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Posts tagged ‘Idea for reflection’

Aug 29

Idea for reflection – 19

Grand Teton Thunderstorm

In a few hundred years, when the history of our time will be written from a long-term perspective, it is likely that the most important event historians will see is not technology, not the Internet, not e-commerce. It is an unprecedented change in the human condition. For the first time—literally— substantial and rapidly growing numbers of people have choices. For the first time, they will have to manage themselves. And society is totally unprepared for it.
  – Peter Drucker

Idea for reflection – 18

Aug 24

1 Comment

Idea for reflection – 18

 

Many people are surprised to learn that in twenty-seven years at UCLA, I never once talked about winning. Instead, I would tell my players before the games, “When it’s over, I want your head up. There’s only one way for your head to be up, and that’s for you, not me, to know that you gave the best effort of which you are capable. If you do that, then the score really doesn’t matter, although I have a feeling that if you do that, the score will be to your liking.” I honestly, deeply believe that in not stressing winning as such, we won more than we would have if we had stressed outscoring opponents.
  – John Wooden 

Where are you investing?
Success … maybe
Idea for reflection – 17

Aug 5

1 Comment

Idea for reflection – 17

I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong.
  – Richard Feyman

Idea for reflection – 16

Jul 31

6 Comments

Orbiting thought – Over and out

You may agree or disagree with Gordon MacKenzie’s ideas from Orbiting the Giant Hairball that I’ve been posting. Personally, I find his stories cause me to consider what works and what doesn’t work in organizations as well as my own life. I’ve been asking myself what the unspoken rules and systems are which create the hairball cocoon where it is safe to measure and plan based only on the past. And asking myself just what is invisible leadership?

Jon and I had lunch with one of our Friesen Group advisors last week who told me, “If you’re not a little uncomfortable, you’re not going to grow and make progress.”  He is right. It is time to try something new, push the boundaries, and, just maybe, achieve Orbit.

… if you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living.
  – Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Orbiting thought – 7
Orbiting thought – 6
Orbiting thought – 5
Orbiting thought – 4
Orbiting thought – 3
Orbiting thought – 2
Orbiting thought – 1

Jul 30

2 Comments

Orbiting thought – 7

The escape from habitual culture must always be temporary if you wish to be permitted back into that culture…”Yes, you may go out and play; but you must be home by dinner time.” However, temporary as these Orbits out of the Hairball may be they are expeditions that promise finding in the chaos beyond culture antidotes for the stagnation of status quo.
 – Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball

Orbiting thought – 6

Jul 29

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Orbiting thought – 6

How do we become so bogus? Well, our artificiality is caused, in part, by the many teachers and trainers who work so hard to instill a professionalism that prizes correctness over authenticity and originality. … Diamonds-in-the-rough enter business schools and come out the other end as so many polished clones addicted to the dehumanizing power of classification and systematization.
 – Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball

Orbiting thought – 5

Jul 28

2 Comments

Orbiting thought – 5

Orbiting is responsible creativity: vigorously exploring and operating beyond the Hairball of the corporate mind set, beyond “accepted models, patterns, or standards” – all the while remaining connected to the spirit of the corporate mission.
  – Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball

Orbiting thought – 4

Jul 27

2 Comments

Orbiting thought – 4

If you are in a position of power and want to lead well, remember:
  Allow those you lead…
    To lead… when they fell the need.
      All will benefit.
 – Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball

Orbiting thought – 3

Jul 26

2 Comments

Orbiting thought – 3

A management obsessed with productivity usually has little patience for the quiet time essential to profound creativity.

… Welcome to the If-we-work-hard-enough-long-enough-burn-ourselves-out-enough-we’ll-succeed-through-control Hairball.

… A healthier alternative is the Orbit of trust that allows time – without immediate, concrete evidence of productivity – for the miracle of creativity to occur.
  – Gordon MacKenzie, Orbiting the Giant Hairball

Orbiting thought – 2

Jul 25

Idea for reflection – 17

In reflecting on how we access our emotional and social intelligence, how we can gain wisdom – I point my readers to Garr Reynold’s post about lessons from the forest. Here you will find several ideas worthy of reflection on a summer weekend.

Idea for reflection – 16

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