Many thanks to Google, for facilitating my introduction to blogging.
I can now be found at:
HTTP://WWW.ACCORDADVISORYGROUP.COM
See you there!
Best,
Ian
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
What Banks Know
Some years ago, before Depression panic gripped the world, I had the opportunity to consult with several members of the banking industry. Each was involved in an obscure area of work, destined to become headline news within a few years. And whether discussing complex derivative trades or the structuring of collateralized debt obligation tranches, each reflected an industry-wide secret. It was known to individuals, but because it fell outside of the industry’s normative culture, it resided within the personal anxieties of industry players, so that the merry-go round could continue to turn.
Opposing knowledge were the final days of 21st Century Weimar: thousand dollar bottles of champagne at over-priced exclusive clubs for the finance teams that had worked feverishly to bring in the deals; private plane chartered to international soccer matches; hob nobbing with C-Suite bankers in the Colorado snow; wind surfing off the most perfect secret spot in an undisclosed South American country.
The secret was that bad debt was spreading virally throughout the world, as bankers and investors gobbled up its dubiously rated super secure ratings. The speed with which merger and acquisitions had to be consummated in that final year, meant little sleep. And the terrific profit margins for lenders that had typified the growing generation of risky debt, began to diminish rapidly. Yet the players could not withdraw because their organizational roles required that they continue to play. If one bank refused a deal, then another would take it; and reputation was at stake. Standards loosened. Yet, while personal reflection of participants within the context of psychological business consultation was focused right on target, nothing of this was permitted in the workplace because the goal-determined purpose of the work required a uniformity of belief in corporate alignment. And this was affirmed in industry alignment.
Slowly, the clients I knew, began to revise their career plans. They were paid well to leave, either to pass the baton or to close up shop. Remarkably, the knowledge underlying their individual anxieties became lost to their work organizations. So that when the larger societal world caught up with the dilemma, the organization could truly claim ignorance: not only had knowledge been off-limits, but also those who knew and couldn’t say, were no longer around. Incentives to stay demanded the ignorance of the group; and incentives to leave made sure the group’s ignorance could be validated
Opposing knowledge were the final days of 21st Century Weimar: thousand dollar bottles of champagne at over-priced exclusive clubs for the finance teams that had worked feverishly to bring in the deals; private plane chartered to international soccer matches; hob nobbing with C-Suite bankers in the Colorado snow; wind surfing off the most perfect secret spot in an undisclosed South American country.
The secret was that bad debt was spreading virally throughout the world, as bankers and investors gobbled up its dubiously rated super secure ratings. The speed with which merger and acquisitions had to be consummated in that final year, meant little sleep. And the terrific profit margins for lenders that had typified the growing generation of risky debt, began to diminish rapidly. Yet the players could not withdraw because their organizational roles required that they continue to play. If one bank refused a deal, then another would take it; and reputation was at stake. Standards loosened. Yet, while personal reflection of participants within the context of psychological business consultation was focused right on target, nothing of this was permitted in the workplace because the goal-determined purpose of the work required a uniformity of belief in corporate alignment. And this was affirmed in industry alignment.
Slowly, the clients I knew, began to revise their career plans. They were paid well to leave, either to pass the baton or to close up shop. Remarkably, the knowledge underlying their individual anxieties became lost to their work organizations. So that when the larger societal world caught up with the dilemma, the organization could truly claim ignorance: not only had knowledge been off-limits, but also those who knew and couldn’t say, were no longer around. Incentives to stay demanded the ignorance of the group; and incentives to leave made sure the group’s ignorance could be validated
Mister Market
Mr Market, goes the common wisdom, suffers from bipolar disorder. We join him in his enthusiasms—momentarily gratifying our greed and desire as we attempt to amplify wealth; and then our stomachs tighten and grip as his mood swing plummets to strip our dreams. We say the losses are on “paper”; but bitterly remember that the paper was once meaningful--- available for redemption and use.
We believe in Mr Market, as we believe in bankers and advisors who guide us and entice us, because, despite our education and the availability of information, it remains exquisitely hard to know what to do to grow our savings and so insure our financial stability. So we declare ourselves adherents of the long term or the short term, the day trade or of buy-and-hold, of value, of growth, of dividend and price-to-earnings. We advocate shareholder rights although we have no idea of the secrets that the balance sheet contains. And now, our harrowing experiences of mark-to-market have been traumatic: a condition which shuts down thinking instead of generating a tolerable loss from which to develop understanding.
So our crisis is larger than the S&P and the Dow: it is a dawning recognition that our lives are balanced on belief, warranted and unwarranted, in systems and the performances of individuals playing roles in systemic drama.
We must save and don’t know what that means, really, as the value of currency erodes and prices increase. We seek counsel to guide and to soothe. And our counselor looks to his colleague to affirm that he’s doing it correctly; and their company looks to the practices of similar organizations to affirm that they are doing it correctly. And because we are focused on our own fragility, we hardly notice that we are, ourselves, playing an input role within a system for processing wealth from broker to firm to industry.
We disconnect our wealth from our anxiety as we plan prudent action. And we disconnect our prudent acts from their uniformity with others’ similarly rational acts as we place our trust in those advisors we believe know more. And we chose not to see the pressures under which our advisors work, to affirm to ourselves that they are better than the rest --- which means, that they must participate in a common culture of commerce: but of course, do it much better than others, because we are choosing them and we demand the best. Our first condition is not understanding, but thin belief, based not upon conviction, but upon our own exaggerated illusions of understanding.
Most of us take aspects of the cultures that are lived by us for granted. And under the current shock of economic reality, we are in a place of panic rather than reflection. Yet the underlying dynamics of the situation which took us here--- us and not the bankers and brokers--- requires consideration. We have relied on shortcuts to knowing about personal finance---as we’ve assured ourselves that the sales assurances of our vendors have been objective. Mostly, though, we have ignored how bound within our economic and commercial systems we have been as our self preservative instincts have sought false security. We have traded careful thought in managing risk in relation to our own needs for the temporary illusion of having made the same wise investment decisions as everyone else.
We believe in Mr Market, as we believe in bankers and advisors who guide us and entice us, because, despite our education and the availability of information, it remains exquisitely hard to know what to do to grow our savings and so insure our financial stability. So we declare ourselves adherents of the long term or the short term, the day trade or of buy-and-hold, of value, of growth, of dividend and price-to-earnings. We advocate shareholder rights although we have no idea of the secrets that the balance sheet contains. And now, our harrowing experiences of mark-to-market have been traumatic: a condition which shuts down thinking instead of generating a tolerable loss from which to develop understanding.
So our crisis is larger than the S&P and the Dow: it is a dawning recognition that our lives are balanced on belief, warranted and unwarranted, in systems and the performances of individuals playing roles in systemic drama.
We must save and don’t know what that means, really, as the value of currency erodes and prices increase. We seek counsel to guide and to soothe. And our counselor looks to his colleague to affirm that he’s doing it correctly; and their company looks to the practices of similar organizations to affirm that they are doing it correctly. And because we are focused on our own fragility, we hardly notice that we are, ourselves, playing an input role within a system for processing wealth from broker to firm to industry.
We disconnect our wealth from our anxiety as we plan prudent action. And we disconnect our prudent acts from their uniformity with others’ similarly rational acts as we place our trust in those advisors we believe know more. And we chose not to see the pressures under which our advisors work, to affirm to ourselves that they are better than the rest --- which means, that they must participate in a common culture of commerce: but of course, do it much better than others, because we are choosing them and we demand the best. Our first condition is not understanding, but thin belief, based not upon conviction, but upon our own exaggerated illusions of understanding.
Most of us take aspects of the cultures that are lived by us for granted. And under the current shock of economic reality, we are in a place of panic rather than reflection. Yet the underlying dynamics of the situation which took us here--- us and not the bankers and brokers--- requires consideration. We have relied on shortcuts to knowing about personal finance---as we’ve assured ourselves that the sales assurances of our vendors have been objective. Mostly, though, we have ignored how bound within our economic and commercial systems we have been as our self preservative instincts have sought false security. We have traded careful thought in managing risk in relation to our own needs for the temporary illusion of having made the same wise investment decisions as everyone else.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Too Loose in Place of Too Tight
Attending a recent networking meeting of C-level executives, I was struck by an unaddressed cultural disconnect between presenters’ assumptions and the worlds from which attendees had come.
Addressing “how to” aspects of job search, the recruitment and career advisement professionals uniformly advocated the use of social networking. Future jobs, they said, would come not from recruiters, but from distant connections of workplace colleagues and their friends. Opportunity lay in multiple resources just outside the scope of anyone’s knowledge. It lay within the resources of unknown people, known by someone known to someone you knew.
The idealized picture was ripe with multiplicity just beyond reach;
and LinkedIn was the prototype. Though individuals scratched their heads at the utility of “working” such a system: everyone had hundreds of connections online and no one knew what to do with them. The message was, “only connect”, yet how, for what, and how much to say?
The problem, as I saw it, was neither capability nor desire, but cultural orientation. The executives I spoke with hailed from lifetimes within corporate structures. However streamlined their organizations had been, routines and tasks been typified by a clarity of boundaries and rules. Protocols had existed both within organizations and between organizations for initiation and sustenance of contact. Recruiters and career consultants mediated the conversion process of movement from one occupational placement to another. And now this : the necessity of activating one’s own, self-constructed skein of contacts. The recruiters were telling the recruits to puzzle it out for themselves.
The problem was that where clarity and tight linkages once existed, a risky sense of looseness now seemed normative. Yes, it was necessary to maintain pristine clarity as one negotiated the job search, step-by-step, because a misstep or misstatement might derail a finely wrought, but delicate process; but the larger necessity of defining what was “out there”--- the possibilities inhering in the environment: these were murky. So, while a loosely connected world of possibility has become the norm, where a clarity of boundaries had once prevailed, the same formal precision of goal attainment still holds: a very difficult tightrope to walk.
While the message remained upbeat, what remained unsaid was the subtext: comfort within a loosely coupled world would define the occupational survivor, once securely held within the tight interconnections of corporate structure.
Addressing “how to” aspects of job search, the recruitment and career advisement professionals uniformly advocated the use of social networking. Future jobs, they said, would come not from recruiters, but from distant connections of workplace colleagues and their friends. Opportunity lay in multiple resources just outside the scope of anyone’s knowledge. It lay within the resources of unknown people, known by someone known to someone you knew.
The idealized picture was ripe with multiplicity just beyond reach;
and LinkedIn was the prototype. Though individuals scratched their heads at the utility of “working” such a system: everyone had hundreds of connections online and no one knew what to do with them. The message was, “only connect”, yet how, for what, and how much to say?
The problem, as I saw it, was neither capability nor desire, but cultural orientation. The executives I spoke with hailed from lifetimes within corporate structures. However streamlined their organizations had been, routines and tasks been typified by a clarity of boundaries and rules. Protocols had existed both within organizations and between organizations for initiation and sustenance of contact. Recruiters and career consultants mediated the conversion process of movement from one occupational placement to another. And now this : the necessity of activating one’s own, self-constructed skein of contacts. The recruiters were telling the recruits to puzzle it out for themselves.
The problem was that where clarity and tight linkages once existed, a risky sense of looseness now seemed normative. Yes, it was necessary to maintain pristine clarity as one negotiated the job search, step-by-step, because a misstep or misstatement might derail a finely wrought, but delicate process; but the larger necessity of defining what was “out there”--- the possibilities inhering in the environment: these were murky. So, while a loosely connected world of possibility has become the norm, where a clarity of boundaries had once prevailed, the same formal precision of goal attainment still holds: a very difficult tightrope to walk.
While the message remained upbeat, what remained unsaid was the subtext: comfort within a loosely coupled world would define the occupational survivor, once securely held within the tight interconnections of corporate structure.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
A Circle of Happiness
Tolstoy was right. In a sense . All happy families are similar. But a brilliant study, just out in the BMJ, drawn from 20 years of epidemiological research in the Framingham Heart Study, illustrates how. Authors JH Fowler and NA Christakis trace the workings of social networks and the “contagion” of happiness among nearby friends and neighbors.
They show the enormous power of having happy friends. But first, it is helpful to have been happy if you are going to be happy. In fact, future happiness is 300% more likely for people who have been happy than for unhappy people. However we become happy, we have an enormous competitive advantage in the work of happiness maintenance, relative to those who don't. And that's just the beginning.
