I’m taking a high road strategy.

That expression is used in Harvard Review literature to talk about companies who invest heavily in human and social capital.

I’m investing in myself, in terms of courses and coaching and conferences. I’m also investing in companies by re-starting my business helping organizations increase their performance through responsible communication, collaborative and problem solving skills; as well as leadership skills that focus on trust as a means of motivation.

This means I’ve come full circle in my career. It’s a fascinating turn of events for me – I had been vocal, almost fist-poundingly so – that I was not going to EVER work with organizations again, something I’d done for decades.

Life Changes

My training and consulting business had been successful for two decades. I worked with businesses such as Martin Guitar, Mack Trucks/Volvo, Amazon, Hoechst-Roussel Pharmaceuticals Inc.; health care systems such as Lehigh Valley Health Network, St. Luke’s Health Network; school systems across the United States and Canada.

Initially my work was in the areas of communication, teams, supervisory and leadership skills. Over time it morphed into working with teams in the quality field and solving problems using a statistical problem solving methodology.  Then my work became almost exclusively 6 Sigma.

I was no longer happy in my business. I was working, continuously it seemed, with disgruntled employees who didn’t believe upper management was going to truly implement 6 Sigma. They didn’t want to be in class, nor work on projects. No fun for any of us.

Then my 86 year old father, who had still been working full-time, quit because he felt tired and couldn’t perform the way he wanted to. He had leukemia. I wanted to help him. For all intents and purposes I quit working. After he died, I did very little to rebuilt my business. At the time I didn’t want to work for corporations or any organizations again, except on a volunteer basis.

Coming of Age

Then I had a second coming of age moment, really many moments, at 62. I remembered: It’s OK to change my mind.

It wasn’t organizations I didn’t want to work with; it was 6 Sigma. It is OK, actually well beyond OK all the way to smart and exhilarating to do the work I enjoy: teaching and coaching in the so-called soft skills. It’s in that work, similar to the work I do with women, where I get in the flow, not noticing time, not groping for responses because the responses are just there,  sliding without effort out of my mouth.

I may be a MBTI introvert but I relish speaking in front of groups. It drains me (there’s the Introvert part) so afterwards I require alone time to recharge my battery. But other than that I’m ready to roll. Rock and roll with corporations, organizations, non-profits, associations, conferences and more. It’s an invigorating place to be.

Moving to Arlington, VA

Part of the reason I moved to Arlington was to shake up my life. Well it worked. It jarred me into clarity about what I want to do and who I want to be when I grow up.

I foresee two arms of my Borderless Thinking® business. One working with organizations, as I just mentioned; the other continuing to work with women related to their mindset and how they see themselves. Mentoring them to increase their confidence in order to have the courage to do what they want and be who they want. Hard to imagine a work life getting better than this.

Three things I (re) learned and want to share

1. Changing your mind is not a sign of weakness or some other negative label.

2. Viewpoints and external factors are constantly changing making re-evaluation important.

3. Old is not a negative term. Your age, at any age, is what you make of it. I’m making the most of this age. I feel so good and hope you do too, whatever age or stage of life you’re in.

What’s something you changed your mind about recently? How do you feel about it?

To chat more, join me on Twitter here or Facebook here.

PHOTO: Some rights reserved by pupski  on Flickr

Two things that make me want to rip my hair out, stomp my feet and yell “NO KIDDING”:

1. Articles and studies that make old news seem like a new discovery.

The information that set me off today was: “happy employees produce more than unhappy employees over the long term”. (Creating Sustainable Performance by Gretchen Spreitzer and Christine Porath in January-February 2012 Harvard Business Review.)

People didn’t know this before? You’re kidding me right? First, it seems inherently obvious to me. Second, I’ve been teaching this information to employers for over two decades. (As have many, many other people).

But the wind goes out of my sails as I suddenly remembered the number of leaders/managers in varying corporations who didn’t believe this information about employees then, so maybe there is a need for scientific study to prove the obvious.

