Category: Authentic Leadership

The Power of Gratitude in Our Lives

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Consciousness, Personal Transformation
"Business Hand Writing, Thank You". Freedigitalphotos.net.
“Business Hand Writing, Thank You”. Freedigitalphotos.net.

With Thanksgiving approaching hundreds of millions of people celebrate, and show gratitude for the abundance in their lives. Thanksgiving Day is not a part of culture in Finland, neither in many other countries worldwide. All cultures, however, have their own national holidays and ways of being thankful and expressing gratitude. In addition to culturally related national holidays, local and international organizations have created a number of special days, such as the World Water Day and even the Earth Hour, with a purpose to influence and to increase awareness amongst population. Filling one´s personal agenda with all of these would most likely signify having some kind of special day every single day of the year. 

The efforts to drive change and the willingness of improving all kinds of conditions both on local, national, international, and global levels, speaks for the fact that we all wish to contribute to positive transformation taking place in our surroundings. There is always room for improvement, and justice, and our personal choices do affect and have an influence, whether we realize it or not. 

Although we, as individuals, can have a significant amount of influence, one person´s capacity alone is always limited. However, as individuals we have the possibility to choose to make every day of our lives kind of Thanksgiving Day. Or, if you will, a Day of Gratitude. 

Whatever life presents us at a certain moment, we have the possibility to choose our attitude. Train your mind to be thankful, and grateful, even for the most difficult of experiences, and be always open to learning from them. As Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, one of my greatest inspirers teaches: When you have to choose between being kind, and being right, always choose being kind. Furthermore, as Dr. Wyer teaches, you always have the possibility to choose how you react to external circumstances. In his metaphor, however much you press an orange, nothing else but orange juice will come out. Whatever the external circumstances may be, or what kind of situations we face in life, we can always choose our personal attitude. Choose to be calm, confident, and positive, and see how this changes not only you, but also your surroundings. We can only work on ourselves, and only through this personal development on a spiritual level, are we capable of transforming our external circumstances. 

Tips for personal transformation: 

– Accept an event or a situation for what it is, no matter how complicated it may seem. Acceptance will help you to master any kind of situation, and increase your understanding.

– Despite of circumstances, always choose to focus on positivity. By doing this, and by letting yourself be surrounded by positivity, you will eventually decrease and be capable of eliminating anything else in your life, and your surroundings. 

– Lead change from within. Your spirit is stronger than you think, and focusing on personal, spiritual growth is the key to being capable of helping and serving others as well. 

– Choose kindness instead of trying to prove you are right (and others wrong). We do not have to agree with everything, or everyone, but neither do we need to prove them/their points of view wrong. 

– Learn to listen, and to empathize with others/a certain situation. 

– Instead of accusing and blaming others for their imperfections, take a profound look in the mirror every day, and seek to improve what you see. We do not develop, evolve or learn by pointing out other people´s mistakes. 

– Learn to treat challenges and obstacles as growth experiences. Use them as stepping-stones for becoming a better person every single day. We always have space for personal improvement. 

– Focus on your personal performance. Expect a lot from yourself, expand your horizons, seek to understand the unknown, but also remember to be kind to yourself. 

– Improve something every day. It can be a tiny thing, but even this tiny thing can accumulate into something unexpectedly huge someday = > Snowball effect. 

– Plant seeds which have the capacity to grow into something beautiful with time. Focus on planting positive seeds. With time, you will be able to harvest plenty of healthy fruit. 

– Learn to let go, and to forgive. Forgiveness is essential. Also remember to forgive yourself. Referring to Dr. Wayne W. Dyer once again: We all have a wake in our lives, which has influenced us to becoming the individuals we are today. But the wake is also our past, and one key to personal transformation is to realize that despite of not being able to influence the wake of our lives, we have the possibility of focusing on the present. By doing this, we constantly create ourselves the future we like to see ourselves in.

“Personal transformation can and does have global effects. As we go, so goes the world, for the world is us. The revolution that will save the world is ultimately a personal one”. 

(Marianne Williamson)

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer: Attitude is everything, so pick a good one: 

http://bit.ly/AttitudeisEverythingDyer

 

There is Always Audience for Those Who Have Something To Say

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Building Dialogue, Communication Skills, Life Coaching, Public Speaking

Are you one of those people who disguise public speaking? Whose chins become red just from the thought of having to stand before a crowd of people, whose hands get wet, and whose heart begins to beat at an unnatural rate?

