Putting Our Differences to Work by Debbe Kennedy

MICHAEL JACKSON: Taking a LOOK at OURSELVES

2009-07-05T19:11:44-07:00

This has been a sad week with the untimely passing of Michael Jackson, the undeniable King of Pop. It has been one of those moments in time that unexpectedly offers us an an opportunity to take a deep look at ourselves --- to observe our behavior and actions toward others that are DIFFERENT than we are and ask some reflective questions. In a cherished old book I read that to look at oneself once in a while is a solemn, serious, necessary, and sometimes frightening personal responsibility --- one that many of us avoid at all costs. Michael Jackson invited us to take such an examination of ourselves with a compelling call-to-action:

"If YOU wanna make the WORLD a better place take a look at yourself and then make a CHANGE." --- Man in the Mirror

In the past few days, we've had a chance to see the best in human kindness and respect as the news of Michael's death has traveled throughout the globe. We've also seen the worst of our human demons broadcast over and over on center stage designed to denigrate Michael's legacy and contributions to get a scoop, grab a headline, be #1 in ratings or whatever. These same things [perhaps much worse] happen every day. We've gotten used it. Our society now lives in part on lies, half-truths, disrespectful opinions, assassinations of character, mean-spirited name-calling, and the art of getting a scoop or gaining attention no matter who is hurt in the process. Exploiting one another for our own self-interests and gain is now a reality that is part of day-to-day life. But does it have to be? Is this the lesson we want to leave for those looking to us for leadership? It is often in tragedy that we are compelled to stop long enough to see our own MOMENTS of TRUTH and change our ways.

Why do we pick and poke at people who are DIFFERENT?

Why do we find joy in ridiculing others?

Why has respect and compassion gone so far out of style?

What does it say about us, when we call people words like weird, monster, freak?

What does it say about us, when without conscience, we find it acceptable --- fair game--- to denigrate and insinuate salacious details about three young children's daddy, a mother's a son, a beloved brother when there hasn't been time time to put their loved one to rest?

How can we be so sure our opinions and assessments are so very right?

Each of us has many DIMENSIONS of DIFFERENCE filtered through our past and present. Undoubtedly, at some time in our lives we felt insecure, ridiculed by someone, dissatisfied with ourselves...and many of us can recant stories of bullying, name calling, disregard and disrespect in our own lives. I am one. Imagine how such experiences feel to a human being when the hurt is magnified in global celebrity and isolation --- where is our compassion? In one of Michael Jackson's "Tributes" on CNN, I heard an CNN attorney say, "He didn't look like anyone we've ever seen before." Does this really justify our disrespect and hateful behavior?

LEARNING TO SEE DIFFERENCES DIFFERENTLY
In a well-known address a few years back, Steve Jobs, APPLE's CEO, offered a different argument about the significance of those we find to be DIFFERENT:

"Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes. ...the ones who see things differently—they’re not fond of rules. . . . You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things . . . they push the human race forward."

Michael Jackson was one of those who in his own right --- in his life and legacy moved music and dance to new levels we once couldn't imagine. It opened doors. It moved many forward. Perhaps, in his passing, we can begin to grasp the opportunity that sits in front of us to elevate the significance of the DIFFERENCES we see in others, recognizing how important they are to our future.

Organizations and individuals all over the world are discovering that putting our DIFFERENCES to work in new and unique ways is the most powerful accelerator for generating new ideas, creating innovative solutions, executing organizational strategies, and engaging everyone in the process. In my book, Putting Our Differences to Work, Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson, President, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute affirmed this truth and again tells why we must learn to SEE DIFFERENCES DIFFERENTLY.

Because I lead a technological research university, I frequently address the topics of innovation and discovery, and my point is that diversity is a kind of energy—a power which generates the new, the unique, the innovative, the excellent. Diversity advances innovation to meet global challenges. Innovation is advanced by chance, by challenge, by choices, and by informed coincidence. It is nourished—it is powered—by the full breadth of diversity, and, overall, by the quest for excellence. Diversity
is an energy which powers this quest.

To create an environment which is conducive to breakthrough ideas, one must not exclude from the great mix—from the great diversity—because one of those ideas or those elements may, indeed, be the piece which sparks the next great innovation.

C'mon Stand Up And Lift Yourself, Now! MAKE THAT CHANGE
I'm deeply grateful that I experienced Michael Jackson's gift. As a friend on Facebook said the other day, we have to make that change one "moon walk at a time."

Thank you, Michael!

What are your thoughts?

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work(Berrett-Koehler 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker

Facebook http://profile.to/debbekennedy/
Twitter @onlinedialogues and @debbekennedy

GANDHI INSIGHTS: A Higher Standard of Leadership

2009-06-01T11:03:00-07:00

This is a difficult time with many crushing things happening to people. Yet, a new world begins with each of us. We have to lift ourselves up to revitalize and renew what we know is good. It is up to us to change the standards for leadership that will shape a new era. Even with all the problems we face in so many directions, there continues to be many signs of NEW HOPE emerging --- a new sense of OPTIMISM taking over little by little. Some days it seems we've stepped backwards and then another glimpse emerges to prove we are on our way.

We are realizing on many fronts how much we can do together to reshape the businesses, communities, and the world we long to have. It will ask more from us. We will have to change our ways. Cure our hatefulness toward others in a big way. Doing this isn't complex --- not really. Behavior and personal conduct at its root is individual, yes? It takes a simple conviction to a new mindset and a resolute belief that we can in fact recast our value and intentions as the final "yardstick" of all we do. How do we do this?

As I mention in my book and as its pages reflect, I have always received strength, knowledge and know-how from those who traveled before. The leaders, innovators, and sages seem to be whispering the answers to us from their lessons learned, if we stop long enough to listen. Gandhi, for example, helped us remember that each one of us has a responsibility to use our lives of a beacon of all we want for our world to be by our actions and behavior in day-to-day life. I re-read a passage from another timeless and beautiful book: A Higher Standard of Leadership: Lessons from the Life of Gandhi by Keshavan Nair (Berrett-Koehler 1997) that offered Gandhi's sage advice in these words:

"We are all leaders. Each one of us is setting an example for someone else, and each one of us has a responsibility to shape the future as we wish it to be. But we must have ideals to guide our conduct if we are to make a positive difference."

The five distinctive qualities of leadership introduced in Putting Our Differences to Work reflect Gandhi's wisdom and offer a current day roadmap for leadership behavior and actions. Together, the five QUALITIES are a timely "yardstick" to help all of us --- leaders and innovators everywhere as we work to make our important contributions to a new kind of CHANGE, INNOVATION and prosperity based on reversing the human perils Gandhi warned us about. Here is the affirmative new vision that I think Gandhi believed for us all:

Wealth with Hard Work | Pleasure withConscience | Science with Humanity
Knowledge with Character | Politics with Principle | Commerce with Morality
Worship with Sacrifice

THE EXAMPLE WE SET FOR OURSELVES:
I also keep thinking of Barack Obama's Inauguration Day and how it became a moment of collective change and possibility for all of us as we proved we can be in peace and harmony. We do know how. Still there is more than just showing up for one day, here and there, as Gandhi's message reflects.

QUESTIONS to PONDER...
How can we multiply that same kind of reality in our day-to-day living and working? What does it mean to put our differences to work?

What does it mean to you? What advice would you share with others to make it possible?