Why do you think they didn’t believe this? Was it not true for them personally? Did these leaders/managers believe that they themselves were more productive with they were unhappy on the job or in life?

2. The belief that fear is the best motivator of people.

Well, it’s true that if you beat a horse, he will run faster – for awhile. “For a while” being the operative term.

In another HBR article (the theme of this month’s special double issue is The Value of Happiness) an interview with Daniel Gilbert, author of the 2006 best seller Stumbling On Happiness, the interviewer states that “many managers would say that contented people aren’t the most productive employees, so you want to keep people a little uncomfortable, maybe a little anxious, about their jobs. Gilbert responds: “There’s no data showing that anxious, fearful employees are more creative or productive.”

Yeah Gilbert!

When did the misguided notion that fear makes people more productive arise?  I know it’s not new.

Is it that people are short-term focused so they only pay attention to the fact that scared people, in the moment, jump higher than non-scared people and then mistakenly extrapolate to the long term from there?

You can see it in parenting too

I remember the mother of a friend of my older son. She believed that her son would behave worse and worse (by the way, this kid was basically good) unless she set down a lot of rules and harsh punishment. By harsh, in this case, I mean grounded for long periods of time and having virtually no privileges. Her proof? The kid was becoming sneaky and sneakier.

Of course, he was. When you have no privileges or rights, one way you get to do something you want is if you be sneaky about it.

Acceptance

Maybe my coming-of-age learning is that human patterns of belief are slow in changing; that each new generation needs to hear the same information, although packaged in a new way.

What are some of the things that you learned when you were younger but are being sold as new now?

I always wanted to be Martin Luther King, Jr.

He was a borderless thinker. A paradigm shifter.

picture from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

He was willing to think big. Dream big. Go against prevailing thinking. Fight for social justice. Be a voice for those who couldn’t speak for themselves.

And, I would bet, he articulated ideas and thoughts that many people couldn’t even conceive of.

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

But it can be hard to dream big.

You might be afraid of  being embarrassed for some people laugh. “Yea right Cherry, you’re gonna be the next Martin Luther King, Jr.”

You might not believe in yourself.

So you stop saying your dream. Eventually you stop thinking it.

Then you start to agree with those who would keep you playing small.

You “accept” you were being:

• silly
• ridiculous
• audacious
• cocky

to think that you could be [fill in your dream]. In my case, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dreaming. Visualizing Your Future

I gave up my dream. Actually, I gave up dreaming.

Today I know that was a mistake; but at the time, it made sense to me. It was a form of self-preservation, a way of taking care of myself.

But after awhile, the technique(s) I used to protect myself weren’t needed anymore. The “danger” was long gone but I was stuck in an unconscious repetition of behavior.

Fortunately, I became aware that my inability to dream big was a learned behavior. That awareness allowed me to change. So cool. So very, very cool.

Now, of course, I’m also coming of age so there’s no stopping me. No one can quash my dreams. Nadie mas.

I’ll be working with legions, upon legions, upon legions of women to become borderless thinkers, setting the stage for a shift of mindset that helps them also see a world of possibilities for themselves. With the belief in possibility, comes a willingness for action. With action, even the smallest of steps, comes confidence and the courage to take the next step.

I’m telling you, this getting older stuff has fabulous benefits.

If we’re not connected on FB, come on over and “friend” me here. I’m on Twitter here. I’d like to hear from you and make sure you hear about the launch dates of my upcoming courses.

Rule breaking is still fun! 

Even if it only involves some paradigm shifting about age.

I bought my first-ever leopard print underpants recently.

I’m wearing them today while I work.

I’m liking it.

#thatisall

PS – a picture of them & me, perhaps, in the future. I haven’t come of age enough for that yet. Perhaps I never will. Time will tell,  I’ll be sure to let you know.

If you’re feeling like you want some help getting out of your ruts about what you “should” or “shouldn’t do”, give me a shout. Take advantage of my free get-unstuck Skype call. Sign up today.