and dad's home. There were 36 of us this year, which is fairly typical, and we had 4 "little ones" under the age of 5, who bring their own special brand of noisy joy!

My 11 year old Erin just looked over my shoulder and said, "What does this have to do with why you work mom?".  And here's what I told her... "Because I work for you, so that we can continue to have a world where we can come together and share meals, and enjoy in the bounty of this beautiful natural world."  And she said, "Use the word therefore, it makes you sound sophisticated - that's what my student teacher told me."  Yep! That's why I work - part 1 anyway, in very simple terms!  It's about love.

I have always worked, since I was old enough to drive a tractor in 6th grade on this family farm where I grew up.  This is where I learned to love nature deeply, for the beauty of the earth. Mother Earth - inspiring music, poetry, hymns, prayers, art, dreams, and drawing us into her for hiking, biking, creekwalking, exploring, swimming, stargazing, horseback riding, skating, skiing, camping... and the list goes on.

Ryan, Erin and Kelsey on top of Black Bear Mountain

I began to share my love of nature with the kids, in small ways at first, just getting them outside, barefoot, in the backyard. Challenging them to hikes when they were young was a wonderful way to connect with each other and nature at the same time. And so hopefully their love of nature was also nurtured, grounding them in the hills and mountains of upstate NY, but also inspiring them to spread their wings.

Ryan on top of Marcy, overlooking Lake Placid

Therefore (thanks Erin) I work (part 1) because of my love for my children and for my love of nature. And I work in gratitude and homage to Mother Earth, who supports everything that we do, every breath that we take. 

So what is part 2? Well, I'll share more about that in my next post, but I'll leave you with a clue. It has to do with this thing called "purpose".  Why am I here in this place and time with this cast of characters and the world unfolding?  Love for my children and this world is ever present, and something I think most of us feel, and certainly being a mom is part of my purpose. But why me? In addition to being a mother, who am I and what is my purpose?  What am I here to give, and what am I here to learn?  What do I see that is calling for me to take action?  Ponder these questions for yourself... and please tell us - why do you work?

Practicing empathy and humility instead of judgment

Today, I will be leading a 2 hour interactive introduction to collective leadership for a group of local high school teachers and administrators. And I couldn't be more excited to work with this audience. And yet, last night, as I was doing my final prep with my internal sponsor, who is a career teacher in her early forties (I think?), she said "I know this is a bit of a step down for you, because you are used to working with corporate leaders, but I think this audience will really get value from what you are bringing".

My first reaction was to think that she didn't understand how challenging it could be to work with corporate leaders! But then I realized what an unfair statement that would have been. In fact, I ran two incredibly gratifying workshops with corporate leaders from two different industries this week, and met some incredible change leaders.

I realized I did not want to add to the current judgmental storyline that is pervasive now - a storyline about evil corporations - maligned as being "selfish, corrupt, profiteering, exploitive of humans and the environment" and "too big to fail". The judgment or bashing comes from many directions - but ultimately - it arises from individuals like you and me who state a public opinion about the moral values and activities of a company as if "it" has a mind of "it's own". And as if it has "one mind". And then, often, we will further aggregate the sins of one company to an entire industry (the evils of petroleum companies, of pharmaceutical companies, of the finance industry, of the automotive industry. Or we will villainize an entire profession, e.g. teachers.... "they have summers off, they get tenure and then we are stuck with lazy, burned out teachers that only care about their pension, they don't understand "real work" or the "real world", they never really left high school....".

Remember the song from The Osmonds?

One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch, girl.
Oh, give it one more try before you give up on love.
One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch girl.
Oh, I don't care what they say,
I don't care what you heard.

I suggest that we STOP judging entire professions and industries and entities (shall we talk politics?), and start remembering that these entities are actually made up of human beings like me and you. Imperfect for sure - at least I am... But also full of dreams, aspirations, disappointments, fear, hope, purpose, apathy, and each and every person in these organizations was once a child.

Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It is hard to feel empathy for a corporation. But we can certainly feel empathy for the individuals who work inside of the corporation, or in government, or in our schools. And if we can't quite connect emotionally enough to feel empathy, might we at take a stab at humility? While the Oxford dictionary defines humility as "a modest or low view of oneself", I prefer to think of it in this way - we don't know what we don't know.

“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

I have never been a teacher. I have never been a government official. I have never run for office. I have never worked for a petroleum company. But I know good people who have. I know them well. I've heard them talk passionately about their work, and why they chose their profession, why they chose their company, what they struggle with, and how they want to make their world better.