No worries. No one can force you into public speaking. You will know when you are ready. 

I am one of those people who love public speaking, despite of my limited experience. I have spoken to complete strangers without preparation. I have spoken to class mates about study topics. My biggest fear in regard with public speaking has been the fear of not having anything interesting to say, nothing worth of acknowledgement, nothing new, nothing exciting. 

Mastering public speaking is like mastering any other skill. The more you practice, the better, and more confident, you get. I have learned that the most important factors in public speaking are a personal connection to the topic itself, and not being afraid of failure. The best public speakers speak from their hearts, from their experiences, and know how to connect with their audience. They are not afraid of embarrassment, and they know how to laugh at themselves. Allowing you the possibility of failure is as important in public speaking as in any other activity. Just do not take yourself too seriously. The audience does not know you; they have no idea about your experience from public speaking. As soon as you realize this, and connect as a spirit with your audience, you will notice that the fear your fear was irrelevant. 

Tips for becoming a great public speaker: 

1) Be self-confident – people love self-confidence, and you shining a light upon them.

2) Be thankful for the opportunity to speak in public – not everyone has the opportunity! 

3) Practice in advance through watching inspirational videos on the Internet, and attend public speaking events if needed.

4) Connect with your audience, and be spiritually present. 

5) Respect yourself. 

6) Respect your audience.

7) Speak from your heart, not from a piece of paper. A great speech is not read from a piece of paper.

8) Speak from and about your experiences, not about numbers. Even if you are a Fortune500 CEO. Successful measures are led and achieved by people, not by numbers. People, and great leadership, are the key to success (and key to increases in profitability, returns on investment and so on).

9) Involve your audience. Ask them for feedback, questions, make them enjoy the experience.

10) Take yourself seriously (but not too seriously), and your audience as well. They may have traveled from far away just to hear you speak. 

11) Be grateful. Grateful for the fact that you have the possibility to give a speech, grateful for having such a great audience. 

12) Your audience will sense your emotions, so be inspirational. 

13) Remember to thank your audience! Take all kinds of critics as a learning lesson. If something went wrong, embrace the failure and improve for your next public speaking event. 

14) Benchmark – Learn from the best!

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
(Maya Angelou)

Watch this video to learn from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, who speaks straight from his heart: 

http://bit.ly/GettingWhatYouReallyWant

Why Should You Believe In Miracles?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Change Management, Life Coaching, Spirituality

Miracles happen all the time. We do not always sense them, or realize how full our world, and the universe, is with miracles. Very often we think about a miracle as something huge happening, a drastic shift or change in things, like a sudden strike of lightning in our environment, transforming our existence in a second. Miracles take place all the time, some of them bigger, some smaller. If we constantly expect a miracle to be a major event, we are likely to miss out the smaller miracles. 

One thing is certain: in order to experience miracles in your life, you have to start believing in their possibilities, if you already do not. The deeper your belief, and the more you trust in miracles taking place at all times, everywhere, and the stronger your affirmations are, the higher the probability of you starting to sense how full of miracles your surroundings, your life, and the whole world is. 

There is much more to life than the human eyes, or other senses, can explain. As rational individuals, we often prefer translating things, people, and circumstances through rationalism and facts. We are eager to find logical explanations for anything, although deep within us we do know how important it is to use intuition and feelings in order to be capable of expanding as individuals. A miracle is not bound to any certain culture or religion, and miracles are acknowledged in all religions. Miracles are a part of spirituality. 

Jon Bon Jovi has said: “Miracles happen every day. Change your perception of what a miracle is and you will see them all around you”.

Sometimes difficult circumstances or major life crises lead us to increasingly believe in miracles. We need something to believe in, something that motivates us, inspires us, and guides us further on our life paths. However, sensing miracles does not require having a difficult life, or difficulties in life. Miracles are always there for each and one of us, no matter what our situation may be. 

Experiencing miracles in one’s everyday life becomes easier with belief, increasing spirituality, and opening our minds to sensing small and big wonders, being grateful for anything that life gives us – even tough times, since they can be such important lessons for us. However difficult it can be, try to express gratitude even for setbacks and problems – they most often are the greatest lessons life has to offer us, and lead to personal development when we are open to learning. 