Next, comes association with happy people: significantly, these are the people with whom we identify--- the guy next door, and nearby friends who feel friendly to us, too. As they become happy, we become happy.
The effect is awesome: happy people have the main court advantage. Because happiness affects all kinds of personal functioning, and because its effects are multiplicative, personal wellbeing among the happy skyrockets past its levels for unhappy people; and yields benefits.
Happiness, this study reflects, develops under the radar, through effective social interaction. It does not evolve in workplace networks. Perhaps our happiness at work is more internal: what it means to us. Back in the 1950’s, motivational research reflected that many of work’s incentives did not so much make us happy, but rather, relieved a sense of dissatisfaction. Withdraw the incentives and the dissatisfactions of daily life return.
But happiness exists on another level: it is actually attainable, in part, through social networks, through genuine associations with people who become mutually important to one another.
This is an important finding, applicable to us all: it is not just the mining of social networks that is critical to our well-being, but the active and positive contribution to others ---- those efforts that evoke pleasure and the joys of gratitude in receiving---- that themselves redouble upon us!
Concretely, it might begin with passing on a job lead to an associate you know might qualify. Put yourself in her shoes for a moment. What might she feel? Relief, pleasure, care…. Happiness. Regardless of how it ultimately turns out, her view of you has shifted a bit: you have contributed to her happiness. And what goes around, comes around. Mutuality, collaboration—the positive acts that make others happy, ultimately make us happy as well.
They show the enormous power of having happy friends. But first, it is helpful to have been happy if you are going to be happy. In fact, future happiness is 300% more likely for people who have been happy than for unhappy people. However we become happy, we have an enormous competitive advantage in the work of happiness maintenance, relative to those who don't. And that's just the beginning.
Next, comes association with happy people: significantly, these are the people with whom we identify--- the guy next door, and nearby friends who feel friendly to us, too. As they become happy, we become happy.
The effect is awesome: happy people have the main court advantage. Because happiness affects all kinds of personal functioning, and because its effects are multiplicative, personal wellbeing among the happy skyrockets past its levels for unhappy people; and yields benefits.
Happiness, this study reflects, develops under the radar, through effective social interaction. It does not evolve in workplace networks. Perhaps our happiness at work is more internal: what it means to us. Back in the 1950’s, motivational research reflected that many of work’s incentives did not so much make us happy, but rather, relieved a sense of dissatisfaction. Withdraw the incentives and the dissatisfactions of daily life return.
But happiness exists on another level: it is actually attainable, in part, through social networks, through genuine associations with people who become mutually important to one another.
This is an important finding, applicable to us all: it is not just the mining of social networks that is critical to our well-being, but the active and positive contribution to others ---- those efforts that evoke pleasure and the joys of gratitude in receiving---- that themselves redouble upon us!
Concretely, it might begin with passing on a job lead to an associate you know might qualify. Put yourself in her shoes for a moment. What might she feel? Relief, pleasure, care…. Happiness. Regardless of how it ultimately turns out, her view of you has shifted a bit: you have contributed to her happiness. And what goes around, comes around. Mutuality, collaboration—the positive acts that make others happy, ultimately make us happy as well.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Embracing the Slash
I woke this morning to the radio’s discussion by a chipper 20-something about her “slashes”. It took a few moments to figure out what she was saying, which was shorthand for freelance projects. She began each with her profession, followed by a “slash”, and then a description of a task. She’d just been fired from her job as a journalist-slash-blogger, and was talking about how unwise she’d been in dedicating 60% of her time to her last client. She wouldn’t make that mistake again—too many eggs in a single basket! Briefly, I wondered about the time percentages necessary for a personal sense of cohesion. And then, I realized: her cohesion was “up-front”, separated from the work she was doing by a graphic boundary: the slash.
As psychologist-slash- blogger, I recognized that the slash was protective: it insured coherence, as if to declare, in my case, I am a psychologist. I am currently operating in the capacity of blogger. But then, I became concerned by the word “slash” itself. Its definition has something to do with a sharp instrument’s sweeping cut. Yes, I’m aware that it is also a diacritical mark, a “stroke”. But what is its effect as a gash, or cut? The form of the construction seems both to preserve identity and radically sever the person from the thing he does. The journalist’s example was autoworker-slash-dogwalker. That is, an autoworker, currently in the business of walking dogs.
Useful: But when does the autoworker-slash-dogwalker morph into dogwalker?
I realized that the “slash” construction preserves a transitional state. In the journalist’s case, it was a semi-permanent transition: her profession always remains segregated from what followed. She was a journalist but could "do" all these other, useful things: she had capacities to build on. However, in the autoworker’s case, the slash construction would allow the person to “try on” something new. The choice to “become” a dogwalker or to remain an autoworker-slash-dogwalker would remain his.
Matthew Bud, who is the Chair of The Financial Executives’ Networking Group has clearly staked out the professional’s midlife landscape this way: “Job search for those of us over the age of 40 is a PERMANENT activity in your life….. All jobs are temporary. Even when you are working, you are only between searches.” This is a game plan.
And the slash construction, in this regard, is an enormously useful tool: I am a professional-slash-job seeker. It preserves the “who” of identity, while softening the work of transition. It allows the individual to maintain the essential anchor point of one’s
professional value, while allowing for new set-points of possibility and opportunity.
The radical slash separating professional training from current task has a double function. It is both protective of self-interest and personal coherence while at the same time opening up possibility for the creative use of one’s talents. It may, however, take a bit of getting used to.
As psychologist-slash- blogger, I recognized that the slash was protective: it insured coherence, as if to declare, in my case, I am a psychologist. I am currently operating in the capacity of blogger. But then, I became concerned by the word “slash” itself. Its definition has something to do with a sharp instrument’s sweeping cut. Yes, I’m aware that it is also a diacritical mark, a “stroke”. But what is its effect as a gash, or cut? The form of the construction seems both to preserve identity and radically sever the person from the thing he does. The journalist’s example was autoworker-slash-dogwalker. That is, an autoworker, currently in the business of walking dogs.
Useful: But when does the autoworker-slash-dogwalker morph into dogwalker?
I realized that the “slash” construction preserves a transitional state. In the journalist’s case, it was a semi-permanent transition: her profession always remains segregated from what followed. She was a journalist but could "do" all these other, useful things: she had capacities to build on. However, in the autoworker’s case, the slash construction would allow the person to “try on” something new. The choice to “become” a dogwalker or to remain an autoworker-slash-dogwalker would remain his.
Matthew Bud, who is the Chair of The Financial Executives’ Networking Group has clearly staked out the professional’s midlife landscape this way: “Job search for those of us over the age of 40 is a PERMANENT activity in your life….. All jobs are temporary. Even when you are working, you are only between searches.” This is a game plan.
And the slash construction, in this regard, is an enormously useful tool: I am a professional-slash-job seeker. It preserves the “who” of identity, while softening the work of transition. It allows the individual to maintain the essential anchor point of one’s
professional value, while allowing for new set-points of possibility and opportunity.
The radical slash separating professional training from current task has a double function. It is both protective of self-interest and personal coherence while at the same time opening up possibility for the creative use of one’s talents. It may, however, take a bit of getting used to.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Clarifying an “adrenaline withdrawl”
A senior financial executive, between projects, wondered whether his changed behavior--- reflected in difficulty staying motivated in searching for new projects, social withdrawl, and too much time spent sleeping--- might be the result of adrenaline withdrawl. Prior to downsizing, he’d always gravitated to challenging and active corporate situations. A brief chat with a consulting psychologist resulted in the hypothesis that he might be going through “adrenaline withdrawl” following dismissal from his last position. The consultant’s recommendation effectively covered the bases by citing what seemed like physical exhaustion followed by mood problems. The recommended course of action was to begin with a complete physical exam related to energy level, sleep, and over-all wellbeing.
The explanatory value of “adrenaline withdrawl” in this situation seems to have been narrative rather than physical. The executive had not actively sought environmental stressors on the job to boost his levels of epinephrine- a hormone central in stress reactions. While the position had kept him active, the precursor to his current difficulties was a radical downshifting in activity level. My hunch is that the executive’s withdrawl was compounded from a complex array of meaningful activities:
1) an income producing position that
2) provided daily structure in a meaningful work week
3) including the provision of multiple, goal-related tasks that
4) required continued interaction and negotiation with fellow professionals
5) who “knew” the executive’s capabilities and valued his strengths and
6) all of this contributed to a robust sense of fullness --- at times too much fullness--- in a very meaningful professional life.
While “burnout” might have been a possibility for this executive, his desire for re-engagement argued against it. Rather, the multiple losses of: income, daily routine; meaningful and rewarded work; valuable social interaction; and a continued sense of being known, seem to have taken their toll. Consultation with his primary care physician was a great first step in assessing his physical condition. A significant question to be asked is whether the symptoms suggested to the consultant were profound enough to warrant treatment for depression.
Next, re-engagement with meaningful activities and friends is cardinal. These must begin even before a significant new project is located. And not to glumly hang out, but to relish whatever enjoyment may be taken at any given moment. This may seem trivial to the executive, remembering the challenges so recently before him; but the optimizing of the good in one’s life --- even in something as simple as delighting in the weather --- is a necessary condition for positive self-esteem and presentation. The work of generating work, when it is not immediately given through the tasks of a formal job, is exhausting. The lack of gratification may be felt as enervating. And it is necessary to do whatever is possible to maintain one’s strength and endurance. The finding of work when “between jobs” may itself be much more stressful than the work projects that develop in time.
The explanatory value of “adrenaline withdrawl” in this situation seems to have been narrative rather than physical. The executive had not actively sought environmental stressors on the job to boost his levels of epinephrine- a hormone central in stress reactions. While the position had kept him active, the precursor to his current difficulties was a radical downshifting in activity level. My hunch is that the executive’s withdrawl was compounded from a complex array of meaningful activities:
1) an income producing position that
2) provided daily structure in a meaningful work week
3) including the provision of multiple, goal-related tasks that
4) required continued interaction and negotiation with fellow professionals
5) who “knew” the executive’s capabilities and valued his strengths and
6) all of this contributed to a robust sense of fullness --- at times too much fullness--- in a very meaningful professional life.
While “burnout” might have been a possibility for this executive, his desire for re-engagement argued against it. Rather, the multiple losses of: income, daily routine; meaningful and rewarded work; valuable social interaction; and a continued sense of being known, seem to have taken their toll. Consultation with his primary care physician was a great first step in assessing his physical condition. A significant question to be asked is whether the symptoms suggested to the consultant were profound enough to warrant treatment for depression.
Next, re-engagement with meaningful activities and friends is cardinal. These must begin even before a significant new project is located. And not to glumly hang out, but to relish whatever enjoyment may be taken at any given moment. This may seem trivial to the executive, remembering the challenges so recently before him; but the optimizing of the good in one’s life --- even in something as simple as delighting in the weather --- is a necessary condition for positive self-esteem and presentation. The work of generating work, when it is not immediately given through the tasks of a formal job, is exhausting. The lack of gratification may be felt as enervating. And it is necessary to do whatever is possible to maintain one’s strength and endurance. The finding of work when “between jobs” may itself be much more stressful than the work projects that develop in time.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Thanksgiving:Holidays and Loss
Unlike my experiences of posting resumes to the internet, my experiences of blog posting have been rich and rewarding. Your comments, however, conveyed by e-mail, have been personal because the posts have evoked a feeling or memory that is sensitive and private.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful that reciprocally, even through we’re relating virtually, we’ve been able to connect. And because Thanksgiving, like Christmas- which is coming up, is a big holiday, it often comes attached with bittersweet memories of other times and people.
That is, like other moments, the Holidays may evoke memory of loss. Especially under the sway of other hard coping, additional loss may feel like just a bit too much. Which, of course, is not what the Holiday spirit is about. So what to do? A good, practical solution is for a Time Out to relocate the emotional margin necessary to withstand the pressures of present and memory. My favorite Time Out is through brief mediation --- but I have a good friend who swears on the virtues of listening to the Rolling Stones on his Ipod. Either way…….
