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Autumn 2007 Newsletter (Newsletter Archives)

Update From Eileen

My daughter Heather and I just returned from the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. With a clear Southern California fall sun casting orange glances at departing clouds, some 25,000 people ran, walked, or wheeled around Newport Beach and raised over $3 million for breast cancer research. At the same in Oregon , my other daughter Holly and my two granddaughters Alicia and Clare ran the streets of downtown Portland with 47,500 to deliver $3 million more.

Amazing isn’t it? Born in a promise between two sisters -- Nancy Brinker to her sister, Susan G. Komen, who died from breast cancer at the age of 36, Nancy set out to end breast cancer forever. Since launching the breast cancer movement 25 years ago, this organization has transformed how the world talks about and treats this devastating disease. It has helped turn millions of breast cancer patients into breast cancer survivors. (http://cms.komen.org/komen/index.htm)

Today, Susan G. Komen for the Cure (formerly the Susan G .Komen Foundation) is the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists. It’s the only grassroots organization fighting to cure breast cancer at every stage-- from the causes to the cures and the pain and anxiety of every moment in between. Thanks to events like today, since 1982, almost $1 billion dollars has been given for research on a disease that in the United States will strike one out of eight women.

I’ll bet you’re like me, knowing dear friends and relatives who have been hit by this cancer. I celebrate so many who are strong-hearted survivors and I mourn those whose lives were shortened. The promise of this Autumn season, like the promise Nancy Brinker made, is that all is never lost. What appears to have died is resurrected in a new form. What’s important is that we continue to water the tree of research, the tree of life, and yes, even the maple in your backyard.

Namaste!

Why Senior Managers Have a Hard Time Connecting with Employees

Novations Group, a global professional services firm, recently released the results of communications survey.

The information deeply supports why many organizations are buying one of my newer books, Talk Ain't Cheap... It’s Priceless!

See if this does not ring true in your experience

They rely too much on e-mail and have little face-to-face time with employees. E-mail is a dangerous tool if overused. It runs the risk of being misunderstood, ignored, or in some cases, inflammatory. Often e-mail is without context and precious time evaporates in an electronic back-and-forth.
They assume a single message is enough. Recall Advertising 101. It takes at least three times for a message to penetrate. Different people receive messages differently. Some prefer to hear a message while others lean toward the written word.
They have no feedback loop in place. Feedback is the breakfast of champions. However, whether knowingly or unknowingly, senior managers might dismiss or not encourage feedback on communication.
Their messages lack clarity. Mark Twain once said, “Pardon the long letter. I didn’t have time for a short one.” This great author knew that clarity and brevity take time and skill. The more one is an “expert”, the greater is the chance that what is clear to an experienced mind is simply muddy and confusing to others. Take the time. There are many of us who can help managers develop the skill.

Trekkers Explore Mountains and Monasteries of the Himalayas

Having just returned from a two-week trek to the remote regions of Lahaul and Spiti in the northwestern Himalayas of India, I find myself continuing to process and learn from all I experienced. I know it will come out in writing, in speeches, and momentary personal "ah-hah's".

Were it not for the photos, I could almost conclude this trip was but a dream!

Since so many of you have inquired about this breathtaking adventure, I thought I’d use this issue to describe just some of the sensory highlights from the trek.
The highways around Delhi merge tiny two-person taxis with huge diesel trucks, bicycles, motorcycles, pull carts, pedestrians, packed buses, horse-drawn carriages, cattle and even a plodding elephant.
AT 15,000 feet, 15 glaciers spill grey ice-melt water between sheer walls to plunge into unseen valley floors while local shepherds graze long-haired goats and sheep in these high altitude grasses.
Fierce cold winds whip prayer flags of yellow, red, blue, white and green into the fog enshrouding Rotang Pass.
“Namaste” followed by a bow and an infectious grin becomes a wake-up call outside my tent. It’s quickly followed by a stainless steel tumbler and the question, “Tea with Mill-Ick?”
Crouched by the roadside, magenta, orange, lime green, azure, buttercup, and lavender saris sheath women wielding pick-axes to break rock.
Seated under a parachute silk tent of saffron, red, white and black designs, His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama teaches about compassion to the hundreds of monks, villagers, and our band of Westerners who have found him in the mountain high monastery.

I’ll write more in subsequent issues. Just be compassionate with my inability to put everything---yet—into meaningful words.

BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT

Born: September 5, 2007—delivered by boat from four-color printers in Asia

Parents: Eileen McDargh and Berrett Koehler Publishers

Size: 114 pages, 14 ounces, 9” long and 6” wide.

Name: Gifts from the Mountain: Simple Truths for Life’s Complexities

Baptized: September 6, 2007 by attendees at the USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum.

Get our newest edition by visiting your favorite bookstore, my web (www.eileenmcdargh.com), or online at www.bkconnection.com; www.amazon.com; or any of the other national chains.

JOIN THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BLOG PARTY --- FOR GOOD

Forbes Magazine might list the 2007 World’s Billionaires, but my good friend Tim Richardson has a different idea about “rich”. He believes that our obsession with materialism negates the internal richness that comes from making a positive difference in the world. And I agree.

The World’s Biggest Blog Party is looking for 1000 people from around the world who will use blogging to raise at least a millions dollars for organizations that make a difference. Each internet blog host will write about a favorite charity or a difference maker, encouraging readers to donate to the charity of their choosing. I’ll be linking to Tim’s web site and putting up a post about Susan G. Komen as well as other organizations and people I have discovered who are truly RICH! Find out more about is at www.TheWorldsBiggestBlogParty.com

HOW TO MAKE LOVE ENDURE

"Spend most of your time loving instead of going to work." (Tom, married 7 yrs)
"Don't forget your wife's name...That will mess up the love." (Roger, 8)
"Be a good kisser. It might make your wife forget that you never take out the trash." (Randy, 8)
“One of you should know how to write a check. Because, even if you have tons of love, there is still going to be a lot of bills." (Ava, 8)
“Celebrate your montherary.” (Eileen—age not to be shared. We were married on May 18. So, we’ve celebrated on the 18th of each month for 27 years!)

Must Read Books

As the Future Catches You
Juan Enriquez, Three Rivers Press, 2001

This summer I had the wonderful (and challenging) opportunity to follow Dr. Juan Enriquez on the platform at a conference in Boston. Juan is the founding director of the Life Sciences project at Harvard Business School and probably one of the single most brilliant thinkers I have encountered. This book is a powerful, stimulating look at how the digital and genetic world will revolutionize our lives. Amazing AND troublesome.

What can I do?
Ideas to Help Those Who Have Experienced Loss
Barbara Glanz, Augsburg Books, 2007

As sure as change occurs in our world, it also occurs in our lives. The loss of a child, a spouse, a parent, a friend, even a beloved pet can have us all in a tailspin. And hose of us who want to “help” are often at a loss for the right words or deeds. Barbara has written a beautiful, very helpful guide that should find a home on everyone ’s book shelf. Not only does she share how people helped her throughout losses, but she has gathered the wisdom of others.

Sound Bites Bite Back in Election Years.

Want to be an informed voter? Good luck. Now you’ll have to be a mentalist to figure out what a candidate is really proposing. In 1968, the average length of a candidate’s sound bite on TV newscasts was 42 seconds. According to the Center for Media and Public Affairs, it is now only eight seconds. Sneeze and you’ll miss it.

For those who asked about more frequent ENERGIZERS

The challenge with writing is this: it is a singular task. I can’t give it away. So, I have a compromise for those who asked for more of THE ENERGIZER newsletter. My goal would be to write in it three times a week. The “reality” is that I am LUCKY if I can write even once a week! But you can get it directly in your e-mail via RSS feed.
Visit my web. Everything is archived. And look for ideas and information via my Plain Talk Blog-- (www.eileenmcdargh.com/blog)

Parental Translations for the Uninitiated

SHOW OFF: a child who is more talented than yours.
STERILIZE: what you do to your first baby's pacifier by boiling it and to your last baby's pacifier by blowing on it.
TOP BUNK: where you should never put a child wearing Superman pajamas.
TWO MINUTE WARNING: when the baby's face turns red and she begins to make those familiar grunting noises.
VERBAL: able to whine in words.
WHODUNIT: none of the kids that live in your house.

Welcome to the McDargh Clan!

Intel Women’s Network
Preview Properties
Learning Care Group
CoreNet Global
USA/Canada Lions Leadership Forum- 5th time!
ACUTA

The Resilient Spirit
Staying Right Side Up in an Upside Down World

(can be customized with a company logo, special dedication, and more)

A NEW- “old” book—Now with glorious
4-color artwork

*Robin Garcia is my amazing artist (see artwork below). Sadly, due to carpel tunnel syndrome in her hand, she can no longer hold a paintbrush. I hope you will love her work as much as I do!

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