I’ve been on vacation, seeking a different level of balance and some veg time. I read a couple of mysteries, explored some of Canada’s Eastern Townships, and then lessened the activity to increase the quiet and still time.

Filling up days with places and events is often considered a great vacation. And great it is if not for beginning and ending with exhaustion. Its restorative score could be low, as most often vacations are expected to provide a break from schedules and their pressures as experienced in daily routines. A change in place, without pace, doesn’t always leave the residual effect anticipated with a vacation.

And while a change in pace, and not place, may serve up most of the benefits sought, vacations, we should note, are personal, and preferences as such will vary. The key is balance, something we all need and seem to believe is more achievable while on vacation.

Balance can be as elusive as the universal sought after happiness. And there’s a reason: they are intertwined with our state of mind. So while a change in pace or place seem appropriate for creating balance, neither provide a guarantee for a great vacation.

When I think of vacation I’m reminded of the carefree, imaginative and fun-filled days of childhood summers. Playing was the balance I needed then, and now. From creating our Indian village to spending hours throughout the day and evening at the local pool, to climbing a rock face of one of the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi, I was free to explore, create and experience. Our play was simply accepted, with few boundaries. And the appropriate level of silliness was always balanced with equal seriousness.

Self-expression flowed, and laughter came easy and often as we were loving life. With our laughter, we were releasing plenty of those healthy endorphins, which by the way are 10 times more powerful than the pain-relieving drug morphine. And no doubt we were increasing our little hearts’ rate, as in addition to the physical activity, our endless laughter gave it a boost. FYI, just a few minutes of laughter can double your heart rate, according to Dr. William Fry, Jr.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: As children we laughed on average 400 times a day; by age 35 we’ve reduced that to 15. So creating a more healthy balance truly does require a bit more play and laughter, in both the mental and physical sense.

For me, there’s nothing more fun than wandering and pondering. Wandering to see and experience new things, like dark chocolate enrobed blueberries we purchased at the Saint-Benoit-du-Lac Abbey. A burst of fresh berry flavor surprised us, because it was truly fresh and truly a burst.

As for pondering, time is given to those things that just don’t make their way into my brainscape during the normal course of a week. Topic matters not because vacation offers a chance to twirl anything and everything around and peer at them from different perspectives. My mental escapades are free to involve matters of the farfetched and otherwise inconceivable.

Play, mental and physical, has been recognized as a key ingredient of well being and happiness for centuries. Aristotle and Plato spoke of such beliefs. On through history, these beliefs have gained merit through the studies of the brain pertaining to the development and education of children, problem solving, creativity, relationships at home and work, as well as team performances.

According to one study, Schaeffer 1993, play is as important to human happiness and well-being as love and work. By nature we are born to play. It’s a source of energy and excitement, stimulating our bodies and brains. At the same time it provides for calmness, relaxation and improved sleep. Vacations that incorporate play are downright therapeutic.

It has been said that you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. I suspect the same is true in exploration of our selves. I’ve not happened upon too many down sides to play, other than the occasional skinned knee.

So with a hop and a skip, unleash yourself. Get in the spirit, stay in the spirit, be the spirit needed to jump into a fun-filled vacation. Giggle and laugh as if you’ve never grown up. Let vacation be like skinny dipping, where without hesitation you leap in. No clothes, no second thoughts are necessary as you understand life is not a dress rehearsal. Allow yourself to recapture the carefree feelings and well-being of childhood.

Anita Ancel is President of Ancelary Group, a Vermont firm that helps executives and their teams develop attitudes and habits for ongoing success and happiness.

Last week I wrote about how insightful nighttime dreams can be, and it got me to thinking about the benefits of daydreams. The fact is, dreaming is part of everything I do with clients, whether planning for business or life.

But you know, I’ve found we’re not very good at it. Somewhere along the way from childhood to adulthood, dreaming is given less and less time to the point of not even being considered a valid use of our attention. Frivolous, going no where, waste of time, not possible… you name it, dreaming gets tossed into a mental circular with one of these tags.

