A flurry of comments, twitters, facebook entries, blogs over this week about the change ahead! I have only blurry memories of President Kennedy, certainly not enough to be able to judge whether Barack Obama compares favourably. But neither do the majority of us utilizing the electronic media for our delivery. All I will write about, as the knowledgeable pundits will be chewing on the phenomenom of Obama-mania for a long time, is President Obama's comment about the "price and the promise of citizenship" and our duties and responsibilities.
I am considering this week the next five years of my life - time for the next five year plan - not just my own progress, but what the collaboration with my colleagues, partners, husband, children and friends will accomplish. It is both an org chart and a design for life. The most critical piece, the element which is the most challenging for me is to formulate the outline without repeating it "as usual". I am building this edifice outside the box, an architectural blueprint for a building without walls or floors which still supports, encloses and holds safe those within. How the hell do I do that?!
Now, I know how to write a business plan, how to organize an enterprise, how to manage a team and I even believe that I operate at a high level with consideration for the future and a willingness to incorporate sustainability. But all of the methods of doing business, all the practices I have developed over the years do not prepare me for this. And yet this is the most significant strategy I have ever created at the most pivotal moment, not only in my life, but in my time. And quite frankly, I am confounded. I don't know what I am doing - not a comfortable place to be sitting, I assure you.
Yet, as I allow myself to explore and relax into thoughts where my busy mind doesn't usually plumb, I begin to observe the faint markings of a trail. There are clearly others ahead, pioneers seeking the same destination. And this is where the responsibility part comes in. In order to conceive of a hereafter that does not replicate what has been, I must also be willing to cast off into unmapped territory. I cannot generate a new way from what I know how to do. I have to trust that the outcome, while not assured as successful, will provide the results essential to keep playing. This is the long game. And it has a cost and an assurance. The price is giving up our fundamental knowingness to travel this perilous path; the promise is what Barack Obama said:
"This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny."
Yes, even me.
Stay tuned - I will happily share the outcome of the day of planning.
I am considering this week the next five years of my life - time for the next five year plan - not just my own progress, but what the collaboration with my colleagues, partners, husband, children and friends will accomplish. It is both an org chart and a design for life. The most critical piece, the element which is the most challenging for me is to formulate the outline without repeating it "as usual". I am building this edifice outside the box, an architectural blueprint for a building without walls or floors which still supports, encloses and holds safe those within. How the hell do I do that?!
Now, I know how to write a business plan, how to organize an enterprise, how to manage a team and I even believe that I operate at a high level with consideration for the future and a willingness to incorporate sustainability. But all of the methods of doing business, all the practices I have developed over the years do not prepare me for this. And yet this is the most significant strategy I have ever created at the most pivotal moment, not only in my life, but in my time. And quite frankly, I am confounded. I don't know what I am doing - not a comfortable place to be sitting, I assure you.
Yet, as I allow myself to explore and relax into thoughts where my busy mind doesn't usually plumb, I begin to observe the faint markings of a trail. There are clearly others ahead, pioneers seeking the same destination. And this is where the responsibility part comes in. In order to conceive of a hereafter that does not replicate what has been, I must also be willing to cast off into unmapped territory. I cannot generate a new way from what I know how to do. I have to trust that the outcome, while not assured as successful, will provide the results essential to keep playing. This is the long game. And it has a cost and an assurance. The price is giving up our fundamental knowingness to travel this perilous path; the promise is what Barack Obama said:
"This is the source of our confidence — the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny."
Yes, even me.
Stay tuned - I will happily share the outcome of the day of planning.
(The image above is a wordle of this blog - if you haven't yet, check out http://www.wordle.net )
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