The development of emotional resilience is not a one-time learning experience. Opportunities abound throughout life. I know a C-suite executive who was mourning the death of a beloved parent enormously well--- up until he was called in, unexpectedly, to discuss severance after decades of loyal service. Of course, it threw him for a loop. And with summer approaching, a time when his extended family had always vacationed together at the “Lake”, this trifecta of loss felt devastating. Coping took time. Clarifying feelings, fused under conditions of loss, required the capacity to reflect and reflection was not easy in the emotional heat of the moment.
Healing began with Time Out. Its an essential tool, necessary from small doses to large. Though it may feel embarrassing to underline the need for Time Out, we do it all the time, unnoticed: from annual vacations to taking a deep breath before that important presentation- a deep breath out of range of anyone else. We all need to bounce back from time to time. And luckily, we’re built to endure: if only we use the requisite technology.
Thinking about the Ipod Time-Out strategy, I , believe that Bill Monroe or Bach would work better for me than the Stones; but I’ll experiment. I’d encourage you to experiment with it, too.
Happy Thanksgiving
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful that reciprocally, even through we’re relating virtually, we’ve been able to connect. And because Thanksgiving, like Christmas- which is coming up, is a big holiday, it often comes attached with bittersweet memories of other times and people.
That is, like other moments, the Holidays may evoke memory of loss. Especially under the sway of other hard coping, additional loss may feel like just a bit too much. Which, of course, is not what the Holiday spirit is about. So what to do? A good, practical solution is for a Time Out to relocate the emotional margin necessary to withstand the pressures of present and memory. My favorite Time Out is through brief mediation --- but I have a good friend who swears on the virtues of listening to the Rolling Stones on his Ipod. Either way…….
The development of emotional resilience is not a one-time learning experience. Opportunities abound throughout life. I know a C-suite executive who was mourning the death of a beloved parent enormously well--- up until he was called in, unexpectedly, to discuss severance after decades of loyal service. Of course, it threw him for a loop. And with summer approaching, a time when his extended family had always vacationed together at the “Lake”, this trifecta of loss felt devastating. Coping took time. Clarifying feelings, fused under conditions of loss, required the capacity to reflect and reflection was not easy in the emotional heat of the moment.
Healing began with Time Out. Its an essential tool, necessary from small doses to large. Though it may feel embarrassing to underline the need for Time Out, we do it all the time, unnoticed: from annual vacations to taking a deep breath before that important presentation- a deep breath out of range of anyone else. We all need to bounce back from time to time. And luckily, we’re built to endure: if only we use the requisite technology.
Thinking about the Ipod Time-Out strategy, I , believe that Bill Monroe or Bach would work better for me than the Stones; but I’ll experiment. I’d encourage you to experiment with it, too.
Happy Thanksgiving
Two Models of Self: Real and Ideal
Practically, the Self comes in two models: the Self “I know”, or real; and the Self “as advertised”, or ideal. The difference is not simply a walk through the door separating the privately comforting reserve of one’s home from the world of non-intimate others outside it, with its bustle of continuous exchange in buying and selling. No. It is the difference between how we genuinely experience the management of our daily lives and our positive press releases about ourselves to ourselves and others. It is the difference between GM’s corporate challenge to Congress in November 2008 and the nostalgic thrill of seeing “the USA in your Chevrolet”. Bailout or reorganization is real. Right now. The real Self is the stuff of an ongoing personal SWOT analysis: its not only a matter of competitive advantage. Without real self-knowledge, we are at a significant disadvantage.
Clearly, the ideal Self is easier to take. We may call it “self-actualized” or “Protean” from the Organizational Behavior perspective; but it is static and offers only defensive utility. That is, as an ideal, this model proclaims: “I have arrived. No more work to do.” As a Self model, it is like outdated leadership that doesn’t quite get the changing business environment.
The real Self is certainly more difficult to acknowledge. Lasting changes and the building of character result from loss. And loss must be endured to be recognized, and recognized to be mourned. Change requires that both growth and loss are always in play within the Self: at each developmental stage—childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age – there will always be a back and forth of balance within the real Self of reconciling past experience and ongoing capability with present challenges, both internal and external. As we mature, the Self must also grapple with timelines that are not only chronological, but also physical and psychological.
While it may not be as comforting as the ideal Self, the real Self allows us to see clearly what is before us. It prevents us from thinking that what is good for GM is good for the US, as we deplane from our corporate jets to lobby Congress for federal funds, and are blindsided by how we are perceived.
Clearly, the ideal Self is easier to take. We may call it “self-actualized” or “Protean” from the Organizational Behavior perspective; but it is static and offers only defensive utility. That is, as an ideal, this model proclaims: “I have arrived. No more work to do.” As a Self model, it is like outdated leadership that doesn’t quite get the changing business environment.
The real Self is certainly more difficult to acknowledge. Lasting changes and the building of character result from loss. And loss must be endured to be recognized, and recognized to be mourned. Change requires that both growth and loss are always in play within the Self: at each developmental stage—childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age – there will always be a back and forth of balance within the real Self of reconciling past experience and ongoing capability with present challenges, both internal and external. As we mature, the Self must also grapple with timelines that are not only chronological, but also physical and psychological.
While it may not be as comforting as the ideal Self, the real Self allows us to see clearly what is before us. It prevents us from thinking that what is good for GM is good for the US, as we deplane from our corporate jets to lobby Congress for federal funds, and are blindsided by how we are perceived.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Emotional Asset Diversification
While we talk these days about Emotional Intelligence, there is not much discussion about Emotional Asset Diversification. Thinking about the more resilient clients I know, the quality that emerges consistently has to do with the range of activities or projects in which they engage. These are not only the simple work/play dichotomies, of what puts food on the table and what soothes the soul; but the genuine allocation of multiple activity assets . This allocation is Emotional Asset Diversification: multiple eggs are placed in many baskets. Like planning financially, different baskets are attuned to gratification along different timelines from the short term to the long term; and most have multiple attunements so that if there is a short-term difficulty (with specific implications for the long term), another basket takes up the slack.
While GE isn’t faring so well these days-- as the credit tsunami sweeps the world-- its organizational structure addresses this type of structural diversification in corporate form. The thinking is that as nuclear power softens, wind power picks up and light bulbs turn on and off. What’s critical is that there are enough projects going on, with enough diversification, so that there are multiple contingencies with multiple flows of gratification--- for GE, cash flow and for the individual, self-esteem maintenance and resilience.
Individuals’ successful self-management, especially in a downturn, require the same kind of thinking. The pottery- throwing television executive who enjoys (and seems to be successful in ) his FOREX trading, while delighting in the stories his recent college graduate children bring from the globalizing workplace, is capable of drawing upon more personally meaningful spheres of productivity than the banker, whose sole love until downsizing had been derivative trading. In the downturn, the television executive retains a broader range of activity options, regardless of their immediate utility in generating income.
Emotional Asset Diversification is a self-directed insurance policy for life’s psychologically gloomy economic periods. It allows self-definition to operate across many personally meaningful categories of work, despite temporary shortfalls in earnings.
While GE isn’t faring so well these days-- as the credit tsunami sweeps the world-- its organizational structure addresses this type of structural diversification in corporate form. The thinking is that as nuclear power softens, wind power picks up and light bulbs turn on and off. What’s critical is that there are enough projects going on, with enough diversification, so that there are multiple contingencies with multiple flows of gratification--- for GE, cash flow and for the individual, self-esteem maintenance and resilience.
Individuals’ successful self-management, especially in a downturn, require the same kind of thinking. The pottery- throwing television executive who enjoys (and seems to be successful in ) his FOREX trading, while delighting in the stories his recent college graduate children bring from the globalizing workplace, is capable of drawing upon more personally meaningful spheres of productivity than the banker, whose sole love until downsizing had been derivative trading. In the downturn, the television executive retains a broader range of activity options, regardless of their immediate utility in generating income.
Emotional Asset Diversification is a self-directed insurance policy for life’s psychologically gloomy economic periods. It allows self-definition to operate across many personally meaningful categories of work, despite temporary shortfalls in earnings.
Resilience: First Impressions
First impressions. I’d only spoken briefly on the telephone with two potential clients. Just enough to begin thinking about who they were and what they faced. Each was coping in a different way and under different circumstances. Michael had been out of work for eight months. He had worked in finance through a long and productive work life. His job of many years had ended three years before, and almost immediately he’d located contract work- a high profile project that had claimed all his time and effort- but that had recently ended, two years past its originally scheduled end-date.
These had been Michael’s good times. He now reminisced upon productive work hours spent, and talked stoically about chair refinishing in his basement.
Jean, on the other hand, anticipated downsizing within the next months, from the company in which she’d worked since graduating college. She, like Michael, was in her mid-50’s. She’d introduced herself by saying, “any money I’m going to make in my life, I’ve already made;” but the comment’s potentially harsh sting was negated with a segue to the Master’s in teaching she was hoping to get, sometime in the next few years.
Each had spent a productive work-life in a single organization, and knew him/her self to be a competent professional. But Michael, who’d also had the experience of a post-employment “bridge” job, now foresaw the future as bleak- its pain heightened through recounting losses and grieving unrecognized loyalty and dedication. Like Jean, Michael had an avocation in his woodwork; but for Michael, it was used to quell boredom, whereas for Jean, the hope of a Masters degree in teaching twinkled with possibility.
The differences in resilience between Michael and Jean were as vivid as night and day, though the few facts I knew were close enough. I knew nothing of how they’d grown up, of life histories, social supports, or economic resources. I knew only what they’d told me in two phone calls lasting a few minutes. What had been so radically different in the ways they’d come across?
Replaying the conversations in my mind, I pictured two very distinct lines with very different slope. Michael’s, tinged with sadness, conveyed a negative slope, picking up speed in its descent, as if heightened by panic. Jean’s line had also been negative, but with upticks suggesting changes of personal orientation, despite the generally unpleasant situation under which she’d contacted me. Jean’s line spoke volumes: I’ve got it in me to get through this and to thrive. Her capabilities under extreme stress had already begun to shine through. Work with Michael would be much more challenging as significant strengths were once again affirmed against the dread he feared, tomorrow.
These had been Michael’s good times. He now reminisced upon productive work hours spent, and talked stoically about chair refinishing in his basement.
Jean, on the other hand, anticipated downsizing within the next months, from the company in which she’d worked since graduating college. She, like Michael, was in her mid-50’s. She’d introduced herself by saying, “any money I’m going to make in my life, I’ve already made;” but the comment’s potentially harsh sting was negated with a segue to the Master’s in teaching she was hoping to get, sometime in the next few years.
Each had spent a productive work-life in a single organization, and knew him/her self to be a competent professional. But Michael, who’d also had the experience of a post-employment “bridge” job, now foresaw the future as bleak- its pain heightened through recounting losses and grieving unrecognized loyalty and dedication. Like Jean, Michael had an avocation in his woodwork; but for Michael, it was used to quell boredom, whereas for Jean, the hope of a Masters degree in teaching twinkled with possibility.
The differences in resilience between Michael and Jean were as vivid as night and day, though the few facts I knew were close enough. I knew nothing of how they’d grown up, of life histories, social supports, or economic resources. I knew only what they’d told me in two phone calls lasting a few minutes. What had been so radically different in the ways they’d come across?
Replaying the conversations in my mind, I pictured two very distinct lines with very different slope. Michael’s, tinged with sadness, conveyed a negative slope, picking up speed in its descent, as if heightened by panic. Jean’s line had also been negative, but with upticks suggesting changes of personal orientation, despite the generally unpleasant situation under which she’d contacted me. Jean’s line spoke volumes: I’ve got it in me to get through this and to thrive. Her capabilities under extreme stress had already begun to shine through. Work with Michael would be much more challenging as significant strengths were once again affirmed against the dread he feared, tomorrow.
The Creative No
One of maturity’s hallmarks of passage is a slow, situational assessment, the sudden knowing that “no, that’s not a good idea.” Unlike the rebellious “no” of late adolescence-- which is much like the cocky seat of the pants “ of course!” of earlier adulthood, maturity’s “no” conforms to William James’ “ sure, slow heave of the will”. It is certainty as the residual of experience.
Bad strategic decisions may be effectively countered by such certainties; indeed, the ability to marshal experience necessary to make these assessments is a critical component in the midlife professional’s tool kit. While received poorly and often extruded in organizations founded (and headed for foundering) in irrational exuberance, the steady, surety of experience---like salt on the table--- is essential for effective business strategy.