So, I can't wait to go work with these high school teachers and administrators today. They invited me in because they care deeply about their students and the future of education. I only hope that I can bring value and tools that will accelerate their success.

Kudos to Emma Watson - inspiring and activating men and women to see gender bias more completely as a human rights issue that hurts both sexes

Inspiring and activating men and women to work together to end gender bias. This is a very thoughtful speech and movement (HeForShe - UN). Emma Watson talks about gender equality, for women and men. The issues are not only about equal rights for women globally, but about the negative impacts of gender profiling on both sexes. About equal pay for women, and for "strong" women to be viewed as strong not bossy, but also about the importance of accepting vulnerability as a human condition, that men can express their feelings without being viewed as "weak". To tie in the suicide rate of young men into this issue was not what I expected, and yet I do understand. We create gender based societal stereotypes and expectations that hurt both genders. And the UN is calling for a collective movement and commitment from all people, men and women, to change this.

This all shows up in the workplace as well of course. And there is a huge push for women to "break" the glass ceiling to rise above the "sticky floor" and to "lean in". I see this a bit differently - I see male and female leaders both that are collaborative and labelled as "not decisive". I see leaders that don't accept the status quo be labelled as "difficult to manage", when their intention is to drive innovation or improvement.

If we want to truly address these significant global challenges - like gender equality - we need to leverage the unique strengths of every person, regardless of race, sex, or any other "difference". We need to bring forth our most authentic selves, our unique strengths and voices, and to fully respect and call forth the authentic strengths of others. Our differences make us collectively STRONGER. Imagine a world where we all understand who we are at our best, and what we can most contribute to the world around us by the age of 20 or 25. And in that same world, where we are given the opportunity in high school, college and in our early careers to take turns "leaning in" to co-lead with our peers - who are equally clear about their own strengths. Where differences are cherished and leveraged, not just tolerated... I believe we are on a path to this future - and efforts like HeForShe will help us get there. And ultimately, it's up to each of us to do our part.

http://www.vanityfair.com/vf-hollywood/2014/09/emma-watson-un-speech-feminism

Calling "the crazy ones" - the ones who think they can change the world... (is that you??)

I received a framed version of this quote back in my IBM days, as an acknowledgement of the work we were doing with leaders at IBM, bringing in more of a coaching culture.

And it resonated deeply with me. And helped me to see things differently... Because, well, at least I knew that I wasn't alone in feeling like a square peg in a round hole! It gave me HOPE that maybe, just maybe, I could be a game changer or even a world changer! And so I continued to work passionately for what mattered to me at the time: on nurturing the health of my family (due to a health crisis at home) and at IBM by helping to leaders to extend their leadership styles to include coaching and "bigger game" thinking in order to create high performance teams that respected individual strengths and values.

As I continued to evolve in my own leadership journey, I was inspired by my kids to make sure I did my best to make the world a good place for future generations - I often found myself in the role of the "crazy one", or the "positive deviant", and I learned much about operating as an internal change agent, and the enablers and barriers of change. You might find more hope and inspiration here in this article from HBR about the role of positive deviance and unlikely innovators.

Today, I am inspired to see pioneers in every industry working hard to make positive change happen in different ways:

• by making sustainability real - with meaningful action

• by working to get healthy food into school cafeterias

• by working on healthcare and insurance reform

• by piloting new innovative alternative or integrated healthcare approaches

• by building better buildings, transportation systems, manufacturing processes that consume less and produce less waste

• etc... the list is endless and inspiring...

Society is a living organism, and has a need for all of us square pegs or "positive deviants". My current work is in bringing new solutions and methods to "the crazy ones" - the pioneering leaders that are committed to making the world (or some part of it!) better. And it is about working smarter - and leading in new ways. Instead of individual herculean efforts, leaders of change must leading collectively - leveraging the unique strengths of others who are aligned with their vision - to make change happen faster.

Which way is up? Seeing things differently and a view worth saving...

While so much of the world is focused on "the internet of things" and innovating with technology, my focus is on the human systems (you and me and our organizations and networks). And if you are one of the "crazy ones", know that you are not alone and there are solutions that can greatly accelerate your success! Solutions and methods like The Bigger Game and Collective Leadership - which I use with organizational leaders who are looking at amplifying their impact in their company, their industry, and their value chain.

