Shera R. Sever: Awakening Leaders™

Imagine living with inner peace- what would that look like in your personal life, in your business, your family, your relationships, in your community, on our planet?

“Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace, and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions.

This could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world.“

I recently received this from an anonymous source.  Just learned today, that the author,  Saskia Davis, wrote this back in 1984.  What a visionary she is! It uplifted my spirits, and I want to share with you! Wonderful reminders for our daily lives.

Some signs and symptoms of inner peace:

* A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.

* An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment. * A loss of interest in judging other people.

* A loss of interest in judging oneself. * A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.
* A loss of interest in conflict. * A loss of the ability to worry. (This is a very serious symptom.)
* Frequent, overwhelming episodes of appreciation. * Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.
* Frequent attacks of smiling. * An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than (try to) make them happen.

* An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

WARNING:

If you have some or all of the above symptoms, please be advised that your condition of inner peace may be so far advanced as

to not be curable. * author: Saskia Davis, www.symptomsofinnerpeace.net

Success Principles start with taking 100% total responsibility for everything in your life. It’s mid-year, 2010.

Take a look at the goals you set for yourself, your family, community, your business, your employees and clients at the beginning of the year. Where are you in your achievement and level of fulfillment and satisfaction?

All success starts with 100% personal responsibility and accountability.

Here is a great little exercise, that when completed, is a powerful jump start for goal refinement, redefining your direction, taking new action.

This can  be used for personal assessment,  as well as in pair and small group discussions around community building, team building, employee engagement, and more.

I
If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for my life, I would. . .(state action)
If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for my happiness,  I would. . .

If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for my health and fitness, I would. . .
If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for  the quality of my relationships, I would. . .

If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for the effectiveness of my business, I would. . .
If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for the development of my employees, I would. . .

If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for quality of life in my community, I would. . .

If I were to take just 10% more responsibility for the health of this planet, I would. . .

Just think if BP could honestly answer these questions.

Thanks to Jack Canfield for inspiring this exercise

The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come…We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” ~Joseph Campbell

Change is profoundly in the air this summer.  I have a had a number of past coaching clients contact me in the past few weeks,either seeking a tune-up or in a total melt down. It’s permeating everything and everybody,  and the next turn (personally and collectively) is,  at best, unknown.

Not-knowing is one of the more evolved practices of personal leadership.

Can you trust and allow?  Do you have the courage to simply say “ I don’t know.”

When dancing with change, what’s important is that you are willing to let go of everything that has felt comfortable, familiar- this includes all those habits and plans that your ego is clinging to for it’s own survival.

Yes, it is a death . . . it is transformation.

Breathe into and accept this.
Exhale the doubt, fear, and uncertainty.
Become naked in your own truth.
Imagine, feel, see, smell and hear the new life (business, career, home, etc) waiting for you.

Stay curious
Share your truth  compassionately, consciously and wisely.
Trust and be open to receive.

For the past almost 7 years, I have been going through what I call a ‘slow death” letting go of the family members and friends that have passed over, recovering from a serious auto-accident, leaving the spiritual community I was a member of for over 22 years, along with two beautiful homes,  and so much more.

As an entrepreneur, teacher, writer, coach, these experiences have deepened my ability to guide others through intense change (personally and professionally.  As I reflect upon what seemed insurmountable at the time, I am now grateful for the experiences that allow me to serve you even more fully with a complimentary coaching session through July 15.

For more information on the practice of Not-Knowing

http://traffic.libsyn.com/amberstar/Zencast102.mp3

I’m sure many of you are familiar with  Keith Ferrazzi, author of Never Eat Alone, and his most recent book, Who’s Got Your Back.

Ferazzi believes leadership, at its essence, is a spiritual journey- it takes courage, motivation, discipline, and commitment. Strongly grounded in many years of Vipassana practice, Ferazzi’s weaves his spiritual practice into his leadership style, sharing life-changing strategies for anyone committed to building a lifeline team.

In order to continue to be the best we can, I believe it’s vitally important, especially in these times, to create our own Personal Board of Directors- a small committed group who are not going to let each other fail, ever!

REBUILDING TRUST in A WORLD of GREED & FEAR

According to Ferrazzi, successful networking (our abilities to “connect”) is not about the size of our “rolodex”. Rather success is more readily available to those who can pick up the phone and say, ” I need help”.

Particularly in these times, Ferazzi encourages us to focus on *Relationship Capital* by building a Personal Board of Directors or what he calls *Lifeline Relationships*- the ones that help us rebuild TRUST in a world of fear and greed.

BUILDING Your PERSONAL BOARD of DIRECTORS:

* Identify at 3 people you know who can change your life.

* Call them and share this idea about LifeLine Relationships. Ask them if they will be on board with you.

