generations and @greenleafcenter

the servant as leader ... in our last class on may 7, i was pleasantly surprised about the thoughts that came to mind. and as shared in the may 7 post, i believe my friend jengyee is a spirit carrier ... and with the context of generations - my being gen X and jengyee being gen Y.

greenleaf and generations ... although there is not an explicit and lengthy discussion about generations and servant-leader attributes, on this past friday morning, i thought about servant-leader within the context of the panel i was involved this past wednesday.

gen x ... i represented a "gen X" perspective of interacting with other generations. the gen Y representative presented a list of 5 lessons learned she experienced as a gen Y interacting with baby boomers and a list of 3 gen Y suggestions she wanted to communicate to baby boomers when interacting with gen Y. on the panel, i didn't quite story about gen X versus other generations, but i did find my thoughts evolved from my wednesday morning prep. on friday morning, here is what i shared via our class wiki as part of my thoughts about generations and servant-leader attributes ...

just a quick share and not necessarily directly related to our june class reading, but maybe, kind of.

10 characteristics and the generations ... the short version is that i have been thinking of the 10 characteristics within the context of multi-generational/cross-generational communications - within the context of diversity. i am not yet sure where my thoughts will lead me, but i do know i am intrigued by pursuing an opportunity to communicate the simplicity of these characteristics as not being more prevalent in one generation over another. the 10 characteristics can (and do) exist among the diverse population. needless to say, this is obvious, but i feel there can be a way to integrate or infuse this as part of existing and familiar formats and context.

how this thought came up? ... on wednesday, i was part of a small panel of cubeopolis folks encouraged to share 1-2 stories about their interactions with another generation. the hosting group was the "older workforce initiative". my thoughts in process the morning of over here as i was trying to organize my 10 minute presentation.

although i intend to post what i finally presented, the gist of it was as follows - interacting with different generations gives an opportunity to further enhance one's life experience. the question i posed (also on the blog post) was as follows:

"GENERATIONS ... We are surrounded by the wisdom of generations, but sometimes we lose sight of generations' gifts. What moment during the past 6 months might you have lost sight and had a bias and expectation of someone in a different generation? Consider within the next 6 months initiating an experience of acceptance and discovery of a generation's gift.

my main message of my presentation went something like this - - - we can live in a comfortable place of bias and expectation when communicating with people, or we can choose to have a transforming experience when we engage in listening. as such, we can challenge ourselves to live in a place of acceptance and discovery.

generation bent ... what i found interesting was that other panelists expressly described their generation in certain terms, as if they "owned" the characteristics more so than other generations. and i remember having an "ah ha" moment during the panel when one of the generations used characteristics that were part of the 10 characteristics.

and not that i'm saying one generation may have more 'servant-leader' potential than another. but given the context (and to some extent bias) that some may have regarding generation differences, i certainly heard this (via the characteristics and traits described) intimated through other panelists and through audience discussion and questions.

i think it would be great to articulate the timeless aspect of being a servant-leader ... i know it's likely obvious to our class and others, however, expressly stating so would be great. perhaps that will be something i write out on my blog or part of the final paper?!

saturday morning mini ah-ha ... as i was reading our next assignment, i remembered there was somewhat of a generation reference, which i was certain i had book dart'd, in the servant as leader, so i revisited the book and found the following -

an older person who grew up in a period when values were more settled and the future seemed more secure will be disturbed by much he finds today. ... firm note of hope .. we are at a turn of history in which people are growing faster and some extraordinarily able, mature, servant-disposed men and women are emerging in their early and middle twenties. (p. 47)

book dart me quotes i ponder ... i made good use of my book darts. i figure i'd share a few quotes (which i shared with class) that resonated with me and/or continues to make me ponder, and perhaps, you will consider picking up the book the servant as leader, as well. i share a few of them here (while i shared a longer list on the class wiki) -

• "faith is the choice of the nobler hypothesis" quoting dean inge ... not the noblest, one never knows what that is. but the nobler, the best one can see when the choice is made.
  

• the servant-leader is servant first ... the leader-first and servant-first are two extreme types ... the difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant first to make sure that other people's highest priority needs are being served.
  

• every achievement starts with a goal. but not just any goal and not just anybody stating it. the one who states the goal must elicit trust, especially if it is a high risk or visionary goal, because those who follow are asked to accept the risk along with the leader.