I don't work alone (it's hard being crazy alone - and I've found out it's not really an effective way to bring about change!). I have been inspired to work with others, including the late Laura Whitworth, and the very alive Rick Tamlyn who co-created the Bigger Game model and have inspired a network of Bigger Game leaders and coaches. I have also been privileged to work closely with co-founders ofPresenceAtWork, Jane Weber and Roelien Bokxem - they are pioneers in bringing a new kind of leadership development into the world - and I am now certified to lead this work in the US.

What about you? Who are your most important allies? Have you looked in your toolbox lately? What can you share here - insights for others transformational leaders? Let's not "go it alone" - there's way too much good work to be done!

Daring to lift our gaze from our "smaller worlds"

It is easy to get on our daily treadmill and focus our attention on our smaller world of work, family, and friends. Surely, we can all do this and our plates will feel full. Our time and attention could be spent here easily. However, there is a bigger picture at play that is affecting all of our smaller worlds, and I urge you to continue to lift your gaze and shift your attention out to the broader space of the ecology of our planet, and the system of systems that enable our smaller worlds to be either stable or not so stable.

This article by Bill McKibben from the Guardian on April 3 points the finger strongly at Exxon Mobile - labeling them consummately arrogant. I won't judge the people of Exxon Mobile in that way, or even necessarily the entity, because I believe their behavior is a reflection (still) of their market. And who is their market? WE ARE. We buy the fuel that comes out of the ground, that transports our goods, that fuels the tractors that till the land to produce crops we eat, or that feed the animals that become protein on our dining room tables, or in the fast food lane. "They" are "us".

It is hard to imagine a world without fossil fuels. It is also hard to imagine a world where fossil fuel consumption has changed where we can live, what we can eat, and what wildlife remains to support us.

We can make choices now that will create a better, more stable future. Or we can stay on autopilot, and hope that others make the right decisions on our behalf. Or we can be in denial - and believe that none of this will ever impact us or our children's children.

And if you are in the climate change denier camp - and it seems that many still are - based on this April Fool's folly documented so well by Joel Makower at GreenBiz "Climate change is good for you! Wait: It's April 1st. Or is it?". He writes of a new "study" from the "Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change" published by the right-wing Heartland Institute, claiming that the small amount of climate change that might be caused by humans is beneficial to plants and animals.

So climate change deniers, and climate change "undecideds" - what if climate change isn't real or isn't impacted by human behaviour? What if we "clean up our act" and switch to cleaner fuels, cleaner manufacturing processes, sustainable building processes, and live more in harmony with nature - only to find out we didn't really need to? Would that be so very bad? I don't think so... And imagine the innovation that will be unleashed in the process. Imagine a company workforce being revitalized because they are challenged to rethink everything! Imagine graduating from an engineering program, or a marketing program - with an awareness of ecological design and sustainability principles - and helping to reinvent and revitalize your profession!

You know, we can do this. Not all alone. But collectively. So lift your gaze, and imagine the possibilities...

Are you someone that is "Daring Greatly" in your life and work?

On Saturday morning I read a quote on the inside cover of a new book - Daring Greatly - by Brené Brown whose research on "wholehearted living, shame and resilience" was catapulted into mainstream after her first TED talk on vulnerability, followed by Oprah interviews. This quote by Theodore Roosevelt is quite profound:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points our how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly... who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails by daring greatly."  Theodore Roosevelt

So, I've think I've been "daring greatly" in this field of organizational transformation for quite some time, and I am currently marred by dust and sweat - as I work to launch the PresenceAtWork Collective Leadership Program from the Netherlands in the US on April 2 - 4 (the subject of my last three blogs!).  And frankly, I'm also daring greatly in my smart cities work inside of Schneider Electric too. 

Collective leadership is about maximizing the human systems potential around the table/room/globe to address challenges and drive opportunities within organizations and also across organizational boundaries. It is the subject of my last three blog entries - which include an overview of the Collective Leadership video overview with me and Roelien Bokxem, one of the two co-creators of this program.

If you are someone that "dares greatly" and you are passionate about the need for a new kind of leadership - consider playing a "Bigger Game", and investing in your personal capacity to lead that change -  in your chosen "field of play". 

One last personal note. 

• Think about the nature of politics today in our government bodies and in our public and private organizations. 
• Think about the average executive team, and the way they make decisions. 
• And then think about the magnitude of the challenges we face across the globe today - challenges that ONLY can be addressed by a new level of COLLECTIVE leadership, and collaborative innovation at every level. 

Collective leadership is about capacity building - and we really do need you to help lead the way. Here is one resource from the Collective Leadership Institute where you can learn more - http://stakeholderdialogues.net/media/uploads/Collective_Leadership_Studies_Vol1-Shifting_the_Way_We_Co-create.pdf . 

