I met Klaus Regnault in Cologne in 1987. The following year, I spent eight months sleeping in his sofa in Dusseldorf while we organized together Dr. Jim Loehr's first European Speaking Tour. We have been close friends ever since.
Now, Klaus is associated with Josef Brauner, former president of Sony Europe and former Board Member of Deutsche Telekom and T-Com Mobile. Together, they run 2cfor2c Complex Coaching and Consulting, addressing the areas of business, sports and the arts. What distinguishes Klaus Regnault from other consultants and entrepreneurs is his yearly pilgrimage (for the last ten years) to Kenya and Tanzania to live with the Maasai Warriors for two months at a time.
This year, Klaus Regnault started an educational foundation based in Germany to benefit the Maasai's children to go to high school (only 5% of children can get there nowadays). To help fund his efforts, Klaus and I will intensify the promotion of his unique seminar "Lessons from the Maasai Warriors" in Europe and the United States. If you and your company are interested in hosting this original, eye-opening experience, please contact us.
>> Read "Lessons from the Maasai Warriors"
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Teambuilding - Lessons from the Maasai Warriors
Book: "The Mother of All Minds" by Dudley Lynch
I became a fan of Dudley Lynch many years ago, when during a stay in London I serendipitously purchased "The Strategy of the Dolphin." I can confidently say that his book changed my life. Since then, I have become his disciple and an ambassador for this ideas. Dudley Lynch is also one of my mentors and a member of my company's Advisory Board. As you can see, I trust the guy and you should too. Here's why...
Dudley Lynch and Paul Kordis set the stage with "The Strategy of the Dolphin," a book that called attention to the need to explore our "home thinking base" if we are to make any significant improvements in our lives. Now, Dudley Lynch goes much further in describing how we need to vastly morph the way we use our brain if we are to match the dizzying speed of change in the new millennium. The book masterly reviews Dr. Clare Graves' scale of values and brings to life his teachings by suggesting a road map to reach breakthrough developments in our lives.
The cardinal question that "The Mother of All Minds" seeks to answer is this one: where does the explosive advance in information, change and complexity of our modern times leave human thinking skills—leave the mind itself? This highly resourceful work's confident answer: doing what it always does best! On the leading edges of the envelope, says Dudley Lynch, the human brain has been busy rewiring itself so as to prepare the mind for keeping pace with a restless, demanding, ever-changing world.
"The Mother of All Minds" should be required reading for all leaders, managers, coaches and entrepreneurs aiming to go beyond their current limitations and helping their companies and families to transform themselves from the inside-out, from pupa to winged marvel like a butterfly. The MOAM is an honest, fully researched, head-on, "get real" wake up call to all readers. You will never forget its lessons.
Listen to an Exclusive Audio Interview with Dudley Lynch on "The Mother of All Minds"
>> Purchase "The Mother of All Minds" and other Brainware tools
Make Room for Possibility
Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting Joe Brown from Findlay, Ohio. He’s 81 years old and spent most of his life as a farmer until he saw he could make more money renting the land rather than pouring his sweat over it. Joe has a fantastic sense of humor and is very engaging. After talking with him about his life, I realized that he’s a man who has always focused on possibilities. Joe has chosen to look at what's workable in a seemingly contradictory or limiting situation. By using provocative approaches, he has found solutions that initially seemed impossible to implement.
In his inimitable jovial way, Joe told me a story that convinced me that he’s been looking at the glass half full since very early on: “When I was a little child, I went to Sunday school and one time they taught me about David and Goliath. The priest said that David took a stone, charged it in his slingshot and hit Goliath right between the eyes. Goliath was dead and David became a hero. The next Sunday, the priest taught us: "Thou Shall Not Kill!" I remember thinking: Wait a minute… How come David kills Goliath and becomes a hero when Thou Shall Not Kill? I raised my hand and I told the priest that instead of killing Goliath someone should have converted him to Christianity. Then, they should have taken him around the region asking people 'Goliath is a Christian. Are you a Christian?' One look at him and they all would have answered: 'I am now! Of course I am!' Just imagine, everybody would be a Christian by now! Needless to say, the priest was stunned and quickly moved on to another topic, but I knew I had a point there. "
Charisma as The X Factor of Success
"A charismatic leader acts as a bonding agent, allowing you to give in to the giddy togetherness of a peace rally or a line dance. You forget yourself in his company and climb into the palm of his hand. This intricate pas de deux is known as synchrony and may be the key to charisma.
Synchrony is a marker of rapport; if two people click, they unconsciously adjust their posture and speech rate to each other. Charismatic people are natural "attractors" who get others to synchronize to them. An Oprah Winfrey, for example, controls an audience with her keen sense of timing, repetition and rhythm. They play the crowd like improvisational jazz."
- Adapted from the article "The X Factor of Success" by Carlin Flora, Psychology Today Magazine; May/June 2005
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
The Value of Provocation in Creativity
Dr. Edward de Bono (left) says that "our normal thinking demands that we be reasonable at every step. Creative thinking does not. We use deliberate provocations which are not at all reasonable. That is why all valued creative ideas are logical after you have seen them."
For forty years, the turn indicator on automobiles was a mechanical arm attached to the side of the vehicle to imitate the way the driver's arm was previously used to signal the turn direction. When the assumption was finally challenged, the more efficient blinking turn indicator was invented.
Dr. de Bono affirms that "challenge and the intention to change help but are not enough. That is why we need 'provocation.' Provocation provides a sort of stepping-stone so that we can step out of the usual track. Once out of the usual track we look around for other tracks." That is the essence of creativity. What we want to do is to let go of our assumptions for a moment so that we can see if this reveals new possibilities. However, very little time is given during corporate discussions to the systematic exploration of Possibility, which can often lead to breakthrough.
Five Key Behaviors to Sustain Positive Energy
Evaluate and Protect your High Energy Sources
Analyze what energizes you and what drains you. Give yourself three months to minimize all activities that rob your energy and focus on high, positive endeavors.
Examine Your Personal Purpose
What's your overriding passion? What would you do even if they didn't pay you for it?
Where's your sense of Mission coming from? What makes what you do significant?
Leave Room for Imperfection
Like a top athlete, choose one or two areas in which you insist on the highest possible standards and use those strengths to drive the rest of your workload.
Train Your Recovery Response
Protect your vacation time. Take short breaks every hour. Schedule Focused, Planning and Recovery days every week. Use humor in your interactions with others. Watch comedy before going to bed. Be ritualistic about your sleep hours.