• the best test of whether we are communicating at this depth is to ask ourselves, first, are we really listening? are we listening to the one we want to communicate to? is our basic attitude, as we approach confrontation, one of wanting to understand?
  

• the leader needs two intellectual abilities that are usually not formally assessed in an academic way: he needs to have a sense for the unknowable and be able to foresee the unforeseeable.
  

• there is usually an information gap ... the art of leadership rests, in part, on the ability to bridge that gap by intuition, that is, a judgment from the unconscious process.

• awareness is not a giver of solace - it is just the opposite. it is a disturber and an awakener. able leaders are usually sharply awake and reasonably disturbed. they are not seekers after solace. they have their own inner serenity.
  

• (on the privileged elite) it may be that the best that some of today's privileged can do is to stand aside and serve by helping when asked and as instructed.
  

• evil, stupidity, apathy, the "system" are not the enemy even though society building forces will be contending with them all the time. the healthy society, like the healthy body, is not the one that has taken the most medicine. it is the one in which the internal health building forces are in the best shape.
  

• in short, the enemy is strong natural servants who have the potential to lead but do not lead, or who choose to follow a non-servant.
  

and once again ...

all of this rests on the assumption that
the only way to change a society (or just make it go)
is to produce people, enough people,
who will change it (or make it go).

class with @greenleafcenter

the servant as leader ... just a quick post after finishing this morn's class. (yes, those are my book darts!) at the end of each class, we are asked to share one word - i (and another classmate) both shared -

pensive

- and honestly, for me, this word just barely scratches the surface to express the amount of deep thought and reflection that is part of this class. i love it! as mentioned about the ten characteristics in previous blog post, it is wonderful to be among people also experiencing and/or learning about servant leadership.

and today, i realize i have been part of the life of a spirit carrier ...

stepping out into the world today ... now then - time for keeping the rest of the day going - more cubeopolis-work, builders booksource for shiny penny andy errand, breakfast bud meet-up at rudy's, more cubeopolis at whatever wi-fi equipped coffee house, meet-up with the fluevog sisterhood (though gladys not in pic) at fluevog, coco-luxes yip-yap ... and

... reconnecting with the liangs and others ... over thai food at sala thai. the liangs came up from southern california to celebrate awarding the first jengyee scholarship at the u.c. berkeley ieor annual award ceremony this past thursday.
spirit carrier ... jengyee, simply put, was (and continues to be) an inspiration. she died at the age of 25 years with lupus in november 2008 (in memory of jengyee ...). click on the pic to learn a little more about my friendship with jengyee and about jengyee's charity. she even wrote a book for college students preparing for the transition to the "real world" of employment (hello real world! a student's approach to great internships, co-ops, and entry level positions), which i had the opportunity to write the foreword.

(picture from february 2009)

In my view of the world, there are people
whom I would call spirit carriers…
those servants (who) find the resources
and make the intensive efforts to be an effective influence.
This spirit is power, but only when the spirit carrier,
the servant as nurturer of the human spirit,
is a powerful and not a casual force.

-Robert K. Greenleaf

querencia @greenleafcenter

querencia
– a place where one feels at home

this is a spanish word that was shared with our class last month - shared by isabel, our instructor. when isabel mentioned querencia, she also had referenced author georgia heard (on web) who wrote writing toward home (over here). a couple of meanings just found through the net -

• a place where one feels secure.
• “…a place where one feels safe, a place from which one’s strength of character is drawn, a place where one feels at home. it comes from the verb quere, which means to desire, to want.”
• in spain, it is the place in the ring where the wounded bull goes to renew his strength and center himself, ready for a fresh charge.
• when the bull stops for a moment and finds querencia – his place of safety – he becomes truly powerful and dangerous. this is the moment he gives up fear.

greenleaf thoughts ... as part of my on-going thoughts about the ten characteristics of servant leadership, i have shared through the class wiki that -

"i am coming to realize the question of whether i "fit" [in a physical place] is not as relevant as whether and how i am going to serve - the desire to serve those who want a better environment and to so do through improving the relationships, communications, respect, and trust - that is what is important for me. the place and setting will evolve."