And if you are looking for someone to help you take your game to the next level, reach out to me via LinkedIn for a free consultation - or to share your story!

Introduction to Collective Leadership by PresenceAtWork

From the heart: I have high hopes that we can harness the collective intelligence across multiple disciplines and industries to address some of the very big challenges we face across every industry - creating sustainable, resilient and restorative practices that contribute to a better future for our children.

The three principles of the Collective Leadership Allies Program are described in this video by Roelien Bokxem of PresenceAtWork and by me - a student, practitioner, and advocate of collective leadership.

Principle 1: Leading from your authentic core

Principle 2: Leading from the whole rather than from "The Rock"

Principle 3: Leading from the emerging future rather than leading from past history.

We also introduce a powerful body-based strengths model, and how these strengths contribute and inter-relate in a collective or human system. In particular, I can validate the importance of understanding the individual strengths and which strengths are most critical in each phase of a change or innovation initiative. This model brings value well beyond what I have ever learned from Myers-Briggs or other similar individual leadership type tools and methods.

I invite you to listen with curiousity, and to think of relevance in your own organization. We have much meaningful and important work ahead, and this is all about "sharpening the saw".

What's love got to do with it? With leadership, change and innovation, that is...!

In 1996, John P. Kotter, Professor of Leadership, Emeritus at Harvard Business School wrote Leading Change. He outlined an 8 step linear process for effecting change inorganizations. And it was highly lauded by experts in leadership. 

 

Interestingly enough, Kotter supplemented his first book with a second book The Heart of Change, which revisited his model. In his own words:

"Our main finding, simply put, is that the central issue is never strategy, structure, culture or systems... the core of the matter is always about changing the

behavior of people, and behavior changes...mostly by speaking to people's

feelings."

 

So it's appropriate to talk about human hearts and love stories in the context of change and leadership. For it's the deep, visceral hunger and emotion that gets us to step out of "business as usual", or our comfort zones. Out of the stands and onto the playing field...

 

Happy Valentine's Day and read on to learn about my "love story".... 

For me, it started with my daughter Kelsey... Back in June 2006, I decided to take my family to see An Inconvenient Truth. I had not seen it myself, but liked to stimulate conversation and thinking with my 13 year-old daughter Kelsey, and 10 year-old son Ryan. My daughter Erin was only 3 at the time, so we let her stay with a sitter. On the way out of the theater, I asked them what they thought about the movie. I'll never forget this response... from Kelsey.  She said, "Mom, I'm not sure I want to have kids."  You can imagine my reaction. And I said to her, "Kelsey, it's very early for you to think about that, and the good news is that a lot of very smart people are working on these challenges, including me."  (Melissa's Musings - my blog entry from June 29, 2006)

We are in a world of accelerating change, and our organizations require a new leadership capacity to remain relevant

Leading from the Emerging Future

You know and I know that every industry is reinventing itself (or needs to!) in order to compete on a global stage, with economic, political and environmental uncertainty. Organizations are under pressure to do more with less. To grow, become more sustainable, more resilient, often while relying on aging infrastructure, an aging workforce, and increasing costs for labor, healthcare, raw materials and energy. 

Human beings are AT the HEART of change - and we are both the biggest barriers and the biggest enablersWho else is going to address these challenges? While so much focus is given to emerging technology, cleantech, cloud solutions, internet of everything, smart everything, the bottom line is that you and I make change happen - within and across organizational boundaries. And we meet resistance daily, as well as limitations in well-intentioned people who have simply don't know how to step up and step into leadership. And we can do something about that. 

Collective Leadership is about leveraging the collective hearts and minds and the diverse strengths of the teams we are part of in order to accomplish our missionsIt sounds simple, but the reality is that more often than not - we are caught in our grandfather's leadership paradigm. Companies are organized as a hierarchy, and we are teaching leadership principles to individuals, but not teaching leaders how to work collectively.  In fact, in my 28 years of corporate experience, I have witnessed how sometimes "innovators" and "collaborative leaders" are unintentionally pushed aside, perhaps because they are "hard to manage" or don't fit the mold of a traditional leader. However, what got us here won't get us there.... as they say.

