I think it’s fair to say that the expression “I’m writing from a rooftop terrace in the old part of Istanbul” has a certain romantic appeal to it. And this is where I am, having travelled on a short red eye flight from Copenhagen last night, to arrive with my family in a lovely hotel in the centre of Istanbul’s most ancient downtown, in the shadow of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, and with the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara in front of me. It’s a quiet Sunday morning, and the family are all sleeping. We’ve …
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Good piece on knowing oneself… I am more and more compelled by my friend Carol Sanford’s notion that those of us who strive to be “helpers” are most of service when we see ourselves as “re-sources,” agents of helping others re-connect and return to themselves more fully and deeply. Our tools for this are not “best practices” and expert advice, as Carol notes, but observation, inquiry and developmentally-oriented questions, and care-full listening. These are what help to create more space for discovery. Our gain is very much mutual.
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Just read an article on how the fear of failure is the greatest thing holding back innovation in the business world. One reads these kinds of articles all the time. The essence is that unless we can let go of fear or deal with our deep need to be in control at all times, innovation is stifled. This is true of course, but I see few articles that talk about how fear of failure in built into the architecture of the organization. We live in an expert driven culture. Kids raised in schools are taught at an early age that …
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I was listening to a brilliant interview with the theologian and scholar Walter Bruggeman this morning. He was talking about “the prophetic imagination” and using the poetry of the Old Testament prophets to make a point about a key capacity that is missing in the world right now: the ability to deal with disruption. SImply, disruption is what happens when the plans we thought we had have suddenly changed. It could be a major economic collapse – a black swan event – or something so small as your bus left early. How we respond to disruption is a key …
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I have been mostly taking off the month of July, staying home, reconnecting with my kids and partner and spending a lot of time alone, reflecting and letting the lessons of the past year sink in. July is always a time of new practices emerging for me and this summer I have found myself on the water more. It has taken me 11 years of living on an island (and 18 years living on the coast) to finally make friends with the sea. I grew up on lakes, canoeing, rowing and swimming in fresh water where there are no currents, …