- to which the lovely isabel shared -

"Dear Shirley, One thing I really like about Greenleaf's work is that it is so thought provoking. I do think one can serve right where they are and of course you, with your other experience, will ponder your place of "querencia". Thanks for your writings, Shirley. Much for us to digest."

i puffy heart isabel!

ten characteristics ...

servant-leader ... @greenleafcenter our second class (of five classes) is next saturday. the servant as leader is one of several readings among others provided as part of class work -
which includes -

• a suggested frame for thinking about the servant as leader
• a wonderful compilation and perspective of the core message of robert greenleaf
• questions as the beginning of an autobiographical prompt for us to think about our experience of being served and serving
  
• greenleaf's credo and its evolution through three decades
• kent m. keith (current greenleaf center CEO) on the characteristics of servant leadership (with other keith's articles over here)
• ten characteristics of servant-leadership (which also is described by the former greenleaf center CEO, larry spears, in this article)
  

sharing from my class work ... the following is an excerpt from a class wiki page i created yesterday morning. to the extent i may post on this girlnutkin blog some of what i share in class, for the most part, the class wiki will likely be the primary place for exploring the ten characteristics. i am hoping that others in class also will share experiences and thoughts about the characteristics -

PURPOSE OF THIS PAGE - will have links to past blog posts ... specific for my learning and understanding the ten characteristics of servant-leadership. and i came across larry spears 2004 article ... from Leader to Leader, a publication of the Leader to Leader Institute and Jossey-Bass; Spears, Larry C. "Practicing Servant-Leadership" Leader to Leader. 34 (Fall 2004)7-11.

learning the ten characteristics of servant-leadership ... in preparing for the 2nd class on may 7, i am sifting through my blog posts of the past (and as i write them, of the present) to see what expresses the learnings of the characteristics of a servant-leader - and perhaps more importantly, where i may have missed the mark - maybe i didn't listen or seek to understand, i may have been stuck in a day-to-day mentality, etc. also, i read - voraciously. i listen - vicariously. i talk - vivaciously.

LISTENING
[insert link + description]

EMPATHY
[insert link + description]

HEALING
[insert link + description]

AWARENESS
[insert link + description]

PERSUASION
[insert link + description]

CONCEPTUALIZATION
[insert link + description]

FORESIGHT
[insert link + description]

STEWARDSHIP
[insert link + description]

BUILDING COMMUNITY
[insert link + description]

COMMITMENT TO THE GROWTH OF PEOPLE
[insert link + description]

BACKGROUND THOUGHTS FOR STARTING [wiki] PAGE ... i have come to find that many of my previous blog posts/writings at the various blogs i have kept -

• girlnutkin in the BA (since 2010),
• the predecessor blog (nov 2007-oct 2009) relo'd to BA from SD (marking when i moved from san diego to the SF bay area),
  
• its predecessor blog (jan 2006-oct 2007) relo-ing from SD to BA (marking when i first started blogging thinking i'd do so only to document my planned move from san diego to northern california), and
  
• and a separate blog specific to an internship program i had at my business (jan 2006-oct 2007) REALITY: Intern (aka r|intern) ...
  

- - these blogs have sprinkles of what we are learning in class. i can see how my thoughts dovetail or are somehow related to the reading assignments and reflections resulting during from our class reading. and for my current blog (and with the past blogs), each post is a thought i came across - perhaps that morning, the night before, during a conversation with friends, whatever the source - therefore, i don't quite plan my posts. sometimes i may have a little 'backlog', sometimes i'm not in the mood to post, or sometimes i post filler (like about my car woes). therefore, as much as what i post appears random to others, the randomness is simply what i've decided to post for a given day.

teach to learn ... although through the years i have read books related to servant-leadership, quite a bit related to business and self-improvement, and many magazine/newspaper articles infused with servant-leader learning, there is much to be said about teaching to learn. i remember this teach to learn as part of when i was going to college and being tutored, when i chose to tutor folks, as part of 7 habits, and when i hear myself sharing learnings. and needless to say, the most powerful (for me, at least) is the experiential aspect ... when i also may be in teacher mode and realize that i am, in fact, the one learning. i found from a covey tweet -

• 5 reasons to teach: to learn better, to motivate you to live it, to increase your ability to listen, to legitimatize change, and to bond.

posts as related to greenleaf class ... i still maintain the blog label/tag greenleaf for class related posts. and while i thought i might have a post (maybe once every 2 weeks or so) that is specifically and only dedicated to class-related activities, i am seeing that i constantly think and feel (if that makes sense) much of what we are reading and writing as i go through my day (and as i have gone through in my past years). this wiki is a place to organize my thoughts as inspired by the 2nd class reading assignments.