Seek Multiple Perspectives
Focus on what's Positive, what could be Better and what is Interesting in every issue. Using the "Six Thinking Hats" method developed by Dr. Edward de Bono is very effective to discuss improvements with others and get multiple perspectives.
Teambuilding - Six Factors for Positive Change
In my experience working with corporate and entrepreneurial teams, these are the six factors the executive team's thinking in the process of achieving and sustaining positive, self-directed change:
Purpose:
We understand our goal - We have clear responsibilities without restrictive boundaries - We know and accept our leader’s role
Values:
We know our shared values - We have the core competencies we need - We have respect, tolerance and trust among ourselves
Inspiration:
Every challenge is a learning experience - We support each other - We know our benchmarks and future milestones
Visionary Change:
We design our future - We are ambassadors of our vision - We are willing to transform ourselves to achieve breakthrough and exponential results
Energy Waves:
We are all committed to sustaining our Ideal Performance State - We avoid burnout by making stress/recovery waves as a team
Identity:
We walk the talk - We lead by example - We leave a path for others to follow
>> Visit the Teambuilding page
Monday, October 29, 2007
Three "Success Design" Factors
Like you, I am a student of success. During my work in the past six years, I have confirmed the validity of three “success design” factors. First: individuals, teams and corporations need to design a clear, detailed and ambitious vision of the future to fully engage in its creation. Second: nothing motivates more a performer than small, incremental and sustained achievement. Third: achievement has to be interpreted as meaningful, significant and enjoyable beyond any monetary compensation to be fully satisfactory. Think big, act small and leave a mark. How easy to absorb intellectually, yet how difficult to implement. The awareness of these three simple factors has helped me refine my approach to helping peak performers achieve their goals.
LEARN MORE about how you can apply these factors
Gabriela's Inspiration
On July 16, 2006, Gabriela Sabatini was inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island. I was privileged to collaborate with sport psychologist Dr. James Loehr in her training prior to winning the 1990 U.S. Open, her crowning achievement. Gabriela’s courage and determination to overcome all the obstacles between her and a Grand Slam tournament victory were a huge lesson for me, for which I will always be grateful.
Gabriela's success also taught me about the architecture of performance: when you align your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual skills, you are able to generate high, positive energy on demand, under pressure. This alignment is the result of systematic training, it doesn't happen overnight. The training process helps you create your own blueprint for achieving your goals and it becomes your best support when you face obstacles and opposition.
>> Visit the Performance Architecture Web page
Finding Meaning
A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."
Source: “Man’s Search for Meaning” by Viktor Frankl. Simon & Schuster, NY, 1963, p. 127
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Body-Mind Workshop by Prof. Enrique Pisani
This is a unique opportunity to expand your behavioral responses under pressure, reduce anxiety and increase your emotional intelligence.
Location: Brussels, Belgium
Date: Monday, November 26, 2007
Xing Members' Workshop Fee: Euro 200.00 per person
Non-Members: Euro 250.00 per person
Tentative Workshop Schedule:
09.00 To 11.30: Class
11.30 To 12.00: Break
12:00 to 13:00: Class
13.00 To 14.00: Lunch Break
14.00 To 15.30: Class
15.45: Departure to Airport
Prof. Enrique Pisani has coached First League volleyball teams in Argentina, Italy and Belgium, as well as the Belgian National Team. He is a Certified Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst – Integrated Movement Studies Institute Intensive Program IMS– University of Utah (USA) – Janice Meaden, Peggy Hackney, Pamela Schick, Ed Groff. He has trained in Body-Mind-Centering (Institute for Somatic Movement Studies ISMS –Amsterdam – Netherlands - Jacques van Eijden) and Feldenkrais (Integrative Somatic Movement– Kientalerhof –Switzerland – Josef Della Grotte). His workshop will focus on the following areas:
Preparing your body to operate in your Ideal Performance State
Empowerment through effective use of your personal space
Self-affirmation through the understanding of the body-mind relationship
Gaining influence through your posture, your voice and your focus
Shaping your body to achieve personal fitness goals
Workshop Approach and Points of Reference: Yield & Push – Reach & Pull (The first two patterns establish connections with oneself. The second two with others)
Personal signature in terms of Exploring, Planning and Doing (We explore the 3 planes in which the body moves and the client’s preference)
Personal signature in terms of Engagement in the action process. (We explore Free and Bound flow) Developmental work: Breath connectivity and its meaning in grounding oneself
Spinal connectivity and its meaning in connecting to oneself and the others Upper / lower connectivity and its importance in Yield & Push and Reach & Pull Body-half connectivity and its importance in decision making Cross-connectivity and its importance in dealing with several options Low, middle and high brain
Class structure: It is a movement class, so wear comfortable clothes Most of the movements begin on the floor Taking notes could be useful Verbal exchange is intensive as it helps clarify what is meaningful to the client
To register, please contact: vortex@saluminternational.com
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: November 5th, 2007
Upon registration, you will receive further information from: Carlos Salum President Salum International Resources, Inc.
Your body is you.
Traditional way of looking a human being divides it in body and soul. Anything that can be touched or seeing belongs to body anything that cannot, belongs to soul (feelings, sensations, intelligence, etc.)
In somatic movement education we think that everything is one.
If you get stressed your muscles get tight and shorten. Your joints hurt. Your heart rate rises. You don’t rest even if you sleep. You loose focus.
When we were babies movement patterned our brain. While getting older our brain patterns connections between our inside (physical and non physical body) and the outside world.
But this division is just theoretical we live in our bodies and our performance in any area or activity we want to address depends on how we embody experiences and the level of awareness of our body we have.
To re pattern our body implies change and this change will take us to a better quality of life.
Business or any other collective activity implies a co creative process but before making connections to the outside world we should make connections with “our selves”
How we can do that?
Through movement
What kind of movements?
The main condition is that the movements are easy, simple to perform. You can do them lying, sitting or standing.
The movement in itself is no important. The way you do it counts more.
The mind of the movement leads to integration.
What is the goal?
Body awareness, ease of movement. Embody knowledge.
Which are the aspects that theses movements consider?
Core support.
Stability – Mobility.
Grounding.
What is the connection between this kind of body work and my professional activity?
Basically the connection is the philosophy of the work.
This works provides ease, being centered, being connected with yourself and with the outer world.
When you practice core support you are sensing what is core to your business activity.