Significantly, this mature “no” is a reflection of creativity. By midlife, we shift our creative energies from the showier displays of childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, desirous of immediate attention and oriented toward instant recognition and praise. Midlife’s progress is incremental. It proceeds in an orderly, stepwise course. We have an idea. We concretize it: get it down on paper, in whatever form: flow chart, spreadsheet, napkin doodle. And then we begin to get to work fine-tuning. The steady acts of midlife creativity flow from within the sure movements between thought and physical reality.
It is important to pause here and to underline the importance of reflection’s “kicking the tires” as the fulcrum of creative action. Reflection involves both cognitive and aesthetic appraisal. Unlike creativity in earlier life which screams, “hey, look what I did!” the reflective dimension of midlife creativity only works through the surety of saying, “no, that’s not it”, coupled with the willpower to discover the way “it” shall be. This willingness to be wrong, to disconfirm, essential within scientific thought, in order to “get it right” is learned through life experience. It only develops with wisdom. Through the internally reflective act in contemplation, another try at getting it right is made. And the process continues.
As we all know, the end product is often very different than its original conception. But each step is reliant both upon a concretization of thought: a picture of what it looks like as given; and then a thorough assessment of its viability. At the heart of the process, is the ability to know, “no”- that’s not it, twinned with a similar willing toward achieving the hopeful “it” the future will be.
Bad strategic decisions may be effectively countered by such certainties; indeed, the ability to marshal experience necessary to make these assessments is a critical component in the midlife professional’s tool kit. While received poorly and often extruded in organizations founded (and headed for foundering) in irrational exuberance, the steady, surety of experience---like salt on the table--- is essential for effective business strategy.
Significantly, this mature “no” is a reflection of creativity. By midlife, we shift our creative energies from the showier displays of childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, desirous of immediate attention and oriented toward instant recognition and praise. Midlife’s progress is incremental. It proceeds in an orderly, stepwise course. We have an idea. We concretize it: get it down on paper, in whatever form: flow chart, spreadsheet, napkin doodle. And then we begin to get to work fine-tuning. The steady acts of midlife creativity flow from within the sure movements between thought and physical reality.
It is important to pause here and to underline the importance of reflection’s “kicking the tires” as the fulcrum of creative action. Reflection involves both cognitive and aesthetic appraisal. Unlike creativity in earlier life which screams, “hey, look what I did!” the reflective dimension of midlife creativity only works through the surety of saying, “no, that’s not it”, coupled with the willpower to discover the way “it” shall be. This willingness to be wrong, to disconfirm, essential within scientific thought, in order to “get it right” is learned through life experience. It only develops with wisdom. Through the internally reflective act in contemplation, another try at getting it right is made. And the process continues.
As we all know, the end product is often very different than its original conception. But each step is reliant both upon a concretization of thought: a picture of what it looks like as given; and then a thorough assessment of its viability. At the heart of the process, is the ability to know, “no”- that’s not it, twinned with a similar willing toward achieving the hopeful “it” the future will be.
Monday, November 17, 2008
Executive Summary: Unacceptable Adult Losses
Three categories of loss affecting the maintenance of healthy self-esteem result from the trauma of involuntary occupational displacement at midlife: economic deprivation; relational dislocation; and assault upon normative adult development.
Economic deprivation begins with “belt tightening” and limitation of the accustomed activities and purchases that allow the individual and family a subjective sense of leisure. These initial markers of socio-economic shift include vacations, restaurants, and the purchase of non-essentials. While basic activities of daily living remain in place, continuous awareness of lost economic capability exerts significant emotional pressure.
Especially in a society like the United States, where material consumption has served a socio-emotional function both as a marker of social status and personal self-regard, economic deprivation is deeply felt. Individuals often deny its effects, maintaining both a “game face” and external trappings of former economic viability- such as retaining club memberships and social affiliations, because social regard may be highly aligned with perceptions of wealth. Here, economic viability distorts social perception as a reflection of personal capability. Short-term and instrumental relationships, rather than long-term friendships, may be based in power and exchange; and economic downturn may jeopardize individuals’ social capital. Radiating both from economic loss and effects of its social perception are the stressors felt by family and close friends. These reciprocal relationships often heighten the displaced individual’s sense of guilt and failure; and further test the endurance of close relationships. Additionally, the simple losses of daily social interaction with long-time workplace colleagues, within the patterns of work life are significant. The workplace not only structured the flow of daily life in purposive common activity with colleagues; but often, reputation and knowledge of personal competence had been contained within these social ties.
Finally, involuntary unemployment at midlife presents tremendous challenge within the course of adult development. Throughout life, each of us reflects , from time to time, “what is my life like now?” Significant loss may lead to emotional paralysis, preventing the individual’s productively resilient attempts to reverse adverse conditions. Most significantly, the primary developmental challenge of midlife builds upon the foundations laid in early adulthood. Optimal resolution of midlife challenge results in a personally meaningful sense of generativity rather than worried self-absorption or a generalized sense of stagnation on life’s road. For most of us, generativity is felt significantly in our value within the world of work. Beginning in early adulthood, social and emotional affiliations within the workplace forge an intimate sense both of being known through joint collaborative efforts—often referenced as “teamwork”. Work displacement tears this emotional fabric of adult security. Consciously and unconsciously, it may shake one’s sense of allegiance to an organization as well as belief in the organization’s reciprocal care in honoring its obligations to employees. Work displacement may undermine one’s sense of trust; and, especially in an era when generations are marked by technical facility--- with many Baby Boomers self conscious about their IT knowledge, and many younger colleagues dismissive of “grey hairs”---- may erode one’s own sense of personal competence and will.
It is essential to understand that development challenge--- the successful and creative resolution of personal generativity over stagnation---- would be with us,employed or unemployed. Economic dislocation ups the ante: providing a certain, generalized picture of stress and strain, shared by too many. But no one escapes the personal dimensions of negotiating developmental challenge. As humans, we balance physical development, emotional development, and negotiation of external reality in a continuously changing environment. That’s how we’re made. And together with economic solvency, the proper object of our personal inquiries must be how we stabilize ourselves at this moment in our life’s course. Quite literally, our lives depend on it.
Economic deprivation begins with “belt tightening” and limitation of the accustomed activities and purchases that allow the individual and family a subjective sense of leisure. These initial markers of socio-economic shift include vacations, restaurants, and the purchase of non-essentials. While basic activities of daily living remain in place, continuous awareness of lost economic capability exerts significant emotional pressure.
Especially in a society like the United States, where material consumption has served a socio-emotional function both as a marker of social status and personal self-regard, economic deprivation is deeply felt. Individuals often deny its effects, maintaining both a “game face” and external trappings of former economic viability- such as retaining club memberships and social affiliations, because social regard may be highly aligned with perceptions of wealth. Here, economic viability distorts social perception as a reflection of personal capability. Short-term and instrumental relationships, rather than long-term friendships, may be based in power and exchange; and economic downturn may jeopardize individuals’ social capital. Radiating both from economic loss and effects of its social perception are the stressors felt by family and close friends. These reciprocal relationships often heighten the displaced individual’s sense of guilt and failure; and further test the endurance of close relationships. Additionally, the simple losses of daily social interaction with long-time workplace colleagues, within the patterns of work life are significant. The workplace not only structured the flow of daily life in purposive common activity with colleagues; but often, reputation and knowledge of personal competence had been contained within these social ties.
Finally, involuntary unemployment at midlife presents tremendous challenge within the course of adult development. Throughout life, each of us reflects , from time to time, “what is my life like now?” Significant loss may lead to emotional paralysis, preventing the individual’s productively resilient attempts to reverse adverse conditions. Most significantly, the primary developmental challenge of midlife builds upon the foundations laid in early adulthood. Optimal resolution of midlife challenge results in a personally meaningful sense of generativity rather than worried self-absorption or a generalized sense of stagnation on life’s road. For most of us, generativity is felt significantly in our value within the world of work. Beginning in early adulthood, social and emotional affiliations within the workplace forge an intimate sense both of being known through joint collaborative efforts—often referenced as “teamwork”. Work displacement tears this emotional fabric of adult security. Consciously and unconsciously, it may shake one’s sense of allegiance to an organization as well as belief in the organization’s reciprocal care in honoring its obligations to employees. Work displacement may undermine one’s sense of trust; and, especially in an era when generations are marked by technical facility--- with many Baby Boomers self conscious about their IT knowledge, and many younger colleagues dismissive of “grey hairs”---- may erode one’s own sense of personal competence and will.
It is essential to understand that development challenge--- the successful and creative resolution of personal generativity over stagnation---- would be with us,employed or unemployed. Economic dislocation ups the ante: providing a certain, generalized picture of stress and strain, shared by too many. But no one escapes the personal dimensions of negotiating developmental challenge. As humans, we balance physical development, emotional development, and negotiation of external reality in a continuously changing environment. That’s how we’re made. And together with economic solvency, the proper object of our personal inquiries must be how we stabilize ourselves at this moment in our life’s course. Quite literally, our lives depend on it.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Observations on Getting It Done
Here is the story: attempting to conserve funds in the economic downturn, a downwardly mobile “middle class” neighbor withdrew her car from its accustomed parking space in a garage a block or so away. In Manhattan, this little bit of economic conservation is worth about $6000 after-tax dollars, annually. It was simple: either the car or the kids’ summer camp (or private school tuition). Fair enough!
The continuing penalty for a move of this magnitude is that every other day during the work- week, she must move her car. It is a tradition called “alternate side of the street parking” – a daily time period when the City may choose to clean the street; but never fails to ticket aggressively. What this means for my neighbor is a reshuffling of her time. As if time were not sufficiently tight, she has now necessarily committed to “special time” with her automobile --- whether as a quick trip to a distant grocery, or in quietly grading her undergraduates’ blue books or in simply catching up on unread magazines—while observing the parking rules.
We met yesterday in the elevator, as the entire neighborhood seemed to scurry from their vehicles: the period of penalty had lapsed and there was a communal sigh of relief: Free for the weekend! Free til Tuesday morning! She told me how she’d spent the hour plus and THIS is the heart of the story:
Her high school aged son, spending the week in attendance with his father, across town, had prepared her the night before for the mission: he wanted my neighbor (whose tenured university post required impeccable literary skill) to proof read a term paper on AIDS between 10AM and 1PM, when it was due. My neighbor beamed that her parenting had been successful. Her 17 year old acknowledged that she still had skills useful to him! The problem was that her Wi-Fi had not worked in the car. While her laptop had sufficient charge for use throughout the alternate side of the street period, she’d not been able to download her boy’s e-transmission!
Past her initial Baby Boom techno-panic, she had coolly reassessed the situation. Firing up the laptop, she fished out her first generation i-phone (for some reason able to apprehend transmissions from the ether) and read the AIDS paper via i-phone. Silently thanking her High School typing teacher, she transcribed the entire ten page document, correcting dubious grammar as she went, while sitting in the driver’s seat. She was dashing off to download her flash drive into her home computer to beam the paper back to her son, now cross-town at the private school paid for with fungible resources from alternate side of the street parking!
The point? We Baby Boomers are often ridiculed for inability to navigate today’s techno-environment. But my neighbor’s ingenuity in linking i-phone, e-mail, laptop, Wi-Fi, flash-drive, and alternate side of the street parking rules is simply a single example of our adaptive prowess.
What I’m getting to is that blogging friends a few years younger (pushing the limits of Gen X) have explained to me that the back-and-forth of blogs is singular in forging a community of discourse. But in the month or so that I’ve been blogging, I’ve found that an alternative route also exists: multiple new friends have e-mailed me about blog-posts, leaving the choice to “post” their comments up to me. Perhaps this is a Baby Boom thing, but it feels very genteel: the response to the Blog is personalized, through e-mail, and the communication is therefore private. Its publication is negotiable, therefore, between the two parties within the communication. While perhaps a bit unorthodox from the perspective of Blog hegemony, it attests to a creatively humanizing use of our media. Rock on!
Like making the correct small decisions in daily life (from garage to street), it’s a lovely development to note!