time to do more reflection and reading -
read voraciously
listen vicariously
talk vivaciously

f|break: sunday morning

be happy ... @srikumarsrao (on twitter, web) shares thoughts on being happy. as a recent add to my bookshelf, rao's book happiness at work is a great companion to my class work with the greenleaf academy and to my continued interest in one's passion.

coming across this video of rao speaking at a conference is a nice respite amidst this weekend cubeopolis crunch time. i especially enjoyed the following as he nears the closing of his talk -

"passion exists inside you ... but if you do find a way to ignite it [passion] where you are, then you will find that the external world rearranges itself to accommodate the new person that you are becoming. and as you do that, you will find that miracles happen on a regular basis. persons come up whom you're delighted to meet ... new people enter your life. it's just a breeze. because all you do in your life is you take journeys. ..."

this very much reminds me of 1994. my friend christina (@ChristinaSolstd) taught me to accept and celebrate the passion that i had back then. she bore witness to the crazy fun of my life in transition. and once again, i am able to share with christina the (re)emerging passion with which i have which i have been reconnecting as i shared in one word. for whatever reason i came across rao's book, i am glad to have done so and will enjoy the process and the journey as it evolves.

enjoy a fiber break with srikumar rao (over here)
for a total of ~ 18:30 + minutes
parts 1 and 2 below


the outcome is completely outside your control ...
invest in the process
is this the journey i want to take?

your passion ...

and a macaroon ... i think about @greenleafcenter and our classwork ALL the time - and when i'm not thinking about class, i feel as if i'm experiencing something related to servant leadership.

creating time ... somewhere in between cubeopolis crunches, various class commitments, keeping up with health month activities, eeking out a meager social life, and the basic eat & sleep stuff, i realize continuing to create time is PRIORITY ONE so that i'm not uncharacteristically blog-quiet and am stayin' on track with recommitting to yhd and reverb10 in 2011 - PRIORITY ONE, i say.

back to your passion ... recently, i had lunch with a friend who is exploring her next step in life, so to speak. (i believe this is a reminder to me, as well, to keep on steppin', by the way.) she mentioned recently hearing and reading quite a bit about perspectives of success and failure. with that said, the rest of this post is an abridged and somewhat edited version of what i shared with my greenleaf class and my continuing on the ideas and thoughts i have about the topic of one's passion, success, and failure. i'm intrigued ... INTRIGUED, i say! i LOVE the transition phase that people experience. i LOVE being around people on that cusp of transition. most of my life, i feel i have had the opportunity to share in those moments with others - friends and loose ties - the AH-HA moments and the NOT-QUITE-READY-RIGHT-NOW moments. whether i seek it out or it finds me, i get to serve as a kind of connector. people react differently to that cusp - some with a kind of trepidation, and others - it's a full frontal attack and balls to the wall.

time to deal with that cusp ... there are many ways to approach one's passion. for my passion, i shared reconnecting with my passion in one word. now i'm exploring amping it up in 2011. through that past months or so, here are just a very few blog posts i've come across with quite varying perspectives and approaches and all if which i have enjoyed reading ...

• joyologist tricia's i don't always know what i'm doing - i just do it
• advanced riskologist tyler's you today vs. you tomorrow and how to write your biography 40 years earlier and are you dreaming or anticipating?
• zen habits's leo's achieving without goals and guest post from study hacks's cal newport on the minimalist's guide to cultivating passion
• study hacks's cal's passion must be actively pursued, not passively waited on
• the middle finger project's ashley's live alive, not just a life: guidelines for rebelling against reality
• castle in the air's nina on the 3 fears - fear of failure, fear of success and fear of abandonment
• the art of non-conformity's chris on what would you do if you knew you would not fail
• the daily love's mastin on want to change? live outside your comfort zone

back to YOUR passion (aka mission, perhaps) ... my friend mentioned that over the past week or so she has felt flooded with stories of what is success and what is failure - AND when she mentioned talk show host, Tavis Smiley, who has written a book Fail Up, i recall seeing his interview with Larry King (part 1, part 2) several thoughts popped into my head while she and i were talking about this over this past Friday's lunch -

• Bolles's what color is your parachute? exercises (so i gave her the workbook) - although for job hunters, I do believe it helps to clarify one's interests, inherent skill sets, and self-awareness.
• 7 Habits and the mission statement builder via Covey - i thought of this because i took it back in the early '90s and revisited it in 2010; i realize that many elements of 7 Habits have been part of my fabric.
  