RECORDED PROGRAM:
INNOVATING in HARD TIMES 2:
Futurist Joel Barker joined me again to talk about LEADERSHIP and INNOVATION.
http://www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com/dialogues-library.html

Best...
Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center Twitter@onlinedialogues
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work(Berrett-Koehler 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker

Facebook http://profile.to/debbekennedy/
Twitter @onlinedialogues and @debbekennedy

Personal Brand: Your Behavior is a Mirror

2009-05-25T21:01:39-07:00

It is clear that in every direction, we need to more effectively learn to work and live together if we are to transform business and society. There is no escaping the responsibility each of us holds. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe captured it well, "Behavior is the mirror in which everyone shows their image." What do you see as you look in the mirror at the end of each day? What contribution are you making toward creating a better organization, a better community, a better world by your personal behavior? In what ways are you influencing people to see and respect differences in others; consider things like your words, your actions, your decisions, your invitations to others...I am frequently asked what is the most important point in my book, Putting Our Differences to Work. I would have to say it is to master seeing and appreciating DIFFERENCES DIFFERENTLY.

Did you know DIFFERENCES have taken on a new significance? Organizations and individuals across the world are learning that the art of putting DIFFERENCES to work is the fastest way to accelerate the generation of new ideas and innovation and new levels of leadership and high performance. Each of us needs to strengthen our portfolio of skills to lead the way. I define five distinctive qualities that are essential for putting differences to work in my book. They fundamentally change the rules in how we think and act. They reframe old notions that no longer work to our advantage in our organizations or wherever we find ourselves having an opportunity to have a positive influence on others. These qualities are needed at all levels of leadership, including individual contributors and aspiring leaders who may not see themselves as leaders. Our distributed workplaces and communities mean that we all step in and out of leadership roles that require new skills to understand, interact, and relate with others different than we are.

So what questions should you ask when you look in the MIRROR at the end of the day? If you are practicing the five distinctive qualities of leadership, here are a few to consider:

How did you incorporate differences into your contribution today?
How did your curiosity help you learn from someone different from you?
In what way did you broaden the notion of open, honest communication with others?
What personal responsibility did you step up to take?
What decisions or actions did you take that demonstrated that you chose mutualism as the final arbiter --- everyone benefits; no one is harmed?
How did everyone benefit from your contribution?

RELATED RESOURCES:

If you need help, here are two ideas:

WORKING TOGETHER ... Innovate, Influence, and Win --- my "learning-on-the-go" audio series. It offers lots of great ideas. Sample for yourself. Designed to help you master the skills for putting differences to work and getting buy-in for your knew ideas at any level. http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/workingtogether

ONLINE DIALOGUE Join me and futurist, Joel Barker on JUNE 16 INNOVATING in HARD TIMES 1:00 pm ET - 2:30 pm ET (10:00 am PT - 11:30 PT) No fees. Registration required. Login/audio sent via email. We expect it to be widely attended based on the attendance at our first dialogue and the response to it. Hope you can join us! Learn more and register here: http://tinyurl.com/JUNE16Dialogue Nofees. Just register and we'll send you the login. Come learn from others and share your ideas.

Best...

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center Twitter@debbekennedy
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work(Berrett-Koehler 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker

Do you Tweet? Follow @onlinedialogues on Twitter

3 LEADERSHIP LESSONS: Tribute to Adam Lambert

2009-05-20T19:47:41-07:00

We all have to much to learn from one another --- and it is often "the outsider" that brings a fresh perspective that reminds us of what we need to develop in ourselves. Adam Lambert (American Idol) has offered up three leadership lessons by his example. They are lessons that bring hope and possibility for change if we are open enough listen to someone who by his own admission is DIFFERENT. If we all just took a little from him, I know it could be a catalyst for transforming how we believe in ourselves, think, operate, and appreciate each other.

FIrst, the kids in my family got me hooked on American Idol some years back. I love seeing people reach inside themselves to discover their greatness. This year, I know I am not alone in witnessing how Adam Lambert took the possibilities on the AI stage to a whole level with every performance. I loved watching him; to being surprised by him. I've truly looked forward each week to watching how Adam opened his carefully developed "artist's tool bag" to bring us a new dimension of his talent. Adam set a new standard of excellence for American Idol and for all of us, at a time when we all need to be reminded of the care and commitment that true EXCELLENCE REQUIRES.

If you've not seen Adam Lambert in action creatively cascading his capacity for artistic interpretation brought to life, check these out performances. (Oh, go ahead...brave it; take a peek at something new and different): Black Or White Play that Funky Music Mad World Tracks of My Tears Born To Be Wild (Easy Rider).

Leaders throughout the ages have led by example, leaving their imprint, not so much by their words alone, but through their actions and resolute conviction to what they believed in. Below are the three leadership lessons that I observed as I watched Adam in the distance these past months:

LESSON 1:
BE WHO YOU ARE SOONER
Wouldn't we all like to say we did this? Adam Lambert's resolute belief who he is at 27 is moving. He has defied the weakness in others, who so much want to confine him to their labels. Why are we so quick to want to do this to anyone DIFFERENT? It is a limiting practice that inhibits change and innovation in work and life. This "labeling experience" happens to many of us in our lifetimes for a bunch of reasons, but Adam showed a new example in how to respond to it. From the beginning, regardless of the chatter and mean-spirited complaints and disrespectful questions, Adam Lambert humbly, quietly and resolutely made sure he never allowed anyone to make him "shrink" away from what he knew about himself and his dream. Instead he grew into being leader on HIS stage --- the one that reflects "uncharted path that bears HIS name."

Although very different in circumstances, I wrote in my book, Putting Our Differences to Work, about a first-hand account of a journalist's observation reported in the Boston Daily in 1858. He wrote about how Abraham Lincoln transformed before the eyes of the audience as the crowd watched Lincoln step into his calling. This story seems oddly similar to what we've witnessed as ADAM LAMBERT STAR has been born. The journalist wrote in 1858: "...he was graceful, bold, and commanding." ...he spoke with a power we have seldom heard equaled." The words have been similar in many articles describing Adam Lambert's work as an artist and entertainer. Leadership in one's field seems to have distinctive qualities in common across time and circumstances.

LESSON 2:
GREATNESS EMERGES FROM DISCIPLINE and a POWERFUL "TOOL BOX"
Interestingly, as I've read "the Adam Lambert's story," listened to his interviews, heard his parents reflect on his life and youth, and watched him, it brought up the wisdom of Peter F. Drucker, the father of modern management. Drucker wrote in The Post Capitalist Society, "Most of us, (perhaps all of us) know many times more than we put to use. We do not mobilize the multiple knowledges we possess. We do not use knowledges as part of one toolbox." The Adam Lambert brand that he shared with all of us is one of the best examples I've seen in a long while of someone who has opened his carefully crafted "toolbox," thoughtfully hand-picking from his well-earned collection of instruments, which were developed through years of passionately pursuing his dream since age 10. It appears Adam Lambert's collection of tools and gifts have been built by hard work, struggle, risk-taking, triumphs, defeats, and resolute conviction to achieving his dream. He showed all of us how to put our whole "toolbox" to use, as he accumulated a masterful collection of performances. Adam described his strategy early on this way: "I don't become a one-trick pony." It gave me a flashback when my boss at IBM years ago coached me in a similar way about distinguishing oneself as a leader and innovator. He said, "You got to demonstrate over and over that you can 'change your spots.'" Adam set a new standard excellence in radiating one's many dimensions of difference. He showed us that the combinations of excellence are nearly endless, if we thoughtful apply what we've learned to every new challenges at hand.