The continuing penalty for a move of this magnitude is that every other day during the work- week, she must move her car. It is a tradition called “alternate side of the street parking” – a daily time period when the City may choose to clean the street; but never fails to ticket aggressively. What this means for my neighbor is a reshuffling of her time. As if time were not sufficiently tight, she has now necessarily committed to “special time” with her automobile --- whether as a quick trip to a distant grocery, or in quietly grading her undergraduates’ blue books or in simply catching up on unread magazines—while observing the parking rules.
We met yesterday in the elevator, as the entire neighborhood seemed to scurry from their vehicles: the period of penalty had lapsed and there was a communal sigh of relief: Free for the weekend! Free til Tuesday morning! She told me how she’d spent the hour plus and THIS is the heart of the story:
Her high school aged son, spending the week in attendance with his father, across town, had prepared her the night before for the mission: he wanted my neighbor (whose tenured university post required impeccable literary skill) to proof read a term paper on AIDS between 10AM and 1PM, when it was due. My neighbor beamed that her parenting had been successful. Her 17 year old acknowledged that she still had skills useful to him! The problem was that her Wi-Fi had not worked in the car. While her laptop had sufficient charge for use throughout the alternate side of the street period, she’d not been able to download her boy’s e-transmission!
Past her initial Baby Boom techno-panic, she had coolly reassessed the situation. Firing up the laptop, she fished out her first generation i-phone (for some reason able to apprehend transmissions from the ether) and read the AIDS paper via i-phone. Silently thanking her High School typing teacher, she transcribed the entire ten page document, correcting dubious grammar as she went, while sitting in the driver’s seat. She was dashing off to download her flash drive into her home computer to beam the paper back to her son, now cross-town at the private school paid for with fungible resources from alternate side of the street parking!
The point? We Baby Boomers are often ridiculed for inability to navigate today’s techno-environment. But my neighbor’s ingenuity in linking i-phone, e-mail, laptop, Wi-Fi, flash-drive, and alternate side of the street parking rules is simply a single example of our adaptive prowess.
What I’m getting to is that blogging friends a few years younger (pushing the limits of Gen X) have explained to me that the back-and-forth of blogs is singular in forging a community of discourse. But in the month or so that I’ve been blogging, I’ve found that an alternative route also exists: multiple new friends have e-mailed me about blog-posts, leaving the choice to “post” their comments up to me. Perhaps this is a Baby Boom thing, but it feels very genteel: the response to the Blog is personalized, through e-mail, and the communication is therefore private. Its publication is negotiable, therefore, between the two parties within the communication. While perhaps a bit unorthodox from the perspective of Blog hegemony, it attests to a creatively humanizing use of our media. Rock on!
Like making the correct small decisions in daily life (from garage to street), it’s a lovely development to note!
On Potential
To be “potential” means to be capable of use, action, and effectiveness. At its root is another adjective,“ potent ”, that suggests power, strength, cogency, and force. Yet, when Human Resources designates someone to be of “high potential”, the thought moves forward to future talent pipeline possibility, and of course, either future success or downsizing. But this either/or of success or failure is not what potential is about. Consider another form of the word: potentate. A potentate is a mighty ruler or monarch. Sure, wars and political destabilization might shake the potentate’s power-base, but the potency remains. If potential is high, its capability of use, action, and effectiveness is high. Period.
Where then, does genuine latent creative strength go? My clinical and coaching experiences suggest that it stays put. If anything “goes”, it is the expense account, bonus, salary and perqs: another words, the trappings of support that not only signal material security, but just as fundamentally tell us that our contributory efforts have value. Losing either (or both) of these necessary types of supports may, for a time, subvert our sense of competence. This requires the working-out of grief – not the writing down of potential!!!
Loss of economic security and all that it means--- whether from a job or sudden asset deflation, may take your breath away. A semi-retired therapist in Florida, commenting on retiree stock market losses said it brilliantly, “People are grieving…there was a death. Their money died.” (Barbara Goldsmith, quoted in “The Golden Years, Tarnished", by C. Krauss, New York Times, 11.13.08).
Loss of relationship may also erode self-confidence and moxie. And it comes in many forms: for example, senior colleagues may leave, and with them, the knowledge of our strengths, unknown and possibly undervalued by incoming leaders. Persistence alone may feel insufficient to replace what has been lost. Rather, beyond the efforts necessary to cement new relationships, extreme efforts in scouting out new markets and opportunities may become necessary. These may feel impossible when one feels blindsided by grief.
Grief itself must be conquered. Its action may blur capability; but potential remains. One of the earliest written documents in world literature, the Gilgamesh Epic- was about the working through of loss: and the triumphant recovery of the hero’s latent capabilities. He goes forward from overcoming loss (his central life challenge: in late midlife, by the way….) to become a renowned leader again. The challenge is in overcoming the obstacles to a potential which does not disappear.
Where then, does genuine latent creative strength go? My clinical and coaching experiences suggest that it stays put. If anything “goes”, it is the expense account, bonus, salary and perqs: another words, the trappings of support that not only signal material security, but just as fundamentally tell us that our contributory efforts have value. Losing either (or both) of these necessary types of supports may, for a time, subvert our sense of competence. This requires the working-out of grief – not the writing down of potential!!!
Loss of economic security and all that it means--- whether from a job or sudden asset deflation, may take your breath away. A semi-retired therapist in Florida, commenting on retiree stock market losses said it brilliantly, “People are grieving…there was a death. Their money died.” (Barbara Goldsmith, quoted in “The Golden Years, Tarnished", by C. Krauss, New York Times, 11.13.08).
Loss of relationship may also erode self-confidence and moxie. And it comes in many forms: for example, senior colleagues may leave, and with them, the knowledge of our strengths, unknown and possibly undervalued by incoming leaders. Persistence alone may feel insufficient to replace what has been lost. Rather, beyond the efforts necessary to cement new relationships, extreme efforts in scouting out new markets and opportunities may become necessary. These may feel impossible when one feels blindsided by grief.
Grief itself must be conquered. Its action may blur capability; but potential remains. One of the earliest written documents in world literature, the Gilgamesh Epic- was about the working through of loss: and the triumphant recovery of the hero’s latent capabilities. He goes forward from overcoming loss (his central life challenge: in late midlife, by the way….) to become a renowned leader again. The challenge is in overcoming the obstacles to a potential which does not disappear.
From Sloop to Kayak
My client was discontent. He felt, he said, as if his competence was unseen. He worried that his considerable executive skills might atrophy. Though he lunched with colleagues regularly and stayed connected in his networks, he felt “out of the loop”. He felt unnecessary. Unneeded.
Additionally, he felt poor--- shrugging off the ten thousand he said he’d made that morning in successful day trading. True, he said, with the market down 30%, he still remained up 8%. Grudgingly, he admitted that this was something. His best friends said, “courage” and “persistence”; and he knew they were correct. But his friends didn’t know what it was to have so much time with the family retrievers during the day. Without the structures and well-known constraints, his game had disappeared. Time, always so precious and short, suddenly felt weighty and burdensome.
His wife and grown kids didn’t understand; and he felt terrible that they seemed to suffer so much when he was in this state of mind.
Still, my client could acknowledge that he was luckier than most. His market-sense and resources allowed him economic breathing room. Yet while he was grudgingly proud of his continued capacity to earn through his own portfolio management, it was not the way he wanted to earn: so he dismissed it.
Were there bright spots? Yes, reading the newspapers, magazines, and online resources, he saw economic revival after the downturn; but wasn’t sure about his being part of it. After all, he was 53 and had been looking for work for over a year. He felt far too young to contemplate retirement; but wasn’t that what he’d become overnight? Retired.
While others might feel betrayal after a lifetime of loyal service, he “got” it. He understood that his downsizing had not been personal, but necessary from the corporation’s perspective. But was this the other side of Simon’s “bounded rationality ”? The unexpected personal pain in going forward despite the generous and even enviable severance package?
I heard him this way: he was talking to me through a filter of hurt and incredulity. The same thing that happened to so many others had also happened to him. Like them, he’d also believed that he was somehow different because of his valued skills and capabilities. Like them, his preparedness for understanding what had happened had been insufficient. He was a yachtsman, used to piloting his sloop and suddenly, he’d found himself mid-rapids in a kayak.
But then, he was still testing me from a position of command: checking to see if my knowledge of management was sufficient to recognize classic theories he’d last read thirty years ago at B-School--- and with a certainty of their content which reflected his competence and resolve. True, his position was difficult; but despite it, he looked better and more relaxed than at any time I’d known him in the last two years.
He agreed, smiling. No, it was not a dead end, despite it feeling that way at times. How might we both understand what was going on for him?
He reflected on the question and took a deep breath. “ Its sort of the same thing for me that we see in the big picture, you know- the global economy.”
How so? He went on to describe a story with a sudden, truncated ending. Like a joke that ended before the punch-line. That didn’t sound correct to me. After all, he was excited about the world and its economic oscillations. He just didn’t know the outcomes.
“No, not a joke,” I said. “Rather, an opportunity.”
We parted with his acknowledgement that I might have had a point. Maybe. That the ragged edge of life experience could be woven into the way he navigated the future. That is, he had fallen hard into a sudden lack of personal meaning when he’d thought he’d had the roadmap. The challenge now was the creation of meaning, once again. The challenge now was his own authorship of his life’s narrative. For the time, he might also enjoy his afternoons with the retrievers. And he was certainly proud of his trading abilities.
He laughed. We agreed to talk again in a few weeks.
Additionally, he felt poor--- shrugging off the ten thousand he said he’d made that morning in successful day trading. True, he said, with the market down 30%, he still remained up 8%. Grudgingly, he admitted that this was something. His best friends said, “courage” and “persistence”; and he knew they were correct. But his friends didn’t know what it was to have so much time with the family retrievers during the day. Without the structures and well-known constraints, his game had disappeared. Time, always so precious and short, suddenly felt weighty and burdensome.
His wife and grown kids didn’t understand; and he felt terrible that they seemed to suffer so much when he was in this state of mind.
Still, my client could acknowledge that he was luckier than most. His market-sense and resources allowed him economic breathing room. Yet while he was grudgingly proud of his continued capacity to earn through his own portfolio management, it was not the way he wanted to earn: so he dismissed it.
Were there bright spots? Yes, reading the newspapers, magazines, and online resources, he saw economic revival after the downturn; but wasn’t sure about his being part of it. After all, he was 53 and had been looking for work for over a year. He felt far too young to contemplate retirement; but wasn’t that what he’d become overnight? Retired.
While others might feel betrayal after a lifetime of loyal service, he “got” it. He understood that his downsizing had not been personal, but necessary from the corporation’s perspective. But was this the other side of Simon’s “bounded rationality ”? The unexpected personal pain in going forward despite the generous and even enviable severance package?
I heard him this way: he was talking to me through a filter of hurt and incredulity. The same thing that happened to so many others had also happened to him. Like them, he’d also believed that he was somehow different because of his valued skills and capabilities. Like them, his preparedness for understanding what had happened had been insufficient. He was a yachtsman, used to piloting his sloop and suddenly, he’d found himself mid-rapids in a kayak.
But then, he was still testing me from a position of command: checking to see if my knowledge of management was sufficient to recognize classic theories he’d last read thirty years ago at B-School--- and with a certainty of their content which reflected his competence and resolve. True, his position was difficult; but despite it, he looked better and more relaxed than at any time I’d known him in the last two years.
He agreed, smiling. No, it was not a dead end, despite it feeling that way at times. How might we both understand what was going on for him?
He reflected on the question and took a deep breath. “ Its sort of the same thing for me that we see in the big picture, you know- the global economy.”
How so? He went on to describe a story with a sudden, truncated ending. Like a joke that ended before the punch-line. That didn’t sound correct to me. After all, he was excited about the world and its economic oscillations. He just didn’t know the outcomes.
“No, not a joke,” I said. “Rather, an opportunity.”
We parted with his acknowledgement that I might have had a point. Maybe. That the ragged edge of life experience could be woven into the way he navigated the future. That is, he had fallen hard into a sudden lack of personal meaning when he’d thought he’d had the roadmap. The challenge now was the creation of meaning, once again. The challenge now was his own authorship of his life’s narrative. For the time, he might also enjoy his afternoons with the retrievers. And he was certainly proud of his trading abilities.
He laughed. We agreed to talk again in a few weeks.