• Sher's refuse to choose book, which uses the term scanner - a person with many interests, who wants to pursue all of them.
• dream zapper (or energy vampires) - I thought of this because of the idea of NOT zapping other people's dreams and NOT zapping one's OWN dreams; I came across this while reading TMF's blog posts about dream zappers (over here) and shared related thoughts on my blog over here with the magic 8-ball technique and over here as related to a post about tyler's advanced riskology post
• TED and TED talks - I am going to see what is on TED that would speak to my friend
• Kent Keith's book anyway, the paradoxical commandments, which i came across because my brother sent me ken miller's retake the paradoxical commandments of government over here
  
• Po Bronson's book what should i do with my life?, a collection of essays about people seeking and being
• ann lamott's book bird by bird, which is not just for writing but for discovering one's self (in my opinion)
• legacy, a book that is for writing one's personal history
• the movie UP (on web, imdb), because I had just watched it and balled my eyes out (sweet movie)
  

(YES! this is what happens when i get several thoughts!)

Interestingly, a book that my friend thought about during our lunch and has since lent me to read is patti smith's book just kids, which happened to be on the "to read" list on my springpad!

society on success, failure, accomplishments, lessons learned ... my conversation with my friend has made me think about the accepted (or perhaps imposed) societal burden that defines success and that defines failure - and how does one's mission and message transcend those labels? i believe one's mission can exist EVEN IF others believe that it will likely fail (in the conventional sense) - and it seems like this is part of the emotional and psychological barrier where the messenger and the listener can choose to overcome - where a shared understanding can be reached.

my task for the day ...
share this with lunch buddy

greenleaf on camus

it's almost may 7 ... @greenleafcenter the second class of the foundations of servant leadership feels like it is around the corner. i am certainly looking forward to the next class. (i shared some initial thoughts the day after our first class on april 9 over here.)

current reading ...
part of our next class reading is
the servant as leader.

reflect and express ... amidst the assigned readings are the moments of reflection - and there are many, thankfully. and as part of our class, we are asked and encouraged to share our thoughts. given the virtual and telephony environment of the class, i must say that as i read through our assignments (and i do something every day, if even just to reflect on passages or revisit answers to questions posed for classwork), i do miss the impromptu banter over coffee/tea that i recall from my days long ago as a college student.

nevertheless, the personal reflection and opportunity to share is refreshing. with that said - our moment of reflection, as shared by greenleaf in our current reading, an albert camus quote -

"Great ideas, it has been said, come into the world as gently as doves. Perhaps, then, if we listen attentively, we shall hear, amid the uproar of empires and nations, a faint flutter of wings, the gentle stirring of life and hope. Some will say that this hope lies in a nation, others, in a man. I believe rather that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers and the crudest implications of history. As a result, there shines forth fleetingly the ever-threatened truth that each and every person, on the foundations of his or her own sufferings and joys, builds for them all."

- Camus, 1961

on the first class reading ... as i am very nearly finished with the first book, don frick's robert k. greenleaf: a life of servant leadership, i have enjoyed responding to the 17 questions posed - particularly as this class is serving as a wonderful muse for journaling.

as mentioned in a previous blog post of a kind of transcript-lite of my introduction to the class, i shared a couple of things including -

...i'm taking this class as a result of some stream of consciousness writing that i did in december. each day i was participating in an on-line blogging exercise ... reconnecting with something that i had done back in 1994.

... and i feel very compelled to create a way to help people better interact in the workplace.

my '94 epiphany ... as part of my class/public journal, i shared part of what i felt led up to what' i've called my '94 epiphany during a very early morning -

There are BRIDGES yet to be constructed by those who live and

breathe in their ENVIRONMENT— AIR, LAND, and WATER. Egos stand firm

on the ground that they were born and choose not to acknowledge that

to get one step closer they must go one step FURTHER.