Collective Leadership can be learnedLike emotional intelligence and social intelligence, we can also develop relationship systems intelligence. And we can learn to connect to the broader systems around us to sense and lead based on what we see coming, not just based on where we've been.   Research from the Center for Creative Leadership identifies the need for Collective Leadership training Find about four Future Trends in Leadership Development in this paper by Nick Petrie, a senior faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership's Colorado Springs campus. Learn face to face at the US Launch of Collective Leadership, starting April 2 - 4, 2013 in Buffalo NY.  I'll be co-leading this workshop series, which kicks off in April near Buffalo NY. It's easy to enroll - click here for more information.  Consider bringing one or two allies that are working with you for even greater impact.         Free Web Event - Understanding the Need for Collective Leadership, and Intro to the Collective Leadership Allies Program in AprilI'm hosting a series of web conference calls over the next few weeks to give folks a chance to learn more, and assess how this program fits into your world right now - what concrete value can you and/or your organization gain from investing in this kind of program. Click here to register for a free Web Event - Understanding the Need for Collective Leadership.

SO will you share your "love story"? What compels you to do what you do? Don't forget to let your heart weigh in every now and then, especially if it feels like you've gotten yourself into a rut. Assess what MUST change, and let it be personal. You'll have a lot more energy to work with!

On a frosty November morn...

Frost covering all, 

A skunk coating in the front yard

Adds a unique scent

A puppy full of play

Waltzes in the sun of a November morn

A woman with restlessness

of heart and mind

wonders where

and when

and if

her day will bear fruit

and what type of fruit 

she should nurture.

Focus eludes her,

creativity beckons her

as she waltzes

in the sun 

of a November morn...

Reflections on one year of Green Building

And green team building, solutions portfolio building, friendship building, network building, skill building, humility building, frequent flier mileage building, experience building, passport stamp building... A year of intense growth, excitement, and yes - hard work, pressure, overtime (can it even be called that anymore?).

When I was a late teen or maybe early twenty-something I wrote a motto on an index card and I am still amazed that it still aligns so well with how I approach life and work today... (See picture - it is tacked up next to my home office desk, with other special items including my kids' artwork, the "golden rule" as stated in 8 world religions, and a wonderful b'day card from my oldest daughter Kelsey who is off to college on September 4th.)

Resolved:
to put forth my best effort in all that I do and to accept my accomplishments with the knowledge that I have done my best. This includes the efforts to work hard, to play hard, and to rest assured, that I have put equal efforts into all these things which give life its real substance. If you are never tired, you have not lived life to its fullest, for fatigue allows maximum appreciation of sleep.

So why this reflection on my one year anniversary with Schneider Electric as VP of Green Buildings Solutions? It fits the pace, the intent, the approach - to do my personal best.  What's missing here - what was missing from my resolution at 20-something is not really surprising... And for me, it's actually the most important part today.  It's the "why bother"?  It's the "for the sake of what"? At 20 it was all about achievement and balance for me. Whatever you do, give it your very best... Today, it's much more about choosing what it is that I will commit to - in alignment with my sense of purpose, my values and my aspirations to have a lasting impact on this wonderful planet, for my family and humanity as a connected whole.  For this - I will work hard, play hard, and rest assured that I have done my best.

So, the purpose?  It's about significantly reducing energy use and CO2 emissions globally through corporate initiative.  I'm aligned with Schneider Electric's CEO - Jean Pascale Tricoire, who believes we must help save energy to share it with the masses that don't have access to energy today for the most basic things - like clean water. I believe that we must change the way we interact with our world in order to sustain it for future generations - AND that this will require a huge amount of innovation which will ultimately (hopefully) help (most) businesses pave a more balanced forward path. 

So, it's been a fantastic year of growth, learning, commitment and investment in a more sustainable future. And it's been a great family year too (but that's a different blog post!). 

How to Nudge Consumers to Be Environmentally Friendly - WSJ.com#printMode

Well, this article makes me go "hmmm....". Apparently, peer pressure does not end after high school, as if I hadn't noticed. This article sites multiple studies and experiments that point to peer pressure or at least the "pull of the crowd" as a more powerful driver of behavioral change than financial incentives, or social responsibility to "do the right thing". How to Nudge Consumers to Be Environmentally Friendly - WSJ.com#printMode.

This surprises me quite a bit, as I personally subscribe to a belief that people need to really have a strong internal (emotional) desire and motivation for change in order to actually make significant changes (and especially to stick with them). In fact, in "The Heart of Change" by John Kotter, his research bears this out. The essence of Kotter's message is this: the reason so many change initiatives fail is that they rely too much on "data gathering, analysis, report writing, and presentations" instead of a more creative approach aimed at grabbing the "feelings that motivate useful action." (Citation, Amazon.com Review) So perhaps the peer pressure, the subconscious need that many of us have to "fit in" is enough of an emotional pull to incite some level of change after all. If this is the case, we have much work to do to reverse our consumption-oriented "more and bigger is better" culture! (In my humble opinion, of course!).