Reflections as Problem Solving
It is difficult, in finding our way out of a sticky problem, to remember that every attempt we make in problem solution really does change the balance of forces that conditioned the situation. We generally find ourselves so involved that we miss the signs of change our actions often reveal.
Over-involvement signals the need for reflection --- which is like that moment at the beach when a wave retreats, allowing a new glimpse of shells and stone, before the next wave arrives. Reflection is an easy two-step practice. First, we take a momentary pause from other types of productive action. One of my favorites is to take a quiet walk. Next, we allow our thoughts to range freely in our minds without the exercise of direction. During my walk, I allow the sensation of non-directed thought to simply be.
Later, I take those thoughts, and arrange them into themes; and from the themes, gain some narrative insight into what I’ve been working at, in addition to the overt behavior I’ve been attempting. In so doing, I allow my thoughts to tell me another story about what I’ve been doing. Often, its an eye-opener.
Over a century ago, the psychologist William James referred to these thoughts as a “halo” around more purposive thoughts; and indeed, there is something of the angelic in them.
Here’s an example of reflection in action: A client, having worked long and hard at a particularly ambitious business plan, had received very positive feedback; but at the last moment, was disappointed by his financial backers as credit conditions tightened. In his disappointment, my client reflected moments of shaken trust, doubting his competence, initiative and resolve. Powering over these doubts, he quickly generated a back-up plan. It was also well-received ; but again met with funding difficulties.
Trying a third time, and stretched to his limit, we recognized together that his actions were only wrapping him up tighter and tighter. He was willing to try a thought exercise in reflection.
What emerged for him? The narrative he constructed related not so much to the elements of his business plan, but to powerful worries. While these were not particularly pleasant to acknowledge, my client recognized how their strong, constant presence was motivating his activity to a far greater extent than he’d recognized earlier. The recognition was a relief for him. He could address the worries directly--- and more strategically return to thinking about productive business development.
Reflection is a pragmatic, stress-reducing tool in problem solving. Like other, more overt problem solving behaviors, it changes the conditions under which we approach challenges through its quiet but informative commentary on what we do.
Over-involvement signals the need for reflection --- which is like that moment at the beach when a wave retreats, allowing a new glimpse of shells and stone, before the next wave arrives. Reflection is an easy two-step practice. First, we take a momentary pause from other types of productive action. One of my favorites is to take a quiet walk. Next, we allow our thoughts to range freely in our minds without the exercise of direction. During my walk, I allow the sensation of non-directed thought to simply be.
Later, I take those thoughts, and arrange them into themes; and from the themes, gain some narrative insight into what I’ve been working at, in addition to the overt behavior I’ve been attempting. In so doing, I allow my thoughts to tell me another story about what I’ve been doing. Often, its an eye-opener.
Over a century ago, the psychologist William James referred to these thoughts as a “halo” around more purposive thoughts; and indeed, there is something of the angelic in them.
Here’s an example of reflection in action: A client, having worked long and hard at a particularly ambitious business plan, had received very positive feedback; but at the last moment, was disappointed by his financial backers as credit conditions tightened. In his disappointment, my client reflected moments of shaken trust, doubting his competence, initiative and resolve. Powering over these doubts, he quickly generated a back-up plan. It was also well-received ; but again met with funding difficulties.
Trying a third time, and stretched to his limit, we recognized together that his actions were only wrapping him up tighter and tighter. He was willing to try a thought exercise in reflection.
What emerged for him? The narrative he constructed related not so much to the elements of his business plan, but to powerful worries. While these were not particularly pleasant to acknowledge, my client recognized how their strong, constant presence was motivating his activity to a far greater extent than he’d recognized earlier. The recognition was a relief for him. He could address the worries directly--- and more strategically return to thinking about productive business development.
Reflection is a pragmatic, stress-reducing tool in problem solving. Like other, more overt problem solving behaviors, it changes the conditions under which we approach challenges through its quiet but informative commentary on what we do.
Business Not as Usual
Last night’s loud acclaim and festive sense of hopefulness on Obama’s electoral victory punctuates, what for many of us, is a visceral awareness of a paradigm shift: something fundamental has changed in our world.
Among the economic challenges is a brewing storm--- tempered momentarily by the general downturn in markets, with its predictable downsizings and austerity budgets. Beginning in the late 90’s, workforce onramps for the mature worker have disappeared. The result has been a writing down of corporate knowledge assets coupled with a shifting of knowledge-bearers’ responsibilities. Both to use and to grow what we know, both self-reliance and mutual collaboration within networked communities of practice are essential. What's changed is that this will occur only through individual initiative!
This shift parallels a movement from hierarchical organizations to flattened, flexible, and changing groups, oriented to quickly adaptable project solutions. It parallels the championing of the “Protean Self”- which is elegant code for changing workplace rules of engagement from reliance upon the corporate psychological contract to self-reliance. It is the psychological equivalent of outsourcing. It is, in fact, INSOURCING: a movement from security in external business structures to internal, psychological capabilities.
However, this shift to heightened demand for individual resources is felt differently by different generations. Gen X, Gen Y, and their juniors have been raised in a world where expectations of multiple career shifts has become the predictable norm rather than a linear ascent to positions of increasing responsibility. Are they tougher? No, their training has been different: and we hear the generational discontent in criticism of Gen Y’s “gimme” attitudes. They are in it for themselves, as we have been too, but differently.
Insourcing requires a different approach to skills building than most of us are used to. Because it directly flows from one’s own solid sense of identity, and is regulated by differing states of self-regard, “Insourcing Development” requires not simply action, but heightened psychological self-awareness, with a maximization of one’s competencies and a recognition of one’s less developed traits. Insourcing Development requires a coaching perspective that shifts from “how to” (which assumes the stability of a corporate base) to “how to know”--- the cultivation of a continuous and personal SWOT assessment, with strategic attentions both internal and external.
This reorientation of psychological perspective is not only essential for economic survival under the changed paradigm, but also pragmatic for maintaining one’s knowledge competencies and assets in prime form. It is the singular route to productive personal growth. Competent and incremental consultation is the key: because the playing field is nothing less than a lifetime of professional experience! Ours' is a time for necessary transformation: and Insourcing Development is the path.
Among the economic challenges is a brewing storm--- tempered momentarily by the general downturn in markets, with its predictable downsizings and austerity budgets. Beginning in the late 90’s, workforce onramps for the mature worker have disappeared. The result has been a writing down of corporate knowledge assets coupled with a shifting of knowledge-bearers’ responsibilities. Both to use and to grow what we know, both self-reliance and mutual collaboration within networked communities of practice are essential. What's changed is that this will occur only through individual initiative!
This shift parallels a movement from hierarchical organizations to flattened, flexible, and changing groups, oriented to quickly adaptable project solutions. It parallels the championing of the “Protean Self”- which is elegant code for changing workplace rules of engagement from reliance upon the corporate psychological contract to self-reliance. It is the psychological equivalent of outsourcing. It is, in fact, INSOURCING: a movement from security in external business structures to internal, psychological capabilities.
However, this shift to heightened demand for individual resources is felt differently by different generations. Gen X, Gen Y, and their juniors have been raised in a world where expectations of multiple career shifts has become the predictable norm rather than a linear ascent to positions of increasing responsibility. Are they tougher? No, their training has been different: and we hear the generational discontent in criticism of Gen Y’s “gimme” attitudes. They are in it for themselves, as we have been too, but differently.
Insourcing requires a different approach to skills building than most of us are used to. Because it directly flows from one’s own solid sense of identity, and is regulated by differing states of self-regard, “Insourcing Development” requires not simply action, but heightened psychological self-awareness, with a maximization of one’s competencies and a recognition of one’s less developed traits. Insourcing Development requires a coaching perspective that shifts from “how to” (which assumes the stability of a corporate base) to “how to know”--- the cultivation of a continuous and personal SWOT assessment, with strategic attentions both internal and external.
This reorientation of psychological perspective is not only essential for economic survival under the changed paradigm, but also pragmatic for maintaining one’s knowledge competencies and assets in prime form. It is the singular route to productive personal growth. Competent and incremental consultation is the key: because the playing field is nothing less than a lifetime of professional experience! Ours' is a time for necessary transformation: and Insourcing Development is the path.
On Multiple Functions of Greed
Greed has gotten a lot of play recently : The greed of “Wall Street”; the rapidly deflating value of greedy “Main Street’s” McMansions with our fuel guzzling SUVs. And greed's virtuous antagonist is the imperative of change: from global warming; to presidential politics; to consumer spending ; and to banks’ unwillingness to extend credit- even after injections of lifesaving government capital. This awareness of greed, suddenly everywhere, functions to warn of complacency. It highlights greed so that we can make sense of our world. It orients us to the problem of insatiable consumption--- long recognized as an aspect of American national character from Tocqueville through Fromm. Let’s call this functional awareness Greed 1.0.
Opposing Greed 1.0 is Change 1.0. Like its antagonist, Change 1.0 is about functional awareness. It is a fundamental imperative for survival of our planet and its complex ecological, social, political, and economic systems. It is no joke--- as Thomas Friedman forcefully argues in his Hot, Flat , and Crowded. And now somewhat aware, what are we supposed to do? Bearing this tension itself is painfully difficult for most of us. It makes us anxious, uncertain, and hyper-vigilant: how are we to fix it?
Greed 1.1 is our knight in shining armor. Like General Alexander Haig’s inaccurate but heartfelt declaration of command when President Reagan was shot, Greed 1.1 comes to the rescue when awareness makes us anxious.
Its function is to help us pretend that in having become somewhat “aware”, our awareness equates with “knowing”. Greed 1.1 is a know-it-all, falsely self-assuring that bullet pointed imperatives and short-term change initiatives will do the trick so that we can get back to business as usual. Greed 1.1 facilitates self-deception. Its programmatic correlate is “no child left behind” which replaced learning with test taking. Greed 1.1 is insatiable, impatient, and dismissive. It is our Oz declaiming to Dorothy, “pay no attention to that man behind the screen”.
We recently saw Greed 1.1 on the big screen of economic life, when AIG used bailout funds in a characteristically extravagant manner. From a PR perspective, AIG’s timing could not have been more self destructive. The corporate retreat (itself a good idea for a company in such disarray) followed a tense week-long period of global breath-holding as Paulson’s put was debated in Congress and markets swooned. But Greed 1.1 was incensed: it had found its patsy.
Vilifying AIG for its use of federal funds only appears to solve a problem. We can pretend that we’re in control. That we know. But we’ve only substituted impatient dismissal for the greedy acquisition Greed 1.1 pretends to oppose.
And Greed 1.1? That’s just the beginning. If we are to change, and change we must---- we are up against forces potentially much tougher than the externals we think we know. We’re up against our weakest links, ourselves.
Opposing Greed 1.0 is Change 1.0. Like its antagonist, Change 1.0 is about functional awareness. It is a fundamental imperative for survival of our planet and its complex ecological, social, political, and economic systems. It is no joke--- as Thomas Friedman forcefully argues in his Hot, Flat , and Crowded. And now somewhat aware, what are we supposed to do? Bearing this tension itself is painfully difficult for most of us. It makes us anxious, uncertain, and hyper-vigilant: how are we to fix it?
Greed 1.1 is our knight in shining armor. Like General Alexander Haig’s inaccurate but heartfelt declaration of command when President Reagan was shot, Greed 1.1 comes to the rescue when awareness makes us anxious.
Its function is to help us pretend that in having become somewhat “aware”, our awareness equates with “knowing”. Greed 1.1 is a know-it-all, falsely self-assuring that bullet pointed imperatives and short-term change initiatives will do the trick so that we can get back to business as usual. Greed 1.1 facilitates self-deception. Its programmatic correlate is “no child left behind” which replaced learning with test taking. Greed 1.1 is insatiable, impatient, and dismissive. It is our Oz declaiming to Dorothy, “pay no attention to that man behind the screen”.
We recently saw Greed 1.1 on the big screen of economic life, when AIG used bailout funds in a characteristically extravagant manner. From a PR perspective, AIG’s timing could not have been more self destructive. The corporate retreat (itself a good idea for a company in such disarray) followed a tense week-long period of global breath-holding as Paulson’s put was debated in Congress and markets swooned. But Greed 1.1 was incensed: it had found its patsy.