Addressing stability / mobility you learn that stability precedes mobility. What does it resonates in your professional issues?
When you say NO to a certain alternative of movement, what are you saying YES to?
Improving your quality of personal life improves your whole life. It is a life time process. It is a way of living. It is your CHOICE. You chose to peak in your performance.
But changes start at home first, and your body is your home. You live in it your whole life.
What Achievers Do
Achievers manage these three precepts:
- Focus: Sustained development and crafting of the Vision
- Energy Management: Physical, Emotional and Intellectual training to handle challenges and operate in the Ideal Performance State
- Breakthrough Design: Going beyond the "set point" and established parameters to create exponential results (the intended goals in the Vision and "strategic spin-offs" that sometimes can yield better dividends)
The dynamic alignment of these three factors contribute to our ability to "do the right things," "do things better," and "do better things." Achievers learn that whatever they gain through this process must provide Fulfillment, Significance and help them leave a Legacy.
Links:
http://www.saluminternational.com/pavideo.htm
http://www.saluminternational.com/vortex
The Asset Report: The Book of You
Businesspeople and their teams from British Columbia to Brunei to Norway to Manila to Melbourne and many U.S. locations are using Plano company’s unique newmethodology for helping ambitious individuals examine the good, thecould-be-better and the truly promising about themselves
Creator calls it a ‘Hope and Glory’ document
Like many others, people in business often say they just don’t have time to read a book. And, of course, every author and their publisher think they have the one book no one can afford to let go unopened.
But a Plano, TX, expert with an international reputation for helping businesspeople improve themselves says there is at least one book in that category. That’s the one individuals write for themselves—through their choices, actions and the myriad other ways their identify leaves its imprint moment by moment on their personal and business outcomes and potential. And where do they find such a book?
Within minutes, Dudley Lynch, president of Brain Technologies Corporation, can assemble this personal guidebook—which he has formally named AssetReport®—for you. All you need to do is fill out a simple one-page questionnaire Lynch has perfected based on his 25 years of research and experience guiding clients on six continents through the process of designing winning personal and professional strategies based on deep, applications-rich insights into their fundamental beliefs, values and thinking processes.With your scores in hand—using a computerized data base containing more than 1,000 pages of itemized descriptions that he has spent the past four years writing, polishing and testing—Lynch produces your personalized 100-page “book of you”—your AssetReport. “Because we want this to be a quality ‘read’ as well as an horizons-raising one for you, our client, my colleagues and I have refined and rewritten every line in our data base three times since 1996,” notes this best-selling self-growth book author (Strategy of the Dolphin®: Scoring a Win in a Chaotic World).
It’s just one of many methods that Lynch—known worldwide for his highly innovative models and tools for achieving personal and professional goals—has developed for turning you on to actionable new self-insights and guidance that get the results you want and need to excel.
What kinds of discoveries about themselves does Lynch’s AssetReport offer its subjects? To mention just a few:
- Proactively sensitizes you to what can happen when your world intermingles and collides with the worlds of others—the good, the bad and the ugly; and what to do about it.
- Offers insight and guidance related to the deeper motivations that drive your behavior—motivations anchored in your fundamental beliefs, values and thinking processes. This empowers you to take command of your life and the world you create.
- Alerts you to often harmful and destructive “political games” you are vulnerable to being sucked into and how to avoid them or better your odds when you play them.
Puts you in touch with the bedrock qualities that shape nearly every decision you make, or fail to make. - Helps you understand how to influence how others perceive you—from job interviews to common conversation to negotiating sessions to times of heightened stress and turmoil on the job or off.
- Provides coaching on how to recognize and adjust when your moods and physical realities cross the threshold from acting out of strength, wisdom and confidence to acting from fatigue, frustration and self-doubt.
- Equips you to self-test to see if your actions, values and explanations are genuinely in sync with your deepest beliefs and self-assessments and thus in congruence with your personal goals and vision.
- Helps you understand just how profoundly your world and experience are impacted, affected and shaped by how you think.
Lynch has recently produced ARs for such varied groups and teams as:
- All 175 MBA candidates in the Class of 2001 for Royal Roads University in Vancouver, British Columbia.
- The entire management corps of nearly 50 executives—many with M.D or Ph.D. degrees—for the Ministries of Health and Development in the sultanate of Brunei, in Southeast Asia.
- The President and her 20 direct reports at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta.
- The youngest Vice President in the history of one of Canada’s best known telecommunications company and his leadership team.
- All employees at a leading Oregon-based Internet search engine placement company. The firm’s CEO told Lynch recently, “I don't think I have ever been profiled so precisely.”
A few years ago, Lynch began training distributors from places as distant as Norway, Canada, Australia, The Philippines and throughout the U.S. in the use of his Asset Report questionnaire. These distributors forward their client’s results to Plano electronically. Lynch personally selects the contents for each “book of you” and the resulting document is e-mailed back, usually within two or three hours.
“The most competent people in business today are awakening to the fact that personalities are no longer off limits,” says Lynch. “Personality issues can make or break a business. If a manager’s personality, what they think, how they do or say things and how they treat people creates frustration, anger, resentment and loss of respect, their subordinates aren’t going to produce at the 110% level needed to compete. AssetReport provides a truly unique new tool for helping managers understand these basic factors in relationship to their own personality and the personalities of their subordinates and target changes that work.”
AssetReport is a trademark of Brain Technologies Corporation.
PURCHASE YOUR COPY OF ASSETREPORT
Successful Corporate Events
Corporate events can either be a dreadful undertaking or an invaluable opportunity to create a memorable experience to improve your company’s culture.
Rule of Thumb:
Design your event in five essential steps.
The first step is to clarify the requirements by understanding the strategic objectives. Then, you can focus on specific objectives such as creative, technical, operational and financial processes.
The second step involves the creative “manufacturing” of the event, in which you match the blueprint you imagine (locations, activities, exhibits, presentations, etc.) against the established objectives.
The third step centers around confirming the “deliverables,” such as hotels, video shooting, incentive gifts, transportation, menus, stage construction, etc.
The fourth step is the “implementation” phase and takes place on-site. It requires close management, attention to detail, patience and flexibility - since many adjustments might be necessary.
The fifth and final step is “feedback.” After the financial reconciliation, you obtain feedback and document your successes and errors for the future. Memorable events encourage management to invest in better and more complex projects. Keep your notes and transform them into a winning system.
Please contact me with your requirements and I will help you set up an outstanding, memorable event for your company.