LESSON 3:
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
I think one of the most unexpected lessons learned from the Adam Lambert style is how genuinely and generously interested he is in others. It shows in how he looks into the audience; how he listened and took-in whatever the judges said, always giving a kind of unspoken respect, never discounting their opinions --- never gloating over them --- just listening for what might be good in the advice. The quality of loving your neighbor was also reflected in how Adam related to Allison. His warm way of partnering with her showed all of us what happens when we put your differences to work. As we watched with Kris Allen and others, Adam appeared to build trust and respect one Idol at a time. This is how a leader works, gathering his or her following one respectful deed and investment in others at a time.

There were other affirming examples of Loving your neighbor: Anoop's mention in a recent article how Adam was willing to give up a song if he could see it had a better fit with one of the the other idols' voices. It also showed in Adam being willing to share the credit and his accolades with the band and others who helped you, not only in words, but in looks, in nods of appreciation that transcended any words. In his performance, Play that Funky Music, it was touching to see him turn, stopping in mid-song before the finale, to give the band a special thank you gift--- two seconds of Adam's undivided attention and gratitude. I hope I can be more conscious of giving this same kindness to others in my own world.

I look forward to watching in the distance as Adam Lambert claims his well-deserved place in music history. I feel grateful that in my lifetime, I had the opportunity to learn from his example and to witness with millions of others the birth of Adam Lambert stardom. A BIG STAR! Go, Adam! May you be blessed! Congratulations also to Kris Allen!

EPILOGUE - American Idol is Crowned...

In another not-so-surprising show of leadership, Adam Lambert brought real class to Kris Allen's win of the AI Crown. His demonstrated an outlook we all need --- finding joy for our friends' success and helping everyone look to tomorrow with anticipation.

In the words of Adam Lambert:
“For me it’s not really about what happened tonight, it’s about tomorrow. It’s about next. ...I think that Kris won because he’s a great artist and I was happy to be a runner-up to that,” he said, adding that he and Allen had found a lot of common ground despite their very different backgrounds and styles."

“If there’s anything that can come from this experience, and I hope that all the fans out there can pick up on, is that even if you’re really different there’s a way to get along with each other,” Lambert said. “And it’s not about ‘Oh, you beat me because of this,’ or ‘You, you’re different.’ It’s about finding the common stuff that makes it work.” (Reuters Blog)

With respect and admiration,

Debbe

OPTIMISM: Getting BUY-IN for Your NEW IDEAS

2009-05-07T20:27:14-07:00

There is an air of OPTIMISM that keeps revealing itself. I came to Washington D.C. this week and you can feel it here. It started with a "drive-by welcome" outside my hotel window when President Obama returned after the GREAT BURGER lunch via Pennsylvania Avenue. I admit it was a memorable moment I won't forget. The next day, I had the honor of meeting with senior executives from numerous departments of the U.S. Government to talk about Putting Our Differences to Work. I was moved by their passion and commitment to mission --- and to the possibilities they shared. The topic of convincing others to accept new ideas came up. We all seem to be brimming with them. So I write this thinking about their important work in service of all of us...

There is TRUTH in the familiar saying, "it's all in how it's presented" and right now, getting buy-in for our NEW IDEAS has taken on a new significance in these hard times. It seems we are all looking for ways to influence someone or something. Although, most of us acknowledge that getting buy-in for new ideas is essential, our actions frequently demonstrate we don't have a clue about getting it. In fact, the most critical success factor is often discounted, overlooked, avoided, or just ignored---ACCEPTANCE. My long time colleague, futurist Joel Barker affirmed what we need to keep in mind when he said, "It is natural and logical for people to resist change. New ideas upset the balance and change makes things difficult. Only by developing the ability to present your idea from the user's point of view will you be able to achieve success."

Some of us don't want anything to do with "selling" anything, especially if we've had bad experiences with sales people. If selling an idea hasn't been part of our training, it is common to confuse methods of effective speaking or teaching techniques with what is necessary to influence acceptance of a new idea. There is a big difference. Here are some common mistakes we often make because of our misunderstanding of what is required:

Our explanation of a new idea is too complicated, too long, or lacks focus.
We present ideas that are "half-baked" - sharing them before we've thought through the details and explored the implications.
We forget to make sure we have a compelling "business case" to give potential sponsors a reason to say, "Yes!"
We don't invest in our own PREPARATION to introduce what we are most passionate about; Rumi was on to something, when he said, "Attention to small details, makes perfect a large work."
Our approach to sharing ideas causes more trouble than it is worth (e.g., never, never send your new idea to a large distribution list without sponsorship. :-)
We've not come up with an easy way to test the idea so the risk, $$$, and personal involvement scares the sponsors we need.
We ask too many people for ideas and then use them all; instead of trusting our own judgment.

These unintentional MISTAKES create a great "yardstick" for evaluating your approach to sharing new ideas --- even if the new idea happens to be YOU and your organization, REINVENTED for a new time.

If you need help, here are two ideas:

1. See WORKING TOGETHER ... Innovate, Influence, and Win --- my "learning-on-the-go" audio series. It offers lots of great ideas. http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/workingtogether

2, Join me on MAY 19 for an ONLINE DIALOGUE ---- Connecting for SUCCESS in HARD TIMES. We are going to explore how business and social networking can help you introduce yourself and your business in a new way. Learn more and register here: http://tinyurl.com/MAY19INVITATION
No fees. Just register and we'll send you the login. Come learn from others and share your ideas.

Best...

Debbe

Business/Social Networking and REINVENTING Your...

2009-04-27T10:21:09-07:00

How can BUSINESS and SOCIAL NETWORKING help you deliver a renewed personal brand, reinvent how you present your business/organization's offerings, and open up new alliances for innovation and collaboration at this time of CHANGE, CRISIS, and OPPORTUNITY? This is the question up for exploration at the Global Dialogue Center ONLINE Conference Center. Jane Scandurra, former IBM Senior Marketing Manager turned filmmaker, entrepreneur, and master of popular "CONNECTION tools" like LinkedIn, Facebook, Xing, and Twitter joins me to explore the answers to this question on TUESDAY, MAY 19 as part of our continuing "Economic Conversation Series."

