Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
October 26, 2008
Leadership is a choice.. there is a subtle difference between backing off and doing nothing. Backing off gives power to the Tribe. To lead you need to create motion. The idea is to bring you to the point of creating more. Lean in and let go… but don’t do nothing. This can cause discomfort, which is the point. If you are not feeling uncomfortable, then you have not pushed yourself into greatness.
I found this book to be both profound and inspiring. I have rarely enjoyed a book as much as I have Tribes. Below is the excerpt from Amazon.
A tribe is any group of people, large or small, who are connected to one another, a leader, and an idea. For millions of years, humans have been seeking out tribes, be they religious, ethnic, economic, political, or even musical (think of the Deadheads). It’s our nature.
Now the Internet has eliminated the barriers of geography, cost, and time. All those blogs and social networking sites are helping existing tribes get bigger. But more important, they’re enabling countless new tribes to be born—groups of ten or ten thousand or ten million who care about their iPhones, or a political campaign, or a new way to fight global warming.
And so the key question: Who is going to lead us?
The Web can do amazing things, but it can’t provide leadership. That still has to come from individuals— people just like you who have passion about something. The explosion in tribes means that anyone who wants to make a difference now has the tools at her fingertips.
If you think leadership is for other people, think again—leaders come in surprising packages. Consider Joel Spolsky and his international tribe of scary-smart software engineers. Or Gary Vaynerhuck, a wine expert with a devoted following of enthusiasts. Chris Sharma leads a tribe of rock climbers up impossible cliff faces, while Mich Mathews, a VP at Microsoft, runs her internal tribe of marketers from her cube in Seattle. All they have in common is the desire to change things, the ability to connect a tribe, and the willingness to lead.
If you ignore this opportunity, you risk turning into a “sheepwalker”—someone who fights to protect the status quo at all costs, never asking if obedience is doing you (or your organization) any good. Sheepwalkers don’t do very well these days.
Tribes will make you think (really think) about the opportunities in leading your fellow employees, customers, investors, believers, hobbyists, or readers. . . . It’s not easy, but it’s easier than you think.
You can also download the book from iTunes.
To your success
It’s Your Response that Counts
October 26, 2008
It’s Your Response that Counts
by Jack Canfield
In these troubled economic times, when everywhere you look there’s a rumbling of great uncertainty, I think we should all take a pause (and a deep breath) to think about our lives.
Are we moving in the direction we want to be? When things happen in the world that seem so far beyond our individual control, it can feel unsettling. And even though we think we are the masters of our own success, watching the news these days can chip away at our belies.
Even in tough economic times, you get to decide how to respond to certain conditions, opportunities, and outcomes–both good and bad.
While I don’t claim to be an economist, I do know one important fact. The economy is the same for everyone, it’s how you respond to it that determines how you feel about it.
It’s yet another example of what I’ve been teaching for years. . .
E + R = O
(Events + Responses = Outcome)
The basic idea is that every outcome you experience in life (whether it’s success or failure, wealth or poverty, wellness or illness, intimacy or estrangement, joy or frustration) is the result of how you have responded to an earlier event (or events) in your life.
If you don’t like the outcomes you are currently experiencing, there are two basic choices you can make:
Choice #1: You can blame the event (E) for your lack of results (O).
In other words, you can blame the economy, the weather, the lack of money, lack of education, racism, gender bias, the current administration in Washington, your wife or husband, your boss’s attitude, the lack of support, and so on.
No doubt all these factors exist, but if they were the deciding factor, nobody would ever succeed.
For every reason it’s not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circumstances and have succeeded.
It’s not the external conditions and circumstances that stop us — it’s us!
We think limiting thoughts and engage in self-defeating behaviors. We defend our self-destructive habits (such as drinking and smoking) with indefensible logic.
We ignore useful feedback, fail to continuously educate ourselves and learn new skills, waste time on the trivial aspects of our lives, engage in idle gossip, eat unhealthy food, fail to exercise, spend more than we make, fail to tell the truth, don’t ask for what we want, and then wonder why our lives aren’t working.
Choice #2: You can instead simply change your responses (R) to the events (E) until you get the outcomes (O) you want.
You can change your thinking, change your communication, change the pictures you hold in your head (your images of the world) and you can change your behavior (the things you do.) That’s all you really have any control over anyway.
Unfortunately, most of us are so engrained our habits that we never change our behavior.
We get stuck in our conditioned responses-to our spouses and children, to our colleagues at work, to our customers and our clients, to our students, and to the world at large.
You have to gain control of your thoughts, your images, your dreams and daydreams, and your behavior.
Everything you think, say, and do needs to become intentional and aligned with your purpose, your values, and your goals.
If you don’t like your outcomes, change your responses!
Here’s an example of how this works…
Do you remember the Northridge earthquake in 1994? I do! I lived through it in Los Angeles.
Two days later I watched as CNN interviewed people commuting to work. The earthquake had damaged one of the main freeways leading into the city. Traffic was at a standstill, and what was normally a 1-hour drive had become a 2-3 hour drive.
The CNN reporter knocked on the window of one of the cars stuck in traffic and asked the driver how he was doing.
He responded, angrily, “I hate California. First there were fires, then floods, and now an earthquake! No matter what time I leave in the morning, I’m late for work. I can’t believe it!”
Then the Reporter knocked on the window of the car behind him and asked the driver the same question. This driver was all smiles.
He replied “It’s no problem. I left my house at five am. I don’t think under the circumstances my boss can ask for more than that. I have lots of music and Spanish-language tapes with me. I’ve got my cell phone. Coffee in a thermos, my lunch-I even have a book to read. I’m fine.”
Now, if the earthquake or the traffic were really the deciding variables, then everyone should have been angry. But everyone wasn’t.
It was their individual response to the traffic that gave them their particular outcome. It was thinking negative thoughts or positive thoughts, leaving the house prepared or leaving the house unprepared that made the difference. It was all a matter of attitude and behavior that created their completely different experiences.
If we all experience the same EVENT, the OUTCOME you get will be totally dependent upon your RESPONSE to the situation.
If you want to take control of how you respond to life, you’ll start noticing that your outcomes will be more along the lines of what you have always hoped.
Remember, you control your destiny so make it a fantastic one!
WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?
You can, as long as you include this complete statement with it: Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is the founder and co-creator of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: http://www.jackcanfield.com/
Ted Talks, Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
October 19, 2008
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we’re educating our children.
He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.
PE Radio Talks to Psychic Miranda Tempest
October 1, 2008
I was born with the gift to know things. As a child I insisted I would have many children and even named a son I would not have until 18 years later, and the son was named by his father. I was raised with family that considered omens to be very important. It was common for cousins, aunts or grandparent to share dreams with one another because they often came to pass. My Grandmother was a tea leaf reader. My Aunt and great Aunt were channelers and I have seen my great aunt allow an Indian guide to possess her, during the 40′s she would give readings just as they do today.
I first began reading regular playing cards at 16 and shortly after the Tarot but it is not these items that solely produce the accuracy of the readings, like most psychics they begin with an item be it tarot, crystal ball or someones personal belonging and then use their empathetic ability to produce the ultimate results. There are times I hear a voice or see a vision. As with those on my grandmothers side, my own children seem to have inherited the ability. We all have an unwavering faith in Jesus and believe everyone has this ability which comes from our connection with God.
You can visit Miranda at http://www.psychicmirandatempest.com






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