Sometimes, for those who are lucky, life proves us wrong. One day, a client was excited to share with me that she was going to a ball in Paris. She said she had always dreamed of doing so. A frequent international traveler, speaker and author, it didn’t seem out of the realm of possibility.

However, when I asked her if going to a Paris ball appeared on her Dream Inventory, she said no, looking a bit puzzled. She added, I didn’t think it would ever happen. Then she realized that she, like so many others, without thinking had been qualifying and limiting her dreams.

Other times, for those who dare to dream and believe, they prove life wrong. Concerted efforts are great at producing a twist of fates. In a business where it is said “most don’t make it the list of actors and actresses that dared to dream is extensive. Johnny Depp, Sandra Bullock and Courtney Cox among others have shared their propensity to dream and its impact on drive and achievement.

Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper celebrates the Top 40 under 40, business people who realize their dreams in the first three decades of life. Among the winners’ reasoning for success, you will find reference to dreams.

William Andrew of Ontario says he dares to dream; Rob Dynan says “anything is possible”; and Olga Kovalchuk says to “think positive, dream big.”

The strength of belief was most evident in comments by David Henderson, a 37-year-old also from Ontario: “I believe success involves waking up everyday to relentlessly, rigorously and passionately pursue your dreams of a better world.”

There are so many testimonials that dreaming is part of the formula for success and happiness. Whether a rags to riches story, or a conquering of physical disabilities, or an “I’ll show them” attitude in response to put downs and negative feedback, there seems to be endless proof that dreaming and believing are first steps in great achievements.

Still it is not a practice or belief of the majority. Most want to believe, but somehow never grasp it in an intentional way. I suppose they are more inclined to grip on to an age-old obstacle, that being fear.

Yanni would agree. When releasing his eighth album, titled “Dare to Dream,” back in the ‘90s he said it came “from a realization that not only don’t people go after their dreams, they often are afraid to dream at all.”

Life comes with no guarantee, not an external one anyway. Within, each one of us has access to the only guarantee we need, belief in self and our dreams. A high school entrepreneur, having launched several start-ups and making her first million by graduation, cited belief in self, including one’s dreams, as the No. 1 ingredient for success.

The net is rich with stories and advice on dreaming and achieving. With a few clicks you can immerse yourself in inspiration and all you need to get on with dreaming. As a bit of encouragement, I’ll leave you with a short poem by Julie Anne Ford:

Dare to dream

Simply said, it’s the straightforward truth. So, dare to dream and tap into life’s guarantee.

Anita Ancel is President of Ancelary Group, a Vermont firm that helps executives and their teams develop attitudes and habits for ongoing success.

Intuitively it makes sense that transparency with employees allows for greater engagement and more lucrative financial outcomes. Leaders who are transparent evoke trust and a higher level of loyalty.

That newspaper turnaround that I mentioned a few weeks back was accomplished by opening the books and sharing financial results on a monthly basis. It empowered employees to participate in developing new and better processes and products.

I didn’t really think about transparency as putting the employee first, but that’s exactly what it does. And when you take care of the employee, they in turn feel compelled to take care of the customer.

In the latest Inc. magazine, Matt Blumberg, CEO and chairman of the New York company Return Path, talks about transparency and how he has ranked the shareholder behind the customer, who comes after the employee.

Shortly after hiring a Vice President of People to formalize and preserve the company’s culture, Blumberg’s philosophy of transparency and employees first was put to the royal business test. He and his team had decided to sell off part of the company, and proceeded to struggle with what to tell the staff.

The top team was divided, debating about impact from competitors and clients, potential workplace anxiety and talent flight, as well as the trust factor. Blumberg resorted to calling his executive coach, who was able to help him figure out how to maintain alignment with the company’s values and culture. Employees heard it first hand from Blumberg.