  • Without challenges, appreciating all the good things in life would be more difficult. 
  • Without rain, we would not be able to see rainbows. 
  • Without yin, there would be no yang. 
  • Without you, there would be no me. 
  • Without the Sun, there would be no Moon, no Earth. 
  • Without the Moon that we see in the sky each night, there would be no ebb or flood.

The Universe is full of miracles. Many of them so big, so familiar, so small, so everything that we have become too accustomed to even noticing them in our lives.

“Many people are alive but do not touch the miracle of being alive”. (Thich Nhat Hanh)

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer was an inspiring personality who spoke about experiencing miracles. Watch this video clip on YouTube to listen to his message: 

http://bit.ly/MiraclesbyDyer

 

 

 

 

 

How Can You Be Truly Convincing?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Building Dialogue, Business Ethics, Communication Skills, Influence, Leadership Skills and Qualities

“By 2029, computers will have emotional intelligence and be convincing as people”. (Ray Kurzweil, Brainyquote.com. 12.11.2014)

Do you believe in a future where computers have emotional intelligence? Can emotional intelligence be integrated into computers, when not even all human beings are capable of maximizing their potential in terms of emotional intelligence? 

If you have ever worked in sales, you know how important it is to not only sound, but to actually BE, convincing. In fact, this applies to others than just salespeople, or, put in a wider perspective, we all kind of work in sales, at all times, and in all situations in life. 

However, being convincing is not a synonym to being truthful. Although sales, as any other performance, should always include being truthful, there are always people who do not care so much about the truth, or who prefer creating their own truth. We find examples of these across society, of people who convince themselves first, and are color-blind to truth. I have once before quoted Anaïs Nin in this perspective: “We do not see the world as it is. We see it as we are”. 

Throughout centuries, truth has been discussed by philosophers, with a number of frameworks and theories built around a single word with so much meaning. Without going deeper into the different philosophical theories about truth, I just want to pinpoint that truth can be personal, and what is true to another individual, is not necessarily true to you. Some people are very convincing without actually telling the truth (a common truth that applies to the majority of people). There are many sad stories about individuals living their personal truths with a lack of morals, and humanity. Without having to explain further, I am pretty sure that you can think of a number of these. 

What does it take to be convincing? It is quite simple: 

Being convincing requires having confidence and trust in yourself. 

You also need to be convinced about the matter/product/situation. Selling Snow from the Sahara requires your personal conviction about the existence of snow in the Sahara. It is impossible to sell something that actually does not exist – that would equal to fooling your clients. 

In solution-based, client-oriented selling you can of course, in cooperation with your customer, define their needs, and based on those needs, create a tailored solution for them. That is problem-solving with and for the client. But you cannot promise a client that you can provide them with snow from the Sahara when you both know that there is no snow in the Sahara. And even if your customer does not know this, YOU know. 

Conviction includes taking moral responsibility in the first place. It also requires technical knowledge about what it is you are offering. All too often it is a fact that clients are offered various kinds of solutions by people who do not even know their products well enough. This includes not only a risk for the customer, who pays for the service/product, but also risks for the service/product provider: low quality leads to unsatisfied customers, and is a real slap in the face in regards to your brand’s image and reputation. 

Want to act morally and truthfully correct? Integrate the following into your (work) life: 

– Do not get involved into anything that is against your personal values/morals/knowledge/beliefs.

– Always be truthful to your clients/people around you.

– Know your product/service before actually offering it to your clients. If there is something you do not know, make sure to inform yourself so that you do not let your clients down.

– Take responsibility. True professionals and experts have not only a broad knowledge in their field, but are also continuously developing themselves, and seek to transform their knowledge into wisdom. 

– Live as you teach. There is no point in saying something, but acting in the opposite way. 

“You cannot convince anyone of anything. You can only give them the right information in order for them to convince themselves”. (Eben Pagan. Quote Essays.com. 12.11.2014). 

 

 

How Can You Increase Your Success With Passion?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Change Management, Life Coaching

“Light Yourself on Fire with Passion and People Will Come From Miles to Watch You Burn” (John Wesley)

Passion is an emotion often affiliated with romance, or sexuality, but it is only half the truth. It is also a tremendously important source of motivation and desire in hobbies, sports, and occupations. Referring to my previous post from last week, where I wrote about important success factors, including productivity – since passion increases motivation and desire, it is also an important factor of productivity, and enjoyment.