Sustainability at Penn State University

Penn State is truly playing a Bigger Game in Sustainability. I participated in a workshop in late August where the brought in some of their key corporate stakeholders to really do some out of the box thinking on what a top university needs to be doing to create a sustainable future... and the outcomes were really exciting. There will be a whitepaper published on this 2 day workshop very soon, and it should be posted at http://www.green.psu.edu/.

This hits home in a very personal way for me, because I have a high school senior who is now choosing colleges to apply to, and career directions... What could be more inspiring than training at an institution that is truly committed to creating the sustainability leaders of the future? And even if they major in psychology, or liberal arts, they will be learning how to live more sustainably. I salute the vision that the folks at Penn State have... and hope to remain engaged as an ally to help them achieve it...

Life Calling

Life Calling

My life is a journey, destination unknown.
My path is revealed only as far as I can see,
Yet more often than not, I choose its direction.

I navigate my path thoughtfully,
with deliberate choices grounded in values and guided by intuition.
Even when faced with unexpected circumstances,
I choose my path, by choosing my reaction.

I choose to live in love, optimism, faith, beauty, warmth.
I choose spontaneity, nature, deep conversations, dreams.
I choose passion, risk, change, color.
I choose light, music, texture, spice.
I laugh, I cry, I experience, I give.
I nurture myself to be strong.

Sometimes my path is clear and my journey is effortless.
I savor these times, gathering strength,
languishing in bounty.

On rare occasions, my path seems blocked,
weather clouds my vision and dampens my spirit.
I trudge on in faith,
overcoming obstacles, trusting the sky to clear.
Sometimes I seek temporary shelter
and wait out the storm.

I believe God nurtures me in ways I cannot fully understand.
His grace is at work within me, and He walks with me.

I am a beam of light and many choose to walk with me,
warmed by my love, nurtured by my strength,
trusting my integrity, enrolled by my spirit,
stretched by my pace, comforted by my touch.
I am blessed by their presence.
I am supported, I am loved.
I am thankful.

On certain segments of my journey, I have chosen to follow others,
nurtured by their spirit and love,
Guided by their wisdom.
I am thankful.

I walk with increasing purpose,
as I reflect on whom I have become,
and how my journey has enriched me.
My need to help others choose their paths
becomes ever stronger,
like a calling.

I see possibilities ahead that are exciting.
Mountains to climb that are more challenging
than any behind me.

I will choose the climb that calls me,
perhaps joining with others
so we can forge a new path,
that becomes a lighted way for others
drawn to higher ground.

Melissa O'Mara
Written February 18th, 2003
CTI Fulfillment Class
Dallas, Texas

Copyright 2003

BHAGs and Bigger Games - For the Sake of What?

If you've read my blog before, you know that I am a bit of a change agent (or at least I aspire to be) and an innovation catalyst. I am very focused on accelerating corporate and large scale economic and ecologic sustainability (gulp) through a process called co-creation or collaborative innovation. I firmly believe that it takes a committed cross-organizational effort to address some of the environmental and economic challenges that are now front and center globally. You could call this aspiration a "BHAG", thanks to James Collins and James Porras.

From Wikipedia - The term Big Hairy Audacious Goal ("BHAG") was proposed by James Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1996 article entitled Building Your Company's Vision. A BHAG encourages companies to define visionary goals that are more strategic and emotionally compelling. In the article, the authors define a BHAG (pronounced BEE-hag) as a form of vision statement "...an audacious 10-to-30-year goal to progress towards an envisioned future."

A true BHAG is clear and compelling, serves as unifying focal point of effort, and acts as a clear catalyst for team spirit. It has a clear finish line, so the organization can know when it has achieved the goal; people like to shoot for finish lines. —Collins and Porras, 1996
Collins and Porras also used this concept in their book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies.

Change and innovation requires human energy. It requires that we move beyond our automatic pilot, our comfort zones, and sometimes it requires us to consider entirely new ways of being or seeing! Change and innovation require work of all kinds. The work of attention. The work of planning, questioning, investing, building, and perhaps most importantly - the work of recovering and restarting after inevitable setbacks and failures that happen along the way!

