Your Three Words

Describe your week in three words. This was the charge by ABC News anchor Bill Weir last summer on a show called i-Caught.  Weir told the viewers "you can sign it, you can say it, you can write it, you can draw it.  It can be funny or sad or poignant as long as it's honest."  He thought he would be lucky to get five or six responses the first week.  Instead he received a few hundred and by the end of the summer, he had received a couple thousand submissions.  The segment was so popular that now it has moved to Good Morning America Weekend.  The executive producer said, “It’s rare that you can get such insight into your viewers’ lives in such a simplistic, powerful, emotional way.” 

Numerous video clips can be viewed from Youtube and I found myself mesmerized as I watched clip after clip.  The creativity sparks more creativity.  But I kept asking myself about what this says about people and society in general.  What do we want from each other?  What do we need from each other?  Why are so many people moved to share some of their most inner feelings with the world?

I meant to spend about ten minutes watching these clips and I must have watched, listened, and watched some more for more than an hour.  In fact, I wanted to keep watching these short three minute clips based on three words.  How come I can't stop thinking about "your three words."  What would your three words to the world be?  I'm interested.  "Think good thoughts."  Send me yours.

You are a Leader

Leadership is such a hot topic now.  People talk about it and read about it, but chances are you are already a leader.  The question is not about whether you are a leader or not.  The question is this:  Are you an effective leader?  There are a lot of bad leaders out there and the bad boss contest put on annually by www.workingamerica.org provides numerous stories submitted as evidence.

Based on my experience, the biggest obstacle for leaders is to control their ego and not become defensive.  When people act defensively, they are not open to feedback and they are in denial about their blindspots.  Without honest feedback, behaviors will not get better.  Then the culture begins to turn into one where people would rather not come to work.

You are a leader.  Now work on being an effective leader. 

What I know for sure

The last page of O, Oprah's magazine, is always an article written by Oprah called "What I know for sure."  Whenever I get my issue of the magazine, the first place I turn is to the last page to read this article.  After every article, I ask myself the question:  What do I know for sure?  What would I write in this space?  What would I call my article where I share life lessons?  While I am still working on a title, I will share what I know for sure: 

• Life is more about questions than answers. 
• I know that the longer I am a teacher, the more I am learning. 
• There is a lot of luck involved in life. 
• But the harder I work, the luckier I am.
• We need to take time to count our blessings.
• I need to remember to breathe and to feel my breath going in and out.  Why is this so hard to do?

What should I title my life lessons?  Please send me some ideas.  Thanks. 

A Twist on SWOT Analysis

For many of us, SWOT analysis is an old acronym that stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.  It is a common tool used to help organizations in the strategic planning process.  But I discovered a new twist to SWOT after interviewing Ann Coombs, author of The Living Workplace, for the International Center for Spirit at Work.  She uses the acronym to audit an organization's spirit, wisdom, openness, and trust. 

This was such an a-ha for me because of how clever and relevant to what I think organizations should be measuring.  Organizations should care how well their leaders are nurturing spirit in the workplace, how well they are encouraging wisdom sharing, how open people are, and how much people trust one another.  Since leaders are responsible for creating a culture where people want to work, this kind of SWOT analysis seems more appropriate and almost more important that the traditional kind of SWOT analysis.  What would happen if more organizations started using Coomb's definition?  How would most leaders score? 

The Power of Gratitude

Mindfulness is an awareness of what is going on in our life at the present moment.  A focus on blessings and having an attitude of gratitude is powerful.  In my leadership courses, I have people keep a gratitude journal.  They can include large things or small things, but they need to state for what they are grateful and why.  Research supports the fact that people who are conscious of the good things going on in their lives attract more good things.  We choose what we want more of in our lives through our attitude.  With an attitude of gratitude, it is easier to think about what we have in abundance and instead of an attitude of competition or loss.

Developing the habit of gratitude takes practice.  We must first choose gratitude and then will begin to see everything in our lives as a gift.  Cultivating a heart of gratitude is a way of life that we can choose to embrace.  Gratitude is built on optimism and can lead to a flow of positive energy.  It helps control our "shadow" that wants to creep up when things do not go our way or we don't get what we want. 

Think about the people in your life who have this kind of attitude.  They are usually the people we would follow and want to be around.  We can choose to have the power of gratitude.