See outstanding examples of memorable events we produced for our global clients
The Emotional Intelligence Evaluation
Now, you can measure your tendencies and abilities within various areas of emotional intelligence. The Emotional Intelligence Self-Evaluation developed by Dr. Nicholas Hall measures five areas of emotional intelligence including:
- Emotional Awareness
- Managing One’s Emotions
- Self-Motivation
- Empathy
- Coaching Others’ Emotions
Download the PDF document: http://www.saluminternational.com/pdf/emotint.pdf
DR. NICK HALL, Ph.D., Hon. M.D., is an internationally recognized psycho-neuro-immunologist who has conducted pioneering research concerning the interrelationships between the emotions and health. His research career has been as diverse as his life experiences.
Dr. Hall has been the recipient of two prestigious Research Scientist Development Awards, which the National Institutes of Health grants only to the top scientists in the U.S. He has appeared on numerous television programs, such as CBS "60 Minutes," the BBC "Nova" series, and the Emmy Award winning series "Healing and the Mind" produced by Bill Moyers for PBS. His most recent television appearances include BBC's "Horizon" series and WUSF TV 16's "Science Adventures."
He has published over 150 research articles and book chapters, and was senior editor of the highly acclaimed book "Mind Body Interactions and Disease" which was commissioned by the National Institutes of Health. In April 1997, he received an Honorary M.D. at Lincoln Center, New York, among the most distinguished scientists in the U.S. He is the Director of the Institute for Health and Human Performance, and is an adjunct Professor of Biochemistry at the George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.
Watch Dr. Nick Hall on Video: http://www.saluminternational.com/ppt.htm#hall
For more information on Peak Performance Courses: http://www.saluminternational.com/courses.htm
Stages of the Individual Training Process
Stages of the Individual Training Process
Awareness = leads to establishing Goals and Objectives.
You have identified the areas or challenges you want to conquer or overcome.
You have also set your sights on certain specific goals and objectives.
Commitment = leads to Developing a plan.
You have developed a step-by-step, increasingly challenging plan to achieve your goals and objectives.
You have contacted a coach, mentor or friend to help you stay on-track.
You have identified benchmarks and thresholds for success.
Transformation = leads to Following the plan.
You train on a regular, systematic basis according to your plan.
You celebrate the achievements along the way.
You get regular feedback from your coach, mentor or friend.
You document your progress on a diary, log or video-tape.
New Identity = leads to sharing the Achievement.
You achieve your goals and objectives.
You celebrate the achievement and reflect on the process.
You share your process with others who might look up to you or who might need encouragement to find their own path to success.
You set new goals for the new phase in your life.
You enjoy your new identity and lead by example.
For more information on Peak Performance Coaching, check: http://www.saluminternational.com/coaching.htm
Steve Sullivan's Master Quotes
“In selling, batting average means nothing! Good salespeople operate outside the Comfort Zone. They recognize that rejection is not an indictment of them but merely a puddle on their journey to success.”
“There is nothing more important than responding to the issues, threats, opportunities and challenges that confront you. Whether you do it in the battlefield, boardroom or bakery, Responsiveness will determine the height of your success or the depth of your failure.”
“My experience verifies, it is the salesman who exerts the most influence over the customer that has the greatest level of success. The order is his or hers based upon factors that had nothing to do with need. Satisfying needs will help you sell but if you want to become a dominant force, you'll have to do more.”
“In my experience in dealing with the issues of the day, I've found the remedy is usually a concoction of elements that gravitate toward the simplicity end of the spectrum.
“Successful salespeople make themselves indispensable to their customers. They become trusted and loyal business advisors. They know that a customer relationship is not the means to an end, it is the end.”
Watch Steve Sullivan Video on "Leadership": http://www.saluminternational.com/asullivan.htm
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"Remember This Titan" - Steve Sullivan's New Book
What is more remarkable though is the journey that took a poverty-stricken adolescent from Tin Can Hollow, Alabama to a Hollywood Premier. Remember This Titan is a story filled with sorrow and joy, good times and bad. It chronicles the life of a man in search of answers. From picking cotton with a black sharecropper to an unparalleled record of coaching success, the story takes you on a roller-coaster ride through the bright lights and darkest hours of Bill Yoast’s life. It is a factual depiction of a man that understood what was right...and did it. [Photo: Steve Sullivan]Reviews:
"A most remarkable man indeed!"Steve Forbes, CEO, Forbes Magazine"In Remember This Titan Bill Yoast tells it like it is.His candor and humanity will inspire you."Gregory Allen Howard, Screenwriter, Remember The Titans
"Philosophy, Motivation, Wisdom, Insight. Remember This Titan has it all."Pat Hodgson, Former New York Giants Coach
BUY THE BOOK HERE: http://www.saluminternational.com/store.htm
Mastering Leadership
It’s one of the most talked-up, sought-out qualities in American business today: leadership. Yet surprisingly few really understand the L-word.
Many people wrongly assume it’s something you are born with. Some confuse it with administrative excellence. Still others sense the importance of leadership, but dismiss it as a fuzzy, academic notion in today’s to-the-point, bottom-line world. After all, why are there are so many ineffective leaders in all those leadership positions?
Let me put it boldly. In any organization—from global blue-chips to home-based start-ups—nothing is more important than leadership. It is a quality that all high-growth, high-profit businesses share.
So what is leadership, anyway? Among the quick definitions: motivating others to accomplish goals, taking charge, directing activities, and creating compelling visions but having a willingness to compromise.
More specifically, it’s about creating energy in others by instilling purpose to what they do. It is also the ability to regard the inevitable—change—as an opportunity for progress and growth, not as something to fear. Leadership is about taking any situation and making it better.
“Leading an organization to constructive change begins by setting a direction—developing a vision of the future (often the distant future) along with strategies for producing the changes needed to achieve that vision,” writes Professor John P. Kotter in his landmark 1990 Harvard Business Review article, “What Leaders Really Do.”
The next step, says Kotter, is for leaders is to “align people” through coalition-building, and, finally “motivate and inspire” people to overcome obstacles that crop up by appealing to basic, but often untapped human needs, values and emotions. These include a sense of achievement, a sense of belonging, recognition, self-esteem, a feeling of control over one’s life, and the ability to live up to one’s ideals.
Other quick definitions of leadership: having a set of core beliefs, a moral compass, a firmness that is not authoritarian, and strong powers of persuasion. President Dwight Eisenhower, the wartime general who knew a few things about the subject, defined leadership as “the ability to get people to do things that you want done because they want to do them.”