In the end, a sale didn’t take place. That portion of the business was broken off into a separate entity, and all continue to prosper.

Prosper and transparency are heard in conjunction more and more. Case in point, the man who wrote the book, Employees First, Customers Second, heads up the fastest growing and most profitable global IT services company. Business Week lists it as one of the 20 most influential companies in the world.

CEO Vineet Nayar, flipped the org chart upside down and made management accountable to HCL Tech’s 57,000 employees five years ago. It’s not just lip service, either. Performance appraisals of all HCL senior managers are posted on the company’s intranet. You can’t get more transparent than that.

Nayar is all about embracing change. He says Gen Y will require high transparency in business. After all it is the generation that grew up in the Facebook community, where they share all.

His implementation strategy incorporates what has been on the business platform for sometime, at least in discussion. It includes creating urgency, sharing the current state so employees can see future possibilities, building trust through transparent communication, nurturing an entrepreneurial mindset, and decentralizing decision-making.

In addition, he transfers the ownership of change to employees. That pretty much gives them license to do some of the driving, or to take the lead so to speak.

Change is known as The New Normal at HCL. Employees are put front and center. You can see for yourself at Unstructure.org, where videos from the company’s conference can be seen.

The opening video is all about kids’ perspectives. And from their mouths, we can hear how change is, indeed, the new normal. Internet is listed among the planets, and as for marriage, the chapel will be left behind for a Facebook ceremony.

Why not follow Nayar’s lead and welcome some of this change inside the walls of our business? There have been enough success stories to show it works. It’s time to believe and get on with empowering employees.
Anita Ancel is President of Ancelary Group, a Vermont firm that helps executives and their teams develop attitudes and habits for ongoing success.

I spent a couple of days last week pedaling my services at a business expo here in Vermont. I wasn’t the only one offering leadership development and coaching. So as good marketing would have you do, I gathered the data on ROI and bottom line impact of my services.

Unfortunately it wasn’t until this week that I read about the “leadership shortage,” as reported by bloggers Sue Ashford and Scott DeRue on the Harvard Business Review site, blogs.hbr.org.

Here are the facts, according to them: 60 percent of companies are facing a leadership talent shortage and another 31 percent expect the shortfall to interfere with performance.
This would lead one to believe leadership development is in high demand, right? Our bloggers tell us an estimated $12 billion was spent last year on said development, which amounted to just under a quarter of the budget allotted for all training and development.

(So I’m sitting here scratching my head, thinking this lack of response is a shortage of leadership in and of itself.)

Ashford and DeRue go on to propose what’s needed to grow new talent. I share some of their views, as do others. Our bloggers speak mostly to cultural values that will allow for the growth of leaders. Keeping the approach simple, they advocate for learning from real life, going beyond skills and knowledge to establish leadership principles, rewarding for growing leaders, and realizing leaders are needed at all levels.

There’s nothing new here, and yet somehow the validity of these notions have not elevated them to a level of common beliefs and practices in business. (Again, I’m puzzling over the current ‘leadership.’)

Leadership comes from within, and thus development rather than training is appropriate. More than general principles, a leader needs to be clear about their personal values. Or in the words of Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why, it’s about knowing what you stand for, as an individual. That’s what attracts followers, whether loyal customers or employees, he adds.

According to Peter NG Kok Sung, chief investment officer for the government of Singapore and speaker on “The Contemplative Executive,” the first challenge in achieving this clarity is that of stepping back from the “busyness of business.” An advocate of John Main’s teaching on meditation, Kok Sung quotes Main on the high pressure world of today’s executive: “It’s as though we were rushing through our lives, and in our hearts there is the flame of a candle. Because we are moving at such high speed, this essential interior flame is always on the point of going out.”

Main says a leader must stop being a “busy body,” become quiet, to get in touch with what Jack Welch, former General Electric CEO, called the over-arching quality of a leader, that of authenticity or one’s humanity. Welch further explained it is who we are in our soul.