Think about extremely successful people throughout history, and at present. There are examples from all spectrums of life: art, entertainment, sports, business, and politics, including names such as Picasso, Lady Gaga, Diego Maradona, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffet, Julia Roberts, and many, many others.

How have they become so successful? It is definitely not only a question of luck, or hard work, but the fact that these people have found their true passion, a desire so strong for what they do and achieve in life that makes them shine from within. 

There are a number of ways of increasing passion, including: 

– Overcoming fears, and working them through. Fear is a negative feeling, repressing passion and other positive emotions. 

– Stepping out of your comfort zone, setting goals, and increasing the amount of work you are willing to put in to reach your goals. There is a difference between working passionately, and being a workaholic. Passionate people work out of inspiration, and since they love (or enjoy) what they do. 

– Learning what makes you thrive, and tick. We are all different: some of us are excellent, outgoing sales people, while others love working in the back office. Some people love mountain climbing, while others prefer yoga or golf. Finding out what truly makes you happy will definitely increase your daily levels of passionate emotions. 

– Leading a balanced and healthy life. This definitely increases your energy levels. When eating and sleeping well, to begin with, positive emotions increase. 

– Increasing confidence, bravery, and focusing on positivity in life: the better you feel about yourself, the easier it gets to face less positive reactions. The more you focus on positivity, the more it increases in your life. Soon you will notice that you are surrounded by positivity, and your positivity will transform your surroundings too. 

If you feel you are surrounded by too little passion, start implementing small changes into your life which increase your personal level of passion. Start a new hobby, make new friends/get to know new people, open your heart and mind, network, stay active, be confident, and if you feel that your current job is not what you are passionate about – try to find out what it is that you truly have a passion for. I am not suggesting that you should quit your job (although some people do when they no longer feel happy about what they do for work), only that you can try increasing passion through other small changes in your life. If these changes do not increase your passion for your work, you probably should start working towards something that you know will make you feel passionate. 

Be brave, dare to seek until you find what truly nurtures your soul and lets you grow. Free your creativity, be even eccentric if it suits you, because very often the most creative spirits are those who in the end, enjoy the biggest of success, and fulfillment in their lives.

“When I began having a mad, passionate love affair with my own life, the rest fell perfectly into place”. (Katrina Mayer)

 

 

What is Successful Change Leadership?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Building Dialogue, Change Management, Communication Skills

Change Leadership, in its very essence, should focus upon improvement and growth. Without an actual purpose, and driving change only for the sake of change, change is a waste of everyone’s time.

Well organized is half done, but only very successful plans always have space for modifications. Only geniuses can master chaos, and however much we love agile project management, an essential skill for any change leader is the ability of focusing on key strategic issues, drive change with a dynamic effort, and with the goal in mind. (Green, M. Change Management Masterclass. 2007.)

Leading change equals the ability of leading development through enabling continuous growth, and improvement. Leading change is also strategy, and an ability of analyzing the PESTLE environment. In organizational settings, change management programs and projects need to be based upon the organization’s vision, mission, and strategy. Change projects, however narrow or extensive, will be successful when core values, goals, constant work, and communication are well aligned. Depending upon the needs and the breadth of the change initiative, mobilizing everyone involved is of utmost importance. In the organizational setting, change has to be led simultaneously and with consistent throughout the whole organization, and on an individual level. Traditionally, change has been thought of as something activated and triggered from top management, but in today’s learning organizations change initiatives can come from anyone, and basically anyone in an organization can be a change agent, formally or informally. In any organization, it is important for management to understand, that the needs for change may also be communicated from employees who are in direct customer contact, e.g. based upon feedback from customers. Therefore, in traditional, hierarchical settings, change can very well be initiated from a “lower” organizational level upwards. In democratic, low-hierarchy organizations, change projects can be successfully executed through participation of everyone involved. Successful involvement also increases the level of integrity. The most successful organizations also know how to involve their clients when driving change.  