Leadership is not something in the genes. While some people may be more predisposed to it than others, leadership is largely developed behavior that gets better with opportunity, discipline and practice. Those who are in leadership positions, but fail to properly lead, usually suffer from cowardice, apathy or ignorance.
To the surprise of many, leadership means developing others—fully empowering those who follow you. You must show them they are included, promote their participation, and provide them virtually unrestricted access to important information and other members of your organization. Those you lead—teammates really—are key players in the success of your leadership. They have a self-interested stake in helping you reach your goals. Absolute and continually-reaffirmed trust must exist between leaders and those they lead. Lead by example, or the “do-as-I-do-not-as-I-say” approach.
People like to be lead and will often decide who leads them. Their effort is a direct result of how they are treated. Leaders do not treat everyone equally—but must treat everyone absolutely fairly. Your responsibility as a leader is to get people to respond to you by helping them achieve their goals.
“Tell people what to do but not how to do it,” advises Major General John J. Maher, Commanding General of U.S. Army’s 25th Infantry Division. “Tell people what you expect of them—and they will rise to the occasion.”
Leaders not only think outside the box, they have exceptionally high standards. What I call a “MAPP”—or Minimum Acceptable Performance Point—should be set to nothing short of absolute victory, whether it relates to tomorrow’s business deal or your personal five-year plan.
This standard that obviously won’t be reached every time (we’re not robots), but with victory as the threshold, results will most often be in the winning column.
Accept the mistakes not as defeats, but as valuable education. Robert L. Pearson, president and CEO of Houston-based executive search firm Lamalie Amrop International, says that leadership means being able to take risks that others would avoid. “Leaders must have the courage to make mistakes, learn from them and continue to pursue their vision until it becomes a reality.”
Early in my career, I held the view that leadership meant showing and promoting an image of strength and infallibility. I went out of my way to be visible, aggressive, outspoken, and tough in everything I did. It didn’t take long to become clear that wasn’t leadership.
Neither is leadership achieved nor validated through another common approach—instilling fear in those who follow you. It is a depleter of precious, productive energy. Fear is one of the most poisonous, destructive forces in any organization.
The key to leadership is each one of the people who are being led. And it’s directly related to their view of the leader’s integrity. Integrity breeds loyalty, the superglue of any relationship, business and personal. Loyalty creates positive energy and grows out of openness, fairness and fostering the development of those you lead.
Leadership means creating energy in others. Your actions as their leader will either start their engine—or turn it off. What destroys it? What I call “incapacitators”—things like abuse, betrayal, deceit, control, humiliation and oppression. Among the qualities that create positive energy are what I call “energizers”: freedom, authority, confidence, trust, courage, generosity, passion, praise and decisiveness.
These qualities have a tremendous impact on motivation—and the bottom line. Dana Mead can tell you. He’s a decorated Army colonel, former White House Fellow, and now chairman and CEO of Tenneco, a global corporate leader with more than $13 billion in annual sales.
“At Tenneco, the prime criterion for assessing our leaders is how successfully they lead change,” says Mead. Leaders, he says, should have a “bias to action and focus on results.”
Mead says he continually asks his leaders the following: Is the cultural innovation they lead happening fast enough and deep enough? Are they hitting their ‘stretch’ targets? Are their management processes changing fast enough to support the cultural changes and results they seek? Are they recruiting, developing and surrounding themselves with other leaders of change?
Good leaders hold themselves to these and similar high standards of accountability. Such expectations should apply to those being led. When you give your all to your leadership position and those who report to you, you have the right to expect much in return.
When it isn’t provided, you’ve been shortchanged. Failure to set and live up to high standards is far too prevalent in today’s business world where excuses are more common than results. The less-than actions or efforts on the part of one or two take a big bite out of results of the entire team.
If those being led will not radically boost their MAPP—the Minimum Acceptable Performance Point—then the leader must act decisively. A mediocre or poor performer who receives immunity from his or her leader generates a betrayal of trust for others on the team. A leader never allows the majority to be held captive by the few.
- Steve Sullivan, President of Sullivan Motivational Resources
Buy Steve Sullivan's Books, Videos and Audio CDs
The Three Envelopes Strategy
A new manager spends a week at his new office with the manager he is replacing. On the last day the departing manager tells him, "I have left three numbered envelopes in the desk drawer. Open an envelope if you encounter a crisis you can't solve."
Three months down the track there is a major drama, everything goes wrong - the usual stuff - and the manager feels very threatened by it all. He remembers the parting words of his predecessor and opens the first envelope. The message inside says "Blame your predecessor!"
He does this and gets off the hook.
About half a year later, the company is experiencing a dip in sales, combined with serious product problems. The manager quickly opens the second envelope. The message read, "Reorganize!"
This he does, and the company quickly rebounds.
Three months later, at his next crisis, he opens the third envelope. The message inside says "Prepare three envelopes".
Newsflash: It doesn't have to be that way. Learn how you can become a visionary, resilient leader.
Language, Perception and Creativity
Language has been a most important step in human evolution. Language is now the biggest barrier to further evolution.
Language is an encyclopedia of ignorance. Words get formed and frozen into permanence at a relative stage of ignorance. That forces us to perceive the world in an old fashioned way.
Traditional thinking is all about "what is;" Future thinking will also need to be about what can be.
If you do not design the future someone or something else will design it for you.
We may need to solve problems not by removing the cause but by designing the way forward even if the cause remains in place.
The majority of mistakes in ordinary thinking (outside technical matters) are mistakes in perception. Our traditional emphasis on logic does little for perception. If the perception is inadequate no amount of excellence in logic will make up for that deficiency. Perception is a matter of directing attention.
If you are not looking in the right direction it does not matter how clever you are, you will not see what you need to see.
- Quotes by Dr. Edward de Bono, creator of "Lateral Thinking" and the world's foremost expert in Creativity
Eager to improve your Perception and Creative Thinking Skills?
Do Something or Perish
The Dangers of Chronic Stress
Chronic stress, whether it be dealing with an impossible boss, the illness of a loved one, or continual worry over paying the bills, can have a serious effect upon both the mind and the body’s ability to withstand the stress. Often, as a result of such unrelenting pressure, we lose our ability to respond and slip into a sense of hopelessness and helplessness.
