Greetings!
Treat
or treat! (OK, I’m an eternal optimist)
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Halloween
is one of my favorite holidays. I love coming up with
inventive costumes. I’ve been Little Orphan
Annie, Mickey Mouse, a red crayon, a forest faerie.
All after I turned 30! |
The
tradition of dressing up and collecting candy has a much
deeper meaning however. As you may know, All Hallow's
Eve is the eve of All Hallow's Day, November 1st. To the
Celtic tribes who lived in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and
Brittany, November 1st marked the beginning of a new year
and the coming of winter. On October 31st, the night before
the new year, beginning at sundown, the Celtics celebrated
the festival of Samhain to acknowledge summer’s
end.
Celts
believed that during Samhain, the boundaries between the
worlds of the living and dead (ghosts, faeries and demons)
became blurred. The souls of those who had died during
the year were able to mingle with the living as they traveled
into the otherworld. On this evening, people lit bonfires
in honor of the dead to aid them on their journey, and
to keep them away from the living. The Druids, the Celtic
priests, would meet on the hilltops in the dark oak forests
(oak trees were considered sacred), light new fires and
offer sacrifices of crops and animals.
This holiday was not only a Celtic one however. In fact,
it is startling how many ancient and unconnected cultures
(the Egyptians and pre-Spanish Mexicans, for example)
celebrated this as a festival of the dead. But the majority
of our modern traditions can be traced to the British
Isles.
There
have been many representations of Celtic gods with two
faces and Samhain, Lord of the Dead, like his Greek counterpart
Janus, was no exception. Samhain would straddle the threshold,
one face turned toward the past in commemoration of those
who died during the last year, and one face gazing hopefully
toward the future, mystic eyes attempting to pierce the
veil and divine what the coming year might hold. These
two themes, celebrating the past and divining the future,
are inexorably intertwined in Samhain.
What,
you might be asking, does all of this have to do with
leadership and performance improvement? Well, I find it
curious, that this is also the time of year that many
companies launch their business planning cycle for the
upcoming year, reviewing past results and attempting to
peer into and influence the future.
(Read More About Halloween)
>>>
Message
From the President
Strategic thinking and planning
– Why bother? |
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 Many
corporate leaders and business owners balk at
the idea of assessing and planning believing that
there just isn't time for all that 'soft' stuff.
In reality though, it's the businesses that make
time for sound business planning that experience
significant expansion and growth. Not taking time
to plan can be very costly. Three basic assessments
can make the difference between surviving and
thriving.
1. What is our current performance?
2. What environment are we
operating in?
3. What future are we creating
and how will we get there?
(Click to Read More) >>> |
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Feature
Article: Leadership That Transforms…& Delivers
- Trust and Integrity |
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Transformational
leaders tend to be more relationship focused than
other leaders. They create a strong sense of trust
among the people with whom they work. They not
only talk about their vision, they enact it. They
“walk the talk” by doing things that
symbolize and model their vision. They are reliable
and consistent in their actions. They stay on
course, true to their purpose and ideals, reinforcing
the idea that they can be trusted.
What
is trust? Trust, according to Dr. Susan D Boon
and Holmes, is “a positive expectation that
another will not – through words, actions,
or decisions – act opportunistically”.
When you trust someone, you expect that they will
not take advantage of you. This reinforces the
idea that transformational leaders act and inspire
others to act for the ‘greater good’
rather than merely in pursuit of their own individual
gains and rewards.
Diego
Gambetta says trust is an “internal judgment
which may be inferred from external action”.
So how do leaders evoke trust?
(Click to Read More) >>> |
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Contributing Author Article - Stress and
Change
© 2005 George
Beshara, All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission |
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Are
you feeling more and more stressed these days?
Do you have enough time for yourself, for your
family, for your friends, for making new friends,
or has it been work, work, work?
If
you are feeling highly stressed and are perhaps
even feeling out of control, you can rest assured
that you are not alone in this. There is no question
in my mind that as a society, we are experiencing
an unprecedented amount of stress brought about
by an extraordinary amount of change. The challenge
we have all been facing since the mid-eighties,
has really come from the unfolding of the communications
revolution. Since that time, we have experienced
major re-organizations at work while learning
to adapt and use PCs, faxes, cellular phones,
voice mail, e-mail, the Internet, and PDAs. The
integration of these technologies in the workplace
and in our homes has progressively turned us into
a society, which is "continually-in-learning"
as well as a society, which expects "spontaneous
results".
In
order to adapt to the changing world and to serve
our internal and external customers efficiently,
a large number of us are now working longer hours,
and are taking work home with us.
(Click to Read More) >>> |
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Performance Improvement
Partner™
PIP Tip |
Protect
confidential information – Respect
the fact that others have shared information
with you in confidence. Do not use that
knowledge as currency to be traded for other
information or favors. Don’t gossip
and don’t tolerate it around you.
Encourage people to take their issues up
with each other instead of discussing them
with people who aren’t involved.
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High
Performance Leadership
by Brian Tracy
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Resources |
I've
found some wonderful products for
transformed and transforming minds
at this web site, www.ConsciousOne.com.
Check them out. I think you'll like
them.
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Leadership
Challenges |
What
are your most pressing leadership
challenges? Drop me an email and let me know. I'll summarize
your comments and report back in
a later issue. |
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Upcoming
Events |
Making
College Financial Planning Count
Shadow Mountain High School
North Phoenix, Wednesday, November
2, 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Call 602.867.5326 for more information
Strategic
Planning
Tuesday, November 8
Chandler Minority Business Development
Breakfast Meeting
Chandler Fashion Center, Community
Room, 2nd floor in the back, 7:30-8:30
a.m.
Call 480.814.1372 for more information
Managing
Stress Introductory Teleclass
By phone, Wednesday, November 16,
4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Write loretta@emharv.com to register
This
Thing Called Balance
Fresh Start Women's Foundation
Central Phoenix, Tuesday, November
29, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
Call 602.261.7143 to register
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