* Lifeline Relationships lead with generosity. Who bends over backwards for you?  Who do you bend over backwards for?

* Lifeline Relationships are transparent: Who can you let your guard down with and have it be okay?

* Lifeline Relationships hold each other accountable. Who can kick you in the butt when necessary? Which of your peers can you depend upon to TELL the TRUTH and help you face the brutal facts

* Lifeline relationships agree to forgive in advance when we slip up. Sparring is okay (even encouraged!).

* Lifeline relationships have a RELATIONSHIP ACTION PLAN. (R.A.P.) which is rigorous, routine, strategic, and systematic.

Your Personal Board of Directors can come in many forms: Mastermind Groups, Learning or Coaching Communities, Wisdom Councils, Women’s or Men’s circles, or Spiritual Communities.

Rather than changing who we are, enlist others to help us become the best we can be. This is where the true strength of any team, organization or initiative lies. For more information on Ferrazi’s model, check out  Greenlight Community.

How many of you have this lifeline team in place? I’ve had several “lifeline” teams over the years (work groups, learning communities, friends, spiritual sanghas, performance groups) that were extremely beneficial for their duration.

And now, I am looking at creating the strongest, most sustainable  one yet!  Will you help me?

I am eager to partner with an organizational leadership team that needs a powerful provocateur, collaborator, and communications maven/ director to weave it all together: vision, strategy, marketing, communications, engagement, and human capital. Let’s start the conversation!

I’m sure many of you have seen Julie & Julia, the film with master actress, Meryl Streep, starring in  possibly one of her very best roles as Julia Child. Streep so rightly earned the Golden Globe Awards for best actress a few nights ago.

And we saw the character of Julie Powell (Amy Adams), offering us an inspiringly candid reminder of self-mastery qualities: Vision, Passion, Focus, Practice, Set-Backs, Failures, Commitment, Discipline, Courage. Julie Powell set a very specific and ambitious 365-day goal, and achieved it- actually superceded it.  She became a master, by self-mastery.

As we enter a new decade, we are all crafting  our vision maps for what we would like to master this year and beyond.

What would you what would you like to master this year? A new leadership role, a published book, a new business, a long forgotten passion, a new sport or language, buying or selling your home,  reducing your footprint, living more simply, or possibly just having more compassion for self and others?

The time of the lone wolf is over- none of us can do it alone. If you need a jump start on your master plan, I invite you to contact me by Feb. 1 to a schedule a complimentary call. Let’s discover how we can best work together this year.

The future is now! What do you want to create?

In 2010, anything you desire strongly will manifest quickly.

We have a chance to reorient ourselves, bring our wishes into manifestation and truly assert what we want to be. We are literally dreaming our new realities into being.

The more creative we are in dealing with what has held us back in the old consciousness, the more healing will take place within ourselves and as a result in the world around us. Continue focusing on your highest truth and reinventing your lives.

There is a quickening and a deepening of our life directions. We are anchoring our dreams into manifestation and becoming more grounded in our own light. This is a time of great reward for those of us who have done our homework.

Happy Holidays!

What a wonderful time of year for giving and receiving, sharing love and reNEWal!

If you survived the last 3-6 months with your sense of humor still intact, take a moment now to CONGRATULATE yourself for your amazing navigation and accepting “what is” skills.

A friend recently shared this wonderful reminder with me:

LIFE is an endless transition. Go with the flow, change the flow, surrender to the flow,

be the flow, create the flow… the essence of the flow is: Transition

When we look at nature (biomimicry) we see how true this is.

It’s been quite a time of transition and reorganization for so many!

Most everyone with whom I speak has commented on the “intensity ” of the times with many of us undergoing, slow, yet massive changes in our homes, careers, businesses, and relationships. I believe we are all undergoing a collective re-organization.

What has changed for you this past year?

How are you reorganizing your life/business?

Any new approaches/attitudes you’d like to share?

The on-going theme for me  is SIMPLIFY. I didn’t realize how complicated simplification could be. It takes tremendous courage and trust to get out of our own way, surrender, and let go! As all manifestors know, the clarity of our intentions along with committed action/discipline is what creates “so-called” miracles.

Now is a wonderful time to move from hoping to knowing/feeling what it is we are creating in these times.

“Everything comes to us that belongs to us when we create the capacity to receive it.” -Rabindranath Tagore

Clarity, love, acceptance, and gratitude are wonderful gifts to give and receive. In this holiday season, I am wishing us all more ease, beauty, moments of peace and rest, more compassion and understanding as we continue to navigate and reinvent our lives, businesses, and relationships.

Change cleanses the soul. Enjoy the ride and be kind to your fellow travelers.

Wishing you warm and happy holidays!

