Women in the LEAD

When True Passion Guides Our Life

When true passion guides our life, things feel good, stuff gets accomplished and our boat floats down the river.  We have to get real about this topic, because we often don’t have a good balance or discretion about what really feels good.  Women in particular-placate, please, and build peace—these are great attributes as long as we don’t lose ourself and what we love to be and do in the process. Passion is a huge indicator, if you know when your life is juiced alive and ignited you have reached a place where doors will fling open, opportunities will present themselves and you will live a life you truly desire. We need to place our attention on what feels good and right in life for this to happen.

I’ve been speaking to a number of people recently who said that they are just not clear on what feels right in life for them at this time.  I am convinced that we are at a point now where so many systems are being restructured that we ourselves don’t even know what feels right.  Now knowing is not good enough any longer.  Our personal responsibility to pay attention to what feels right and good in our life will lead us to answers that we thought we may never find.

I read a book once entitled, “You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought” I enjoyed the title more than the book as it inspired me at that time in my life that I was luxuriating in negativity – tossing my hands up to the skies and wondering what part of the challenges that I was living did I actually have a say in. Years later, I have come to realize that I have a say in a large portion of this life that I am co-creating. I am co-creating with you, with spirit, with nature and with this grand universe but at the end of the day my very thoughts lead me to the life that I live on a daily basis.  I have learned to look closely at what feels good to me as I use the most clearly defined moral code that I have a available to me I combine the two and live life to the fullest.

Today, take time to look around your world and identify what really feels good what do you look forward to spending time on. What do you need to eliminate that is taking up too much of your time and not serving you well. I truly believe now more than ever we are at a time in history where we need to take personal responsibility and make decisions about our lives that serve us based on what feels right. Don’t feel greedy; you are actually serving the betterment of all when you take time to create a better life.

Maureen Simon
Co-Contributor
www.maureensimon.com
http://womeninfluencingnow.wordpress.com
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www.theessentialfeminine.com
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WOMEN: Changing from Within

Today, I woke up once again realizing my role is not to take on the world. It is to remember I was put here do my part --- to contribute something significant in my own right. Significant has different definitions for each of us. However, once we have this realization of purpose, what we do is significant. Remembering this reality always leads me to a kind of perpetual self-examination. The great sages, scholars and doers passed on knowledge of this great human need:

Plato proclaimed, "A life unexamined is not worth living."

Lao Tze also urged us to spend time in reflection. "Turn inward and digest what has happened."

Gandhi told us that real education comes from continually "drawing the best out of yourself." These insights have led me to believe that self-assessment is a perpetual call-to-action to be keenly aware----always listening, thinking, reviewing, evaluating, interpreting, discerning, deciding, being---reaching toward a stronger understanding of our own values and intended purpose---discovering a deeper sense of meaning in our lives each time.

Changing from within...
Start with questions.
Be grateful for the strengths you find.
And for the honesty in the weaknesses you identify.
Be truthful about what is standing in the way.
Re-set you direction.
Walk boldly!
Repeat these steps often.

Warm regards to all who stop by...

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com
Home of Women in the Lead

Twitter: @debbekennedy

Author...
Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance
by Debbe Kennedy ▪ Berrett-Koehler ▪ 2008 – Hardcover
Foreword by Joel A. Barker, futurist, filmmaker and author

What Really Lights your Fire?

Each of us has the ability to make a huge difference in our world! As my favorite Irish poet John O’ Donohue has written in Anam Cara:

“… There is a unique destiny for each person. Each one of has something to do here that can be done by no one else. If someone else could fulfill your destiny then they would be in your place and you would not be here…”

Photo by: J Fouchaux

 Having grown up in an Irish family and community… I must admit I do love the directness of the Irish. John’s statement is direct and fairly opinionated but opens many questions in my own mind. I have always interpreted Johns words to mean that we are each unique and each hold an important part of the whole.  It has strongly led me to believe that the world needs our unique offering. This quote often guides me to look more deeply at what I believe and value; to look more closely at what really lights my fire. I have found it useful in my journey to ask myself:

•  What issues or causes on the planet do I feel most strongly about?
• What is my unique destiny?
• What are my greatest gifts, strengths and talents and where can they make the most contribution?
• Where do I experience the most joy and satisfaction?
• What do I want more of in my life (of the things that I most value)?