The role of helplessness has been repeatedly demonstrated in laboratory situations using sophisticated experimentation. Of particular relevance to emotion is a study conducted several decades ago by researchers at Yale University who studied rats in two separate cages. Through both cage floors passed a very mild electrical current. Each animal was exposed to the same stressor, and each cage had a bar the rats could press. In every way, the cages and the rats’ lifestyles were identical except one.
The only difference was that in one cage, depressing the bar turned off the electrical current to both cages; in the other, depressing the bar had no effect whatsoever. The rat in that cage could press the bar as much as it wanted but nothing would happen. So the only difference was that in a stressful situation, one animal was given an element of control, while the other had none. The rats who had no control soon developed impaired immunity and an increased susceptibility to tumors. In other words, it wasn’t the stressor that caused the problem the stressor was the same for all the rats. Instead, it was the lack of control.
This example shows why it’s so important to do something - anything - when faced with adversity. Even if the probability of a positive outcome is remote, that fact is less important than the actual act of attempting to do something to remedy the situation.
By perceiving that nothing can be done, and by doing nothing at all, we create a self-fulfilling prophecy of victimization. The feeling of being helpless is actually exacerbated by acting helpless.
- Dr. Nicholas Hall, Ph.D., Hon. M.D.
Learn how you can become strong, flexible and resilient under pressure
Corporate Branding: The Nobels Event
Salum International Resources has partnered with Promostudio from Venice, Italy, to market a unique corporate branding experience in several locations worldwide: The Nobels Event.
The Nobels Event is an exclusive branding opportunity for corporations seeking to make a memorable impact in their environment and complete their social legacy with an investment in education.
The format of the event can be tailored to your corporation's specific promotional needs. You can select the theme, the topics, the speakers, the venue and all the technological requirements involved, such as the broadcasting of the event via-satellite or via-broadband to other locations. Promostudio presented the 2001 and 2002 editions of the Nobels Event in Venice, Italy. In 2003 and 2004, Telecom Italia sponsored the proceedings.
Promostudio and Salum International Resources will consult any company or institution that wishes to become an Organizer or a Sponsor of The Nobels Event.
Our systematic approach to marketing The Nobels Event will facilitate the implementation process and ensure a return on the investment.
In addition to the Nobels' Event, Promostudio and Salum International Resources can invite some of the top experts in Economics to present at a Business Management Seminar, which usually takes place the day before. You can also select speakers for your corporate events from our comprehensive list of distinguished professors and experts from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford and many other leading educational institutions.
What we offer:
Our activities include a more widely articulated range of services than those offered by typical Speaker Bureaus, since our philosophy is to support Clients in achieving their strategic goals, providing activities such as:
Event Analysis and Design
Our alliance identifies and customizes the best event format and offers all necessary organization items, based on Client needs and aims. The Nobels Event and/or the Business Management Seminar can be customized for each Organizer's needs and budget. However, we insist on top quality venues and technology requirements to ensure the event's success.
Speaker Identification
The speakers best satisfying Client needs are identified jointly with the Customer; as research is not limited to those having already worked with us. To see a list of potential speakers, please contact us.
Content Design
After identifying the most suitable speaker(s), our alliance customizes speech contents to the features of the event involved. We can help you configure the most suitable balance among the speakers' line-up to craft a memorable event. The documentation and broadcasting are also taken into consideration to provide you with a favorable return on your investment in education.
Media Contacts
A very important and strategic feature of organizing any event is Media contacts. The presence of a specific personality can boost communication impact, so its maximization is all-important. Our alliance has years-long experience in this and can handle all necessary media contacts and relations.
For more details, visit http://www.saluminternational.com/nobels.htm
Thoughts on Executive Coaching
A few years ago, at the request of a group of Internet executives, I started my role as an Executive Coach. Having coached tennis professionals and world-class juniors for over 20 years, I quickly discovered some key issues common to sports and business:
- The purpose of Executive Coaching is the creation of a culture of peak performance based on constant improvement.
- Coaching is not training. Trainers conduct training events while long-term coaching should be ultimately done by key managers who keep an eye on the process as a one-to-one process.
- Coaching is a long-term investment in people, there are no magic solutions. Market changes, short-term strategies and vague management objectives often render coaching ineffective. It's helpful to conduct regular training sessions and motivational events to consolidate the "school of thought" that becomes the spine of the peak performance culture.
- Coaching works when top management commits, supports and participates in the long-term development process. Coaches must lead by example. They must step out of their performers’ role and learn coaching skills.
- A long-term coaching program centers around practice and monitoring. It provides benchmarks, measures results, uproots complacency and institutes punishments and rewards.
How will you know you are on the right track?
When you see the sprouts of a vibrant internal network, creative thinking and an undying passion to serve customers. Those employees who have been coached will "walk the talk" and let everyone know that the best coach is the one who teaches you how to be your own best coach.
The BrainMap
The BrainMap is a consummate 21st Century thinking tool specifically designed to assist you with the kind of thinking challenges you'll meet repeatedly in today's fast-changing "survival of the smartest" world.
HOW THE BRAINMAP WORKS
- Uses a quadrant model based on brain research by Nobel-Prize-winners Roger Sperry and A.R. Luria, Ward Halstead and others
- Collects scores from a 63-item questionnaire; takes 20-30 minutes to complete
- Produces a visual map that tracks the degree to which you use four basic types of information processing plus many variations
- Notes how you apply hundreds of thinking characteristics in 8 pages of easy-to-follow interpretation
- Positions your thinking in a 17-zone model of skills that can be applied to the individual or the organization
WHAT THE BRAINMAP DOES
- Spotlights the natural advantages to your thinking skills
- Uncovers combinations in your processing strengths you may not have recognized
- Flags potential problems in your thinking habits
- Calls attention to thinking qualities that can be improved
- Encourages you to talk with others about how you think
- Makes it easier to talk with others about the way they think
- Helps you avoid inflexible, boxed-in thinking
Purchase The BrainMap and go beyond your current "set thinking point"
Insights from Peak Performers
In preparation for my course on Peak Performance Training for Executives, I circulated a Web Interview among some world-class peak performers in the Banking and Sports industries, whom I knew from shared projects and experiences. My goal was to find coincidences and peculiarities about their approach to reaching and maintaining peak performance, as well as decision making and creative thinking. The results were shared with top executives during my Peak Performance Coaching courses in Europe.
Take a minute to read the following selected answers and think about what you might have contributed from your own experience:
1. How do you decide what is a good investment of your time and energy?
Relationship manager - Banking
Based on my past experiences and also thanks to a sound critical self assessment.
