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SMALL—FAST—and WRITTEN WHEN THE MOOD STRIKES.
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So here’s the deal: I offer work-life balance programs. So call us at 949-496-8640 and let’s see how I might help your organization!
Update From Eileen
I was speaking with a bureau partner last night. As we concluded our business, she heaved a sigh and said, “I am so ready to caress spring when it finally comes to the mountains.”
Caress spring! Imagine, holding this season in your arms, stroking the soft green that’s barely peeping out of the earth, feeling the not-quite warm air blowing across your face. It’s all about anticipation, new life, and a turn from the cold of winter into the promise of summer. It’s all about hope.
Pretty apropos for these times. While we continue to hear, read, and see the gloom, greed and gluttony that globally encircles us, I think there is a hope. Mine was renewed on March 17 when Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison introduced a bill to honor the Women Air Force Service Pilots of WWII with the Congressional Gold Medal.
Few know that in WWII, women aviators paid their way to an airbase for the privilege of earning the same silver wings as the Air Force cadets. To take the place of male pilots needed for overseas assignments, the WASP, as they were called, would fly 60 million air miles of domestic military duty, flying everything from the fastest fighters to the heaviest bombers. Few know that 38 died in the course of duty but because they were not official “military”. There were no benefits. Few know that when they were disbanded just prior to the end of WWII, women would not be allowed back in the cockpits of military planes until the late 1970s.
For thirty years, the WASP kept the faith. They hoped for spring. I know. My 93 year old mother was a WASP. She’s one of the few remaining of the original 1074 women who wore those tiny silver wings. She couldn’t travel to the final WASP reunion this past September. But I could tell her about listening to Major Nicole Malachowski, the first female Thunderbird pilot give credit to the WASP for breaking the skies open for all women.
On March 17, Mom watched CSPAN and heard Major Malachowski say, “I am convinced every opportunity I’ve been afforded–from flying combat patrols in the skies over Iraq, to the honor of being a USAF Thunderbird, to representing the military as a Fellow–is because of these pioneering women. There couldn’t be a more principled use of time and effort than seeking the Congressional Gold Medal for my personal heroines, the courageous WASP of WWII.”
Now, some 60 years later, Congress has the opportunity to break new ground just as it did in awarding this prestigious medal to the Tuskegee Airmen and the Navaho Code Talkers.
Will you join me in writing or calling your representatives in Congress and asking their support for bill S-614 to bestow the Congressional Gold Medal on the WASP of WWII.
I sure do thank you!
Hope does SPRING eternal.
Innovation Requires TRUST and TALK
I am fascinated by an October 2008 article in Harvard Business Review in which leading creativity researchers Teresa Amabile and Mukti Khaire state that most innovation seems to come from the bottom up. They cite the example of innovation at Google that tracks the progress of ideas backed by organizational leaders versus those developed down line. The authors expressed surprise that ideas that surfaced from “below” actually had a higher success rate.
No surprise for those of us who work in organizations. Just by the very nature of many organizations, leaders work with the larger strategic picture. Innovative ideas that come from employees who have hands-on interaction with customers, daily operations, and corporate practices have a greater chance of success by the nature of proximity to the work.
Here’s the rub: it requires leaders to manage for creativity. This means shaping a culture to encourage conversation across all levels, collaboration across disciplines and backgrounds, and courage to speak about sacred cows and wasted effort.
Such a culture is one that values truth. And truth requires trust.
Test your truth quotient. What would people say about you– truthfully:
(1) I keep my word.
(2) I’m known as someone who can listen with both my head as well as my heart.
(3) I believe in developing and helping others succeed.
(4) I am not afraid to admit to mistakes.
(5) I encourage feedback that is truthful without being harmful.
(6) I encourage open feedback about my behavior and can listen non-defensively.
(7) I can juggle the demands for risk-taking with financial prudence, looking at the long term versus the short term.
(8) I believe I am constantly learning and evolving.
(9) I can bring teams together, working with shared goals and clear objectives that we all own together.
10) I know more about my teammates than just what is in their resume. Thus, I can help them also work toward personal goals.