MY VISION IS TO CREATE THOSE BRIDGES. – (shirlnuktin)

values ... through the weeks that followed in '94, more thoughts and writings came about in the form of a kind of values and mission statements - shared a bit in this post back in december. fast forward to present day, the values, albeit formatted and expressed a little differently since '94, still hold true for me -

The CATALYST’s VALUES are based on the following RELATIONAL ELEMENTS:

• Catalysts RESPECT that an individual is a member of multiple COMMUNITIES – FAMILY, SCHOOL, FAITH, EMPLOYER, TOWN, NATION, and WORLD.
• Catalysts ENCOURAGE each individual to be RESPONSIBLE for his or her community.
• Catalysts CHALLENGE each community to be ACCOUNTABLE to each individual.
• Catalysts APPRECIATE each individual in a community is UNIQUE yet shares common goals.
• Catalysts ACKNOWLEDGE that each community has a FINITE mix of individuals.

values - revisiting & refreshing ... as i am reading the servant as leader, i am once again compelled to revisit the values set forth from '94 - to refresh them a bit and to revive the essence and spirit of resource catalysts.

ponder. ponder. ponder.

f|break: friday morn

design ... creativity. this morning, i thought of my friend, tanya (founder of artefact), then i remembered i had posted a little about my design fix some time last year, which included a tidbit about my little crush on ...

risd (rhode island school of design) ... for obvious reasons (over here). and the president of risd, john maeda, is tweeting @johnmaeda, and he blogs at creative leadership (over here).

... so i decided to just do a quick visit of his tweets and found one of his presentations at TED (about TED over here) on his thoughts on simplicity. (note: some may find this quite a random walk & talk.)

enjoy a little chat-at-you fiber break with john maeda (over here)

for ~17+ min at TED on simplicity

the laws of simplicity ... from his book (on mit press), he shared ten laws and 3 keys.

Law 1: REDUCE. The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.
Law 2: ORGANIZE. Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
Law 3: TIME. Savings in time feel like simplicity.
Law 4: LEARN. Knowledge makes everything simpler.
Law 5: DIFFERENCES. Simplicity and complexity need each other.
Law 6: CONTEXT. What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
Law 7: EMOTION. More emotions are better than less.
Law 8: TRUST. In simplicity we trust.
Law 9: FAILURE. Some things can never be made simple.
Law 10: THE ONE. Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

Three Keys
Key 1: AWAY. More appears like less simply by moving it far, far away.
Key 2: OPEN. Openness simplifies complexity.
Key 3: POWER. Use less, gain more.

time to ponder simplicity in cubeopolis

my intro on saturday morn

speak to me ... the audio of last saturday's class is available. i decided to relive the moments for four reasons -

• to share on this blog what i said as part of introductions to the class and why i'm taking the course,
• to remind myself of my classmates' reasons for taking the course,
  
• to listen for other learnings, and
  
• to inspire me some more as i answer several of the questions posed for our first class assignment - questions about don frick's robert k. greenleaf: a life of servant leadership
  

and although i am still reading the book (even while taking this week's u-turn detour to the central valley via harris ranch and avenal), i do have answers to several of the questions - answers of which i will share some of them here on this blog, while others may be in more detail as part of my class journal (public or private versions). and there are existing posts that are, in fact, responsive in part or in whole, for my classwork that are even responsive, so i'll incorporate that into the discussion.

oopsie, more than a minute ... we were asked to share with others a little about ourselves and about our taking the class. the following (without sprinkled "uhms") is the ~ 3:38 minutes (from 33:15 to 36:52) introduction i shared with my fellow servant leadership class mates -

i came across servant leadership as a recommendation from a colleague of mine back in the early 90s ... i work in the environmental arena ... i used to have my own consulting practice for 13 years. and when i was talking to a colleague of mine, he had mentioned that when their consulting team was being contracted with (a large corporation) when they were thinking of rolling out energy/environmental, like clean air energy, they were given a pile of books to read, and alot of the books effectively dealt with servant leadership. so that was back in the late '90s, actually.

and i guess i want to say, i want to try to figure out how to do this more - not as much as stream of consciousness - but i'm taking this class as a result of some stream of consciousness writing that i did in december. each day i was participating in an on-line blogging exercise. and what came out of that was me reconnecting with something that i had done back in 1994.

i left the corporate structure, a utility down in san diego, because i had this idea that i wanted to have a different affect on the consulting world as it supported the air quality and environmental and energy arena. and mainly that people didn't seem to work with each other in a particularly respectful or mindful or ... just the manner - it used to break my heart just to see corporations and regulators and non-profits just really labeling people based on that. and so when i stepped out, i just started pursuing a different way of doing my consulting practice, which was just a solo practice. and ultimately by the time i met this gentleman he said, "hey! it looks like you're kind of doing some of this servant leadership...".