Equinox-A Moment to Pause & Reflect
by Shera Sever (first posted in Spiral Muse , Sept. 2009)

Feel your inherent balance with a gentle pause between the inhale & the exhale.

Equinox is a time to pause, honoring the perfect balance between light and dark within you and beyond you. It’s a time of reflection and balance, a time for reassessing motivations, intentions, and actions. It’s a time to cleanse, release habits, to surrender, let go, and TRUST in the unknown.

Equinox is a time to honor and recognize the divine in everyone, and experience all beings as your mirror, as your teacher, as your family. Equinox is a time to sit in circle among our friends and peers,  speaking our truth, sharing our joys, our fears and vulnerability, asking for help, offering help, and trusting that our circle will not let us fall, nor fail us.

In the Babemba tribe in Africa, when a person acts irresponsibly or unjustly, he/she is placed in the center of the village, alone and unfettered. All work ceases, and every man, woman and child in the village gathers in a large circle around the “accused” individual. Then each person in the tribe speaks to the accused, one at a time, about all the good things the person in the center of the circle has done in his lifetime. Every incident, every experience that can be recalled with any detail and accuracy is recounted. All his/her positive attributes, good deeds, strengths and kindnesses are recited carefully and at length. The tribal ceremony often lasts several days.

The tribe recognizes that the correction for non-integral behavior is not punishment, but love and the remembrance of identity. They believe a friend, coach, or teacher, is someone who knows your song and sings it to you when you have forgotten it. They are not fooled by the mistakes you have made or the dark images you hold about yourself. They remember your beauty when you feel ugly; your wholeness when you are broken; your innocence when you feel guilty; and your purpose when you are confused.

One of the most important lessons we can learn from evolution is that we are related to all that lives. Consider the fact that your personal DNA is 99.99 % identical to the DNA of every other human being, and to all that has ever lived. Once we begin to include ourselves in the story that we are no longer on an individual journey, we have joined the grand caravan of “endless forms -most beautiful and wonderful”. This is cooperation and collaboration at it’s core essence

So, I encourage all to offer some time to BE with your fellow travelers (friends and “strangers” alike) this week, reminding each other that we are one beautiful family on an unprecedented journey back home.

Have you noticed all the  knowledge sharing  and strategies from thought leaders, managers, coaches, and consultants addressing the Upside of the Downturn.

It’s everywhere- on Guy Kawasaki’s  AllTop portal, in the New York Times new Happy Days Blog,  Psychology Today,  Inc. and many more on-line and print publications.

Human potential seminar leaders like Tony Robbins and T. Harv Eker have adjusted their content delivery in recent months to address the Upside of the Downturn.  It’s a strategic approach, and  it’s more than positive thinking.  (Hope alone is not a strategy).

The Value of Volunteering

One strategy that continues to emerge in various forms when examining the Upside of the Downturn is the increased focus given to the VALUE  of volunteering.

Like many of you, I started volunteering when I was 14.  I worked at one of the first recycling centers in the USA in a small community in northern Illinois 4 nights a week. The proceeds from our efforts helped fund our high school’s symphonic band’s performance at an International Youth Music Festival in Vienna, Austria. Since then I have volunteer with over 25 community organizations and businesses and have served on several boards of directors.

Last week I was invited again to deliver my High-Impact Volunteer Management™ seminar as part of the Performance- Focused Leadership Seminar series for Board Presidents, Directors and Committee Chairs for the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce  (42 chambers total).

Businesses and social-profits alike benefit from volunteer capital. One of the re-occurring challenges most organizations encounter is keeping good volunteers (including board members and committee chairs).

Keeping the Good Ones

As in the private industry, the best way to insure volunteer retention is to adopt a strategic approach with a Volunteer Recruitment and Development Plan in place in your organization or business. This includes targeted recruitment, a solid orientation program, low-cost, no-cost recognition, and a performance management/professional development plan in place that includes on-going feedback and performance reviews.

So what is the best way to develop on-going communication and feedback with volunteers?

It’s the  R.A.P. method:

REVIEW the PAST: Take a look at the performance objectives mutually created during the first 30 days of the volunteer’s on-boarding.

ANALYZE the PRESENT: Ask your volunteer what she feels are her major accomplishments in the past (X) months  (particularly as they relate to over-arching organizational goals).

PLAN the FUTURE: Ask your volunteer what changes/support she would like to see in the future.

If you are wanting to enhance volunteer performance and retention in your organization, be sure you can meet the following needs* of your volunteers:

• I need a sense of belonging.
• I need to be part of the organizational planning of our objectives.
• I need organizational goals and objectives that are clear and obtainable.
• I need to feel that what I am doing has real purpose and contributes to welfare of the organization and community at large.
• I need autonomy and collaboration in setting standards for performance.
• I need to know what is expected of me (not a laundry list of “duties”.)
• I need to have challenging responsibilities within my range of interests and abilities.
• I need feedback about my performance and our progress.
• I need to be kept informed.
• I need to have good rapport with and confidence in the leadership of the organization.
• I need recognition, as it is due.

