Posted on October 23rd, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
“Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia.” Alexis Carrel
DRILL is the fourth technique for rearranging your life in order to adapt to the challenging times that face us all. Drill stands for locating, renewing, and using sources of energy to stay balanced and to stay ‘fueled up.’
So many of us are overwhelmed or stuck in our lives. We risk both burnout from overdoing and/or rustout from under-being. Listen to Kathleen Ponitz of Progressive A&E discuss ways to find and refresh meaningful sources of energy.
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Filed under: Discussion, Podcast, Uncategorized
Posted on October 22nd, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
“Being clear of clutter is one of the greatest aids I know to discovering and manifesting the life you want.” Karen Kingston, Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui
Yesterday while speaking to a networking group on the topic of Preparing for the New Normal we created a list of things that get in our way, in other words, clutter. The list included a range of items such as ”past failures,” “email,” ”piles of stuff, ” and “beliefs.” Only we can figure out what is cluttering our lives and preventing us from moving forward with ease to our new normal. Listen to this podcast as Ann Harten talks with clarity and passion about decluttering and ‘delocating’ as one of her strategies.
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Filed under: Discussion, Podcast, Uncategorized
Posted on October 16th, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain
The second in our series of pieces on Preparing for the New Normal covers “D” for DREAM. As we know dreams have the power to stir men’s souls, dreams are from our unconscious, dreams help us work through daytime issues, and, without dreams there is little hope. I often think of dreams synonymously with visions. When a vision takes shape, as one did for this series, it can lead to new energy, new capabilities, and new projects. Click on the link below to listen and read up on using dreams to take you to your new normal.
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Filed under: Article, Discussion, Uncategorized
Posted on October 15th, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
Will Rogers told us: “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
So are you going to get run over, are you just sitting there wondering what is up ahead on the road of life? Rather than sit, I joined up with Kay Hubbard and Beth Kelly to create a series of podcasts for the Holland Chamber of Commerce that deal with getting unstuck and moving forward in these challenging times. The first step is to DECIDE, to make a decision to be proactive rather than inactive or reactive. Read on…
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Filed under: Discussion, Podcast
Posted on May 28th, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
Today I had the privilege of listening to Jim Kouzes, author of The Leadership Challenge, and #12 on the Wall Street Journal’s list of best executive educators in the US. The teleforum, “Enduring Truths About Leadership in Tough Times,” was sponsored and moderated by Executive Coach Patricia Wheeler, publisher of Leading News at leadingnews.org. There were over 1100 worldwide attendees on the call.
Jim stressed that the top 4 leadership characteristics–being honest, forward looking, inspiring, and competent–have been stable and consistent vote getters for over 25 years now. These traits don’t vary from nation to nation, though the percentages might differ somewhat. In the United States, “honest” beats “competent” by 20%.
Not surprisingly, Jim stated that “during difficult times values are more important than ever. What people really want,” he said, “is the answer to the questions ‘Who are you?’, ‘Where are we going?’, ‘What are things going to look like when we get there?’, and ‘Why should I follow you?’” People, he said, will be more committed when there is alignment between their values and your values, and, he said, your values as a leader are much more important than the stated company values!
To paraphrase how he responded to the question of what a leader should do now, in this most difficult period, he said;
- take a breath, a deep breath, and move away from the cliff;
- fully commit to what is important;
- be proactive–proactive people are better able to deal with stress–and
- stare down your current reality. He quoted Max DePree on this: “The first job of a leader is to define reality.”
What is the biggest mistake a leader can make? Jim Kouzes said emphatically that the biggest mistake a leader can make is hubris, or becoming impressed with one’s own importance. And he ended by saying that if you want to make sure people remain engaged . . . say “Thank you!”
Thank you for visiting our blog. We appreciate comments on this or any entry.
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Filed under: Discussion, Passed On
Posted on April 14th, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
There are a ton of reasons to live on the “3rd Coast” — West Michigan. One reason is the great Chamber of Commerce in Holland, where today I took the opportunity at an early-bird breakfast to hear a thought-provoking perspective on what is coming at us from the technology front, and details on the rapid transformation expected ahead. Entrepreneur and technologist Keith Brophy, General Manager at RCM Technologies, a highly regarded futurist and software book author, highlighted how future technical trends will impact lives for many across the nation within the next 5 years.
Here are my notes on the waves of change Keith confidently predicts: Read more…
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Filed under: Discussion, From Rebecca
Posted on March 20th, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
Are you an Accelerator or a Terminator?
Last year, while leading a strategic visioning and team development retreat, the Division VP, assigned primary follow-up accountability to the Director of HR, Alisa, whom he dubbed the “accelerator.” What the Division VP wished of Alisa was that she would move the team through its agreed-to action plan, that she would not let the commitment demonstrated during the offsite fade under the pressure of the day-to-day work, and that she would keep everyone’s feet to the fire.
There is a palpable sense of urgency in businesses today, companies cannot afford “business as usual” and therefore leaders in companies must recognize talented accelerators and do everything possible to remove obstacles to their success. Read more…
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Filed under: Discussion, From Rebecca
Posted on March 9th, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
I’ve been hearing about Southwest Airlines and their venerated employee culture since I began in business school over three decades ago. Then we joked about the “love” theme. Considering that SWA closed 2008 with the second-best on-time performance of the nation’s commercial air carriers and that SWA carries more domestic passengers than any other U.S. carrier, perhaps SWA is getting the last laugh. Did you ever wonder how Southwest “did it”?
In a recent article on Beyster Institute’s online magazine entitled, Leading by Example: Three Questions for Colleen Barrett, president emeritus of Southwest Airlines, Colleen answered the question “How do you motivate and inspire employees and build a winning team?”
How many of the points that were part of her answer are part of your corporate culture?
Read more…
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Filed under: Passed On, Recommended
Posted on March 5th, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
This post regards consultant and author, Stever Robbins, (www.steverrobbins.com) who first caught my eye with his e-book on leadership, A Lot More Than Attitude (grab it from http://www.alotmorethanattitude.com because it won’t be there much longer.)
In his most recent newsletter, How to Stay Up When the Economy is Down: 5 Tips to Get You Started, Stever tells us about, “Happy for no Reason,” a best-seller written by his friend and author Marci Shimoff, now being released by New York Times in paperback. Read more…
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Filed under: Article, Passed On, Uncategorized
Posted on February 24th, 2009 by Rebecca Bruns
Richard Florida, author of The Rise of the Creative Class and the director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, has given us some new terminology in a recent article in The Atlantic and in an interview last Monday on NPR’s “OnPoint” with Tom Ashboork.
A “talent-rich ecosystem” is one in which “well-educated professionals and creative workers (who) live together in dense ecosystems, interacting directly, generate ideas and turn them into products and services faster than talented people in other places can.” Phew! That means the mega-regions (such as the Boston-New York-Washington Corridor, the Char-Lanta Corridor, Greater Chicago, the Tor-Buff-Chester Corrider, Greater Tokyo, Europe’s Am-Brus-Twerp, and India’s Bangalore-Mumbai area) will become increasingly more attractive to talent. Look at that list of new names for mega regions. How swiftly the world is changing! Read more…
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Filed under: Book, Discussion, From Rebecca, Podcast, Recommended