WHEN and WHERE:
CONNECTING for Success in Hard Times
How can Business and Social Networking help you?
Tuesday, MAY 19, 2009
1:00 p.m. - 2:30 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Pacfic Daylight Time (PDT)
with an informal "virtual break" following (30 minutes)
No fees. Registration is required; login sent via email.
Register here: http://tinyurl.com/MAY19Dialogue
(Note:Allow a few seconds for the url to open)
Online at the Global Dialogue Center ONLINE CONFERENCE CENTER...
www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com/dialogues.html

Business and Social Networking
--- a personal testimonial
I admit I'm hooked on the possibilities of business and social networking. At this point, I feel like it continues to be an ongoing discovery with many dimensions, platforms and opportunities for both business and personal growth. It may not replace face-to-face communication, but there are some things about it that break down barriers that separate us and it seems to open up new pathways we couldn't have imagined. I've been experimenting and connecting with people worldwide for well over ten years and love the sense of pioneering that comes with it. The formats have changed---today we continue to be surprised with a constant stream of the next great idea. There is no doubt that it is offering new opportunities for contacts, collaboration, peer-to-peer mentoring, and knowledge exchange. IBM started its social and business networking platform a few years back called the Greater IBM Connection. We are all forging its broad trails across the world. What's great about it is that it a place for both past and present IBMers --- a gathering place for people that share a similar bond, yet have have unique differences in our experience, knowledge and talent. My book Putting Our Differences to Work has some great stories about business and social networking. On page 100, I wrote about the Greater IBM Connection. This is an excerpt:

Whether it's attending a meeting in 3D or some other kind of a gathering of early explorers of this new web-based dimension of connecting, you can't help but see and feel the potential for bringing talent together across the world. It is a more hip IBM, more open, with the friendliest people. You can sense a "simmering pot" with a hearty soup being made with nearly unlimited potential for nourishing, nurturing, and engaging talented, innovative minds"

IN FACT, I met Jane Scandurra at the Greater IBM Connection --- She's the one joining me as a co-host for the CONNECTING for Success in HARD TIMES dialogue on May 19. Amazingly, we've never physically met or seen each other, but we've done some amazing things together across the distance to support one another's work and to produced meaningful events for others. This time, we are teaming up to host this special conversation to share what we've learned and also invite others to do the same as part of my ongoing Economic Conversation Series. Hope you can join us!

REINVENTING YOURSELF:
More Lessons from AMERICAN IDOL
After I braved :-) writing LESSONS from the Talented to share lessons we could all learn about ourselves and for ourselves from the likes of American Idol's Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle from Britain's Got Talent, I again learned a few more lessons. This time the lessons came from Simon Cowell as he described why Adam Lambert's brilliant performance of "If I Can Have You" was so exceptional. Simon's comments become sage advice for those working to REINVENT themselves. Let me translate from his feedback to Adam Lambert.

Do something that exceeds expectations for excellence.
(SC: "You did something unexpected.")
Make sure what you do is memorable and enduring.
(SC: "It was memorable.")
Use your skills to execute second-to-none.
(SC: "Your vocals were impeccable.")

These three pieces of GREAT advice. They make a great "yardstick" for our own efforts to present ourselves, our work, and our businesses.

Cheers!

Lessons from the TALENTED: Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle

2009-04-18T18:30:59-07:00

The Internet has been a buzz over two exceptional talents: Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle. What can we learn from them about how important it is for us to develop an openness to see and experience DIFFERENCES DIFFERENTLY? What can these two talents teach us about ourselves?

First, Adam Lambert has taken the American Idol competition by storm amidst an impressive group of this year's AI candidates. Regardless of who you may be rooting for, it is hard to deny that Adam has in fact elevated Season 8 of this popular show to a whole new level with a incredible combo of voice + artistry with his sure-to-dazzle-the-audience performances each week. This doesn't take away from the "talent factor" of other performers. They are all terrific. Adam Lambert is just bringing a unique portfolio of skills and using it...every bit of it. Reportedly, nothing he is doing is left to chance, "My personal strategy with the week to week thing, ...I know I did well this week and so I'm setting the bar higher. How am I going to top that?' (KSFM interview) Ask yourself, When is the last time you asked that question after a long week at work?

His performance of "Mad World" brought Simon Cowell, the audience, and people (including me :-) across the world to their feet to cheer the second-to-none experience of watching "a new star" be born before our eyes, the likes we've not seen recently. It's not just the usual favorite "Idol" fixation either. Adam's many dimensions of DIFFERENCE drive people wild, bringing both the highest praise and not so uncommon controversy. If you've not seen him in action creatively cascading his capacity for artistic interpretation brought to life, check these out performances (Oh, go ahead...brave it; take a peek at something new and different): Black Or White Play that Funky Music Mad World Tracks of My Tears Born To Be Wild (Easy Rider).

It's funny to watch us want to put our familiar labels on him in an effort to explain what we are seeing in him, instead of savoring what makes Adam Lambert unique. One's generational perspective seems to shape whether the stretch is to compare him to Zac Efron or Elivs. The Legendary singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka recently commented that he thinks Adam can take it all the way: "Adam is like a young Elvis, isn't he?" What's exciting is his broad appeal --- hmmm! here I am writing about him. The joy many feel about what Adam Lambert is giving us each week is fun to follow and personally experience. I admit, the kids in my life got me hooked on American Idol years ago and Adam has added a whole new element to it.

However, high performance that is resetting the standard rarely comes without some criticism in a world that values sameness. As we experience in day-to-day life, whether you're talking about your workplace, business, organizational life, music or society everywhere, high performing individuals seem to bring out a mean-spiritedness in some people --- maybe it's envy; maybe it's fear; maybe it's about them --- imagine that such brilliance, imagination, determination, raw, passionate talent can result in hate talk. We certainly witnessed it during the U.S. election, as an example and that excellence prevails. YEAH! The old behavior, still very present, begs the question, "what are we so afraid of when someone isn't just like us?" Now, there's a question worthy of our self-examination!

A similar reaction to DIFFERENCE in age and look with a kind of expected preconceived prejudice came out when Susan Boyle hit the stage on Britain's Got Talent. Simon Cowell, the other judges, and the audience seemed to find subtle (and not so subtle ways) to heckle Susan Boyle as she dared to share her dream to be an aspiring singing star at nearly 50 and saw "the door opening." With her far-too-long hidden talent, she has blown away millions of people around the world with her gift of VOICE. She showed us!!! Drove us to tears. ...and did you notice that once we're personally touched by someone DIFFERENT, all the barriers fall away? Nice!

LESSONS to LEARN from TOP TALENT
Perhaps this leads us to question our own REACTIONS to DIFFERENCE and take in what we might learn from Adam Lambert, Susan Boyle, and others who have believed in their dreams enough to risk it all... Here are two compelling lessons to take away and apply to your own life, work, and organizations:

Lesson 1: INNOVATION IS FUELED WHEN YOU USE YOUR WHOLE "TOOLBOX"
Interestingly, as I've read Adam Lambert's story, listened to his interviews, heard his parents reflect on his life, and watched him, it brought up the wisdom of Peter F. Drucker, the father of modern management. He wrote in The Post Capitalist Society, "Most of us, (perhaps all of us) know many times more than we put to use. We do not mobilize the multiple knowledges we possess. We do not use knowledges as part of one toolbox." Adam Lambert is one of the best examples I've seen in a long while of someone who has opened his carefully crafted "toolbox" at American Idol --- a collection which has been developed through years of passionately pursuing his dream since he was 10 years old --- built by hard work, struggle, risk-taking, triumphs, defeats, and resolute belief. He is showing all of us how to put our whole "toolbox" to use as he accumulates his masterful collection of performances. He describes his strategy this way: "I don't become a one-trick pony." My boss at IBM years ago coached me in a similar way about distinguishing oneself as a leader and innovator. He said, "You got to demonstrate over and over that you can 'change your spots.'"

Lesson 2: DIFFERENCES ARE ESSENTIAL TO INNOVATION
Unless things change; they stay the same. There is a truism I learned along the way. Both Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle prove this one. If you keep listening to the same ol' people, singing the same ol' songs, in the same ol' way, having taken the same ol' route to get there, you'll get something similar to what you already have. If you want to discover something new and different, you have to be open to someone emerging that breaks up the sameness. Once in a while, someone shows up to share their many dimensions of difference, and when we are open to it, they lift us up to see the things from a new perspective.