Vilifying AIG for its use of federal funds only appears to solve a problem. We can pretend that we’re in control. That we know. But we’ve only substituted impatient dismissal for the greedy acquisition Greed 1.1 pretends to oppose.
And Greed 1.1? That’s just the beginning. If we are to change, and change we must---- we are up against forces potentially much tougher than the externals we think we know. We’re up against our weakest links, ourselves.
No Country For (Perceived) Old Men
Well, a colleague did comment as it turned out, but by the cautious and conservative, old school method--- email (LOL)
And the question of interest was: AGE. Specifically, my experiences of ageism as the oldest member (I began when I was 53) of my “executive mba” class.
My sudden awareness of age did mark that transit. Some background: I completed my PhD and hospital training in my late 20’s, trained in psychoanalysis and organizational consultation in my 30’s, and worked clinically and organizationally, throughout. I decided upon b-school because it offered a broad curriculum focused upon business fundamentals- and many of my consulting clients spent their working time in business environments. I wanted to understand better the contents and models of thought that informed their lives. And learning finance, accounting, and formal courses in management strategy seemed the right direction. I even enjoyed refresher courses in statistics- hadn’t worked problems like that since my dissertation!
In terms of age perception, hailing originally from the world of psychotherapy, I felt myself just hitting my stride. A supervisor once called psychodynamic treatment, “an old man’s game”- and I certainly did not yet qualify. Neither did most of my colleagues- still juggling the high school and college admissions of their kids, coaching soccer, and searching for the recipes easiest to cook in the time-bind between work and home-- while keeping up to date on professional journal reading and writing after the kids were asleep. (Sometimes, literally, while on a treadmill! We are a fit generation…)
I’d elected a specific b-school program because of its diversity across gender, ethnicity and age. Early on, my classmates noticed a perfect correlation between our class composition and a Wall Street Journal report about the demographic composition of new urban centers in the US. And I felt little ageism relative to younger students: while their computer skills far outshone my own, my writing and research abilities were in high demand. We learned quickly how to maximize our assets. The workload demanded it.
Where I felt a virulent ageism was at the organizational level. It emerged as a sense of being “deskilled”, stripped of my valued capabilities and strengths, in different ways, by different instructors. Most were around my age; some held doctorates, some did not. Envy, then? Certainly. Abuse of power? Yes, but that interpretation is also too facile: there was something else. One Organizational Behavior instructor introduced himself to me by saying, “so you’re the competition!” While I was clearly not, at least not yet, the sense of shortage among these teachers in their late 40s and above, was palpable. I became better acquainted with it when I began to research available jobs and was advised to think about entrepreneurship and consultation projects. There seemed to be a desert out there: somewhere after the early 40’s, corporate opportunities, except for very defined skill sets , evaporate. No, the deskilling wasn’t really about me at all; but a reflection and projection of their anxieties—that our millennial world was a hard, cold, place: no country for (perceived) old men.
And the question of interest was: AGE. Specifically, my experiences of ageism as the oldest member (I began when I was 53) of my “executive mba” class.
My sudden awareness of age did mark that transit. Some background: I completed my PhD and hospital training in my late 20’s, trained in psychoanalysis and organizational consultation in my 30’s, and worked clinically and organizationally, throughout. I decided upon b-school because it offered a broad curriculum focused upon business fundamentals- and many of my consulting clients spent their working time in business environments. I wanted to understand better the contents and models of thought that informed their lives. And learning finance, accounting, and formal courses in management strategy seemed the right direction. I even enjoyed refresher courses in statistics- hadn’t worked problems like that since my dissertation!
In terms of age perception, hailing originally from the world of psychotherapy, I felt myself just hitting my stride. A supervisor once called psychodynamic treatment, “an old man’s game”- and I certainly did not yet qualify. Neither did most of my colleagues- still juggling the high school and college admissions of their kids, coaching soccer, and searching for the recipes easiest to cook in the time-bind between work and home-- while keeping up to date on professional journal reading and writing after the kids were asleep. (Sometimes, literally, while on a treadmill! We are a fit generation…)
I’d elected a specific b-school program because of its diversity across gender, ethnicity and age. Early on, my classmates noticed a perfect correlation between our class composition and a Wall Street Journal report about the demographic composition of new urban centers in the US. And I felt little ageism relative to younger students: while their computer skills far outshone my own, my writing and research abilities were in high demand. We learned quickly how to maximize our assets. The workload demanded it.
Where I felt a virulent ageism was at the organizational level. It emerged as a sense of being “deskilled”, stripped of my valued capabilities and strengths, in different ways, by different instructors. Most were around my age; some held doctorates, some did not. Envy, then? Certainly. Abuse of power? Yes, but that interpretation is also too facile: there was something else. One Organizational Behavior instructor introduced himself to me by saying, “so you’re the competition!” While I was clearly not, at least not yet, the sense of shortage among these teachers in their late 40s and above, was palpable. I became better acquainted with it when I began to research available jobs and was advised to think about entrepreneurship and consultation projects. There seemed to be a desert out there: somewhere after the early 40’s, corporate opportunities, except for very defined skill sets , evaporate. No, the deskilling wasn’t really about me at all; but a reflection and projection of their anxieties—that our millennial world was a hard, cold, place: no country for (perceived) old men.
To blog or not to be: that is the question
OK: so its been a couple of days and no comments. I look at the short essay, survey it, sniff the air and wait. The immediate association was to a lemonade stand by the side of an untraveled road many many summers in the past.
Now, my blogging chums have given me tips on traffic, which, after all, is what I want- if this thing is to be read: its about the getting of attention, right? Or is it? William Saroyan conveyed the idea in "The Time of Your Life" that there would be no anger in the world if every aspiring writer could get published. Blogging has accomplished that. The ether is filled with words, ideas, information, and no time to read it. And of course, often, the lingering question of what is worthwhile to read.
So the silence has allowed me to "try on" a generational divide, to reflect upon an approach to media very different than anything I've known before. And its begun to inform my thinking on intergenerational difference and misperceptions.
The management and psychology literatures mourn the passing of the watercooler as providing a sense of place- an oasis for connection: Its true: we’ve experienced an historical shift. Hierarchical organizations evolve to flexible, adaptable smaller functional teams and groups. We can work globally with anyone; we have become portable.
Just as Taylorism stripped craft, a century ago, of integrity, and substituted specific movements for comprehensive skills, we’ve evolved: the waning of the “psychological contract” between worker and management, has meant that the worker must look out for herself.
But when she does, the Baby Boom or GenX manager criticizes her for being “Y” , so narcissistic. Narcissistic? Christopher Lasch wrote the manifesto on it in the 70’s: and the murderously envious judgment is (from BB and X to Y) is that Y is more successfully like the Boom than the Boom ever was!
However, what the BB doesn’t get is that interconnectedness via IT is a potent surrogate for the watercooler. Neither is a better spot; each is time-bound. For those of us who've known the watercooler and who've been comfortable there, its passing may be missed. Especially if being a blogger recapitulates the loneliness of a summertime lemonade stand on an untraveled road.
Still…… here I am , trying out the present (if not modernity) with nary a hit: and I “get” the feeling of antiquity of my clients, sending their vitae into the void: and achieving no response. And how many times, trying to swim with currents that Gen X and Y understand, Boomers have proudly told one another that they are "on" Linkedin: Now the question becomes, what to do with it?
Now, my blogging chums have given me tips on traffic, which, after all, is what I want- if this thing is to be read: its about the getting of attention, right? Or is it? William Saroyan conveyed the idea in "The Time of Your Life" that there would be no anger in the world if every aspiring writer could get published. Blogging has accomplished that. The ether is filled with words, ideas, information, and no time to read it. And of course, often, the lingering question of what is worthwhile to read.
So the silence has allowed me to "try on" a generational divide, to reflect upon an approach to media very different than anything I've known before. And its begun to inform my thinking on intergenerational difference and misperceptions.
The management and psychology literatures mourn the passing of the watercooler as providing a sense of place- an oasis for connection: Its true: we’ve experienced an historical shift. Hierarchical organizations evolve to flexible, adaptable smaller functional teams and groups. We can work globally with anyone; we have become portable.
Just as Taylorism stripped craft, a century ago, of integrity, and substituted specific movements for comprehensive skills, we’ve evolved: the waning of the “psychological contract” between worker and management, has meant that the worker must look out for herself.
But when she does, the Baby Boom or GenX manager criticizes her for being “Y” , so narcissistic. Narcissistic? Christopher Lasch wrote the manifesto on it in the 70’s: and the murderously envious judgment is (from BB and X to Y) is that Y is more successfully like the Boom than the Boom ever was!
However, what the BB doesn’t get is that interconnectedness via IT is a potent surrogate for the watercooler. Neither is a better spot; each is time-bound. For those of us who've known the watercooler and who've been comfortable there, its passing may be missed. Especially if being a blogger recapitulates the loneliness of a summertime lemonade stand on an untraveled road.
Still…… here I am , trying out the present (if not modernity) with nary a hit: and I “get” the feeling of antiquity of my clients, sending their vitae into the void: and achieving no response. And how many times, trying to swim with currents that Gen X and Y understand, Boomers have proudly told one another that they are "on" Linkedin: Now the question becomes, what to do with it?
After the MBA or Erroneous Assumptions of Value
Over the last few weeks, I’ve recalled a question I’d asked while learning about the “Capital Assets Pricing Model” in Finance I : mightn’t erroneous assumptions about the worth of an asset’s terminal and liquidation values distort the present value of an investment? My professor suggested that the question was subversive. Dutifully, though, on the way to the MBA, I put pencil to paper and completed the exercise. Got it right.
Wrong. Over the last few weeks, with everyone rattled by terrific market turbulence--- portfolio values rapidly eroding despite advisors’ adherence to portfolio balance, and corporate betas suddenly meaningless--- I thought back to that exercise. How our models are based on rational assumptions, neatly aligned with the normal curve and its orderly rules and regulations. Despite our desire to domesticate the irrational, markets aren’t so acquiescent. Their participants aren’t only programmed trading protocols--- but the people behind them, experiencing or envisioning loss, ruin, and panic. Behavioral finance has had much to say about market irrationality and the dangers of our defensive beliefs in prediction and control: what we want to believe about our influence in the world.
Even wild fluctuations in returns look smooth if you take the data back far enough. Up close- next to those few violently oscillating market days that swing markets up and down- I’m reminded of B. Mandelbrot’s observation that volatility predicts volatility, with no indication of direction. This is an idea affirming our need for prediction, though stripped of our need for control. One out of two isn’t bad: knowledge of what we don’t know may be more valuable than knowledge of what we do.
Fluctuation describes the emergent shape of things as they play out in our lives, rather than in our fantasies: its not only that passions alternate to their opposite—its also that elevations suddenly evaporate. The brilliant capability of yesterday becomes negligible today: a market truth. The “high potential” executive trainee, on-boarded, coached, and ascendant, is suddenly laid off. Where does the “potential” go?
There are two answers, both linked to that question I’d asked about CAPM in Finance I. Empirically, in the tumult of organizational and social change, the terminal value assumption is faulty: value is easily discarded, written down. The glass is half empty. And in the stampeding panic, may even be crushed ( I notice that the stock of a company producing the bottle of soda water in front of me, sold last week for less than the cost of the soda itself).
It’s a harder act to ride out the emotional volatilities with which we resonate, influenced by the turbulent environments in which we live, and to affirm the assumptions (however misguided in their original form) learnt in b-school: that assets remain. Its up to us to transform them creatively. That is --- potential endures. It takes continual cultivation, though, of what psychologists term, “hardiness”, as we are acted upon by external volatility which we seek to escape . Fleeing markets where volatility but not control is predictable , we only contribute to increased market volatility ---and speed the feedback that undermines our internal sense of security.
Wrong. Over the last few weeks, with everyone rattled by terrific market turbulence--- portfolio values rapidly eroding despite advisors’ adherence to portfolio balance, and corporate betas suddenly meaningless--- I thought back to that exercise. How our models are based on rational assumptions, neatly aligned with the normal curve and its orderly rules and regulations. Despite our desire to domesticate the irrational, markets aren’t so acquiescent. Their participants aren’t only programmed trading protocols--- but the people behind them, experiencing or envisioning loss, ruin, and panic. Behavioral finance has had much to say about market irrationality and the dangers of our defensive beliefs in prediction and control: what we want to believe about our influence in the world.