(The Volunteer Creed, adapted from The Effective Management of Volunteer Programs, Marlene Wilson)

Performance Management is an on-going year-round communication process undertaken in collaboration with a volunteer and her organizational leader(s).  With mutual goal setting, on -going communication, individual recognition, and the R.A.P method, your volunteers can become your organization’s  greatest evangelists.

Need help developing a High-Impact Volunteer Management Plan for your business, organization, or upcoming event? Please contact me for a complimentary (20- minute) consultation.

It’s been over a month since I have posted on this blog, however, if you have been following me on Twitter or Facebook, you know why.

Right now, rather than another 10:00PM sunset swim in the Mediterranean, OR bicycling and strolling along some of the most enchanting 13th century countryside caminos, I choose to fulfill my need to CONNECT with all of you.

When I first received an offer to spend some time “en retiro”, living on the north side of the island of Mallorca, Spain,  I was very confused  about what TO DO, fearing what I would leave “behind” if I actually left my home, community, live and social networks, and other “opportunities”for 4-6 weeks.  It was an obvious reminder of the need to LET GO!

Did you know that Americans actually take less annual holiday time (i.e. vacation) than any other ‘Western” country in the world?  Reason: FEAR that by letting go of routine that their “career/business” will fall apart or that they won ‘t get ahead!  My question- Ahead of what?  Aren ‘t we all in this global transformation together?

When is the last time you gave yourself the beautiful gift of just BEING?  For those of who have, you know how much clearer and more effective (focused and intentional) you are internally, as well as once back on the  “playing field”.

Awakened Entrepreneurs™ Create Decisions based on Needs/Values

I used an NVC method (universal needs- based process from Marshall Rosenberg) to make the decision.  What needs will be fulfilled if I go?  What needs will be fulfilled if I stay? Not only was my list longer for going, but I got more in touch with what is important to me.

Bottom line: Do what FEELS good- and in my case that meant my physical body-
(warm Mediterrannean sun &  sea,  healthy, fresh food, lots of movement outdoors) Simply YES!! Now Mallorca, is in no way Spain, unless, of course, you refer to Maui, the USA. But I used to live and work in Madrid and Barcelona, and the idea of spending time on the island of Mallorca seemed like a good choice. ( And then that night,  after taking myself through this personal exercise, I received a loud message in a dream- clear and simple:  GO TO SPAIN

DOING vs. BEING

Particularly in our fast-paced culture, DOING has much more perceived value that BEING. How often are you asked “ How are you?” – if the response is anything other than BUSY, something must be wrong. Yet, wouldn ‘t we all agree that all work and no play/rest makes anyone dull (rather than vibrant), inflexible and, well, uninteresting. How many relationships and dreams (personal and professional) are not realized as a result of this “busy/work” epidemic?

Especially in these times of information overload, including fear- based marketing and propaganda, I find “unplugging” essential in order to access one’s truth, values, goals, direction  and strategies for living in purpose in order to make our greatest contributions (to self and others)

The Awakened Entrepreneur™ understands the essential need for regular  “unplugging” -be it a long weekend retreat with no technology (yes, that!) or several weeks (3-4?!) of an actual holiday is exactly what is needed in order to optimize our engines for peak performance.  Tony Robbins claims it takes 21 days to break/change any habit, which is another way of saying it takes 21 days to drop into a new reality.

Having reinvented myself a number of times in personal and professional pursuits, I’ve consistently been a big advocate of work-life balance. Starting back in the mid- 90s, I introduced a personal needs/values assessment component in all of my leadership seminars that continues to serve as a transformative catalyst for organizational and business leaders.

I am very impressed with the models that Mallorca is advocating from progressive youth education, Transition Towns (using Appreciative Inquiry) to local organic food production, permaculture, biking as preferred transportation, reducing meat in one’s diet (and revealing the truths about the costs of the meat industry),  to a very sophisticated recycling system (including compost) throughout the City of Palma.  The official unemployment rate in Spain is over 20%, (one of the highest in Europe),  however  that isn’t stopping most from finding new ways to connect, collaborate (an inherent value in this culture), and reinvent, once again, a 700+ year old way of being.

Most importantly, the general philosophy here is TRANQUILLA- and this includes the time you take to connect with those you know  (and don’t know) throughout your daily activities.

And so here I am concluding a month of  (once again) witnessing  who I am, what I value, what I deeply desire-

The Result- a simplified life style with real time connections/dialogs that support personal and planetary health, wellness, sustainability, and collaboration-all essential elements for the Awakened Entrepreneur™.