If today’s executives don’t get it, and aren’t slowing down enough to respond to the shortage they themselves have identified, how will they allow for the development of new leaders? How will they go beyond surface training to a deeper level, one that develops individuals into the leader within, to stand strong in who they are at their core?

Perhaps it would be helpful to contemplate the words of a recognized and successful leader as written in his dying days. Kok Sung relates what he read in Chasing Daylight, a book by the former CEO of KPMG, Eugene Kelly. In his last 100 days, as brain cancer closed in on him, he shares what he learned about clarity and simplicity:

“I had long believed that a successful business person could, if so inclined, live a spiritual life. And to do so it wasn’t necessary to quit the boardroom, chuck it all, and live in an ashram, as if only a physical departure that dramatic would confirm a depth of feeling about larger issues, including one’s soul.

After the diagnosis of my illness, I still believed that. But I also discovered depths to which a business person rarely goes. I learned how worthwhile it was to visit there, sooner rather than later, because it may bring one greater success as a business person and as a human being. You can call what I went through a spiritual journey, a journey of the soul. A journey that allowed me to experience what was there all along but had been hidden, thanks to the distractions of the world.”

Leadership and its development should not be allowed to be lost in the hustle and bustle of the routines of daily business. New leaders, not a crisis, should be the making of the current leadership.

Anita Ancel is President of Ancelary Group, a Vermont firm that helps executives and their teams develop attitudes and habits for ongoing success.

I found myself somewhat immersed in the world of visual art this past week. From looking at my son’s latest creation, to watching a movie about Georgia O’Keeffe and having dinner with a friend who is celebrating his 50th year as an artist, I took a fresh look at the world and contemplated life.

The three styles of painting are distinctively identifiable with each artist. The canvasses speak to the essence of their creator, hinting at their values, as well as bits and pieces of their life’s journey. But most pronounced in the work are the artists’ passions, undeniable and, for the most part, unwavering.

While my son is just beginning, the stories of the other two reinforce this sense of passion, including a passion for the unique self. O’Keeffe had at one point early on given up on her art, noting that the tradition of what she had learned was not one with which she could distinguish herself. Then, while attending a teaching college, she met Arthur Dow, who believed the goal of art is the expression of the artist’s personal ideas and feelings.

O’Keeffe says Dow “…helped me find something of my own.” It was from within that O’Keeffe found the connection between herself and the land, transferring it to canvas for all to see. And from that point on the world was enriched with her shared intimacy of our landscapes.

In “finding her own,” came a strength and freedom to stay the course. She is quoted, “I get out my work and have a show for myself before I have it publicly. I make up my own mind about it – how good or bad or indifferent it is. After that the critics can write what they please. I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.”

The same is true for my friend, Paul Gruhler, who finds that his modernist abstract works are not always enthusiastically welcomed. And yet, freely he continues, and in doing so his art reveals a strong voice, full of colorful subtleties and an undeniable integrity.

He does not go unnoticed or unappreciated. A January exhibition in New Hampshire proved to be a very confirming and lucrative one, as about a dozen of his paintings sold. His work is currently on exhibit at the governor’s office here in Vermont, and has been a constant in another state official’s office for some time.

Gruhler grew up in New York “in awe of the tall buildings and the orderly grid of streets and avenues.” Combined with an equal wondering reverence for the art of Sung and later Chinese dynasties, he creates both harmony and tension through a sophisticated use of the basics: color, line and form.

He creates with a respect for the individual in all of us. Thus, he doesn’t title his works because he wants “above all to leave them available to the experience and discovery of others.”

This passion, this relentless commitment to share the best of who they are, is a wonderful display of leadership. For at the core of great leadership is authenticity, which can only begin with self.

That’s not the only lesson here, though. Key to survival in the art and business worlds, alike, is something upon which many a strategic planning sessions have focused. That is, the unique value proposition.

