Legacy of Hate

When I see old images where hate is clearly emanating from easily identifiable faces, I wonder about their descendants…do they know PawPaw and MeMaw were full blown racists? And if they do, what do they think? How do they feel? What do they say?

“Let angry people endure the backlash of their own anger; if you try to make it better, you’ll only make it worse.” Proverbs 19:19, MSG

Inhale Truth, Exhale Revision…
Inhale Truth, Exhale Illusion…
Inhale Truth, Exhale Anger…
Just Breathe

#JustBreathe
#Hate

Customer Disservice

I try to always check myself before I declare something done or undone. I check the junk file, the missed call log…my messages. I follow up with my clients to make sure the email was received.

So when I sent an email to a customer service professional letting her know I had not received a promised document, I expected to receive the document. What I received was an email indicating the document had been sent…with no document attached.

Guess who is no longer her client…

“Unless you have 100% customer satisfaction, you must improve.” ~ Horst Schulze, former President and COO of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and current Chairman and CEO of Capella Hotel Group

Inhale Excellence, Exhale Incomplete…
Inhale Service, Exhale Inadequacy…
Inhale Improve, Exhale Ignore…
Just Breathe

#JustBreathe
#Process

Why Am I Talking…

The acronym WAIT (Why Am I Talking) is a coaching tool I learned from a fellow coach that I use when I find myself talking instead of listening.

I use it while coaching and it’s also helpful in personal conversations about difficult subjects, or when I find myself trying to control the conversation or in a conversation competition with the other person.

I think it’s a tool American’s could really use right now.

“They didn’t notice the gracious pause he’d take after someone would finish a sentence, the way he’d give folks the chance to take air back into their lungs, before he’d fill the space up with his own breath and words.” ~ Cynthia Bond, Author Ruby

Inhale Listening, Exhale Speaking…
Inhale Intuition, Exhale Preconceptions…
Inhale Connection, Exhale Separation…
Just Breathe

#JustBreathe
Reflections With Renita

Just Listen

Those of us not creating anxiety on the world stage may be creating anxiety in our own communities by questioning the experience of micro aggressive behavior toward those who experience it on a regular basis. Sometimes the best action is to just listen and acknowledge the truth of each person’s experience.

“My dear brothers and sisters take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.” James 1:19, NIV

Inhale Acknowledgment, Exhale Attack…
Inhale Absolution, Exhale Accusation…
Inhale Acceptance, Exhale Aggression…
Just Breathe

#JustBreathe
Reflections With Renita

Empowered

Nobody really has it all. America’s 45th president is a case study in having “it” all and, yet, having nothing of value.

That’s because nothing external to us can authentically empower us. Real power comes from our connection to and understanding of who we really are.

“An authentically empowered person is humble. This does not mean the false humility of one who stoops to be with those who are below him or her. It is the inclusiveness of one who responds to the beauty of each soul. …It is the harmlessness of one who treasures, honors, and reveres life in all its forms.” ~ Gary Zukav, Author of Seat of the Soul

Inhale Real Power, Exhale Pretension…
Inhale Connection, Exhale Disdain…
Inhale Inclusiveness, Exhale Irreverence…
Just Breathe

#JustBreathe
#Power

Collaboration

Technology has provided an almost infinite number of ways for people to collaborate. However, the methods of collaboration are only as useful as the collaborators willingness to and agreement on how they will interact.

The most important key to collaborating successfully is an understanding among the collaborators about what their collaboration will look like. If one person is doing the most, dictating the terms of engagement, and the rest of the team feels left out of the process, collaboration is not taking place.

“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.” ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Inhale Collaboration, Exhale Competition…
Inhale Creation, Exhale Limitation…
Inhale Coordination, Exhale Disengagement…
Just Breathe

#JustBreathe

Photo on Visualhunt.com

Consensus

I often witness confusion about the concept of consensus when I work with teams,. Members mistakenly pursue consensus, believing reaching consensus will get them to a course of action everyone can support.

But sometimes when a group is pursuing a vision, trying to achieve consensus dilutes the passion AND diverts the energy and focus from the original idea, leaving something NO one supports.

“To me, consensus seems to be the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values and policies. So it is something in which no one believes and to which no one objects.” ~ Margaret Thatcher

Inhale Passion, Exhale Consensus…
Inhale Principles, Exhale Consensus…
Inhale Decisiveness, Exhale Consensus…
Just Breathe

#JustBreathe

Photo credit: RStonejr on VisualHunt / CC BY-NC-ND

Why + How = What

At one point in my previous life, I was a logistics planner for the US European Command in Stuttgart Germany. Sometimes plans had to be scrapped because the operator types (pilots…) had left the logisticians out of the initial discussions for a contingency operation only to discover there was no clarity around the objective, or the action chosen was not executable.

Involving all the expertise on a team can help bring clarity to why you’re doing what you’re doing and ensure you find the most executable way to do it.

At the intersection of why and how is what.

Inhale Why, Exhale Unclear…
Inhale How, Exhale Un-executable…
Inhale What, Exhale Undone…
Just Breathe…

#JustBreathe

The ROE of COAs

ROE and COA are two of the acronyms from my previous life I use frequently in my current life. At the beginning of any workshop I lead, I spend time establishing the Rules of Engagement (ROE) that will govern our conduct. Course(s) of Action (COA) are the alternate ways to get to a desired result; it’s a phrase I use when coaching clients trying to reach their goals.

I think about these concepts when I see the disparate, disjointed efforts of activists in my adopted Chicago. And I wonder…”Is it possible to engage for the purpose of coming up with a process, some action everyone can get behind?”

“If you can’t even RECONCILE with your BROTHERS AND SISTERS, in the same line of work, HOW will you RECONCILE A CITY and a NATION?” ~ Apostle David A. Rodgers

Inhale Collaboration, Exhale Competition…
Inhale Engagement, Exhale Estrangement…
Inhale Reconciliation, Exhale Revolution …
Just Breathe

#JustBreathe

Running on Empty

There are a lot of leaders leading from a place of lack…using the fact that people follow them on social media as a way to fill up…using their charisma to attract attention.

If you are leading from a place of lack, the only thing you can offer is emptiness.

“If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all His commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God.” Deuteronomy 28:1-2, MSG

Inhale Obedience, Exhale Lack…
Inhale Surrender, Exhale Lack…
Inhale Abundance, Exhale Lack…
Just Breathe…

#JustBreathe
#Leadership