From: Karen Speerstra Re: B-H Business Newsletter Volume 2 # 11 Date November, 1998
Dear Friends,
Crows woke me again this morning. Amazing, I think, to hear them in my urban setting of Cambridge. Aren't crows supposed to hang around cornfields rather than campuses and coffee houses?
Crows have become my birds of paradox. They wake me up-give me life, so to speak; yet crows are the carrion birds reminding me of road kill clean- ups and of death. Crows pardoxically call us to be awake and to face our fears. Their raucous cawing, with no regard as to whose ears they offend, challenges us to speak our truths.
Authentic: worthy of trust, reliance or belief, says my dictionary. "Author" comes from the same root word. It's no surprise that our best authors speak from a deep place, a very real and truth-filled place within them. Many of our authors as well as business and personal colleagues have shared with me conversations in the last few weeks revolving around the authenticity surrounding the challenges of Y2K. In whom do we trust? On what do we rely? What can we believe?
This month we publish Dale Neef's book, "A Little Knowledge Is a Dangerous Thing" as well as Doc Childre and Bruce Cryer's book, "From Chaos to Coherence." It promises to be an anchor- point for many readers. As I write this I am hopeful that Eric Utne's "A Citizen's Guide to Y2K" will become a reality for early next year and that a few of Doc and Bruce's words, adapted from their book, will find their way into that widely distributed guide. I know the authors, who do, indeed, speak with great authenticity about the emotional impact of all challenges facing us, would be please to share a bit with you.
"The Y2K problem is clearly an unprecedented challenge, requiring creativity, ingenuity, and above all, emotional balance. It arrives at a time in the history of the world when uncertainty and the pace of change are already increasing at breakneck pace. Much like trying to predict the path and devastation of a hurricane, little can be adequately known of how widespread the chaos, how deep the infrastructure breakdowns, how long-lasting the effects. But the silver lining in this otherwise gloomy scenario is the potential we each have to prepare ourselves-emotionally-for what is to come. Begin thinking now of the Y2K challenge revolving not just around survival preparedness and inconvenience-avoidance, but a set of opportunities revolving around people."
Later, Bruce and Doc go on to say, "In many Y2K efforts, a quiet emotional virus has started to take hold, feeding off the fear and strain of the individuals struggling to make headway and stay balanced with time running out. An emotional virus is the net effect of emotional mismanagement within a person or social unit. As with other viruses, an emotional virus is highly infectious.The planning you do for Y2K can be done from the heart, with the goal of everyone achieving the highest level of personal security and cooperation, or done from the head where selfish survivalism is the operating frequency."
Caw! Caw! Caw! Karen Speerstra **********
PUBLISHING THIS MONTH: "From Chaos to Coherence: Advancing Emotional and Organizational Intelligence Through Inner Quality Management." Doc Childre is a leading authority on human performance and personal effectiveness. He founded the Institute of HeartMath in 1991 out of a sincere desire to help people empower themselves. He has authored six books on the HeartMath system and as a composer has created two albums which complement Heartmath's human performance technology. Bruce Cryer is VP of Global Business Development for HeartMath and is one of the key architects of the Inner Quality Management Training program which incorporates innovative biomedical research into practical tools and strategies to enhance personal self-management and organizational effectiveness. Bruce is on the faculty of Stanford Executive Program.
"From Chaos to Coherence" is about the future of organizations and the future potential of people. This timely book addresses the increasing strain that people and organizations, both private and public, are experiencing. This is a book of innovative personal and organizational tools validated by extensive research, balanced with common sense intelligence and insights. Well-documented examples, biomedical research into human intelligence and organizational case studies show the reader how to become more effective through a new model of human intelligence. It cites research and examples from Service-Profit Chain, Royal Dutch Shell, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard, Cathay Pacific Airways, Thorlo and YPO.
Space prohibits us from including as many quotes about this book as we'd like to, but here are a few:
"_Brings an apparent irrefutable scientific underpinning to what our hearts have always told us about leadership and organizational development: intuition, support for individuals, clarity, balance and management of the emotional environment all add up to organizations that are productive-and to lives that are fulfilled." James A. Autry, author, "Real Power: Business Lessons from the Tao Te Ching"
"From Chaos to Coherence" offers proven techniques for organizations undergoing radical changes in chaotic times_Doc Childre and Bruce Cryer provide us with the technologies required to deal with this real-time revolution so that individuals and companies can thrive in the coming millennium." William M. Ulrich, Information strategist, consultant and author, "The Year 2000 Software Crisis."
"Provocative and highly practical approach at the heart of business and personal success in the next millennium_a must-read for any businessperson or executive wanting to measure and sustain organizational improvement." Ken Blanchard, co-author, "The One-Minute Manager" and "Gung-Ho!"
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