If artists can take the same tools and palette of colors, and present the everyday in a way that is recognizably of them, a business likewise can present its products or services in a way that sets them a part. Like so many things in life, these distinctions come from taking a deep look within, as opposed to solely keeping a watchful eye on the outer world.

A few weeks ago I likened a business environment heavy with policy to the culture of a prison. My point was that managing for the worst case employee makes everyone an offender, disengaging them and costing the bottom line.

Let me be the first to say, “Shame on me,” for I was acting as if all prisons are awful places. I stand corrected. There are lessons to be learned from what is tagged as the most humane prison in the world. Located in Norway, Halden Fengsel is featured in this week’s Time magazine.

Before you dismiss me as a nut case, read just a bit further. Let’s treat this as a business case study, relating it to motivating and engaging employees. We’ll judge success on bottom line results as they relate to the vision, mission and core values.

For fairness sake, we need to admit upfront that motivating murderers, rapists and drug dealers to align with the prison’s goals is a bit more of a challenge than getting qualified employees to do likewise for a business. While prisoners are more of a captive audience, their attitudes are generally not conducive to collaboration. And we all know the difference a bad attitude can make.

A prison’s short term goal is to separate criminals from the rest of society. The longer term mission is to rehab criminals, helping them to become contributing citizens instead of repeat offenders. The vision, therefore, is to create a safer world, reducing crime and its overall cost to society.

Halden succeeds on all fronts, especially when compared to the United States. After two years, Time reports, Norway’s recidivism rate is 20 percent, compared to 50 to 60 percent in our country. And there are fewer criminals: 69 per 100,000 people in Norway, to 759 in the U.S.

The spread in these prison success rates can be likened to those established between businesses with the most and least engaged employees. To state the obvious, it’s significant. And in both situations success can be linked directly to the valuing and treatment of individuals.

The Towers Watson 2010 Global Workforce Study, involving 20,000 employees in 22 markets, concludes just that. For businesses to experience optimum results, according to the study, they will need to “create a more personalized work experience and foster self reliance by enabling employees to build their skills, plan for their financial future and live healthy lives…”

In this workforce study as well as the previous one, the relationship between leadership and employees is tagged as being critical. Trust, respect and appreciation for employees are among the gauges that have been correlated with business growth.

Back at the Norway prison, we learn that Halden’s greatest asset may be the relationship between the managing staff and inmates. Instead of carrying guns, guards share meals and engage in sports with those serving sentences.

Referring to them as pupils, the goal is to give inmates “a meaningful life inside these walls.” Through education and work, the intent is to “build them up (and) give them confidence.”

The culture is one of family, and the environment one that could easily be referred to as “home, sweet, home” With long windows to let sunlight in, flat screen TVs, mini fridges and shared kitchens and living rooms, inmates are given comforts unlike most of their real homes.

And not unlike business climate studies, Halden surveys inmates to find out how the prison experience can be improved. It’s a partnership, with organizational and personal goals being respected and realized.

For those who think a prison’s business is that of punishment, I remind you that our own penal system is costly proof that doesn’t work. And for those who think businesses can’t afford the attention or expense to provide much beyond a paycheck for employees, I ask you to compare your results to those companies with engaged employees. You’ll think differently.

Last week I wrote about how leadership development is part of the Israel curriculum via mandatory service in their non-hierarchical military. And that has in turn created a culture of success where everyone is expected to be a leader, as described in Start Up Nation by Dan Senor and Saul Singer.

It’s not uncommon when we hear about a success elsewhere to reason why it wouldn’t be a good fit for our situation. So forgive me for repeating myself, I believe it is just the right fit for corporate America. Expecting everyone to be a leader has been my belief for as long as I can remember.

Tom Peters and others often referred to this as employee empowerment. Examples often involved the freedom to handle customer service issues without having to check in at various levels in the chain of command. Israel shows that true empowerment involves all decisions and every employee.