Even wild fluctuations in returns look smooth if you take the data back far enough. Up close- next to those few violently oscillating market days that swing markets up and down- I’m reminded of B. Mandelbrot’s observation that volatility predicts volatility, with no indication of direction. This is an idea affirming our need for prediction, though stripped of our need for control. One out of two isn’t bad: knowledge of what we don’t know may be more valuable than knowledge of what we do.
Fluctuation describes the emergent shape of things as they play out in our lives, rather than in our fantasies: its not only that passions alternate to their opposite—its also that elevations suddenly evaporate. The brilliant capability of yesterday becomes negligible today: a market truth. The “high potential” executive trainee, on-boarded, coached, and ascendant, is suddenly laid off. Where does the “potential” go?
There are two answers, both linked to that question I’d asked about CAPM in Finance I. Empirically, in the tumult of organizational and social change, the terminal value assumption is faulty: value is easily discarded, written down. The glass is half empty. And in the stampeding panic, may even be crushed ( I notice that the stock of a company producing the bottle of soda water in front of me, sold last week for less than the cost of the soda itself).
It’s a harder act to ride out the emotional volatilities with which we resonate, influenced by the turbulent environments in which we live, and to affirm the assumptions (however misguided in their original form) learnt in b-school: that assets remain. Its up to us to transform them creatively. That is --- potential endures. It takes continual cultivation, though, of what psychologists term, “hardiness”, as we are acted upon by external volatility which we seek to escape . Fleeing markets where volatility but not control is predictable , we only contribute to increased market volatility ---and speed the feedback that undermines our internal sense of security.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
INSOURCING: DEVELOPING PERSONAL CAPACITY
INSOURCING is the movement from economic insecurity in external business structures to the building of security in internal capabilities. INSOURCING is the movement toward continued learning and competence building, engaged collaboration with others, and the excitement of new experience and economic viability, rather than the potential atrophy of knowledge assets and skills.
What is the imperative for INSOURCING? From the mid-90’s, business has become leaner, flexible, and faster. With generational shifts in the workforce and the erosion of the corporation in offering expectancies of lifetime careers, individuals have begun to turn “inward” to consolidate their assets, capabilities, and skill-sets.
They have learned to maximize personal return and to determine how and where these marketable assets are to be used. The often faulted “attitude” of Gen Y reflects that generation’s competence as the early adapters to this sea change! As market forces have demanded shifts in relatedness to business, Gen Y has responded through its normal course of generational development. On the other hand, this generation’s resourcefulness, determination, and public mindedness was recently demonstrated in the 2008 elections!
INSOURCING recognizes the millennial paradigm shift. The change redefines the professional in relation to how work gets done. Unfortunately, this shift has had a severe impact on mature workers. High benefit payouts and the relative cost efficiency of younger workers with more technological know-how, has occasioned a huge write-down of knowledge capital as mature workers are downsized. And there are few onramps back.
The shock is twofold. Economic dislocation is hard enough. But what else gets dislocated? One’s sense of hope, purpose, and competence. Even one’s sense of will. These are the compass points of a lifetime; and after a shock, they require recalibration.
Learning to see oneself in the world another way- a more productive way, given changes in the external world- is a task most of us cannot accomplish alone. While not becoming “like” Gen Y, we must become more like ourselves. And to like ourselves in the bargain!
INSOURCING requires a different approach to skills building than most of us are used to. Because it directly flows from one’s own solid sense of identity, and is affected by shifting states of self-regard, Insourcing Development requires not simply action, but heightened personal self-awareness. It maximizes one’s competencies and facilitates the recognition of one’s less developed traits. Insourcing Development requires a coaching perspective that shifts from “how to” (which assumes the stability of a corporate base) to “how to know”--- and cultivation of a continuous SWOT assessment of one’s personal life.
This reorientation is not only essential for economic survival under the changed paradigm, but also pragmatic for maintaining one’s knowledge competencies and assets in prime form. Competent and incremental consultation is the key: because the playing field is nothing less than a lifetime of professional experience!
The Accord Advisory Group offers consultation in Insourcing Development, customized to address its clients’ very specific life courses and goals.
What is the imperative for INSOURCING? From the mid-90’s, business has become leaner, flexible, and faster. With generational shifts in the workforce and the erosion of the corporation in offering expectancies of lifetime careers, individuals have begun to turn “inward” to consolidate their assets, capabilities, and skill-sets.
They have learned to maximize personal return and to determine how and where these marketable assets are to be used. The often faulted “attitude” of Gen Y reflects that generation’s competence as the early adapters to this sea change! As market forces have demanded shifts in relatedness to business, Gen Y has responded through its normal course of generational development. On the other hand, this generation’s resourcefulness, determination, and public mindedness was recently demonstrated in the 2008 elections!
INSOURCING recognizes the millennial paradigm shift. The change redefines the professional in relation to how work gets done. Unfortunately, this shift has had a severe impact on mature workers. High benefit payouts and the relative cost efficiency of younger workers with more technological know-how, has occasioned a huge write-down of knowledge capital as mature workers are downsized. And there are few onramps back.
The shock is twofold. Economic dislocation is hard enough. But what else gets dislocated? One’s sense of hope, purpose, and competence. Even one’s sense of will. These are the compass points of a lifetime; and after a shock, they require recalibration.
Learning to see oneself in the world another way- a more productive way, given changes in the external world- is a task most of us cannot accomplish alone. While not becoming “like” Gen Y, we must become more like ourselves. And to like ourselves in the bargain!
INSOURCING requires a different approach to skills building than most of us are used to. Because it directly flows from one’s own solid sense of identity, and is affected by shifting states of self-regard, Insourcing Development requires not simply action, but heightened personal self-awareness. It maximizes one’s competencies and facilitates the recognition of one’s less developed traits. Insourcing Development requires a coaching perspective that shifts from “how to” (which assumes the stability of a corporate base) to “how to know”--- and cultivation of a continuous SWOT assessment of one’s personal life.
This reorientation is not only essential for economic survival under the changed paradigm, but also pragmatic for maintaining one’s knowledge competencies and assets in prime form. Competent and incremental consultation is the key: because the playing field is nothing less than a lifetime of professional experience!
The Accord Advisory Group offers consultation in Insourcing Development, customized to address its clients’ very specific life courses and goals.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Negotiating Transitions Together
Overcoming involuntary unemployment is a lonely, personal challenge at best. At its extreme, it immobilizes action. Self-esteem plummets. Depression rises. Its economic effects are painful. Unemployment interacts with all levels of family life and planning . It makes economic provision difficult, with significant disrupting of: basic daily necessities,; education; leisure ; and plans for retirement.
Research reflects shows that self-directed strategies focusing on the feelings generated by unemployment are ineffective in handling the downward spirals of economic deprivation. The consistent grit and determination necessary in tackling the ups and downs of economic renewal adds to the difficulty of achieving economic goals. The only effective leverage is a flexibly adaptive strategy of goal-directed action.
StoneSoup’s “Negotiating Transitions Together” initiative supports individuals in actively coping with unemployment’s economic tsunami. NTT is a supportive, task-driven platform for attaining goal-directed success. NTT operates from a team model that articulates strategies and attainable action steps. NTT provides a task-focused platform, responsive to participants’ specific sets of challenges and strengths. Negotiating Transitions Together offers consistent structure and support in: 1) continuing task-focus; 2)environmental assessment; and 3) effective results-oriented feedback necessary for new success and hope.
Research reflects shows that self-directed strategies focusing on the feelings generated by unemployment are ineffective in handling the downward spirals of economic deprivation. The consistent grit and determination necessary in tackling the ups and downs of economic renewal adds to the difficulty of achieving economic goals. The only effective leverage is a flexibly adaptive strategy of goal-directed action.
StoneSoup’s “Negotiating Transitions Together” initiative supports individuals in actively coping with unemployment’s economic tsunami. NTT is a supportive, task-driven platform for attaining goal-directed success. NTT operates from a team model that articulates strategies and attainable action steps. NTT provides a task-focused platform, responsive to participants’ specific sets of challenges and strengths. Negotiating Transitions Together offers consistent structure and support in: 1) continuing task-focus; 2)environmental assessment; and 3) effective results-oriented feedback necessary for new success and hope.
StoneSoup?
StoneSoup gets its name from an old story about a group of soldiers returning home from the Napoleonic Wars. Hungry and without means, they rely on their capability for collaborative work, and in the process, bring material and emotional satisfaction to themselves and others. The setting is a war-torn village, with its traumatized population, hoarding their resources: little bits of food, against some future need. What the narrator doesn’t tell us, but what we know from reality- is that hoarded, unrefrigerated food rots- and that in the end, through understandable dynamics of self-protection and fear, everyone involved is going to starve.
The soldiers act to bring the villagers hope. They tell a story about a delicious meal of meat, vegetables, and steaming broth, which all can share. It develops as a function of a central belief: in a magical stone, placed in a large cauldron, volunteered by a villager.
The soldiers’ implicit knowledge- probably gained in the foxholes through the work of soldiering- of teamwork is instrumental in mobilizing the villagers’ pooling of their hidden resources with the yield of thriving rather than starving.
The StoneSoup Project works in a similar way: though instead of a stone, we rely on managerial and psychological research and practice.
The soldiers act to bring the villagers hope. They tell a story about a delicious meal of meat, vegetables, and steaming broth, which all can share. It develops as a function of a central belief: in a magical stone, placed in a large cauldron, volunteered by a villager.
The soldiers’ implicit knowledge- probably gained in the foxholes through the work of soldiering- of teamwork is instrumental in mobilizing the villagers’ pooling of their hidden resources with the yield of thriving rather than starving.
The StoneSoup Project works in a similar way: though instead of a stone, we rely on managerial and psychological research and practice.
Hearing the Tree Fall In the Forest
Are team consultations, based in accomplishing task goals and sub-goals, possible in the absence of formal organization?
The Accord Advisory Group’s StoneSoup Project says, “Yes!” However, the effort requires a catalyst, a common need. In a fast changing world, such imperatives may not be so difficult to find. They present themselves to us in the newspapers every day.
Business analysis of external threats and opportunities are continual. The perennial question is, “what to do?” In the absence of a formal business enterprise, the pragmatic answer is: organize!
That’s what StoneSoup sets out to do: we address challenge by turning an old adage on its head: to someone who has a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Our conviction is that interpersonal engagement and the sharing of knowledge, supported by mentorship and facilitation, yields benefit to all involved.
So, while an organization might not have existed before, in addressing common need, a temporary organization may be guided into either short or longer lasting productivity, based on the willingness of its membership to contribute.
One of our projects is called, “Negotiating Transitions Together”. It focuses on supporting the determination of downsized individuals to re-shape their economic future. It emerged when we looked at the numbers: increasingly, people who were either downsized or retired beginning in their mid 40’s, were having a terrible time finding an “onramp” back to the workforce.
Then, the larger, global economic turbulence of 2008 expanded the pool of individuals seeking both relief from sudden economic uncertainty and productive preservation of their “knowledge capital”, their skills acquired over lifetimes of work.
The Accord Advisory Group’s StoneSoup Project says, “Yes!” However, the effort requires a catalyst, a common need. In a fast changing world, such imperatives may not be so difficult to find. They present themselves to us in the newspapers every day.
Business analysis of external threats and opportunities are continual. The perennial question is, “what to do?” In the absence of a formal business enterprise, the pragmatic answer is: organize!
That’s what StoneSoup sets out to do: we address challenge by turning an old adage on its head: to someone who has a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Our conviction is that interpersonal engagement and the sharing of knowledge, supported by mentorship and facilitation, yields benefit to all involved.
So, while an organization might not have existed before, in addressing common need, a temporary organization may be guided into either short or longer lasting productivity, based on the willingness of its membership to contribute.
One of our projects is called, “Negotiating Transitions Together”. It focuses on supporting the determination of downsized individuals to re-shape their economic future. It emerged when we looked at the numbers: increasingly, people who were either downsized or retired beginning in their mid 40’s, were having a terrible time finding an “onramp” back to the workforce.
Then, the larger, global economic turbulence of 2008 expanded the pool of individuals seeking both relief from sudden economic uncertainty and productive preservation of their “knowledge capital”, their skills acquired over lifetimes of work.
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