I believe that NOW is the time for us to share our uniqueness with the world.  We need to be "Women Influencing Now" to help bring a balance into the world.  For that we need to live dynamically.  It is clear to me that part of the art of alive and dynamic living is staying “awake at the wheel”.  These questions awaken me to stay on course, moving closer to my own unique contribution.

 What do you really believe in and value? What questions do you need to ask yourself right now to find your true beliefs and direction?

Maureen Simon
Co-Contributor
www.maureensimon.com
http://womeninfluencingnow.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/maureensimon
www.theessentialfeminine.com
Join our Facebook Group "Women Influencing Now"
twitter@maureensimon

WOMEN: Moments in Your Day

In a powerful little book, How Full is Your Bucket?: Positive Strategies for Work and Life, it reminds us of how important all the moments in our lives can be --- each one with the capability to have an enduring influence. As a leader, co-worker, friend, mom, sister, wife or partner, it also reminds us how important our words and actions can be in influencing someone else's moments and experience:

"According to Nobel Prize-winning scientist Daniel Kahneman, we experience approximately 20,000 individual moments in a waking day. Each "moment" lasts a few seconds. If you consider any strong memory --- positive or negative --- you'll notice that the imagery in your mind is actually defined by your recollection of a precise point in time. Rarely does a neutral encounter stay in your mind --- memorable moments are almost always positive or negative. In some cases, a single encounter can change your life forever."

When I read this again, memories flashed through my mind. I remembered the moments of victory when I shared some wonderful success with someone. I also had a flashback of a dreadful moment many years ago when I was a new manager at IBM. My best employee put her head on her desk one time and said, "I wish I were a problem." I had been so consumed with other problem employees, I had unintentionally left her without the support she needed. In my personal life, both the joy and sorrow came back vividly. Nothing neutral came up in these instant reflections.

Just being reminded will make me more conscious tomorrow about the influences I have on others' moments ---- and also on my own.

How about YOU?
What influence will you have on the 20,000 opportunities in the days ahead?

Warm regards,
Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com
Home of Women in the Lead

Twitter: @debbekennedy

Author...
Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance
by Debbe Kennedy ▪ Berrett-Koehler ▪ 2008 – Hardcover
Foreword by Joel A. Barker, futurist, filmmaker and author

We Are a Part of a Much Greater Picture: Our Passion is an Indicator

 “Deep within every life, no matter how dull or ineffectual it may seem from the outside there is something eternal happening.” John O’Donohue

I’ve come to know that we are part of a much greater picture than we might believe when we sit stuck in a traffic jam or feel frustrated about a challenging communication in our day. These days I have been learning to take an aerial view and fly high above the simple challenges that take place in my day-to-day life. I have come to believe that each of our lives may sometimes feel ineffectual, but in reality something very major is happening. The real art is to learn how to tune in to what is most important in our life? How do we identify what our true passion is so that we can begin to move from ineffectual to fully alive and passionate.

I believe the answer to us finding our passion-lies in our ability to connect with what is deep in our life – what is significant and important to us. I believe that we have deep wells of joy that are waiting to erupt as a geyser or a spring. We must take time to listen and to allow the answers and information that we need to find us.

Silence is a natural way to connect with what we hold deep in our hearts. Trust that through silence signs that come into your daily life – trust and your ability to follow what feels good and right in your life will all serve as great resources on your journey to connecting with the bigger eternal aspects of your life.

Maureen Simon
Co-Contributor
www.maureensimon.com
http://womeninfluencingnow.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/maureensimon
www.theessentialfeminine.com
Join our Facebook Group "Women Influencing Now"
twitter@maureensimon

WOMEN: "The Danger of a Single Story"

Tonight, by chance, I ran into this amazing message by Novelist Chimamanda Adichie filmed early this year at the TED Conference.

