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“There is no such thing as bad weather,” he used to say, “only inappropriate clothing.”
Leading from Any Chair
I began to shift my attention to how effective I was at enabling the musicians to play each phrase as beautifully as they were capable.
How much greatness are we willing to grant people? Because it makes all the difference at every level who it is we decide we are leading.
He can look in the eyes of the players and prepare to ask himself, “Who am I being that they are not shining?”
Rule Number 6
“Rule Number 6 is ‘Don’t take yourself so goddamn seriously.’”
THE PRACTICE OF this chapter is to lighten up, which may well light up those around you.
WHEN ONE PERSON peels away layers of opinion, entitlement, pride, and inflated self-description, others instantly feel the connection.
steer away from a hierarchical environment and aim for the openness and reciprocity of a level playing field—away from a mind-set of scarcity and deficiency and toward an attitude of wholeness and sufficiency.
the role of the facilitator is to promote human development and transformation rather than to find a solution that satisfies the demands of the ever-present calculating selves.
When you look to people’s central selves and conduct an honest conversation, a culture forms that is hard to resist.
Transformation, for our central selves, is a description of the mode through which we move through life. A transformation is a shift in how we experience the world, and these shifts happen continually, often just beyond our notice. As soon as a person sets out on an adventure, or falls in love, or starts a new job, she is likely to find herself feeling and thinking and talking like a new person, curious as to how she could have felt the way she had just days earlier.
The Way Things Are
be present to the way things are, including our feelings about the way things are.
“good” and “bad” are categories we impose on the world—they are not of the world itself.
Every industry or profession has its own version of downward spiral talk, as does every relationship.
The more attention you shine on a particular subject, the more evidence of it will grow. Attention is like light and air and water. Shine attention on obstacles and problems and they multiply lavishly.
Speaking in possibility springs from the appreciation that what we say creates a reality; how we define things sets a framework for life to unfold.
Giving Way to Passion
The first step is to notice where you are holding back, and let go. Release those barriers of self that keep you separate and in control, and let the vital energy of passion surge through you,
The second step is to participate wholly. Allow yourself to be a channel to shape the stream of passion into a new expression for the world.
I imagine that his people suddenly remembered why they were there, and what the company was founded for.
“Where is the electric socket for possibility, the access to the energy of transformation?”
Lighting a Spark
“Certain things in life are better done in person.”
Enrollment is the art and practice of generating a spark of possibility for others to share.
We have at our fingertips an infinite capacity to light a spark of possibility. Passion, rather than fear, is the igniting force.
So, the practice of enrollment is about giving yourself as a possibility to others and being ready, in turn, to catch their spark.
the steps to the practice are: 1. Imagine that people are an invitation for enrollment. 2. Stand ready to participate, willing to be moved and inspired. 3. Offer that which lights you up. 4. Have no doubt that others are eager to catch the spark.
The secret was, I believe, that I genuinely wanted to share the music with the children, and I trusted their ability to respond to it and to be partners with me in our whole undertaking.
Playing to the intelligence of the audience
THE LIFE FORCE for humankind is, perhaps, nothing more or less than the passionate energy to connect, express, and communicate. Enrollment is that life force at work,
Being the Board
So the first part of the practice is to declare: “I am the framework for everything that happens in my life.”
Gracing yourself with responsibility for everything that happens in your life leaves your spirit whole, and leaves you free to choose again.
I have come finally to the realization that relationships with my colleagues, players, students, and friends are always more important than the project in which we are engaged;
CREATING Frameworks for Possibility
to have the courage and persistence to distinguish the downward spiral from the radiant realm of possibility in the face of any challenge.
We are living in the land of our dreams. This leader calls upon our passion rather than our fear. She is the relentless architect of the possibility that human beings can be.
The steps to the practice of framing possibility are: 1. Make a new distinction in the realm of possibility: one that is a powerful substitute for the current framework of meaning that is generating the downward spiral. 2. Enter the territory. Embody the new distinction in such a way that it becomes the framework for life around you. 3. Keep distinguishing what is “on the track” and what is “off the track” of your framework for possibility.
A VISION IS A powerful framework to take the operations of an organization of any size from the downward spiral into the arena of possibility.
When a vision is leading an organization, it is instantly and steadily accessible to all members of the group. A vision is the organization’s own toes to nose. It becomes the source of responsible, on-track participation.
money has a way of showing up around contribution because money is one of the currencies through which people show they are enrolled in the possibility you are offering.
OFTEN THE EXPERIENCE of a personal crisis or a failure will constitute a basis for the creation of a personal vision, which in turn becomes the framework for a life of possibility.
You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about
shrinking so that other people Won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone, And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously Give other people permission to do the same. 2
Telling the WE Story
The steps to the WE practice are these: 1. Tell the WE story—the story of the unseen threads that connect us all, the story of possibility. 2. Listen and look for the emerging entity. 3. Ask: “What do WE want to have happen here?” “What’s best for US?”—all of each of us,
and all of all of us. “What’s OUR next step?”
I saw that if we describe revenge, greed, pride, fear, and righteousness as the villains—and people as the hope—we will come together to create possibility.