Rather than just spew hot air, I thought it would be appropriate to share an example of how I have practiced this belief. It was the mid 90s and I had just garnered the position of being publisher of a small Midwest newspaper. However I was soon to learn there was a catch.

Seems the paper was bleeding money; the bottom line was dropping out of sight. My job was to do emergency surgery and amputate some human appendages. I was handed a list of names of the people to cut. Thoughts of career advancement soon became visions of another job from hell.

I accepted the job, and at the same time objected. In so doing I somehow convinced the boss to give me some time before demanding staff eliminations. And so, as is the case in fairytales, this story ends with everyone living happily ever after.

The staff was terrific and just wanted to be unleashed. We did leadership and team training across disciplines, often in the form of games. We practiced transparency; the books were open for all to see the details. And everyone literally signed off on being responsible for their own and the team’s success.

We painted our commitment on the wall. Surrounded by our colorful handprints and signatures was the statement: We stand apart as individuals. We come together in a common purpose. It’s a statement that implies the value and responsibility of each member of the team. And that was key.

We had different roles but did not practice different status. The same level of commitment, responsibility and leadership was expected from the janitor as from a department head. It served us well.

One Saturday night the driver, who transported our papers from the off site printing facility, checked the paper for quality before loading. He discovered that the previous day’s sports section had been printed and included again.

He, of course, spoke to the press foreman on duty, who in so many words said “tough.” Remember, we were a small paper. Needless to say this operation did not share a culture similar to ours. So here was Saturday’s press run with Friday’s sports pages. Anyone who’s worked in customer service knows this kind of error is remembered for decades.

Not to worry. True leaders don’t give up easily and neither did our driver. When the printers did not recognize him as a leader, he called me, knowing that I did and would welcome his call at 3 a.m. Sad to say, the title of publisher was all it took for our printers to decide they needed to crank up the press again.

This driver was also the mastermind behind several successful revenue ideas. He, along with all the others, led the way to success. The bottom line was proof that everyone being a leader works. In that first year the newspaper made more money than at any other time. No one was cut from the staff.

From there, we went onto to help our down trodden community realize new possibilities. We extended our ideas of leadership beyond our walls.

It was challenging, fun and rewarding for everyone. And, like in Israel, it was successful. The principles behind why it works are really quite simple. Everyone, individually, wants to be successful, and at the same time be part of a winning team. It’s that combo of personal and organizational goals that is so motivating.

So I encourage you to give it a try. Lead on, shoulder to shoulder, with everyone in your organization.

True leadership isn’t about leading others, but rather yourself as you interact with the world.  In business, that would mean everyone in the organization is a leader, with all the responsibility and say that comes with such a position.

 I can imagine for some that sounds like a great formula for chaos and a clashing of egos. It might also be viewed as counterproductive, causing conflict and confusion.

Let’s play this out a bit further. The expectation would be for every employee to ask questions, challenge and debate everything. The new comfort zone would be the unknown. Being different in thought and action would be the company norm, and problems would naturally become assets.

Can’t quite see it resulting in business nirvana?  There’s real world evidence that this type of operation not only works, but outperforms the traditional, hierarchical organization. I’m not talking about an exception, for there are many examples. Intel and Google will attest to such successes, for they have cashed in on them, both by investing and reaping the subsequent rewards.

You need only check NASDAQ for Israeli companies, for they outnumber those from all of Europe, Japan, China, India, Korea and Singapore combined. Israel has become the No. 1 country for start-up ventures. That’s a lot of chutzpah for such a young, small and war-entrenched country.

Got your attention?  Start Up Nation, a book by Dan Senor and Saul Singer had mine as they described how this country’s culture of adversity spawns global successes. 

Through the many stories the authors make it clear that from birth, Israelis are taught a mindset that allows for nothing to get in their way. It is an attitude befitting great leaders.

            Right out of high school everyone goes into the military, one where soldiers can oust their leaders for poor performance… and one where life and death situations require quick decisions and total responsibility. Hierarchy becomes irrelevant when survival is a way of life.