So given that, why bother? Why do any of us take the time to set big hairy audacious goals? For the sake of what I say? It's clearly a lot of work! I can attest to this personally... as you'll see by the timestamp of this post - whenever I finally get it done!

Why bother? Well, do we really want the status quo, really??? Many of us don't want the status quo at all. We have gripes, concerns, worries, aspirations, dreams, ideas... Some of us are very vocal about these "hungers" for something to be different, and others bury the thoughts, perhaps because they feel helpless, or "too tired", or simply unqualified to drive change. Or perhaps because it's not considered socially acceptable to discuss such controversial (dare I say politically loaded) concerns?

One of the best and stickiest tools that I have used in my collaborative innovation efforts is the Bigger Game Model. I've written about the Bigger Game numerous times over the years, and I want you all to know that it is still foundational to how I approach "BHAGS". In fact, it's foundational to how I approach life as a whole. And, if you read my "integral business meshworks - part 1", I can tell you that I see some pretty interesting parallels here as well. Why would you bother to form such an integral business meshwork - whatever that really is? Probably because you are recognizing the need for wholistic systems level change - and you know that it will take a network of like minded yet diverse people (across multiple organizations) to help drive this change.

For the sake of what then? Well, the interesting thing is that we all come to the table with our own unique reasons. In the case of accelerating the move to enterprise sustainability - some may come to the table because of a concern about global warming. Others may be much more concerned about dependency on foreign oil. Others simply want to grow the market for their sustainability technologies or services. And yet, we can find a common "BHAG", a compelling purpose for working together, and a "Bigger Game". We can...

Now, it's not as simple as dreaming up this joint compelling purpose, BHAG or Bigger Game; not at all. Execution is crucial to any significant endeavor, and Bigger Games are particularly vulnerable - certainly during early days. Bigger Game players (a.k.a. leaders) must constantly re-assess their game, leveraging the left brain analytic "just the facts" skills that are so abundant in the business world. And they must also tap back into the right brain, compelling purpose places - and make sure that the work (remember that hard work???) is still compelling, for all the allies that are so crucial to achieving the BHAG (big hairy audacious goal). And over the course of 12 - 18 months, leaders should be prepared to change or "morph" the game -because the world in which the game is to be played will be shifting.

Why bother though? Because it feels good! Working toward something meaningful with other smart committed (and hopefully fun) people is the very best reason - and if you're really lucky, you will also get paid to do it!

Smarter Planet anyone? Green Buildings? Healthy schools? Healthy families? Clean and abundant water? What's your compelling purpose? What's the name of your game?

A child is born, christened "Promise"

A child is born
christened "Promise"
because she is

From labor to "WOW"
a mother rejoices
and gives Promise to the world

A village with loving hearts
afire with passion
will nurture the child

All new - raising Promise
hope and responsibility
shared by many
for she is special
(as all children are)

A Promise for our future
for what's possible
when passion aligns with purpose
Bigger than us all
Growing us all
Connecting us all

She's safe with us
The world watches and waits
for the first smile

Dedication: Charter members of the Green Sigma Coalition

P.S.
Tuesday in San Francisco, the world got just a little better, in my humble opinion. The vibration lifted, in a room of competitors aligned around a compelling purpose - to accelerate the move toward enterprise sustainability... I had the supreme honor of helping birth the Green Sigma Coalition. She now belongs to all of us. Delivering Promise, Delivering on the Promise.
http://www.silobreaker.com/ibm-forms-green-sigma-coalition-to-enable-firms-to-save-planet-16_2262406435138699273

Integral Business Meshworks Part 1 (and where I have been)

I haven't been blogging much lately, but I've been musing... Musing on death and rebirth, emergence from the abyss, intentional evolution, and the nature of change and innovation - collective and individual. (My views are my own and do not necessarily represent the views of IBM).

Clearly, we are in the midst of a breakdown of multiple sorts - economic, ecologic, and more subtly perhaps, a breakdown of belief systems, faith, political norms, and trust in the systems that we have perhaps previously taken for granted as being self-correcting or at least somewhat predictable. Now, nothing feels predictable. The future is more "up for grabs" than perhaps at any other time in human history. It feels (to me) like we are at a critical turning point, or perhaps better said, a choice point. Or, as my CEO Sam Palmissano has stated, it is time to co-create a smarter planet.... To which I say.... well - sort of...

The key word here is co-create. Not collaborate, not innovate, not evolve. Co-create. Forrester writes about their view of innovation co-creation - and the need for tech companies to form "customer-focused Innovation Networks (CFINs) in which they co-create innovation value with their corporate clients." I haven't read this entire article (but I will). I sense though, that this is only part of the co-creation equation - a good start. From what I've read, this is focused on creating technical solutions - externally focused.

