Saturday, March 25, 2006

You Say You Want a Revolution?

This afternoon I finished reading Pfeffer and Sutton's, The Knowing-Doing Gap. It got me all charged up to *do* something (as opposed to just talking about doing something).

If you need a shot of motivation, check it out! (Of course, as I reflected on what's going on in my own organization I just became more and more morose.)

If you read Knowing-Doing in conjunction with Schaffer's High-Impact Consulting, you'll have a working model for how to put the "doing" into action.

Harlow gets a mention in Knowing-Doing, by the way - page 243.

Friday, March 24, 2006

Room with a View

Deepak Chopra complete, I popped The Flowering of Human Consciousness by Eckhart Tolle into the tape player in my car. The tape begins with Tolle, speaking in a low, steady voice, inviting listeners (a live audience) to be present. He then introduces the gong or chime that he uses to get the audience's attention. It is piercing in its solitariness and call to 'presence.'

At the BAWB Summit in October last year, Nancy Adler spoke about creating learning environments . She ran quiet music and an slideshow of art and poetry and inspirational quotes behind her speech - it reinforced her content, but it wasn't the totality of her content. I was intrigued.

I'm interested in how our environments set the stage for and support our learning. Both Tolle and Adler seem to have found ways of introducing and creating learning environments. What can I learn from them about how to run project management meetings, for example? Or how to set the tone at home for the kids?

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Absence of Malice

Me: "I don't get it. Do they think we're machines?"

Colleague: "No. They don't think about us at all."

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

Boundless

I'm listening to a Deepak Chopra tape during my commute this week. Interesting guy. Some of the science in his presentation is flawed, but it really doesn't matter (except to his credibility). We're talking about faith here, not science.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Same Old Rat in a Drain Ditch

It's been awhile. There hasn't been much time for personal reflection, hence the long absence.

After a week in Cleveland, I came back to an all-day VLS training and hundreds of unread emails yesterday. I made it through the backlog of emails, but I'm afraid the VLS training was lost on me. My body was in the room, but my mind was off wandering . . .

I'm compelled to attend another day-long VLS class today.

Apparently, the release had some problems. While I know I'm not (entirely?) responsible, I sense that my absence from work during release weekend has created some resentment among my colleagues.

Thursday, March 09, 2006

A Good Walk Spoiled

Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Blowing Off Steam

It's off to school again Saturday.

I'm not ready!

I'm never ready!

Phew. That felt good.