            Israel was able to attract Bill Gates and Warren Buffet into the war zone of  their homeland because the same winning mindset and cultural candor prevails in business as does on the battlefield. But then business takes place on the battlefield.

            During the Gulf War in 1991, Intel Israel continued work despite the government order to shut down all schools and businesses.  Employees donned their gas masks and demonstrated their determination.

 In 2006, just a couple of months after Buffet bought the company, Iscar, more than 4,000 missiles landed in northern Israel. His Israeli chairman assured him that while the sole concern was for employee safety, all customers would receive their orders on time. And despite many employees relocating to the south, the chairman kept his word.

            Life in Israel has demanded a no B.S. manner of interaction, adaptability, persistence, collaboration and creativity. When 98- degree salt water was the result of drilling for drinking water, they created pools and began to raise warm-water fish like sea bass. After use in the fishponds, the water and the waste byproducts made great fertilizer for the olive and date trees. Once a land of deserts, referred to as a barren wasteland, Israel now grows 240 million trees. 

Seems nothing is impossible for them. They are a nation of individual leaders who team up to conquer any and all challenges. They find no need for water cooler talk, frankness serves them well. Trust develops naturally.  Problems and differences are reasons to get creative and adaptability makes way for easy navigation of the unfamiliar. Responsibility is an expectation of everyone. Risk and mistakes are redefined, eliminating reason for hesitation.

So if it can work in the small nation of Israel, where killer obstacles seem to be in abundance, who can argue that it wouldn’t work for corporate America? In terms of team building, it would require storming to go beyond one stage of development and become an ongoing norm.  That can be tough on CEO egos and wreak havoc with their comfort zones. But imagine what it could do for the bottom line.

I’ve just scratched the surface on what this book can teach us. It is well worth the time to read it and the opportunity to challenge your own thinking. At the very least, you’ll find the illustrative stories inspiring.

            Balancing business with having a fulfilling life, for most, coincides with the ever present goal for happiness. And while some may claim to be content, that is not the same as happy.

Success in business or career minus holistic fulfillment is what I call life failure.  I mention this because while I was trying a bit of balance myself, I happened upon some tips for making the life journey more joyful, and successful.

I took a break to read for awhile Saturday.  My husband was playing his guitar and singing one of my favorite songs, Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. I paused to listen – People talking without speaking; People hearing without listening – and in so doing realized that it fit perfectly within the context of what I was reading.

            On the surface, no connections were evident.  I was perusing the 10^th anniversary edition of Oprah’s “O” magazine and also spent some time with a pamphlet entitled Teaching Children Compassionately by Marshall B. Rosenberg.  Then magically the synapses of my subconscious began connecting and the common themes emerged.           

Oprah’s magazine is filled with insights, inspirations and wisdom from people who had an impact for her in the last decade. Rosenberg’s work is about non-judgmental communication, and how it makes way for awe-inspiring learning and living.

            Their shared themes, eloquently stated by Rosenberg and powerfully demonstrated by Oprah, are: learning is best fueled by a reverence for life, all life; and continually be conscious of the beauty within yourself and others.

            This may seem a bit far afield and soft for some, but who can argue with Oprah’s success. So let’s explore these themes as they pertain to Oprah and her business empire. I’ll revisit Rosenberg’s work at a later time.

            The essence of these themes involves organic connection… with life, with self and with others. It is what Oprah banks on every month when almost 2 million women buy her magazine, 37 percent of whom also have observed the men in their lives leafing through it.  Isn’t that what we all want…   business and personal relationships that grow on what is true and real? 

            Oprah’s organic connections go beyond good marketing. They are personal, genuine and deep. She puts herself out there on the cover, big as life, month after month.  Always a glamour shot, she radiates all that is the good life and success. Inside she sheds the glitz and opens her heart and mind as if a best friend.