Legal Counsel - Banking
Honestly I am driven by interest & curiosity.
Manager - Banking
When others of I walk away in better mood than before
Change Manager - Banking
An input-output analysis. I have a reasonable clear picture of how much energy most activities take (and how much energy I have), based on that estimation I decide.
Coaching - Tennis
Certain things have priorities and of course in my case anything that concerns the athlete is seen as an excellent investment of my time and energy
2. How does physical energy management contribute to your quality of life?
Relationship manager - Banking
Crucial; as I said before, I'm doing a lot of sports and I personally think that a good physical shape is synonymous of good performances in our job as well as in our life in general.
Legal Counsel - Banking
If I did a lot better on this, I know I would & could contribute a lot more. I am thoroughly convinced of the importance of the 'physical'. I am almost convinced that, no matter how much we tend to 'rationalize', all is - in the end - physical. We are hedonists & hedonism is primarily physical & material.
Manager - Banking
Being in better shape helps me to feel good about myself, which in turn helps me to achieve. The obviously increased energy levels make my performance more durable and sustainable
Change Manager - Banking
Extremely important, as stated above I know reasonably well how much energy I have to spare (or have left).
Coaching - Tennis
Being in this profession requires physical fitness if I don't move there is always a sense of guilt.
3. What specific thinking tools your rely on to make critical decisions?
Relationship manager - Banking
Sharing concerns/ideas with my "key staff".
Legal Counsel - Banking
I think I should say: intelligence. I have learnt to trust & enjoy my intelligence. This does have risks though. I tend to be ill-disciplined.
Manager - Banking
Mind mapping, brainstorming, six thinking hats (especially the black one),
Change Manager - Banking
I put myself in other people's position. Make an energy analysis. Use sporting moments to compare with the way I handled then. Reflect on a regular basis.
Coaching - Tennis
Before making critical decisions I collect facts, analyze these and come up with several solutions and finally pray and then chose one with foreseeable consequences.
4. What impact has disciplined or systematic training had on you as a person?
Relationship manager - Banking
I learned a lot from my past sport experiences in a football team; teamwork, organization and above all suffering, working hard and ... .Never giving up!
Legal Counsel - Banking
Enormous. Nonetheless, the curious and the intelligent will always learn & always succeed, no matter whether they're formally trained or not. Intelligence is something you smell & see!
Manager - Banking
Healthy self confidence, constant comparison with peers, regular input with fresh ideas.
Change Manager - Banking
A lot, it made me realize that structure and routines help me to free energy at moments that I need it most.
Coaching - Tennis
It made me feel at ease because I was raised in a very strict and structured society.
Read the complete results of the Peak Performers' Web Survey here:
http://www.saluminternational.com/tools.htm [See Downloads - Two PDF documents]
Watch Peak Performers' Video Interviews: http://www.saluminternational.com/pavideo.htm
For more information on Peak Performance Coaching and Courses, please contact me:
http://www.saluminternational.com/contact.htm
Peak Performance and the Mind Video Project
Salum International Resources has produced an instructional video project on "Peak Performance and the Mind" featuring some of the leading experts in the expansion of the brain's capabilities. What started as a series of interviews, will evolve into an instructional series overtime. The first installment includes the opinions of the following leaders:
Carlos Salum introduces the series and links the different segments with pointed descriptions. The first series was filmed in Charlotte, NC; Venice, Italy and Zurich, Switzerland.
Future installments will include interviews with experts in the areas of business, medicine, sports, media and the arts.
Watch Sample Video Clips here: http://www.saluminternational.com/ppmind.htm
SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
SWOT Analysis is an effective method of identifying your Strengths and Weaknesses, and to examine the Opportunities and Threats you face. Often carrying out an analysis using the SWOT framework will be enough to reveal changes which can be usefully made.
To carry out a SWOT Analysis write down the answers to the following questions:
Strengths:
- What are your advantages?
- What do you do well?
Consider this from your own point of view and from the point of view of the people you deal with. Don't be modest, be realistic. If you are having any difficulty with this, try writing down a list of your characteristics. Some of these will hopefully be strengths!
Weaknesses:
- What could be improved?
- What is done badly?
- What should be avoided?
Again this should be considered from an internal and external basis - do other people perceive weaknesses that you don't see? Do your competitors do any better? It is best to be realistic now, and face any unpleasant truths as soon as possible.
Opportunities
- Where are the good chances facing you?
- What are the interesting trends?
Useful opportunities can come from such things as:
- Changes in technology and markets on both a broad and narrow scale
- Changes in government policy related to your field
- Changes in social patterns, population profiles, lifestyle changes, etc.
- Local Events
Threats
- What obstacles do you face?
- What is your competition doing?
- Are the required specifications for your job, products or services changing?
- Is changing technology threatening your position?
- Do you have bad debt or cash-flow problems?
Carrying out this analysis is will often be illuminating - both in terms of pointing out what needs to be done, and in putting problems into perspective.
Do you need to conduct a SWOT Analysis for your team or organization: Contact Salum International Resources.
The Ultimate Contest
Why do I run?
Those who don't, can't understand.
The pain is real every day.
Is it easier now?
Not really-The same pain I felt the day I began.
Only easier to cover greater distances in shorter periods of time.
The pain is the same, and I understand that it always will be.
I dread it, and in a sense, I crave it.
Why do I run?
To stay in shape, to keep my health.
To feel better-all partial reasons, I suppose.
The real reason is confirmation- confirmation that I am in control.
Every day, I must make the choice- a choice to experience pain and discomfort in order to achieve a higher goal or to give in to the body's urging to do something else more comforting and pleasurable.
Who is in control?
My body or me?
Every time I run, I verify to me that I am in control and that I can be the master of my own destiny.
That is ultimately why I run.
I feel guilty when I don't run- when the body wins.
Running is a test of my strength- not just my physical, but my mental.
Running is a challenge of my will- of mind over matter, of me against myself.
Running is mental conditioning as well as physical.
It's therapy of the will for me.
Each run is success-the richest and most deeply satisfying.
Strangely but unmistakably tied to self-discipline, self-denial, and self-control.
In a world where I often feel helpless, victimized, and controlled, running helps revive feelings of hope, strength and conviction that I can make a difference and that I can be responsible for me.
An addiction or choice, you say.
And you're right- there's a danger.
