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Late Autumn Newsletter 2000 (Newsletter Archives)

Update From Eileen

During this pre-winter season of Thanksgiving, I want to give thanks for the angels who appeared around me at the start of November.

Here's the scene. Alaska Airlines ticket counter. I've just rushed in from speaking to Andersen Consulting (now known as Accenture). Boarding pass in hand, I walk to the gate. Actually, I find myself weaving, becoming dizzier and dizzier with each step. By the time I collapse at the gate, I KNOW something is very wrong and hand my business card with my husband's name and phone number written on the back to a couple with whom I had been speaking.

"So someone will know who I am and where I am."

Summary: I become violently ill-repeatedly. The paramedics arrive and call an ambulance. In the ER of a nearby hospital, I have a brain CAT scan, blood work, and a ton of intravenous Benedryl and Valium. I make it home the next day but not without lots of help. Help from strangers and one dear friend.

Strangers:

Laurie and Brian Baker who help me while I am sick. who call and leave messages for my husband. who almost don't board the plane until I wave them off. who check in with me after they arrive.

Bill Walter, the Alaska Airlines superintendent, who sticks with me at the airport. assures me I can get home on another plane. who calls my house three more times to see how I am.

Cindy Calleja, the American Airlines counter rep who calls the paramedics so the Alaska Airlines personnel could continue to board their plane. who insists on coming to the hospital with me so I won't be alone. who takes my health card and serves as my advocate with the ER team. who is a widow of five years with three kids under the age of 12 waiting for her to get back from work!

The ER doctor who assures me that what seems like a stroke (numbness in my feet and a hand that won't move) is really anxiety over the dizziness and nausea. who says negative tests seem to indicate a middle ear infection probably caused by the past heavy two months of flying. who talks to my husband, tells him I should take the train home and smiles back at me, knowing I won't follow those orders.

And my friend:

Vanna Novak, a wonderful National Speakers Association sister who lives in Seattle. who arrives at the ER after a long day's work and takes me to the nearest pharmacy. who tucks me in her guest bed. who turns around and gives up the better part of her Saturday to help me get home.

For all of these people, for health, and for a wonderful family I love, I lift up my hands in praise. At a time when the world seems more than crazy, more than selfish and self-centered, I thought you'd like to know that kindness and the human connection are still alive and well.

Strange New World Brings New Training Trends

Creativity is the watchword for the millennium as evidenced by the fact that innovation training has grown more than 1000 percent in the past 10 years and more than half of North American companies offer it to employees. Consider these examples cited in the book 21st Century Business: Upping the Creativity Quotient:

Employees of some Andersen Consulting offices can go to Chaos and Zen zones to stimulate and incubate data.

Toy maker Hasbro has been using a shamanic consultant to help staff explore intuitive ideas about their work and offers courses based on the teaching of 6th century monk St. Benedict.

A London ad agency has a "womb room" for relaxing and thinking.

Power naps to enhance thinking are already official at Eastman Kodak, Pepsico, IBM and Pizza Hut.

Brainteasers, puzzles and other games are being used to screen job candidates for their creativity quotients.

TREND LETTER reports that in the workplace of the future, creativity, communication and intuition will be more valued than technological skills. That's why classes taught by improvisational theater groups such as Chicago's Second City are gaining new recruits every day.
What are you doing to stimulate your creativity? What programs are being offered? Biggest question: can you extend creativity into how you operate on a daily basis? Now THAT's the true rubber-meets-the-road-test.

Tips for bottom-up change masters

You know the drill: You see what needs to be done and yet you don't have all the clout you need.

The answer: build a coalition.

Louise Kitchen, age 29, head of Enron's 200-person gas-trading business offers this advice:

1. If you are not truly, madly passionate about an opportunity, no one else will be.
2. Co-opt skeptics, don't berate them.
3. Don't get resources through the chain of command. Instead, build a community of people who want to work on "the vision".
4. Even in the most frenetic organizations, people will give time to projects they love.
5. Don't ask for permission. Just make rapid progress and score early wins.

