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On Listening

I can't remember who turned me onto Johnnie Moore, but the first time I visited his blog I felt like I was in the living room of someone I admired, looking at his library--I wanted to read everything! I got agita just looking at the number of entries he had written under "Authenticity" (86 at the time, now he's well over 100). This man knew something, and I wanted to know if for myself.

When I heard that Johnnie was going to write about Improv as a business metaphor in More Space I felt a great deal of admiration and skepticism at the same time. Having worked at an executive development firm, I saw the disparity between the good intentions of ED managers, who understood that people were too complex to control, and their VPs, who wanted measurable results for the money they spent on this woo woo crap.

On Breakthroughs

I have this vision of my life that I've been working toward. It involves a fluffy chair next to a window looking out on a lush, green garden. I've got a book in my hand and a notebook close by. I plan to do some idea generating for a while, then I'll break to cook a new Indian dish I'd attempted for the first time in my cooking class. I make sure I get this time for myself at least once a day, even when I'm traveling and speaking all over the world. I'd maintain a harmonic balance between connection with the business world and my personal creativity.

I suspect that if God made this vision a reality today I'd hear a "poof" and turn into Lisa Haneberg. I'm not sure what formulated this impression. I think I wrote a story once about issues I had with finding the perfect coffee shop for writing and she chimed in. I imagined her in Seattle, in-between consulting gigs, with her Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and a latte.

Lisa, save me a chair. Someday I will join you. And we won't have to sit and kvetch the whole time. We can sit in silence, reading and thinking, and occasionally bouncing our ideas off one another. After reading Lisa's chapter in More Space (something I should have done LONG AGO), "Breakthrough Experiences," I was even more certain of this cosmic connection.

On Productivity

Some of my consulting experiences have felt like I was meeting crazy in-laws for the first time. Once I step into their "home" I can feel the dysfunction. The unloved children, the favorites, the ones who feel entitled. Some people walk by you without saying a word; some seem put out by your presence; some seem seriously worried. You represent a manager's decision that maybe some people don't respect, or a position that someone in the company was vying for that she didn't get because you were hired instead, or a reiteration of a project that has been done unsuccessfully many times before.

You never quite know what you are going to get when you walk into a company you haven't worked for yet. However, the past two days I've worked with a client that was--dare I say it--a pleasure to work with.

On "Business," that much maligned word

This is the next installment of a series pondering each essay in the book More Space: Nine Antidotes to Complacency in Business.

I just re-read my co-writer Rob May's chapter again in More Space with fresh eyes. Rob (of Business Pundit)and I were editing partners, reading and guiding each other's work, which is kind of funny considering our vastly different takes on business. What's important, however, is that we both love it; Rob just takes a more logical approach to the subject, and mine is more, shall we say, melodramatic.

Reading his chapter this time around, I took the editor's hat off and really explored my own feelings about business. As Rob says, many people, such as myself, give business a bad rap because we associate it with greedy, immoral corporations, or with crappy jobs.

On Authenticity

Incidentally, this isnt the first time (nor will it be the last) that I've written on authenticity. I wrote a chapter about it in More Space. Get your sneak peak here. Or, hell, got an hour? You can hear me read my own stuff. Just like having me in your living room, without the hacking cough.

The word "authenticity" hasn't become worn out yet; it's still like all things 2.0, in it's cool period but misused. Everyone wants to BE authentic, but they don't want to make the effort. They want to start blogs and open to the customer, but they don't want to reveal anything worth reading. They want to rise above the rest, but not take risks. Being with these people is like being out to dinner with your husband's boss and colleagues. Everyone is charming and careful. Interaction becomes obligatory and, when no one is looking, avoided.

I was talking to someone today who is trying to promote his new blog for high-level business executives. "We want it to be a place where they share, but no one wants to be on the record," he says. It seems we want to be loved, in business and in life, without being known.

Presenting...More Space

I've been living in "Almost There" mode since BlogHer. The book proposal is almost there. That project I'm working on is almost there. That article? You get the point.

So it's particularly gratifying to see one of my projects there! Introducing More Space: Nine Antidotes to Complacency in Business, written by moi and eight other co-conspirators, including Lisa Haneberg from Management Craft, Rob May from Businesspundit, Johnnie Moore from johnniemoore.com, Robert Paterson from PEI’s Future, Evelyn Rodriguez from Crossroad Dispatches, Curt Rosengren from Occupational Adventure, and Jeremy Wright from Ensight.org. We each take on a different aspect of business: Passion, Authenticity, Productivity, Change, Community, Simplicity, Innovation and Perspective, as they apply in the new business sphere. Office Life For Dummies this ain't.

I have to thank the brain and driving force behind this project, Todd Sattersten, and his wife, Amy. I don't know many other people who would say, "Hmmm, we're about to have our second child. Why don't we publish a book while we're at it?" More Space is their second baby this year.

Please check it out at 800CEOREAD, and stop into the blog to read about the book, the authors, and to download audiocasts of the chapters. Some freak read mine.