So long as I "choose", the value remains true and real; So long as I control running and not running - me.
Positive addiction or not, the value is in choosing.
When the choice is gone, I become controlled and victimized again... one more thing in my life that tells me that I am not in control, that I am simply a pawn of fate and circumstance.
I must run as a choice, not out of necessity or its real value again is gone for me.
Why do I run?
Run for success, success is the ultimate contest.
The contest of me against myself.
[Thanks to the anonymous author]
LEARN how you can become a PEAK PERFORMER
The Art and Skills of Cutting Corners
Excerpt from BusinessAlone
The Weekly Syndicated Column
by Tom Culley
Release Date: 02/14/2001
Short-term survival and longer-term success are
often to be found in the arts and skills of cutting
corners. As you might expect, the experts don’t
write business books on cutting corners; they write
about adding corners.
So I will give you my summary of the nuggets of
wisdom that a yet-to-be-written The Joys Of
Business Corner-Cutting might contain (my lawyer
might suggest the insertion of a legal Disclaimer of
Responsibility at this point in the column -- but he
was one of the corners I cut):
- The evolution of your business is usually a
sequence of sprints, interrupted by pauses for
catching breath and regaining strength. The sprints
are inevitable; the pauses, essential. Corner-cutters
postpone everything non-critical during the sprints;
they use the pauses to clean up their act. - The first sprint is to get out the starting gate. At
that point, you are spending your precious, limited
funds and no replacement money is coming in.
Anything that slows you down or eats up your
money, needlessly, can be the prime cause of
failure. Corner-cutters are ruthless in doing only
what gets them quickest to a healthy revenueearning,
profit-making position. They postpone
everything non-essential, until pause-time. What is
non-essential? In their view, almost everything. - Lawyers will recommend hundreds of essential
protective legal steps to take. Of course, they’re
right. But corner-cutters will only take the very
minimum steps, just enough to open a bank
account, sign a lease, buy from suppliers, etc., and
then get to work. Anything else waits until pausetime. - Human-resources experts will want to develop
fool-proof employee handbooks, documentation
systems, questionnaires, etc. Of course, they’re
right. But corner-cutters will grab the employees
they need from Day One and put them straight to
work. Clean-ups and improvements will only come
at pause-time. - Office managers and accountants will want
perfect bookkeeping, detailed filing systems, etc. Of
course, they’re right. But corner-cutters will use
check stubs, shoe-boxes, off-the-shelf forms, etc.,
until their show is firmly on the road. Pause-time
will be the time for greater efficiency.
essentials, thus gaining precious time and
increasing their odds of surviving -- and thus
having their later shot at success.
By kind permission of Tribune Media Services
Copyright Tom Culley 2001- Ref #108
A Very Sweet Story
[As told by Steve Sullivan, President - Sullivance Performance Systems]
Pete FioRito, Vice President at IBM Global Services
understands the power of communication. He also
understood if you are going to take an organization
on to a higher level of performance, you need
everyone talking. An Open Environment is a
necessity in getting issues out on the table and
then getting them resolved. Unfortunately, an Open
Environment was not what he found in this
turnaround situation.
From day one Pete FioRito began to get the word
out. To his dismay, no words were coming in. The
solution came when he overheard an employee
asking if anyone had any candy. Who does not like
candy, he thought. So he became the candy man. A
couple days later, an overwhelming selection of
treats showed up in his office. The word spread like
a flash flood. If you had never tasted Jamaican
coffee crunch, go see Pete. His office got more
traffic than Lexington Avenue.
People did not seem to mind that there was a quid
pro quo: when you pick up a lollipop you will have
to drop off an opinion. Those opinions helped take
the organization to new heights.
Read Steve Sullivan's Articles: http://www.saluminternational.com/asullivan.htm
Lance Armstrong: The Psychology of Effort
"People ask me why I ride my bike for six hours a day; what is the pleasure? The answer is that I don't do it for the pleasure.
I do it for the pain. In my most painful moments on the bike, I am at my most self-aware and self-defining. There is a point in every race when a rider encounters the real opponent and realizes that it's...himself.
You might say pain is my chosen way of exploring the human heart."
- Back in the Saddle - Lance Armstrong, Forbes ASAP, 12.03.01 "For The World's Best Cyclist, Pleasure Comes From Pain"
LEARN how you can go "Beyond Personal Best" too
What is PMI?
PMI stands for 'Plus/Minus/Interesting'. It is a valuable development (by Dr. Edward de Bono) of the 'pros and cons' technique used for centuries.
PMI is a basic decision making tool. When you are facing a difficult decision, simply draw up a table headed up 'Plus', 'Minus', and 'Interesting'.
- In the column underneath the 'Plus' heading, write down all the positive points of taking the action.
- Underneath the 'Minus' heading write down all the negative effects.
- In the 'Interesting' column write down the extended implications of taking the action, whether positive or negative.
You may be able to make a decision just from the table you have drawn up. Alternatively, consider each of the points you have written down and assign a positive or negative score to each appropriately. The scores you assign can be entirely subjective. Once you have done this, add up the score. A strongly positive score indicated that an action should be taken, a strongly negative score that it should be avoided.
For further information
Edward de Bono, Serious Creativity, HarperBusiness, New York, US, 1992
Watch Edward de Bono: http://www.saluminternational.com/ppmind.htm
Contact Salum International Resources for Creative Development consulting:
http://www.saluminternational.com/creative.htm
It's all invented
Adapted from "The Art Of Possibility" By Zander, Benjamin & Zander, Rosamund Stone (2000) Harvard Business School Press.
It's all invented:
"A shoe factory sends two marketing scouts to a region of Africa to study the prospects for expanding business. One sends back a telegram saying, Situation hopeless stop no one wears shoes. The other writes back triumphantly, Glorious business opportunity stop they have no shoes!"
This is what we all have the ability to do. Life experiences come to us in sequence: first, our senses bring us selective information about what is out there; second, the brain constructs its own simulation of the sensations; and only then, third, do we have our first conscious experiences of our milieu. Thinking outside of the lines, or boxes that we traditionally live in.
- Here's how to practice that step-Simply ask yourself this question: What assumptions am I making, that I'm not aware I'm making, that gives me what I see?
- When you have the answer to that question then ask yourself: What might I now invent, that I haven't invented, that would give me other choices?
Purchase AssetReport - "The Book of You" and learn about your worldview, other people's views and how you can become a versatile, flexible thinker [CLICK HERE]
