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Feature Article: Is it Time to Re-imagine Your Work?
- Do you long for a sense of purpose in your work and your life?
- Is the work you are currently doing an expression of your best self?
- Have you forgotten the goals you set for yourself when you began your career?
- Are you afraid to even dream of something different for yourself?
- Can you imagine having the opportunity to create something more fulfilling?
Poetry Corner
Working Together
We shape ourself
to fit this world
and by the world
Are shaped again
The visible
and the invisible
working together
in common cause
to produce
the miraculous.
I am thinking of the way
the intangible air
passed at speed
round a shaped wing
easily
holds our weight.
So may we, in this life
trust
to those elements
we have yet to see
or imagine
and look for the true
shape or our own self
by forming it well
to the great
intangibles about us.
David Whyte
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TOOLS TO SUPPORT
Re-imagining
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ALIFE™
This powerful tool, created by Neil Stroul, can help
you lead with vision and live on purpose.
The Thinking Path©
The Thinking Path©, developed by
Alexander Caillet, helps us understand that to change results we must change our thinking. This
model is based on the premise that Thought is at the base of our moment-to-moment reality and that
Thought leads to Feelings, Behaviors and ultimately Results.
ALIFE™ and The Thinking Path
is can be viewed on my website www.bettegeorge.com
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BOOKS TO INSPIRE
Re-imagining
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Books that can inspire and support your process of Re-imagining
also inspired the ideas in this article.
 Leadership from the
Inside Out
by Kevin Cashman
 Answering Your Call
by John P. Schuster
 The Power of Intention
by Wayne Dyer
 Leadership: The Inner
Side of Greatness
by Peter Koestenbaum
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If you are asking yourself questions such as these, you are not alone. Many of
my coaching clients are asking themselves similar questions. It's important to
note that these are not folks talking about simply finding a new job; they are
people who yearn for work that is an expression of their gifts, and even more
importantly, they want their values to be aligned with those of the organization.
They are expressing a deep and very human need for their work and their life to
have meaning. Can you imagine discovering a way to satisfy this yearning?
Purposeful conversation can help us create our desired future so in this first issue of Conversations on Leadership and Life, I want to engage you in a conversation about
Re-imagining your work. One of my inspirations is David
Whyte, poet and Fortune 500 consultant, who declares that our work is an
opportunity to discover and shape the place where self meets the world. What a
challenge this is to be bold, to take heart, to change our thinking about our work
and the business world. Whyte speaks often about Re-imagining our work. What a magical word -
Re-imagining!
Why look to our work and on the business world as the place where we can
achieve fulfillment? Because the workplace is a meeting place where people
can bring forth their best gifts-courageously, creatively and productively. You
might want to take a look at the July issue of Fast Company which features
several articles relevant to our conversation regarding our work, including one
called "We, Incorporated" about Douglas Smith (The Wisdom of Teams). Smith
explains that "organizations are not just places where people have jobs. They
are our neighborhoods, our communities. They are where we join with other
people to make a difference for ourselves and others."
Some folks believe that there is a heightened desire to re-imagine our work due
in part to 9/11. This catastrophic event changed everything profoundly and forced
many of us to focus on how we are living our lives. "Good times blind us. Bad
times reveal the truth to us," says business philosopher Peter Koestenbaum.
Crisis is the wake-up call causing us to pay attention with new eyes to our
everyday lives. It is in times of crisis that we are reminded of what is important to us.
Whatever your reason, you are not alone in this quest for meaningful work.
When our work feels separated from meaning, it is time to move beyond career
management and to affirm our work purpose. To create our work as the
expression of our best gifts we must learn to focus on the unlimited possibilities
available even within our own limiting conditions. When our work is of the
highest quality it gives meaning to our life and elevates the spirit.our own and those we touch.
Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it
is not a thing to be waited for, it is thing to be achieved. William Jennings Bryant
A Process: How Do You Begin to Re-imagine?
So how do you go about Re-imagining work and life? What can you do to
discover and shape your work to be a true expression of your values, your gifts?
Re-imagining is not a linear process - it is a magical one. It is a very personal
journey that unfolds in its own unique way for the person who is bold enough to set forth on that journey.
Begin with a Re-imagining Mind which is fully present to the life you have. The Re-imagining Mind
can think big and new with a clear image of purpose and with distant goals in mind. Think of Re-imagining
as re-visioning with intention.