            The issue about her ongoing weight loss struggles attracted the most response from readers and the media.  She was so transparent, it was impossible to not relate to her. (Hopefully all have figured out that weight loss is often about an imbalance in life or other issues, and not just about diet and exercise.)  Oprah ventures to where we all live, ever exploring the path to what she calls “the best life.”

            She stands front and center as proof that success is not the be-all of life, but only a piece of the journey. Every month “O” magazine speaks to a reverence for life, ongoing learning and an appreciation of the beauty in all us.

In celebration of  “O’s” anniversary and life itself,  here’s a few tidbits shared by a couple of the magazine’s popular columnists.

Martha Beck shares that sometimes it useful to unlearn some lessons, such as:  Working hard leads to success; Success is the opposite of failure; Problems are bad; and, We should think rationally about our decisions.

          Wisdom from Dr. Oz included: Change is possible, but only if you believe it; We regret the actions we don’t take more than the ones we do; and It’s not about living longer, it’s about living better.

            There’s plenty of explanation and more tidbits to be found in the magazine.  If you are so inclined, check it out.  Either way, join the celebration by nurturing an organic relationship, at work or home.  And enjoy the difference.

            After reveling in an absolutely breath-taking Easter Sunday, I spent Monday immersed in appreciation and positive wonderment. In business speak, that translates to participating in an appreciative inquiry approach to strategic planning with the Vermont Peace Academy.  Our guides were members of the Woodbury Institute of Champlain College’s masters program in Mediation and Applied Conflict Studies.

            Problems and negativity were banished, creating space for sharing stories about “the best” in practices and outcomes. Happy memories, feelings of satisfaction and a true sense of fulfillment permeated the gathering as the realization of having made a positive difference was confirmed story after story.

            As is the intent with appreciative inquiry, energy grew and possibilities emerged. The result, as some might suspect, was not an endless meandering among options, but a fairly quick and unanimous decision on direction. You couldn’t have asked for greater clarity.

            And this was just step one.  Yet to come are the Dreaming of what could be with this chosen direction, Designing the path to the dream or ideal, and then Delivering the dream.  

            This approach is totally foreign to most.  Whether developing a business course of action or an individual plan for life, we tend to focus on fixing what’s wrong, shoring up perceived weaknesses and dealing with competitive fears.

            Case in point, when doing the typical SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) exercise with clients, the threats and weaknesses lists tend to be about twice as long.

            I know it can be hard to imagine how you arrive at a solid plan without some consideration of weaknesses or problems.  Appreciative Inquiry isn’t blind to all problems per se; resolved problems are incorporated.  They blend into the fabric of success, for they are worked through along the way, creating processes and methods upon which to build.

            You might be surprised to learn that the outcome of this approach and the traditional one is often the same. That is, in action steps.  What varies greatly is the level of energy and enthusiasm created for the pursuit of the resulting plan. And that has a direct correlation with level of success realized.

           This was the case in working with one of the development departments of the United Nations.  Julian Portilla, director of the masters program and one of the day’s facilitators, shared that the U.N. participants had experienced a very contentious planning process the year prior, and so were reaching out for a better, less distressful way.

            However, it took a bit to move beyond the pain of some of their experiences, such as the genocide in Rwanda. The essence of their work took them to places most of us can’t imagine going. And yet amazing stories emerged, making way for discovering the positive and correlating lessons learned. “Provocative propositions,” Julian said, were the result.

            At the end of the three days, having worked through the Design phase, the 45 participants were surprised when Julian pulled from his pocket the results of the previous year’s planning.  They were almost identical to what had just been decided.  And so he asked, “How do you feel this year?  How did you feel last year? ”

            You know the answers.  Instead of dragging themselves back to work after another draining planning effort, this year they left excited to get started. 

            Imagine the energy.  Linking it to Einstein’s work on relativity, the increased velocity of this mass of 45 people vibrating with increased excitement for the Dream, creates a powerful momentum. And as mentioned in past blogs, there’s nothing like the power of engaged employees to get the desired results.