In my book, Putting Our Differences to Work: The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance, there is a compelling case for us to learn to see and experience DIFFERENCES DIFFERENTLY, because it is at the intersection of differences where you'll find a rich source of INNOVATION. I also define Five Distinctive Qualities of Leadership to add to your personal portfolio if you want to develop a mastery for recognizing, appreciating, developing, engaging, and utilizing TOP TALENT. These aren't TRAITS. QUALITIES are different; they ask more from us. They don't come from worldly rules; instead they emerge from a resolute mix of VALUES and INTENTION.

The graphic above is the DIMENSIONS of DIFFERENCE wheel from my book. It helped me see how many differences each of us brings to any situation and it creates a mirror of what happens when all the DIFFERENCES are consciously made part of our distinctive "toolbox." We've all got lots of great stuff we overlooked and under-valued for a long time. We need to begin seeing ourselves and others with a powerful wide-angle lens without diminishing what makes us unique and different.

At this critical time in history, the world would benefit if we could: 1) develop a genuine curiosity about others; 2) elevate the importance of not just what we have in common, but also what we bring that is unique and different; 3). strive for mastery for putting our differences to work. We need to break old habits of hatefulness and envy --- and replace these detractors with an openness for what's new and maybe never seen before, even when it means we have to clear the way for others to walk ahead in the spotlight to lead the way. We have to see the good in others, so we can bring out the best in ourselves from what they teach us. Imagine the difference we could make in creating a better world than we know today.

So to Adam Lambert and Susan Boyle, I am grateful you showed up on my path. You've been in my thoughts and I am so happy to have learned from your example. May your individual journeys be blessed!

Welcome the unexpected...
Watch for the uncharted path that bears your name.
Lead the way!

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work (Berrett-Koehler 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker

MAY 19 - ONLINE DIALOGUE - You're Invited!
CONNECTING for Success in Hard Times
How can Business and Social Networking help you deliver a renewed PERSONAL BRAND, REINVENT how you present your work to others, and open up opportunities for COLLABORATION and INNOVATION? Join us to learn how. REGISTER at http://tinyurl.com/MAY19dialogue (NOTE: Allow a few seconds for the URL to open). No fees, but registration is required, so we can send the login information.

VIRTUAL SPACE: The POWER of CONNECTING

2009-04-12T13:20:08-07:00

I admit it, I am still coming down from our across-the-world INNOVATING in HARD TIMES online dialogue last week with futurist Joel Barker and the well over 425 innovators and leaders that showed up. IMAGINE all those differences coming together to explore one another's NEW IDEAS. Most of all, it was truly an example of seizing the power of the Internet. Every time I host one of our online gatherings, I am mesmerized once again by what takes place in virtual space when we meet somewhere between YOU and ME. If you've not done much of it, I encourage you to reserve your judgment. If you've only done it in the typical "login and mute" approach, you haven't truly experienced what can happen in a meaningful, interactive conversation. We keep trying to perfect this possibility. So many people seem quick to say, "I'm just not into it --- face-to-face is the only way for me." I agree it's not a replacement for direct human contact, but in meeting in virtual space for over a decade, I continue to realize how powerful it is in creating a unique form of communication that in some ways breaks down barriers that commonly separate us in a physical space. Consider these...

1. What you look like doesn't matter. All those judgments we commonly pass about one another at first meetings in physical space ---the ones that result in us perhaps never saying hello --- just don't exist. You have a choice of being heard and not seen. Being included is a great feeling. You can hear it, sense it, and experience it in virtual space amazingly faster, better, and sometimes in a most meaningful way that would never happen in a conference room.

2. Who you are becomes what you contribute. Everyone meets on a virtual common ground and there seems to be a natural curiosity about whose with you and what they think. Everyone has a chance to share their points of view in some unique way, spoken and unspoken. Nice!

3. Where you are can be anywhere. ...and discovering all the different places in the process becomes our first group connection. There are no borders, no socio-economic classes, no airline tickets, no timezone to keep away if you want to be there, no preconceived notions and beliefs or fears to separate us. In some ways, these unknown DIFFERENCES are somewhat titillating to uncover or just imagine.

REFLECTIONS from OTHERS

At the end of our online gathering, we provided several ways for people to share their reflections on what they gained from the experience. Some wrote on a "writing wall." It was touching seeing not only English, but that people felt welcome write in their own languages --- including Spanish, French, Hindi, German, Chichewa-African language.

It was particularly moving to hear how and what others experienced. A man named PETER from Mexico shared this personal experience that seemed to speak for us all:

LISTEN IN... [2:45 | mp3]
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/MAR31-Peter-Mexico.mp3

Some took time to take a REFLECTIONS survey that gave each participant their own personal canvas to paint a word picture of what they saw and experienced by showing up. We all left with a promise to meet again.

Want to join us next time? You're invited! Go here and sign up... We welcome you!
http://www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com/dialogues

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work(Berrett-Koehler 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker

Learn more about Joel Barker's new 2009 film release, INNOVATION at the VERGE at
www.innovationattheverge.com .

HARD TIMES: Claiming Your WINGS

2009-03-26T23:04:18-07:00

There are so many reasons to be bummed at the current state of things. Each day, even with signs of HOPE and RECOVERY peeking through, there is also the corresponding news of lay-offs and businesses on the fence struggling earnestly to make it...and the individual toll is heart-breaking. It came to me that there might be some value in calling upon collective wisdom from others who have survived "HARD TIMES". What could we learn from them? How could what they did, somehow free us? Perhaps, it would help us change our perspective a bit, rev up our courage to a new level so we could "claim our wings," and help lead the way out of this mess. Here are three inspiring perspectives to consider...

IN ANOTHER HARD TIME
When I worked at IBM, I remember when the idea of layoffs was first introduced. It was the first time since the great depression that the the word had ever been mentioned as a possibility at IBM. So none of us had ever known the experience in our lifetimes. It was the beginning of what would become a trend in many businesses. I remember it carrying with it a similar sadness to what is with us today. Before the change was over, thousands were caught in the layoffs as IBM struggled to reinvent itself. Our company coffee shops were filled with grumpy, scared people; morale was low. I remember one of my most admired mentors asking a compelling question one day that gave me a jolt, "How do we 'jump this curve' and lead the way." He reminded us that we had an opportunity to shape a new and different future. At the same time, futurist Joel Barker shared a great thought in one of his films that pushed me out of "the coffee shop" to take a big leap of faith --- He said, "You can and should shape your own future, because if you don't someone else surely will." This is wisdom that can be applied not only to our jobs, our businesses and our lives --- but also our nations and the world. The future rests in our hands. I want to add that I remain grateful to IBM for being the catalyst for "claiming my wings" and for all I learned in my rewarding leadership career with them that prepared me to fly. It was that extra courage that emerged when the fear was deep that turned the perceived "closed doors" into "open pathways" where I could "claim my wings" for an unexpected period of growth and renewal. I've never been sorry I took the chance.

LEARNING FROM SURVIVORS
Interestingly, just before I left IBM, we used one of Joel Barker's films called, the POWER OF VISION. In it, he had a segment filmed at Auschwitz. He shared the story told by Viktor Frankl in his classic, Man's Search for Meaning. Among the wisdom and account of Dr. Frankl's "lessons learned" were the qualities of those individuals who survived the Holocaust. He shared that the people who survived had a positive vision of the future and believed they had something significant left to do. I remember how this perspective helped many of us work our way through the changes at IBM and its implications on our own work and lives. A few years back, I included this film segment in a Viktor Frankl exhibit at the Global Dialogue Center KNOWLEDGE GALLERY. I encourage you to take few minutes to get inspired. (Scroll down when you get there. NOTE: The film link is right under the visual self-learning exhibit.