 

                   “One person can be a change catalyst, a transformer in any situation, any organization. Such an individual is yeast that can leaven an entire loaf. It requires vision, initiative, patience, respect, persistence, courage, and faith to be a transforming leader”. (Mike Green. Change Management Masterclass. 2007)

Successful change management projects do require realistic, but also optimistic individuals with a strong desire for achievement. Change management also requires a lot of dreaming, and daring. A change project must be managed skillfully, and if there is a strict budget, it is even more important to meet the financial target. However, how can the final financial gain be calculated if the project is successful in for example advancement of knowledge and learning, or even satisfaction index of employees? If the organization e.g. sets a goal to develop sales skills, the return on investment may be a lot better than first calculated. Therefore, e.g. employee development is a very important factor for organizational development. 

In short, before becoming a change agent and thus a catalyst for change, practice on your pitch and make sure to have responses to the following questions:  

– What kind of change do I want to initiate?

– What are the circumstances (i.e. am I acting as an informal/formal change agent, and in what kind of setting, e.g. as an entrepreneur, a consultant, an employee, a middle manager, a customer/client, a member of an organization, a citizen and so on)?

– Who do I need to involve in successfully driving the change initiative? 

– What is/are the goal/s? 

– What kinds of risks are involved (if any)?

– What kind of communication does this require, and how will I communicate successfully?

 

 

 

How Can You Become a Master Alchemist and Transmute Everything You Touch into Gold?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Business Ethics, Change Management, Global Awareness

“Midas (Μίδας), a King of great fortune in the Greek Mythology, had everything a King could ever wish for. His life was surrounded by luxury in a great castle, and filled with abundance. Midas, spelled by gold, spent all his days counting his gold coins. He also enjoyed covering his body with gold objects, desiring to bathe in them, and obsessed with money.” 

One day, Dionysus, the god of wine, passed through the Kingdom of Midas. One of his companions, a satyr named Silenus, got delayed along the path. Silenus got tired, deciding to have some rest in the famous rose gardens surrounding King Midas ́ palace. Napping there, he was found by the King, who invited him to spend a few days at his palace. The days went by, and finally Midas brought Silenus back to Dionysus. The god of celebration, thankful to Midas for his kindness, promised Midas to satisfy any of his wishes. Midas, after a while of reflection, responded: “I hope that everything I touch becomes gold”. Dionysus warned the King, stating that he should think well about what he wished for, but Midas was certain. Obeying the King ́s wishes, Dionysus had no choice but to promise Midas that from that day on, everything he touched would turn into gold.

The following day Midas woke up eager to see if his wish would come true, extending his arm, and touching a small table immediately turning into gold. Jumping with happiness, Midas continued by touching everything around him, turning everything he touched into gold. At the breakfast table, he took a rose in his hands to smell its delicate fragrance. As you already can guess by now, the rose turned into gold, leaving Midas feeling disappointed. The same happened with his bread, and water, which made Midas feel fearful. With tears in his eyes, he hugged his daughter who had just entered the room, and she turned into a golden statue. In despair, Midas raised his arms, praying to Dionysus to remove the curse. Dionysus felt sorry for Midas, and told him to go to the river Pactolus to wash his hands. Listening to Dionysus advice this time, Midas did what he was told. After washing his hands in the river, everything went back to normal. Filled with joy, Midas hugged his beloved daughter, and decided to share his great fortune with his people. From that day on, Midas turned into a better person, generous and grateful for all goods of his life. With his help, the people of his Kingdom led a prosperous life”. (greeka.com. Quoted 14.10.2014).

 

Lessons of the story? Plenty:

– Be careful what you wish for – it may come true. 

– Learn to appreciate the differences around you, including things that may feel small, but are important in the cycle of life. 

– Listen to people, and people ́s advice (your personal advisers/trusted person/consultant, who or whatever that may be in your life/career). 

– Lead with your heart, and have respect for the people around you. 

– Take responsibility for your actions. 

– Being greedy can be destructive for the environment. 

– Being self-centered can be destructive for relationships.

– When accumulating wealth, do it for a good reason. 

– When accumulating wealth, be prepared and ready to share, help, and use your wealth for increasing prosperity for everyone, thus improving other people’s lives as well.

– Money is not the key to happiness. 

– Everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes are usually keys to (personal) development. Just make sure that you do not make mistakes that others have to pay for, or mistakes that have a disastrous effect on e.g. the environment. 