As "a red lacquer dish needs no decoration," this beautiful, heartfelt message from Chimamanda Adichie needs no written introduction. What it needs is for YOU to listen. To take it in what she has to share with us all.

Learn more about her wonderful writing and inspiring work.

May we all invest in ourselves and one another, listening and learning there is more to us than a single story.

Blessings to you all...

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com
Home of Women in the Lead

Author...
Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance
by Debbe Kennedy ▪ Berrett-Koehler ▪  Hardcover
www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com
Twitter:@debbekennedy

Returning to Wholeness

What kinds of risks can you to take that will bring you closer to the life you were meant for?  What is the conversation about your life that you most often return to that no longer serves you?  What would you like to be, do or have that you keep relegating to the domain of “someday”? What wakes you up in the wee hours of the morning, seeking your undivided attention? Is there a dream that you’ve given up on or a joy you’ve forgotten?

 

Remembering your destiny is so much more than simply recalling some ephemeral past memories. It is actually a returning to, a rediscovery of your whole self and a full realization of your extraordinary place in the tapestry of life.

 

In order to live a fully expressed and alive life, it is absolutely essential on a daily basis to stretch beyond your normal comfort zone. Try something you’ve never done before. Let yourself have the freedom to imagine new possibilities in the areas of career, finances, fitness, well-being, friendship and love.  Say “yes” to an opportunity that arises.  And practice being utterly fascinated with your own answers to these questions:

 

What innate talents do I possess?

What are my greatest gifts?

What do I enjoy doing so much that I lose track of time while I’m doing it?

What are the guiding principles of my life—what is my polestar?

What do I love the most about life?

How can I have powerful and on-going support for taking risks and living fully?

 

Maureen Simon
Co-Contributor
www.maureensimon.com
http://womeninfluencingnow.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/maureensimon
www.theessentialfeminine.com
Join our Facebook Group "Women Influencing Now"
twitter@maureensimon

LEADERSHIP: Acknowledging Progress

Whether you are a leader in an organization, in your home, in your church or in your community, these times of turmoil in the world are asking much of those around us. It is easy to forget how valuable a regular moment of acknowledgment and recognition can be in keeping others going.

Several years ago, during a family visit, I was reminded. I was in the kitchen making breakfast and I noticed there was a big glass jar about half full of marbles. Austin, age 5 at the time, saw me admiring them and said with his face beaming, "Those are mine! I asked him to tell me about them. "Well, when I do something really nice, like .... (long pause while he was thinking) ... like help my sister and clean up my toys, my mom and dad put a marble in the jar. See how many I've earned so far?!" I said, "You must be a very nice person." "I am." he said still glowing with self-assurance.

As a leader, especially when times are stressful, it is easy to find fault with others or overlook their achievements and milestones of progress. These difficult times also make our acknowledgements even more important. One leader told me one time, "No one recognizes me, so I find it difficult to recognize others." How sad. If you want to build confidence, morale and momentum in a positive direction, there is nothing more effective than acknowledging what others are doing RIGHT.

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated"
--- William James

Five Ways to Show Support and Appreciation
Showing support and appreciation asks more of us, but the returns are invaluable to the receiver and the giver when it is genuine and meaningful. I am so grateful for a couple of mentors who helped me make acknowledgment and recognition a conscious leadership practice. Below are five ideas I learned from their example. Now, I share them with you:

1. Say thank you genuinely ... and often.
2. When you know someone has a big task ahead, leave a voicemail or email to express your support. It could be in advance or be timed to arrive to be there waiting for them when the work is done.
3. Pass along a personal achievement memento that belongs to you to commemorate a new generation of excellence. Include the story of how you received it and its relationship to their honor.
4. Call someone who has been making a real personal effort to change. Acknowledge  the difference you've noticed. Give some specific examples of your observations.
5. When your success has been influenced by someone else's example or advice, credit them. Also, take time to express your appreciation.

What other ideas come to mind?