One of the important messages Viktor Frankl left for us is an invitation for all of us. He wrote:

"Everything can be taken from a man but...the last of human freedoms
---to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's way."

CLAIMING YOUR WINGS
I have a cherished book that I've read over and over again by Emmet Fox. One of my favorite writings in it is "Claiming Your Wings." I wonder if in both an individual and collective way, we are being called to do just this at this time in history. Imagine this possibility and its positive implications if we all dared to do it in our own ways. Imagine what we could do together powered by personal leadership at every level of business and society to create the change we so badly need. See what you think...

Emmet Fox told this story...
"To me the butterfly teaches the most important lesson that we human beings ever have to learn. You all know his story. He lived what seemed to him a very long time as a worm---what we call the humble caterpillar. Now the life of a caterpillar could be taken as the very type and symbol of restriction. He lives on a green leaf in the forest, and that is about all he knows.

Then one day the little caterpillar finds certain strange stirrings going on within himself. The old green leaf, for some reason, no longer seems sufficient. He becomes moody and discontent. He feels the need for a bigger, finer, and more interesting life. His instinct tells him that where there is true desire there must be fulfillment.

And so the wonderful thing happens: the butterfly emerges beautiful, graceful, now endowed with wings, and instead of crawling about on a restricted leaf, he soars above the trees, above the forest itself---free, unrestricted, his own True Self."

What about you?
What do you think?
Do you have an inspiring story or insight to share?

Best...
Debbe

Debbe Kennedy

founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work(Berrett-Koehler 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker

ONLINE EVENT: You're Invited!
MARCH 31
"INNOVATING in HARD TIMES"
...a global conversation with futurist and filmmaker Joel A. Barker
1:00 pm ET - 2:30 pm ET (10:00 am PT - 11:30 PT)
No fees. Registration required. Login/audio sent via email.
We expect it to be widely attended based on registration.
Hope you can join us!
INVITATION and REGISTRATION

RECOLLECTION: LIFE without LETTUCE

2009-03-15T18:58:52-07:00

[RELATED: Online dialogue below MAR 31-Futurist Joel Barker] Some of us seem to be stuck. Paralyzed by all that is being dismantled, changed forever perhaps. I also feel the JOLT that comes when one realizes that it UP TO US to come together and generate the CHANGE that is needed. "Get to work. Your work is to keep cranking the flywheel that turns the gears that spin the belt in the engine of BELIEF that keep you and your desk in midair." ---Annie Dillard. My first recollection of experiencing my "desk in midair" came about in Anchorage, Alaska. Imagine that...I told this story in my book, Putting Our Differences to Work, because it was there I first realized the power in the act of convening a team that could "crank the flywheel" second-to-none.

It was my first year as a new manager at IBM. How I got there was a story all its own that sets the stage. I had a hip, metropolitan life in Los Angeles, California, where I worked at IBM’s landmark high-rise on Wilshire Boulevard. I had been with IBM for five years at the time. I visited Alaska on vacation late that summer and stopped by the IBM office. To my surprise, they offered me a job. In what seemed a flash, I accepted and boldly moved to what seemed, at the time, a foreign land: Anchorage, Alaska, a new business frontier.

I arrived in the dead of winter. I worked in IBM’s shoddy two-story building with old rusted-out desks and a broken elevator. The view from my new office was a far cry from the bustle of the well-groomed business district I was used to in L.A. Instead, it was a landscape devoid of any colors, except brown and white. It became an ever-present symbol of the drastic change before me. On my desk I kept my welcoming gift, a local book entitled Life without Lettuce. It was different all right—a pioneering journey of sorts. The job called upon me to adapt fast, be flexible, focused, and get fired up in this new uncharted territory.

In a short time, in stark contrast to the exterior brown and white landscape, I felt a vibrant energy inside this uncommon workplace. It was fun and full of life with a cast of characters you would never imagine working side by side. Because most of us had been imported from other places, we had no families nearby. It was indeed a melting pot.

We enjoyed the rewards of being the top revenue-producing office in the country in our division; topping all the charts, and getting lots of attention. In a short time, I was promoted to my first manager job, which put me among the first women managers at IBM in the northwest United States. The leadership team that I joined consisted of all men—most of whom could be described as the rough, gruff, rugged, earthy, bush pilot types. After just four hours as a manager, we were all summoned into a makeshift conference room. The “big boss” from the “lower 48” had flown into town unannounced, and he didn’t look happy. He was the last to enter the room. I still remember how he slammed the door shut, and I recall his exact
words: “All indications are that this is a failed corporate audit.” The news shocked me. It was the first time I realized it was possible to be one of the best offices and also one of the most out of control and not realize it. Our mission was then explained: we were to turn the place around if we were
all to survive.

Survive we did—in a big way. We involved everyone. Many of us were called to work outside the comfort zones of our own jobs. We tapped into our differences, creatively calling upon diverse thinking styles, problem-solving skills, cultural knowledge, and even expertise in traveling to remote villages.
For the most complex issues, we hand-picked the people on the team with a track record for knowing how to solve problems, instead of simply relying on our obvious experts who might be blinded by their own processes and methods, some of which had proven faulty in the audit. Top salesmen teamed
with our all-women accounts receivable staff to use their clout, influence, and charm to collect huge sums of money long past due. Our rough and rugged “bush pilots,” familiar with the cultures in the back country of Alaska, partnered with sales and service, hopping in their planes to solve problems at remote customer sites. Technical support people aided those in charge of security to figure out how to better secure the building and the company’s assets. Administrative assistants were turned into analysts, responsible for establishing new business controls. I can still see our branch manager sitting in the “bullpen,” answering phones when it was necessary. In a matter of months, with a lot of hard work, we were not only a top revenue-producing office but also one of the top operating organizations. Our team was recognized for its dedication to mission and innovative approach; our heroes were rewarded.

I'm imagining you might have a similar story to tell. I wonder if the answers we seek to how to "crank the flywheel that turns the gears that spin the belt in the engine of BELIEF that keep you and your desk in midair" reside in what we already have experience --- what we know and have forgotten. If we put our heads together I wonder if the answers are there to heal our organizations, our communities, and the world ---- even ourselves? What do you think?

RELATED ONLINE DIALOGUE - No Fees:
"INNOVATING in HARD TIMES" A Conversation with Futurist Joel A. Barker
March 31 1:00 - 2:30 pm ET (New York) - 10:00-11:30 am PT
Informal virtual break follows
No fees | Registration required; Login info emailed to you.
Learn more and register to join this global conversation...
http://tinyurl.com/MAR31joelbarkerDIALOGUE

Hope you can be with us!

Best...
Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work(Berrett-Koehler 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker

Learn more about my Economic Conversation Series
www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com/dialogues

INNOVATING in HARD TIMES with Joel Barker, Futurist

2009-02-24T17:10:57-08:00

MARCH 31 Joel A. Barker, futurist, filmmaker, and bestselling author will join me for an ONLINE dialogue to explore INNOVATING in Hard Times at the Global Dialogue Center ONLINE Conference Center. You're invited! No FEES. Details below.