So — how did you do? Truthfully? Now, I double-dog-dare you, to ask your team to rate you.
If the results aren’t what you want, it’s time to let me help you create a different culture. And that’s the truth.
Breaking News!
Best Universities rated PLAIN TALK BLOG in their Top 100 Leadership Blogs! Click here to read more about it.
We’re In This Boat Together!
That means it’s all of us or none of us. Listen to these statistics: 36 million Americans are facing hunger and more than 9 million of them are children! And these are 2008 figures!!
Let your imagination figure out what it might be now. Motivation, productivity, and great work are at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy. Can’t get there if people are hungry. My goal is to donate 10% of my fee in the name of each client to Feeding America. Perhaps you will join me in this endeavor or another one that calls to you.
LAUGHTER
It’s the BEST Medicine for CRAZY Times
Heard only in California: “I have the status symbol of the 21st Century – a job.” (Reply to “You went from a Beemer to a Saturn?”)
“Enjoy the movie, kids. That was your college money.” (A forty-something dad paying for a family of six at the movie theater)
“I am so pro-knife.” (Two women discussing their noses at Whole Foods Market)
“I’ll have a tall skinny latte with heavy cream.” (Customer to the cashier at Starbucks in Dana Point)
Seen only in California: the back of an SUV plastered with decals calling for love, peace, harmony and KILL the TELEVISION. Huh??
Something To Think About
“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is a nobler art of leaving things undon– the wisdom of life consists in the elimination of nonessentials.”
- Lin Yutang, Chinese writer and educator
“Nothing can buy you peace but yourself.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you are unable to find tranquility within yourself, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.”
- Anon
“The phrase “working mother” is redundant.”
- Jane Sellman
“Every time I close the door on reality, it comes in through the windows.”
- Jennifer Unlimited
Must Read Books
Scott McKain and I go back a looooong way and I just plain like the way his brain works. None of us can afford to be same-o-same-o. But, how many organizations are? They compete on price or the color of their building. Standing out is no easy trick. In fact, Scott’s book, The Collapse of Distinction, stands out because it comes in three formats for the price of one!
Go to www.thomasnelson.com/nelsonfree
Answer the questions and type in this book’s ISBN 978-1-5955- 5185-6 and you can get an e-book AND an audio version. Now that’s distinctive. Read and reap.
RESILIENT SPIRIT POSTERS!!! FINALLY AVAILABLE FOR On- the-Wall pick me ups.
OK gang, you’ve asked for years about these. We tried out a prototype at a national conference, only to have them snatched up within minutes. Go to this link. Select the ones that you think carry a message you want. The colors are vibrant you can use your imagination if you chose to have them matted before framing. http://www.eileenmcdargh.com/shop_posters.html
Welcome to the McDargh Clan of Clients:
Alberta Health System
Mosaic Corporation
Professional Business Women’s Conference
Overview and Contact Information
Is life leading you instead of you leading a life?
Is work working you instead of you doing the work?
You’re not alone! It’s the challenge of our times.
From business leaders to rank-and-file workers, the competitive 24/7 world of heart-stopping change has left many feeling in need of new tools to answer these questions:
- How do I engage more of my talent and that of the folks around me in meaningful work?
- Why is it that resiliency is a word I think of only with rubber bands?
- Why does it seem that we compete more with each other than the competition?
It’s tough when the rate and pace of work leaves you feeling disconnected, unheard, and certainly not aligned to produce results that matter in the long run.
Then there’s the issue of joy. Flat out joy. You don’t want “work” to become exclusive of play. Leave your spirit and heart at the door, and it’s hard to be creative and productive. You want to be connected with people who respect you and vice versa. You want to do good work— no, make that GREAT work– in the bargain. You want to spend your time in a place that lets your spirit soar and your talent shine. My joy is in helping individuals and organizations rediscover the joy of living and the joy of satisfying work.
If you want results that go well beyond the bottom line—contact us. Since 1980, we’ve been engaging the human spirits of individuals and organizations. Now—it’s your turn.
Call 949-496-8640 or send email eileen@eileenmcdargh.com
McDargh Communications
(949) 496-8640
Eileen@EileenMcDargh.com
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