So, I've been musing. I first learned of the term and concept of co-creation when becoming a certified professional life coach - in my training with The Coaches Training Institute. Actually, I am a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach (CPCC). Learning and action is co-created by everyone in the room, everyone in the process. Wayne Dyer (whom I've never read) has a book called The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-create Your World Your Way . I believe the focus of this book (and many other spiritual & personal growth books and programs) is more on the individual internal will and how individuals can more effectively (intentionally) create clarity and "co-create" by aligning personal purpose with "source".

Then we have the works of Senge, Scharmer, Wilbur and other leading and bleeding edge thinkers & practitioners... that look at co-creation in a more wholistic or "integral" manner. That's where I'll go in my next post....

YouTube - Lost Generation

YouTube - Lost Generation

1 minute 44 seconds...This is worth watching... as a parent of "the next generation"...

"Humanity screaming for a change"

So clearly stated - "humanity is screaming for change" says our IBM CEO Sam Palmisano. I sigh in huge relief and at this same time thinking "YES" - our leaders are getting this! Really! (Finally?....)

Here's an excerpt from the article:
"We've been given this on a silver platter," says Sam Palmisano, CEO of IBM. "We might as well use it as an opportunity."

Believe it or not, the leader of Big Blue is talking about the financial crisis and the prospect of systemic overhaul. As companies around the globe try to get ahead of the economic maelstrom by laying off employees, shuttering factories, and cutting R&D, IBM (IBM, Fortune 500) is headed in another direction.

In the face of a meltdown, Palmisano continues, "you can retrench, pull in your horns, protect the balance sheet, and preserve cash. Or you can realize that this is about humanity screaming for change."

Sam Palmisano also spoke very persuasively to the Council on Foreign Relations on November 6th about the need to co-create a "smarter planet". This is definitely worth a listen, including the Q&A.... We are at a very unique moment in time where there is both a compelling need for significant change, and the technology and insights emerging that can enable or accelerate that change.

Think about what's happening in the world now... Complex systems are everywhere; in nature, in organizations. Whether we like it or not, these systems also interact with each other - often in a seemingly random cause and effect way - across organizations, industries, and geographies. Businesses and governments have primarily been focused on enterprise/intra-organizational effectiveness, and to a lesser and somewhat linear degree, up and down their value chain...

Yet the challenges we are facing today are bigger than enterprise scale! They are global - impacting multiple eco-systems, industries, and regions at the same time. Not enough water, increasingly intense weather events, the ripple effect of financial mismanagement resulting from perhaps a few myopic policies. What if we had the data, intelligence and insight to be able to model these complex "systems of systems" in order to predict and prevent or mitigate these challenges?

What if we had been able to monitor the fragility of the levees in New Orleans, and predict the various scenarios that could result in a breach? We are working on these smart levees and flood management solutions now - as part of Flood Control 2015 in the Netherlands. The parties participating in Flood Control 2015 are ARCADIS, Fugro, Royal Haskoning, HKV LIJN IN WATER, IBM, Deltares, ITC, TNO and the IJkdijk Foundation.

"The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them." (attributed to Albert Einstein, US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955))

It's time for a new wave of innovation and leadership - humanity is screaming for change - and this poses incredible challenge and opportunity for our current and the next generation of leaders. And aren't we all capable of greatness in times of great challenge? Let's rise to the challenge...

Measuring GHG Emissions Up and Down the Supply Chain

Measuring GHG Emissions Up and Down the Supply Chain World Resources Institute A "must read" and a "must follow" for all that are interested in the accurate calculation and communication of a product's "carbon footprint" or "carbon intensity" or "environmental impact". Many of us are trying to purchase more socially responsible products these days, but struggling a bit to understand which products are truly "better" from an environmental perspective.

The more complex the product, the more challenging the question, and the less likely (today) you are to be able to make a truly informed choice - based on verifiable facts, or at least trusted resources. From my perspective, this initiative is sorely needed in order to enable much better decision making, both for buyers who want to make informed purchases, but perhaps even more importantly, for companies committed to lowering their overall environmental impact - particularly in terms of the life cycle (cradle to grave, or cradle to cradle) impact of the products that they manufacture.

We are on a journey here, the very early stages of a long journey. This initiative will drive great learning and hopefully create tools and standards that will help us all to navigate with more precision, and hopefully, with a bit more speed!