Economic Conversation Series
"A Conversation with Futurist, Joel A. Barker:
INNOVATING in Hard Times"

As we continue to experience this time of CHANGE, CRISIS, and OPPORTUNITY, Joel Barker affirms that INNOVATION is essential to create a better future. On March 31, Joel is joining me for a personal conversation with YOU about a new way to find INNOVATIONS at a special place he calls "the verge."
Learn how innovating at the verge opens new opportunity.

Learn what others are doing to forge new frontiers.
Share your thinking; ask questions; explore new ideas.
Learn what you can do be become a better leader of verge innovations.
Learn about a rich place for INNOVATION that can be a source for transforming
your work, business, community, and our world.
In preparation for our conversation, watch the video trailer online of Joel's new 2009 film... http://www.innovationattheverge.com

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. PT (1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET)
Informal "Virtual Break" follows for personal conversation

SEE ONLINE INVITATION for more information

How to REGISTER to attend: click here or below:

https://www.livemeeting.com/lrs/0000011799/Registration.aspx?pageName=4spz7z4fxhkjbpcj

Allow a few seconds for link to come up.
No Fees. Registration required, so we can send you login information.

Hope you can join us!

Best...
Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work(Berrett-Koehler 2008)
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker

HARD TIMES: Gifts of INSIGHT

2009-02-14T17:23:18-08:00

As we all debate the this and that about the "economic stimulus," it is stimulating us. Some notable benefits of this time of crisis seem to be blossoming. Perhaps, in our worry and fret, we are beginning to see one another in more meaningful ways. We are listening more. Learning from what we already know. Perhaps, we are beginning to see the possibilities in exercising the dominion we've been granted over our existence. One example is there continues to be signs that show the resiliency and power of our human spirit to reach out and help someone else. I see this in the monthly online gatherings I've been holding. Last week, 57 people from across the U.S. and from eight countries showed up to share their "gifts of insight." (Recorded program here).

Some people want to attend, but with work and other conflicts have to wait to listen in to the recording. So it was for Bill Tipton, author of the blog, Dialogues with Bill: Life and Work with a Disability. First, it seems important to share that Bill comes to our Economic Conversation Series with a special outlook. He has seen hard times. Real hard times. He has reinvented himself against the worst odds, so there is much to learn from his insight about how to adjust one's life at the threshold of both crisis and opportunity.

Just a few years back, Bill went to the emergency room with a pain in his stomach and came out of the hospital months later completely blind and not being able to walk. Through sheer determination and grit, today he walks and also contributes on a whole new level both inside and outside his work as a Project Manager at Hewlett Packard. He wears the badge of honor for being "Employee of the Year in 2007" on a national scale and is one of our most admired contributing bloggers at the Global Dialogue Center.

Bill wrote me yesterday after listening to the recorded session of our dialogue this week. I wanted to share what he heard --- his take-aways --- his gifts of insight:

Learnings and Renewal of My Beliefs
from the Tuesday DIALOGUE
by Bill Tipton

• Find new meaning in your life and work.

•Try to learn something from your difficulties (Victor Frankl Story).

• Discover what you really want, do the research, and go after it!

• Focus on what you can do well when going after new opportunities; go to your "tool kit" to create your new opportunities ... what do I know that I can apply to this new opportunity.

• When in crisis, try something new.

• Remember, crisis is an opportunity.

• It is fine to ask for help.

Bill's main take-away...
Never ever give up. Accept crisis as another new beginning and opportunity, no matter how painful, challenging and emotionally hurtful and taxing the challenge is on your body and soul.

Wanna listen in? http://www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com/dialogues-library.html
Learn more about attending... http://www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com/dialogues.html

NEXT DIALOGUE: March 31 with Joel Barker, Futurist and Filmmaker joins me to teach us how to discover the new innovations at a new place he calls "the verge." Learn more about his new film at www.innovationattheverge.com

Thanks, Bill... You said it all. The experience again shows what happens when we put our differences to work for the good of all.

With gratitude...

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review by futurist Joel A. Barker

Engaging People One Dialogue at a Time

2009-02-07T15:54:27-08:00

In every direction we look, we are reminded that we have pressing problems to solve as the pioneers of the twenty-first century. The urgency is sounding with a constant and quickening drumbeat. What we know for sure is that bombs and bluster, military might and an economic consciousness built on a greedy disregard for others will not bring the solutions we need. As we clamor to discover the next theoretical approach or to unveil the results of still another study, or reach further than we ever imagined to weave the power of technology into all aspects of our existence, there is great wisdom that we need to be sure we consciously include in the mix, creating a powerhouse collaboration of past, present, and future.

One such example is what we’ve learned about dialogue and its potential to solve problems and generate the new ideas that will fuel innovation. History is replete with leaders, who by their example, shared wisdom, and influence have taught us about the profound power of dialogue in engaging people to bring about change. Plato in his Allegory of the Cave in the Republic (Waterfield, 1993) told us it isn’t easy and that engaging people requires a special kind of leadership mastery for working in the dark in order for people to trust enough in themselves to come out into the light. So it is with other great thought-leaders, philosophers, prophets, and sages. In their own way, they seemed to consciously build the wisdom of dialogue into their new thinking and strategies for change, using unique and different ways to touch and connect with people. Here are three examples of how leaders have spread their messages—by example; with precision; through a rippling influence across time.

One such example is what we’ve learned about dialogue and its potential to solve problems and generate the new ideas that will fuel innovation. History is replete with leaders, who by their example, shared wisdom, and influence have taught us about the profound power of dialogue in engaging people to bring about change. Plato in his "Allegory of the Cave" in the Republic (Waterfield, 1993) told us it isn’t easy and that engaging people requires a special kind of leadership mastery for "working in the dark" in order for people to trust enough in themselves to come out into the light. So it is with other great thought-leaders, philosophers, prophets, and sages. In their own way, they seemed to consciously build the wisdom of dialogue into their new thinking and strategies for change, using unique and different ways to touch and connect with people. Here are three examples from history that show how leaders have spread their messages—by example; with precision; through a rippling influence across time:

Mahatma Gandhi’s Life:

Gandhi’s famous Dandi March became a dialogue with a nation. He connected with people by inviting them to experience the force of change with him, finding a symbolic common denominator between rich and poor: salt—and by making his life the ongoing day-to-day message to the people. (Dandavate, 2005; Gandhi, 1999).

John F. Kennedy’s Clarity: It took the mentoring of Dr. Oguchi Nkwocha, M.D., an Igbo visionary from Biafra in south-eastern Nigeria, for me to realize the deeper meaning in U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s now famous vision to go to the moon. (Kennedy, 2008) “...I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." Dr. Nkwocha pointed out that there was more to President Kennedy engaging our nation in the goal. When it was realized just eight years later, it demonstrated that Kennedy through his leadership vision had“snatched from a time 50 years in the future” according to worldly standards. He also noted the power of Kennedy’s form of dialogue with the people—the clarity of one sentence; thirty-one words; two or three lines of text.