Coaching Energizes Yourself and Others

Getting and keeping good people is part of the challenge in today's tight labor market. Developing those people is a critical piece of the puzzle. Coaching is becoming an increasing valuable tool for expediting the learning process. Here's why:

One-size training does not fit all. Coaching takes into account individual needs and development issues.

Coaching can bring about quantum leaps in performance by helping individuals stay focused and develop targeted skills or behaviors.

Using an external coach can help managers become aware of blind spots that might make it difficult to manage diverse employees.

Coaching can show people how to more effectively handle stress, strike a balance between work and their personal lives, and offer ideas for innovation.

For all of these reasons, plus multiple requests, I have decided to extend Performance Mastery executive coaching to a limited number of clients. The scope and duration of the coaching will vary based upon individual needs. It can include any or all of the following areas: communication skill development (including presentation skills), career development, and work/life balance development.

If you're interested, please call. I'd love to talk with you. Let's get on the same team!

Fun Stuff

Great minds discuss ideas;
Average minds discuss events;
Small minds discuss people.

By the time you've made ends meet, they've moved the ends.

ADULT: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.
CHICKENS: The only animals you eat before they are born and after they are dead. (Yuck!)

Must Read Books

My Grandfather's Blessings, Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.(Penguin Putnam, 2000, $24.95 ISBN 1-57322-150-3)

If you followed my recommendation and read Kitchen Table Wisdom, you'll find this book an essential companion. Her style is both deep and lucid, spiritual and earth-bound with insights gleaned from her Orthodox rabbi grandfather. The stories are brief and rich. Here's just one of her thoughts: "Wisdom lies in engaging the life you have been given as fully and courageously as possible and not letting go until you find the unknown blessing that is in everything."

Global Smarts. The Art of Communicating and Deal Making Anywhere in the World, Sheida Hodge, (Wiley, 2000,$27.95 ISBN 0-471-38246-9)

Sheida is an international entrepreneur and a wonderful cross-cultural trainer who writes from experience. The book is filled with practical tips, eye-opening anecdotes, and in-the-trenches experiences. This is an indispensable resource for anyone doing business in today's global arena.

Welcome To The McDargh Clan

American General Finance
Association of Legal administrators, Regions 4 & 6
MN. Director of Long Term Care
IBM Women's Network
CA. Assoc. of College Stores
CUNA Mutual
Employee Relocation Council
Andersen (Accenture) Consulting Women's Forum
Women's Success Forum

Quote:

"Small service is true service....The daisy, by the shadow that it casts, protects the lingering dewdrop of the sun."
- William Wordsworth

Pass Along The Newsletter—FREE

A couple of clients posed this question to me: "Eileen, how can we get your newsletter in the hands of our employees and management team?"

Great question! Here's the answer. You can send out an e-mail blast, asking if they'd like to receive a BRIEF, practical yet fun e-newsletter four times a year. If they say yes, just have them go to http://www.eileenmcdargh.com and viola! Thanks for asking!

MISSION STATEMENT

McDargh Enterprises—Energizing the Human Spirit since 1980

Our mission is to transform the life of work and the work of your life.

We work with and speak for organizations that want people to create meaningful relationships with all their stakeholders and to develop a resilient leadership capacity for living a life of balance, engagement, productivity, and meaning in a changing world. We value laughter, life-long learning, and leadership through service.

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Testimonials

"I would like to thank you for your keynote speech at our recent videoconference, Meeting Challengers, Finding Harmony: A program for Caregivers. the goal of the conference was to help bring caregivers together to share and be rejuvenated, as well as to provide information and education on available resources. this goal was achieved beyond our expectations due in large part to your excellent presentation. The caregivers all loved the event and we have been flooded with positive comments from organizers and participants alike. The evaluations were excellent. Your speech was perfectly attuned to the needs of caregivers. You truly made a difference in their lives!"

- Alzheimer's Association of Greater Dallas