so fast forward to this stream of consciousness piece - for whatever reason over the past maybe 4 or 5 months, i've just been reconnecting with what affected me back in 1994, in a different setting ... it is extremely bureaucratic ... it breaks my heart to see people who are so interested in the environment - i'm sorry i'm getting emotional but - and i feel like for some reason when servant leadership popped back into my life, it just really warmed my heart. and i feel very compelled to create a way to help people better interact in the workplace.

i'm a staff level person, so having come from 13 years of owning and business and managing contractors and mentoring people, it's a much different role. so i'm looking forward to seeing how i can bring this class, this coursework, and learn from the people who are on the phone, their experiences, how to make that come alive. and ultimately, i feel like there is some sort of blog that i want to write or a book or some speaking, i don't know yet, but that's where i'm at.

stream of consciousness in december ... the daily december blogging i mentioned was through reverb10, with links to my 31 posts over here. from a different perspective on my reverb10 responses, i revisited reverb10 in february and grouped my reverb posts that related to manifestations (13 posts) and relationships and connections (9 posts). of the 22 posts, i chose my "top 10" posts. THEN of the top 10, i chose my "top 3" posts which are -

• future self (vision board, authenticity, cubeopolis, fair, forthright, self-aware),
• friendship (silver lining friendships, preferred)
• defining moment (on cubeopolis, with recap of related reverb10 prompts)

1994, back in the day ... the first prompt of reverb10 (on dec 1) was one word. this is where i shared a little about my epiphany at the time, which, included in the post, came with my take on mission, vision, values statements.

why i chose to re-enter cubeopolis ... back in november, i expressed interest in a position. i wrote a cover memo pretty much from stream of consciousness (particularly given the limited time i had to submit my paper work). the contents of the cover memo is over here. i share this because in the last 2 paragraphs of that content - My personal Mission, Vision, and Values Statements - i express the importance of my mission, vision, values. AND i remind myself not to be affected by dream zappers.

2 weeks after re-entering cubeopolis ... on the bureaucracy - here are my thoughts after 2 weeks. i can see that i will be revisiting this as part of my class work.

thank you for letting me share

my little addiction ...

books ... i love to read, but more so, i enjoy going to the book store for my down time, especially after some sort of intense information processing - preparing for taxes, researching data, receiving emotional news, cranking on my cubeopolis project, or simply participating in my saturday class.

my retail therapy ... for some reason, walking through stacks, searching for a book or three, and reading book jackets of books i may read AND those that i would normally not read quiets my mind somehow (or maybe just allows me to process information differently - who knows?!).

and along with books, as shared in #10 of my 25 blah-blah things, i've dabbled in the more conventional retail therapy for wallets, purses, or shoes (fluevogs, of course), as well. (fortunately, i have been curbing the purse tendency with my little policy of buy one purse, release two purses.) but i digress.

bookcase buddies ... new, used additions (via half price books) to my bookcase (and nightstands, coffee table, end table, ...) - a somewhat random collection of books - two books which i was looking for, one i've thought about getting, and others that caught my cubeopolis-eye and may or may not be relevant at this time -

• vonnegut's player piano
• brooks's world war Z
• rousseau's the social contract and discourses
  
• magnetic quotes and humor's office wisdom
  
• de bono's six frames
• pierre's the artist in the office

random? ... perhaps. looking forward to seeing which books are keepers and which will be passed along.

the day after ...

april 9 ... yesterday with @greenleafcenter (first saturday of each month), i started - foundations of servant leadership with several others around the globe who are interested in and/or living the servant-leader philosophy.

isabel lopez (over here as course faculty and her web) is our instructor, and dolores jones (over here) is our program coordinator. as stated for the course, we must -

• Read all assigned required material on listening and developing your colleagues
• Undertake a project during which the participant uses listening skills or survey instruments to learn about and report on the needs of colleagues or customers
• Write a short paper (8-12 pages reflecting learning, knowledge and insights that merit the certificate)
• Participate in telephone conference calls (approx. 5 telephone conference calls lasting 1.5 hours each) with faculty members and other participants
• Participate in discussions using the Wiki

yesterday's class ... what a treat to have don frick, the author of robert k. greenleaf's biography, as part of our first class. admittedly, i shared with the class that i had not yet finished our reading assignment and specifically was at the "LSD" part of greenleaf's biography. yes - THAT is part of greenleaf's life. so amidst the many moved-to-tears, heartfelt moments, i must say i am enjoying the many life experiences that don has had the wonderful opportunity to explore and share.