Mother Teresa’s Whisper Across Time: On a day when the frustration of bureaucracy had reached its peak, I walked into a card shop to cool my impatience only to be tugged by the words on a card on the bottom row. It was Mother Teresa whispering across time with an open invitation of another kind,“Don’t wait for the leaders. Do it alone. Person-to-person.” It changed the premise of all my work.
To prove how leadership wisdom has been passed down for yourself, consider the leaders who have influenced your life, the famous, and perhaps the great unknowns, that crossed your path. I am certain if we could share our stories, we would discover each used their unique leadership qualities to invite us into the process through some form of conversation that connected us, built trust, and common ground with others – sometimes with words; sometimes by example in a gathering of many; often moving us into action through their belief in possibilities, one conversation at a time, person to person. King Hussein bin Talal of Jordon once described the kind of miracle that takes place from his experience of bringing people together:

“We decided on a dialogue between our people...I often witnessed the wonderful discovery that occurs when people suddenly realize that they are the same, that their problems are the same, that their fears are the same, that their hopes are the same, that their aspirations are the same.”

Today there are a mounting number of impressive studies springing up that confirm that it isn’t just good for us to talk with one another in order to find common ground. Compelling practical reasons for working together more effectively across many dimensions of difference are also coming into the light. The conclusion: Organizations and individuals all over the world are discovering that putting our differences to work is the most powerful accelerator for generating new ideas, creating innovative solutions, executing organizational strategies, and engaging everyone in the process. For clarity, let me use the summary findings of my long-time collaborator, futurist Joel A. Barker, documented in his film Wealth, Innovation & Diversity (Barker, 2000), “Societies and organizations that most creatively incorporate diversity will reap the rewards of innovation, growth, wealth, and progress.”

This is what I wrote in an article entitled, Open Invitations, in the Integral Leadership Review. Read full text with a documented "field study." These thoughts were again were validated in the present day when we witnessed inauguration day on January 20 in the United States and around the world. This time, it went beyond President Barack Obama's message, together with him, we proved the power of a collective dialogue. The experience stopped the world for a moment and brought millions of us together in a thoughtfully woven tapestry of differences in the peace and harmony we so often talk about, but rarely get to see.

What I see in each example is that there is a great power in feeling INCLUDED. When we do there is nothing that transforms each of us into our highest potential faster and better.

Your thoughts? Would love to hear from you.

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance
YouTube Book Review

Collage by Bay Area Artist, Sally K. Green. See her exhibit online at the KNOWLEDGE GALLERY at the Global Dialogue Center

You're Invited! FEB 10 Economic Conversation Series

2009-01-22T12:49:32-08:00

We stand at a threshold that is characterized by CHANGE, UNCERTAINTY, HOPE and OPPORTUNITY. With a new call for our personal leadershipand the continued economic crisis touching all of us, we are continuing our "what you can do" online economy conversation series focused on YOU. These unique interactive action-directed conversations are held had my Putting Our Differences to Work Center for Dialogue at the Global Dialogue Center's Online Conference Center.

Economy Conversation Series:
"2009 NEXT STEPS:
Sharing Methods of RENEWING Ourselves"

Key Questions Up for Discussion:
How can you make UNCERTAINTY, CRISIS, and a NEW CALL for personal leadership
a catalyst for growth and renewal and increased contribution?

How can you make sure you use this groundbreaking time
to ensure you are ready to bring your best VALUE
to your organization, family, community, and the world
through a commitment to change and grow?

What can we learn from each other's unique "methods of RENEWAL"
so we can take lessons home to tailor for our own success and contributions?

GUEST THOUGHT-LEADER Co-Host:
My guest co-host will be Emily J. Duncan, a contributing thought-leader at the Global Dialogue Center and our Putting Our Differences to Work DIALOGUES. Emily is the former Vice President of Culture and Diversity, Hewlett Packard and president, Emily Duncan Consulting.

WHEN:
Tuesday, FEB 10
10:00 a.m. - 11:30 am PT (1:00 p.m. - 2:30 pm ET)

REGISTER HERE:
No fees; but registration required so we can send login details. Click on this link...
https://www120.livemeeting.com/lrs/0000011799/Registration.aspx?pageName=7zfs4ltz4xwqm7c4

WHERE:
Online at my Putting Our Differences to Work Center for Dialogue at the Global Dialogue Center...

Hope you can join us to learn from great minds around the world!

Best...
Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work

INNOVATION, ECONOMIC LEADERSHIP & DIFFERENCES Unite

2009-01-11T17:16:20-08:00

"INNOVATION is the source of economic leadership and the foundation for competitiveness in a global economy," says Joel Baker, futurist and filmmaker, in a new video book review and primer about Putting Our Differences to Work: The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership, and High Performance. View the video now at this link: www.globaldialoguecenter.com/audio-selected/Debbie-Book-Promo2a.wmv (plays on Windows Media Player). Joel goes on to remind all of us of an important truth about our capability: "...We’ve been very good at innovation in the past, but we’re learning that economic leadership can emerge from anyone, any group anywhere in the world, that is innovative." This is good news for you and me! ---- and at this time of economic crisis and opportunity, it is a call-to-action for innovators worldwide to UNITE.

Joel Barker is well-known around the world for introducing the concept of "the paradigm shift" to the business sector in his bestselling book and film, Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future. On January 30, Joel Barker will release a new landmark film, Innovation at the Verge (link includes trailer of the new film ).

I am deeply honored to have my book and our work at Leadership Solutions Companies mentioned in the film, as well as, being so pleased to share the video Joel Barker created to talk further about my book, Putting Our Differences to Work as a tool for leaders to apply his concepts for innovating at the verge with their teams and organizations.

What Debbe Kennedy has done in her book is to bring together three key elements to make anyone who reads it a better leader... --- Joel Barker   (see book review video)

Additionally, Joel Barker and I wrote two chapters in Putting Our Differences to Work exploring the verge idea and chronicling our independent and collective practical experiments: Chapter 10 - Innovation at the Verge of Differences and Chapter 11: Collaboration at the Verge of Differences.

The time for change has come!
It is clear that all of us must fundamentally change the way we think, behave, and operate as leaders --- especially the way we see and value our differences, because as you will learn in both the book and new film, it is at the intersections of our differences where the richest ground for innovation exists.

I invite you to join me, Joel Barker, and leaders and innovators around the world as we forge a new path for the twenty-first century that is marked by the mastery of us working together to discover the new innovations that will create a better world than we know today.

Looking forward to hearing from YOU!
Scroll down to see additional resources below to support your work.

Best...
Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
founder, Global Dialogue Center
and Leadership Solutions Companies
author, Putting Our Differences to Work

THREE NEW RESOURCES TO SUPPORT YOUR WORK
at the Global Dialogue Center

Visit and sign-up for Joel Barker's GOOD NEWS Blog about positive things happening around the world for children, parents, teachers, and all of us.
Visit and sign-up for Joel Barker's INNOVATION AT THE VERGE Blog with new examples and commentary on Joel's ongoing work on this paradigm shift in discovering innovations at the verge of differences in people, organizations, and our world.
Putting Our Differences to Work DIALOGUES... online virtual global conversations held at the Global Dialogue Center CONFERENCE CENTER on timely topics, top thought-leaders, and time for conversation and practice at putting our differences to work.

Putting Our Differences to Work
The Fastest Way to Innovation, Leadership and High Performance
by Debbe Kennedy ▪ Berrett-Koehler ▪ June 2008 – Hardcover

ORDER a copy at AMAZON.COM

Putting Our Differences to Work was selected as as among
"the very top business books" by BUSINESS BOOK REVIEW

Also available in DIGITAL DOWNLOADat Berrett-Koehler