Courtney had mixed feelings between making money and supporting her community. To her boss, she was a high-flier some days and then went through spells of low productivity. She topped the group in overall sales, but she would have long stretches of what appeared to be no productivity or focus on work.
Inwardly, she was torn. She wanted "the good life" and to provide the best for her family. She also wanted to have time for her kids and support her community or possibly spend some time working in a third world country. She has an inner drive to do something for the "good of mankind". It almost felt like living 2 lives - one where she was a driver, making great money and the other where she felt fulfilled her other needs, volunteering for community projects. Inside she didn't feel satisfied; she actually felt pulled apart by what felt like two worlds.
Her boss was torn as well. She wanted to push her own career ahead, but was uncomfortable, feeling that Courtney wasn't fully committed to the company or her work. So, her career was stuck, too.
After receiving feedback from a values assessment, Courtney realized that two of her main value drivers were making related to making money AND altruism. Upon reflection, she realized that she had held these values in conflict her whole life. Often she wondered if it was even ethical to make more money than other people. As she delved into this conflict, she asked some interesting questions and reached what she felt was a deep understanding of herself. . . She wondered what life would be like without business? If competition were eliminated, what would happen to motivation? ... to creativity? ... If business's purpose was just to make money what would happen to individuals? ... to the community at large?  Slowly, the two began to merge together and new thoughts began to form. Courtney realized that both were important to her and interdependent. Then, she looked at the company that she worked for, a minimum invasive surgery medical supplier/manufactured.  She thought of the work the company did and how they had recently taken part in building a new surgery facility in the far East, donating the equipment and the training, as well as much of the funding to build the facility.  As she underwent this exercise, she realized how her values were not in conflict with where she worked and what she did for a living. Rather, she realized how she supported and lived her values. She felt a deep sense of relief, followed by a more clarity in her role and desire to grow her career and incorporate her cherished values in what she does.

The 100-Mile Walk, A Father and Son onTheir Quest to Find the Essence of Leadership, Sander A. Flaum & Jonathon A. Flaum with Mechele Flaum

Two generations, two leaders, two perspectives of leadership -traditional and entrepreneurial -share their views of their basic fundamental practices of leadership: People, Purpose, Passion, Performance, Persistence, Perspective, Paranoia, Principles  (and the 10th: Providence).  We invite you to experience leadership perspective through to its core spiritual nature.

Learning to Change: A Guide for Organizational Change Agents, 2003) Léon de Caluwé, Hans Vermaak

Taking Symbolic Steps . . . Often our stress is caused from the thought of the cumulated tasks we want to start but feel that we don't have the time and space to begin. We suggest that you take a moment and choose one thing you would like to begin, but have not been able to. Hold the picture of what your life would be like if you achieved integrating this task or outcome into your life. Then, break these tasks down into smaller steps. Choose one small thing that you can do right now to begin this task and take that small step forward.  Plan on how to incorporate this step, if necessary, and another one or two small steps into your day. . . .  You are now on your way... Decide what you need to keep the momentum going. REWARD YOURSELF OR RECOGNIZE YOUR ACTIONS for each small step in the beginning and for more significant steps later....  

How often did Carston think about changing something in his life, give it careful consideration and then quickly add to his open ended to-do list.  Or how often did he take a wonderful training course and feel sure that he would add the new techniques to his daily life when he returned home--the material generally got shelved. Carston's life, like so many people's lives... is full. There is not much unplanned time and his daily patterns are pretty set.
Two things spurred his need for change and change soon: his cholesterol level had been high for years and his younger brother recently had a heart attack just before his 46 birthday. He realized that he had the same high cholesterol level and weight problems his brother has and he took a stress test and ranked a 8.5 on a 10 point scale, something inside of him changed and he became determined to change his eating habits. Carston realized that he had a strong desire to take control of his life. That was all well and good, but how does one develop an exercise routine, change to a healthy low fat, high vegetable and fruit diet in an already busy life?
This time was different than the New Year's resolutions he had made in the past. Carston had a true inner commitment to change, but honestly didn't' know where to begin. How does one find time to exercise, eat right, and relax when one doesn't even remember the last time one had to watch a movie! The mere thought of more to do raised his stress level even higher. The dilemma was a common one... great intentions, but an inability to begin. Carston sat back and pictured what he wanted his life to look like and how he wanted to feel. The contrast to his present life was quite sharp and in itself stressful.  Then, with his laptop and blank WORD document in hand he outlined what needed to happen for the changes he wanted to happen. He took at look at what social contexts were involved--how was he going to eat with customers, for example? Where was he already doing some of the things that he wanted to do that he might be able to expand or modify. He thought about how much it was worth making these changes in his life and making them soon. Then, Carston took the leap and made the first change right there and then. He searched the web and bought himself an exercise bike that he could outfit to rest his laptop on the handlebars. This may not sound like the ideal starting point, but for Carston it was. He spent a fair amount of time working on his computer. He knew that the only way he could start a program was to Keep It Simple and incorporate changes into what he was already doing. Then, as he felt better, he was sure other changes would follow.  ...and that is what did it. Inside of a month, he was working out during lunch, taking walks in the morning and eating healthier--still an occasional burger, but he began to enjoy eating vegetables with his meals, too.  The important part was beginning and beginning without having to change too much at first.  Robert Fritz in my courses with him used call these first steps Symbolic Actions. Vickenburg in The 5 Dimensions of Change Processes (1995), as noted by Caluwéand Vermaak in  Learning to Change... would view this as the 5th dimension of change: Conditional: is it feasible?...To what degree is demonstrated  behavior congruent with  the intended change outcomes?
They imply that in order to change: We need to become aware of:

• What is the vision? - the intended to change?  What needed to change/
• What sequence of events needs to occur to create this new reality?
• Who are involved? How do they interact?
• What interests are served by the change?
• Is it feasible? Is there enough time devoted to change and to what degree does behavior support the intended change?

There are many things in life we often want to change. To make a commitment to change we need to create space for that change---even small spaces can be all we need to start the ball rolling for major life changes (and organizational changes). 

Quote of the Month
"Your outer world of attitudes, wealth, work, relationships and health will always be a reflection of your inner attitudes of mind."   Brian Tracy