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How Consultants can remain positive

29/5/2017

Sometimes consulting can be disheartening. When you lose an important R.F.P. When your client doesn’t believe in their people as much as you do. When your ultimate dream just seems too big. My ultimate dream has always been to liberate human spirit at work and to improve the world as a result. When I get disheartened I recall the following story:

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake?” asked a wise old man.

“Nothing more than nothing” I replied.

“In that case I must tell you a marvellous story” said the wise old man. “I sat by the branch of a fir tree, when it started to lightly snow. Since I had nothing better to do I counted the snow flakes settling on the branch. I counted 3, 746,448, then when one more fell, nothing more than nothing, the branch broke off.”

I sat and thought about it for a long time.

“Perhaps” said the wise man “There is only one person’s voice lacking for real change to come to the world. Perhaps it’s yours.”

This story is how my book “Cracking Great Leaders” ends. The book has had great reviews. If you are a manager or consultant and have not read it, you should.

If you have a client (internal or external) who believes their people are capable of far more than they contribute check out the Change Program based on the book. It contains my 25 years of experience of releasing energy in organisations. It has provided me with a great income over the last 25 years. It could do the same for you.

Please pass this on to someone who might benefit

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Our current story is killing us. Is there a better one?

4/5/2017

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The stories we tell ourselves are vitally important. Think about how the world changed when we told ourselves the world was round rather than flat.

Here’s the current story we tell ourselves:

We are the height of consciousness and since consciousness reigns, the world and all other living things were made for us to lord over, conquer and control. Under man’s rule the world would be a paradise except for the fact that we are weak, separate and irredeemably flawed. It’s not our fault, we were made that way (Garden of Eden etc).

People are reluctant to give up on this story, because it is so convenient and there is no other story to take its place. It is convenient because it provides us with so many excuses for doing what we do (taking without thinking about it) and not doing what we should do.

This story is justification for us to control the world to our single advantage even if it is killing the planet. This story gives us an excuse not to improve ourselves. It means we accept that we were made flawed and there is nothing we can do about it. Because we think we are flawed we look for the worst in ourselves and each other. It says we are separate when science is showing us we are far more closely connected than most people understand. It’s why we build walls in our mind when there are no walls in reality. It is the basis of “them” and “us”. The only thing sure about this story is that if we keep going on the way we have been going on, we won’t be going on for long.

We need another story, one that is not going to destroy us. How about this one?
We maybe the height of consciousness; but, consciousness doesn’t rule our behaviour, subconsciousness rules our behaviour. We are not as clever as we think we are, indeed we are in the process of poisoning the very environment we depend on. If only man would rule himself, manage his subconscious, the world would be a paradise; especially given his potential for greatness and his collective strength. It is our choice. It is our fault if we don’t make it.

The new story puts the accountability squarely back on us. It’s us that needs to change. We need to rule ourselves. It’s our responsibility to realise our potential greatness. To take the time and effort to think deeply about ourselves and our connections. To focus on what’s important. If we told ourselves that all the matter in our body would fit on a pinhead and the rest is energy and forces; we’d pay far more attention to what’s going on inside us and between us.

If we told ourselves we have the potential to be great, we’d look for the greatness in ourselves and in each other. We’d understand that we are both good and bad; that we have ability to change, learn, and be better; that we have the ability to grow our goodness and reduce our badness. We’d work on our greatness (genius) and manage our devils.

Most people think their power comes from the top of their head, actually it comes from a much deeper place, the subconscious, that can be a powerful friend or a powerful enemy. If we understood the power of our subconscious we’d work on it, telling new stories and developing new habits. We’d kick our simplistic stories, rules of thumb and alternative facts when science shows these are wrong.

If we told ourselves that everything is connected, we’d stop seeing ourselves as separate, we’d stop worshiping the self (’selfies’ etc). We’d break down “us” and “them”. We’d eliminate walls and silos wherever they separate us unnecessarily. We’d live sustainably with the world and all other animals. If we continue to lose them at our current rate we will also become extinct.

The new story puts the accountability squarely back on us. When we believe in the power of our collective strength we’ll put far more energy and time into developing our relationships and networks.

I know we can do this because my life’s work for at least the last 25 years has been to liberate human energy at work. In my work I’ve found, together, people can do almost anything.
It’s about bringing out greatness and learning how to maximise the collective strength. It is the subject of my Book and my Program.

Even if an individual is bad it’s usually because he hasn’t yet learned the skills to make him better, or the system he is in is flawed or he has lost hope. Many people underestimate how difficult it is to work against a system. It is much easier to change the system. Systems are man-made and if they produce poor results we need to change them, and this largely comes back to changing the story on which it is based. Hope is far more important than most of us believe as the following story shows:

“In the 1950s, Curt Richter, a Harvard graduate and Johns Hopkins scientist, did a series of experiments that tested how long rats could swim in high-sided buckets of circulating water before drowning. Dr. Richter found that, under normal conditions, a rat could swim for an average of 15 minutes before giving up and sinking. However, if he rescued the rats just before drowning, dried them off and let them rest briefly, and then put them back into the same buckets of circulating water, the rats could swim an average of 60 hours. Yes, 60 hours. If a rat was temporarily saved, it would survive 240 times longer than if it was not temporarily saved. This makes no sense. How could these rats swim so much longer during the second session, especially just after swimming as long as possible to stay alive during the first session? Dr. Richter concluded that the rats were able to swim longer because they were given hope. A better conclusion is that the rats were able to swim longer because they were given energy through hope. The rats had a clear picture of what being saved looked like, so they kept swimming.” Isaiah Hankel.
We need a clear picture of what being saved looks like so we can find the energy and inspiration to create the new environment. Does the new story provide a better picture? Does it give you the energy to keep swimming? Is the new picture more hopeful? If so how will you help me spread this story?

Warmest wishes
Bruce.

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How Consultants can remain positive

Our current story is killing us. Is there a better one?

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How Consultants can remain positive

​Our current story is killing us. Is there a better one?

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Our current story is killing us. Is there a better one?