Open your Re-imagining Heart, one that is filled with gratitude and
appreciation for all that has brought you to the present moment. The journey of Re-imagining
demands that we stop living in the past and let
go of wishful thinking about the future - the "if only" conversations that go
nowhere. Instead we must be purposeful, commit to knowing ourselves
more deeply, see the world with fresh eyes, open to new possibilities, and trust.
Re-imagining requires re-flecting on the choices you have made
up until now. What is your story about your life? Ask yourself: Why
do I have the relationships I have? Why do I spend time the way I
do? Why do I pursue the work I do? Take your time with this process. Re-flect
on the answers to these questions, journal about them, and begin to look for meaning.
Re-imagining means re-membering who you are when you are at
your best, in the flow, expressing your best gifts. Re-member
times when you felt especially energized by your work, a time
when your creative juices were flowing, times when you felt that
special synergy as part of a team. The point is to remember what
you were doing, and more importantly, how these moments felt.
Ask: How do I show up during the most fulfilling, energetic times
in my life? What am I doing? Who is with me?
Re-imagining means re-connecting to what is most important to
us...to our purpose Be quiet and learn to listen to your inner
voice..the voice that speaks to us through intuition, feelings,
longings, inspirations. From this quiet place, ask re-connecting
questions: What do I stand for? What is really important to me?
What am I passionate about? What brings me joy? Is there a way I can make more of a difference?
Now you are re-connecting to your purpose and able to re-imagine
your work and your life. Ask yourself: How might I
change my thinking to get a different result in my life? How can I
express my gifts to make a difference to others and in all aspects
of my life? How can I be of service?
The magic happens when we are able to "revise" our old story about ourselves,
our work, our business, and move into acceptance and gratitude about all that
has happened in our lives. At that moment, infinite possibilities open up. We can see clearly how
we have been, how we are not, and how we want to become. In his inspiring book, Crossing the Unknown Sea, David Whyte states
that one of the "keys to any possible happiness in work must be the little
self-knowledge it takes to know what we desire in life, how we are made, and
how we belong to the rest of the world." Why not begin that journey now? It's your life!
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If you want to explore leadership and life coaching to support your
journey of Re-imagining, please call Bette George and Associates, Inc. at 703-734-0101 or
email bette@bettegeorge.com
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Leadership Lessons
Re-imagining Starbucks Starbuck's Howard Schultz re-imagines the business by thinking outside the cup! He
predicts that serving up music as part of the coffeehouse experience has the potential of making Starbucks the
most recognizable brand in the world. "Great companies recognize who they are and who they are not. But they
must have the courage to examine strategic opportunities that are transformational-as long as they are not
inconsistent with the guiding principles and values of the core business."
It seems to me that one key lesson here is that whether you are Re-imagining
your business or your life, for that
matter, you must be clear about who you are and what you are about...your core values and purpose. You also must
be willing to think "outside the cup!" Resist the temptation to define yourself or your business too narrowly when
asking, "who am I?" and "what business am I in?" Otherwise, you may miss out on the transformational
opportunities you seek.
Take a look at some of Schultz's re-imagining tips. How can you apply them to transforming your own business,
your work and your life?
- Think like an athlete. Whenever you reach a plateau, it's time to rethink.
- Dream big.
Take a quantum leap of imagination. Imagine being bigger, better and more significant than ever before.
- Team up with like-minded partners who share your principles and values.
Surround yourself with people who have been there, who've done it before.
- Stay humble. Be aggressive with your business performance-not your ego.
(Excerpted from Fastcompany July2004)
Newsflash You gotta be kidding!
In a 56-page report citing logarithms and differential equations, the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank determined
that workers prefer..believe it or not..to live in good weather. There is no word on the cost of producing this report
which concludes: "The movement toward nice weather has been driven by people's increasing their valuation of the
weather's contribution to their quality of life." (Tomas Kellner, Forbes, 4/12/04)
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To be a leader is first to be a leader in your own life. This is what separates the adults
from the children. Leadership requires a change in how you act, preceded by a
conversion-like transformation in how you think.
Peter Koestenbaum
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Each edition of Conversations on Leadership and Life
will include a true story: In Their Own Words, in which a client,
colleague, or reader shares an experience, insight, or idea with the rest of us. Here is the first such story written by my
coaching client and dear friend, Cathy Slade, who is living life very differently than she was two years ago. She has
reconnected to what is truly important to her, discovered what brings meaning to her work, remembered who she
really is, and is living her life with passion and in service.