And, finally: You cannot eat gold!

 

Influence, Manipulation, Something Inbetween or Neither One?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Change Management, Communication Skills, Influence, Leadership Skills and Qualities, Life Coaching, Manipulation

“There is no such thing as a good influence. To influence a person is to give him one’s own soul. He does not think his natural thoughts, or burn with his natural passions. His virtues are not real to him. His sins, if there are such things as sins, are borrowed. He becomes an echo of someone else’s music, an actor of a part that has not been written for him”.

(Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray)

 

Do you agree with Oscar Wilde´s citation? That good influence does not exist, since the purpose of all influence is to transfer one person´s feelings and ideas to another person, thus affecting the other person´s behavior? 

 

One thing is for sure: Oscar Wilde´s words include a lot of truth. With our feelings, thoughts, knowledge and actions we all do have more or less influence on people around us. The line between influence and manipulation, however, is often quite subtle. And the difference between influence and manipulation is merely that influence is often regarded as being something positive, while manipulation, a term originating from the Latin word manus (hand), means processing, and very often has a negative meaning while it refers to misleading, or forgery of evidence. Manipulation can also refer to concrete handling of something, e.g. the manipulation of stock markets. There are definitely many kinds of manipulation, such as magician card tricks. In this post, however, I refer to psychological manipulation, which actively aims at having an effect on someone´s, or something´s, behavior and thoughts.  

 

Influence, on the other hand, is the power of affecting, controlling or manipulating someone, or something; the ability of triggering change in the development of fluctuation in things, including thoughts, or decisions. Thus, manipulation can be regarded as the negative version of influence, although even influence itself can be regarded less positive. 

 

Influence can be actual, bad, beneficial, big, cultural, economic, good, harmful, heavy, huge, important, intellectual, mental, military, moral, negative, personal, positive, potential, primary, significant, social…and much more. 

 

Influence and manipulation are constant energies in our societies, and environments, starting from a crying baby´s cradle trying to manipulate (or influence?) its parents towards an action. Hence, the most primary ways of manipulation and influence can be observed in a child´s world. At least one could think so. However, very primitive influencing and manipulation techniques exist in all age groups, depending upon many different factors, such as an individual´s learned patterns, defense mechanisms, sense of self, morals, and ethics. An individual usually behaves in a way that he/she thinks is correct, without perhaps knowing or understanding better. Thus, bad influence and bad manipulation, unfortunately, together with primitive behavior, equally exists amongst all age groups. 

 

How can we learn to identify different ways of manipulation, and influence? And how can we cope with these? How can we make sure not to be the one´s negatively influencing, or manipulating other people, organizations, whole societies, or e.g. the economy? 

 

There are no simple responses to these questions. Since manipulation, and influence, both occur on a common level in our societies, it can often even be difficult to take notice when someone, or something, is influencing or manipulating you. Very often people influence or manipulate us without even noticing it themselves. Therefore, both influence and manipulation can happen somewhat by mistake.

 

A good guide for protecting yourself against both influence, and manipulation, is to listen to your intuition, and feelings. Another important thing is to stay grounded, and centered – again, listening to your intuition and your feelings rather than being too much affected by external sources or distractions. It is of course possible to learn these through experience, which can sometimes be a tough life lesson, especially if you are someone who is easily influenced or manipulated. There is much literature available upon influence and manipulation, the different types of both, and how to respond to either external influence or manipulation. 

 

Leading by example and being a positive role model is a way of making sure that you are not the one with the negative influence (or manipulation). Changing other people is impossible. Therefore, if we wish to trigger positive change, and be role models, we need to work on ourselves, on our behavior, our actions, our personal wisdom, and on our growth as responsible individuals in our societies. 

 “How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours”.

(Dr. Wayne W. Dyer)

 

 

 

How Can You Shrink The Gap Between Knowing And Doing?

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Change Management, Leadership Skills and Qualities, Life Coaching

“Character is doing the right thing when nobody’s looking. There are too many people who think that the only thing that’s right is to get by, and the only thing that’s wrong is to get caught”. (J.C. Watts)

Pfeffer and Sutton (Harvard Business School Press 2000), have in their publication “The Knowing-Doing Gap – How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action” addressed something very relevant. Not only is this book useful for enterprises, but also for organizations, governments, societies, and for an individual ́s personal life. The basic facts and ideas can be used as an effective change tool, applied and lived by every day, and in long-term planning. 