journal for our class ... as part of writing our paper, the following questions are prompts for our keeping a journal as we go through our class over the next several months -

• What are concepts that speak to you... that cause you struggles... that create questions for you?
• How does Greenleaf's work make meaning for you?
• There is a reason you took this class, what are your hopes for yourself in this class?
• What can you use from your readings and discussions today to help you chart your life course?
  

therefore, as part of my classwork journal which is part of a class wiki, i will have blog posts that relate to class. or in a case like this, i am sharing what i have written in my class journal. because our wiki is restricted to class members, there are links in my copied journal posts that will not be accessible from this blog. oh well.

FOR YOU reading any of my journal entries ... Thank you in advance for taking the time to do so, and do feel free to comment, or if there is information I share that you would like to edit (presuming you may have edit privileges), share/edit away!

JUST SHARING THOUGHTS with class - I am trying out our wiki for journaling. As suggested for writing the Final Paper and as encouraged by Isabel for us to share thoughts with our class, a dedicated place in our wiki will certainly be convenient for me. I will make sure to use links for any "cross-cutting" comments I may contribute.

If you would like to do something similar in this wiki for your journal and need some help or a little kick-start, I'm not an expert, but I certainly am willing to help you out. Just let me know.

Overview of intended folder contents ... I have created this folder - Shirley - Journal - with the intention of including pages that are related to our class work and discussions -

• my random thoughts and ah-ha moments,
• answers to questions posed for our reflection,
• additional thoughts on class discussions/meetings or comments I may share with others on a different part of this wiki, and
• other resources for which I come across that may be of interest to others.

I have only used a wiki once, so I am looking forward to learning more of this format. In fact, I am using this page to explore some of the features.

About "Entries and Overview" ... Over the course of the next 5 months, I expect this folder will be populated with several pages. Therefore, I will include links to subsequent journal entries as a sort of "table of contents" of my Shirley-Journal folder for ease of navigation and reference. I also may include links to others' comments/entries as part of my journal.

On journaling ... I started journaling a bit more formally many years ago in the '90s when someone introduced me to J.Cameron's The Artist's Way. For those of you familiar with this book, although I have not kept up my morning pages, perhaps blogging has been a bit of a surrogate, along with other writing practices I have developed through the years that serve a somewhat similar purpose - however, admittedly, nothing as powerful as my experiences when I wrote my 3-4 pages each morning back in the day. For those unfamiliar with this book and interested in journaling, I feel Cameron has an interesting perspective of sparking and tapping into creativity through her approach.

[NOTE: I have come across several on-line journal resources. I will make sure to write a blog post about those at a later time and include a link as part of journal.]

What I typically do when I journal ... Typically, I am always with a method to "capture" my thoughts (or as I've often refer - "the voices in my head, chills up my spine, tilt of the head, tingling or knot in my stomach") that often will morph into a personal journal entry. I capture my thoughts either on paper or electronically - always with me are a purse-size moleskine, an action runner notepad (mainly for moving forward my "ah-ha" moments), and my droid (presuming batteries charged) where i keep my springpad app, which syncs to the on-line version. (I'm including some images and links (when you press the image) as examples and NOT as endorsements. Some people may prefer visuals/examples.)

(my home page on springpad)

[NOTE: Just a little note about springpad - I have NOT yet used the springpad app to its potential. A few friends of mine use or have talked about evernote. If you use or intend to use a tool like springpad or evernote, I certainly am interested in your opinion about what features/benefits you like (and don't like).]

On blogging ... I've not been blogging as regularly and frequently during the past month, however, as a complement to this journal, I also will share thoughts on my blog, which serves as a typical, "personal life observed/experienced" blog - girl nutkin in the BA. To keep things a bit more orderly, I am using on my blog the label/tag greenleaf for class-related entries, so one does not have to search around the blog for class-related posts. It's likely my classwork journal entries may be inspired by a blog entry or vice-verse. My blog entries likely will reflect more thoughts beyond what I write in my class journal entries or perhaps a blog entry will be verbatim from my journal entry. Also, my blog entries may be a little more free-form and cheeky, however, I will do my best to make sure that any blog entries I reference in my journal are relevant.

thanks for letting me share -
the voices in my head,
chills up my spine,
tilt of the head,
tingling or knot in my stomach