In Her Own Words: My Story of Work Re-imagined by Cathy Slade
Mine is a short story of a very long and fulfilling journey of Work Re-imagined
. Several years ago I came to recognize
periods of prolonged suffering in my career. I decided to draw up a contract with myself about what I stood for in life
and how my career would change so that I could live and work with honesty and integrity at all times, in all places and
in all respects. I re-connected to what is most important to me..to what I stand for.
Don't misunderstand. I haven't been dishonest in my jobs or in the work I did for the clients of my consulting firm. In
fact, I have been criticized for being too honest and too intractable about ethical issues. I have been an advocate for
people who lack the resources to pay for their health care costs and have developed programs that monitor and
manage clinical research on human subjects. I specialize in ethics and taking care of the concerns of my customers'
clients.
But I have not always been honest in my relationships with my customers. I often suggested I could solve their
problems when many times their problems were insolvable. I suggested that if they just had a positive attitude and if
their executives would just work harder and smarter, things would improve. I shared tips and techniques to be a
better organization when I really did not know if any of this would work for them. And they paid me well for my efforts.
Taking the ethical stand and declaring my ambition to be of service to others was the easy part. I
re-flected on my
work and family relationships, the way I was spending my time.those difficult "Why" questions that led to my re-membering
who I am and what my real purpose is. I knew I needed to be more directly involved in developing
programs and policies for people who do not have the resources for adequate health care. The hard part has been
developing and embodying new practices, quitting people and practices detrimental to my stand, and staying in a
mood of wonder and enthusiasm especially on those days when nothing seemed familiar and no one in my family or
network of friends and colleagues recognized my actions as consistent with their understanding of me.
From the beginning of my journey I knew that my new life would be one of conversation with others, including
coaches, friends, colleagues and family. As I declared my new stand in life and began to live it, I recognized how hard
it would be to do it alone - so I hired a coach. I was committed to the time, energy and results of thinking about my
future. I was open to change and new possibilities and I was willing to act, even when it was in new, unfamiliar and
unsettling domains. My coach provided a toolbox of powerful practices and exercises.
Now, almost two years later, I do live my life according to my stand and in a mood of wonder. When I am
uncomfortable, I stop and observe my surroundings, who I am in conversation with, what constitutes the situation I'm
in and how I can reconstitute it. If I am frustrated or suffering, I stop, think, feel and act using the practices I have
learned. I am passionate about thinking and observing my life and living my ambition. In case this sounds too
spiritual for you, keep in mind I have a graduate degree in statistics and I have made my career on finance, planning,
economics and mathematical analysis. I am the consummate introvert and in the words of my children, a "mega-nerd-geek."
The details of what constitutes my career are not relevant to you because you have your own story. But because you
are reading this maybe it will serve you to know that my life is dramatically different and more fulfilling than it was five
years ago. I have quietly and thoughtfully quit the most costly and detrimental people and practices in my business
life. My closest friends and colleagues appreciate my transformation and say they want to go through the journey I
have gone through. Financially, my family is more secure and my husband and I are better prepared for retirement
than we thought possible at this point. Most of that security comes from learning to talk about our future and what is
important to us thoughtfully and purposefully.
My story has changed from describing how hectic my life is, how overburdened I am, how much networking I am
doing and how in demand I am to one of passion for living and being in service to others and the fulfillment and
financial success that comes with thoughtful wonder and learning. My final thought is that I encourage you to
consider the challenge and joy and delight of engaging in Work Re-imagined.
© 2004 Bette George & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.
Feel free to forward this newsletter to others. Permission to reprint or reproduce in a newsletter, publication, or by an
electronic means is granted, provided that it includes this notice: "Copyright 2004 by Bette George & Associates, Inc.
From Conversations on Leadership and Life
, an e-newsletter by Bette George, website: www.bettegeorge.com
email: bette@bettegeorge.com".
Conversations on Leadership and Life is a bi-monthly e-newsletter written by Bette George of Bette George &
Associates. In each issue, Bette offers best practice tips and resources, innovative ideas and inspiration to help you
begin to create the change you want to see in yourself, your workplace, your community.
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