The Knowing-Doing Gap signifies a gap between our thoughts/knowledge and our actions. Many people are aware of their actions, yet are not always capable of changing themselves. Others are not even aware of some of their actions, yet about the consequences. Unfortunately, the latter applies to too many of us. Why?

It is a fact that most of us are aware of grievances, be it in our personal lives, in our neighborhood, in our city, at school, in our workplace, or in society in general. This is the KNOWLEDGE part Knowing-Doing Gap. 

DOING, or taking ACTION, in order to improve things – could be in personal life, in someone else’s life, correcting iniquities, working towards improving e.g. work processes and or workplace circumstances, taking action to improve the state of e.g. the environment, human rights issues, developing authentic leadership and so on – is the ACTIVE part of the Knowing-Doing Gap. 

We are all aware of the fact that in order to change things, and circumstances, improving conditions be it in our own lives, in education, at work, in society, we need to take action, instead of just waiting for something to happen. 

Remember, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. 

The actions must not always be big. What is important, is to overcome inactivity, procrastination, and fear. Be willing to step up, step forward, and start by influencing things you can influence, and taking those steps you are capable of taking. Do not be afraid, instead, challenge your fears and notice how your life and surrounding changes as you begin living, and working, for the things you believe in. Very often, you will take two steps forward and one step back, but do not let it stop you. Every small progress counts, every little action in order to improve things – anything. 

“You don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining. You make progress by implementing ideas. (Shirley Chisholm)

 

 

 

Influencing Positive Change In The World Through Global Education

by Anne-Maria Yritys, posted in Authentic Leadership, Business Ethics, Change Management, Global Awareness, Global Citizenship, Global Education, Reducing Poverty, Thought Leadership, UN Millenium Development Goals

A few weeks ago the UN Association of Finland organized a school visitation education in Turku, the purpose of which is to educate volunteers willing to visit schools in order to share information about the UN, its principles, and its goals as a non-governmental organization.

In Finland, UN school visitors can be requested through the UNA of Finland:

http://www.ykliitto.fi/koulutus-ja-oppimateriaalit?language=fi

School visits are open and available to all kinds of educational institutions and tailored according to the age and interest of the pupils/students. The visit can include general facts about the UN and its activities, or be focused around a specific topic, e.g. the UN Millennium Development Goals 2000.

Founded in 1945 after the Second World War by 51 states to protect the world from new wars, the UN (United Nations) is the world´s most important co-operational organization. Over the course of the years the UN has of course changed and developed, trying to adjust its operations according to the most important needs and most urgent matters of its member states. In 2013, the UN had 193 member states.

The main goals of the UN are:

– To maintain international peace and security through peaceful means in solving disputes and conflicts

– To develop friendly relations between nations (autonomy and equal rights)

– Generate and accomplish co-operation to solve economical, social, cultural and humanitarian problems

– To advance human rights and their universality

– To serve as a co-operational centre for all nations

According to the principles of the UN, all member nations are plenipotentiary and equal, must fulfill the obligations of the UN Charter, resolve all international conflicts with peaceful means, and help the UN in all actions taken by the UN according to its Charter.

The main bodies of the UN are:

– The General Assembly

– The Security Council

– ECOSOC (the Economic and Social Council)

– The Secretariat

– The International Court of Justice

– The Trusteeship Council

(Sources: Leisma, 2009; printed material produced by the UN Association of Finland).

The previously mentioned UN Millennium Development Goals 2000 are:

1. Eradication of extreme hunger and poverty

2. Achievement of Universal Primary Education

3. Promotion of Gender Equality and Empowering Women

4. Reduction of Child Mortality

5. Improvement of Maternal Health

6. Combating HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Diseases

7. Ensuring Environmental Sustainability

8. Global Partnership for Development

(Source: UNA printed material, UN Millennium Development Goals website, quoted 16.4.2014).

Wide-ranged and large goals, but perfectly achievable with commitment from all UN member nations.

Are we close to achieving these goals, or have we already achieved some of them?

I will discuss each of these goals separately in my upcoming posts, with facts and personal thoughts.