“Leadership is an act of
the heart as much as it is an application of the mind.
Great leaders, in my opinion, inspire as much through
their spirit as through their vision. I attended Living
Leadership because it provided me the opportunity
to leave behind the day-to-day demands of running
a company to explore the deeper and more subtle aspects
of leadership: heart, spirit and trust. The program
is ...read
more”
Jim Roche,
Former President
Tundra Semiconductor Corporation, Ottawa
The Constellation Learning Newsletter
December 2007
I
had the opportunity in November to speak to a wide variety
of people from a wide variety of places. Three different classes,
a retreat, a couple of straight speaking gigs - a disparate
spectrum. The constant, of course - people. People are people
no matter where you may find them.
To all the people who read my words
each month, I extend my humble thanks. I wish you a peaceful
holiday season full of gratitude for your life and the lives
of those you love. May that love reduce six degrees of separation
to just one.
And may 2008 offer you ample
opportunities to extend yourself in that direction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~
Monthly Message ~
“People
are pretty much alike. It's only that our differences
are more susceptible to definition than our similarities.”
-- Linda
Ellerbee --
The retailers waited until Halloween this
year (such restraint!) to put out Christmas decorations and
start peddling various “holiday specials.” Having
begun my career as a retail buyer for a chain of stores in
the States (this was back in the dark ages - B.C., before
computers) I still feel an affinity for the old-fashioned
“retail business.”
It was an unwritten rule back in my time:
no holiday decorations until the day after Thanksgiving. (A
friend of mine drove down to Pennsylvania and did a weekend
outlet excursion beginning at 4 am on Black Friday. She got
lots of great bargains, but she was exhausted by Sunday night
when she returned.) and then it was put the blinders on and
full speed ahead until December 24th.
I was much younger and enjoyed the rush of
it all back then. Now, I don’t. Not only do I find the
endless consumer credit consumption somewhat conspiratorial
in its approach (Don’t have the cash? No problem,
we’ll give you an in-house card! Not only that, but
after the holidays when you get all your bills, we’ll
help you consolidate your debt in order to pay it off!),
but also, with advancing years comes a certain disdain toward
accumulating too much “stuff” in general. Comedian
George Carlin did a famous bit on it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7g6243x0pk
Sometimes, I think some of us forget what
all the fuss is about. It’s not about the presents,
or the pretty wrapping paper, or the food lists and entertaining
calendar. It’s not about the framed photos in holiday
garb, or the elegance of the table setting, or the proper
placement of the tree ornaments.
It’s about the common denominator to
all the above - the people. All the food, the fun, the festivities,
it’s about the people. Not the presents, the
people opening them; not the plum pudding, the people eating
it; not the pretty outfits, the people wearing them.
This month, as the holiday season rushes
down on us like a roaring train, I thought I’d pass
along some wise words from a few wise folks who understand
the commonality of the human experience, the similarities
rather than the differences.
While you fill your time with shopping and
celebrating, perhaps some of their thoughts will help you
enjoy this time, instead of trying to squeeze too
much stuff into too little space, leaving you drained from
what could have been - what is supposed to be - an
enlivening time of reconnection and a reminder of what’s
truly important: people.
The fine line between being energized or
enervated by the holiday season and accompanying social and
business obligations is crossed through initial intention.
What is the “holiday spirit” if not a manifestation
of that crossing, of deciding, of choosing to see
all mankind as one’s relatives.
To help treat everyone - including
yourself - with true holiday spirit as friends, here are some
of my favourite quotes:
“Before
God we are all equally wise and equally foolish.”
~Albert Einstein
“The
longer we live, the more we find we are like other persons.”
~Oliver Wendell Holmes
“Who
sees all beings in his own Self, and his own Self in all beings,
loses all fear.”
~Upanishads
“Everyone
is kneaded out of the same dough but not baked in the same
oven.” ~Yiddish Proverb
“As
experience widens, one begins to see how much upon a level
all human things are.” ~Joseph Farrell
"Just
when you think that a person is just a backdrop for the rest
of the universe, watch them and see that they laugh, they
cry, they tell jokes ... they're just friends waiting to be
made." ~Dr. Jeffrey Borenstein
By the way: This edition marks the
100th monthly e-zine sent. I thank you for reading it!
I
had the opportunity in November to speak to a wide variety
of people from a wide variety of places. Three different classes,
a retreat, a couple of straight speaking gigs - a disparate
spectrum. The constant, of course - people. People are people
no matter where you may find them.