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com
Home of Women in the Lead

Author...
Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance
by Debbe Kennedy ▪ Berrett-Koehler ▪  Hardcover
www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com
Twitter:@debbekennedy

Waking Up, Taking Risks

Have you long had the sense that you are here to live a big life? Perhaps you have already achieved great success in particular areas of your life but are certain there is something more—and that something “more” has little to do with quantity and everything to do with quality.  There is a life awaiting you that is profoundly beautiful and richly satisfying, and suddenly you are willing to cross any terrain in order to meet it.

 

Going to the Outer Edge

 

In seeking to find the unblurred truth of your purpose and destiny, you may feel at times as though you’re caught in a maze of cultural conditioning and familial influences, along with some of your own once-useful, now outdated attitudes and beliefs. You’re not alone. Most of us have, for varying periods of time, taken to hibernating in an attempt to protect ourselves from both real and imagined dangers. When the pressures of living in a fast-moving world have felt overwhelming, a long, deep “nap” has seemed to be a reasonable coping technique. Then comes a point—one you’ve undoubtedly reached—where the cost of missing the sheer grandeur of life’s depth and breadth is too high a price to pay.  Waking up becomes the imperative.

 

In a status quo culture, remembering what you’re here for and consciously choosing  the life you were meant to live is risky business. It makes skydiving and walking on hot coals seem rather tame, although there is a distinct similarity. Like most extreme sports, diving fully into life is a conscious act that requires an artful synthesis of calculated risks, preparation and skillful planning.  When you whole-heartedly embark on the “Hero’s Journey” (that solitary quest to discover your true life) and when you make an agreement with yourself to wake up and allow all that has stopped you in the past to drop away, you discover an amazing paradox: You actually do  have the assistance and support of your true friends, the world and the entire universe.

 

Maureen Simon
Co-Contributor
www.maureensimon.com
http://womeninfluencingnow.wordpress.com
http://www.facebook.com/maureensimon
www.theessentialfeminine.com
Join our Facebook Group "Women Influencing Now"
twitter@maureensimon

WOMEN: A Call to Greatness

It is remarkable how things escape your notice until a perfect moment. In recent months, so many of you have reported that you are in the continouous state of re-evaluation --- reassessing how you will bring your unique gifts to this new world --- one changing and in turmoil in every direction you look. For some of us, everything we've counted on has been stripped way, asking us to reach deep inside to rediscover our own greatness.

This morning quite by chance, I came across a poem that I found in my father's treasures after he passed away. My dad was an optimistic man. He carried his share of tragedy and triumphs, but from his what he valued and left behind, I have recognized more fully that he was a man with a capacity to find HOPE in tomorrow. He was a man always working to become more in his own way. 

This poem draws upon this quality that lies in us all...

a poem found in my father's treasures

CALL to GREATNESS

There is a call to greatness
for every soul on earth--
A call to rise to our full height,
Assert our finest worth.

There is a call to greatness
So often we ignore--
We can't believe that it is we
The awesome call is for.

We fail to measure up,
For in our deprecating eyes
We cannot see that in ourselves
Potential greatness lies.

...There is a call to greatness,
Sometime, somewhere for all---
And life's dimensions rest upon
Our answer to the call.

by Helen Lowry Marshall
Quiet Power  

How will you answer to the call?

What potential in you is still left to discover?

Warm regards...
Debbe

RELATED:  
ONLINE Professional Development Class
as the Global Dialogue Center
"HOW TO GET BUY-IN for NEW IDEAS"
Are you a NEW IDEA? An INNOVATION yourself with something new and different to offer. Futurist Joel Barker is joining me to teach a special ONLINE professional class on OCTOBER 15. It is focused on learning how to engage others in your great ideas at work, in your business, with customers, or even if YOU are the new idea that you're presenting to the world.
Women in the LEAD Blog Readers may enroll with STUDENT discount.
Learn more... http://tinyurl.com/y984hn2 

Debbe Kennedy

Founder, Global Dialogue Center
www.globaldialoguecenter.com
Home of Women in the Lead

Twitter:@debbekennedy

Author...
Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance
by Debbe Kennedy ▪ Berrett-Koehler ▪ May 2008 – Hardcover
Foreword by Joel A. Barker, futurist, filmmaker and author
Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future
www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com

YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker