Podcast 267: The Art of Convening with Craig Neal

 

Craig NealI have known Craig Neal for a number of years, as a matter of fact I attended one of his “The Art of Convening” meetings at the Gap in Northern California several years ago.   I recently reconnected with Craig and had the opportunity to discuss his newly released book entitled “The Art Of Convening-Authentic Engagement in Meetings, Gatherings, and Conversations“.

If you are like me, you have attended lots of meetings during your career and frequently walk away wondering “why” did I attend?  If you have ever asked this questions, then Craig’s new book “The Art of Convening” is a must read.

In my interview with Craig we discuss what he refers to as “authentic engagement”.  Authentic engagement is , simply, a genuine expression of what is true for us, and an attentive listening to what is true for another, or others.  Why this simple human interaction often eludes us can be a matter of habit, distrust, faulty modeling, lack of attention, or fear.

Craig has created a wonderful model in the book that assists “the convener” in understanding the art associated with creating a gathering.  The model is referred to as the “convening wheel” and at the center is “The Heart of the Matter” with eight adjacent spokes:  Clarifying Intent , The Invitation, Setting Context, Creating the Container, Hearing all the Voices, Essential Conversations, Creation, Commitment to Action.   Craig states that there is a lot of pressure in our lives to go, go, go all the time–to drive to results and spring into action, often before the actions’s optimal time has come.  It’s counterintuitive to take the time to reflect on how we ill be in relationship with others. In a way, we have to slow down and do the internal due diligence to know what results we really want to drive and when it is time to take the action.
If you are at all interested in better understanding how to hold meeting with meaning, purpose and aligned outcomes then I highly recommend that you obtain a copy of “The Art Of Convening“.  This book will instruct you with essential questions to better understand your purpose, your meetings purpose and the associated actions you really would like to achieve from meetings, gatherings and most importantly conversations.  I hope you enjoy this interview with one of the masters in the business of “authentic engagement”.

You can learn more about Craig and Patricia Neal the authors by clicking here to be directed to their website.

Podcast 266: Change the Culture, Change the Game with Roger Connors

Roger ConnorsI recently did an interview with Roger Conner the author of “Change the Culture, Change the Game“.  In our dialogue together we discuss the importance of having a organizational culture of accountability.   As Roger states in the book, either you will manage your culture, or it will manage you.   Organizational culture is nothing more that the way people think and act.  Every organization has a culture, and they either work for you or against you.

Roger and I discuss what he refers to at the Results Pyramid, which is the tool that his organization uses to help create accountability within organizations.  At the core of the Results Pyramid are the experiences, beliefs, actions and ultimately the results that are created.   So the leaders of the organization must create the needed culture, the culture produces the results, the most effective culture is a culture of accountability then this helps transition the organization into one with a competitive advantage.  Sounds simple doesn’t it.  Well hold on just a minute—this only happens when the people in every corner of the organization make the personal choice to take the Steps to Accountability–and each step builds on the previous one.

So what are these steps of accountability that are require to produce results.  1) See it– means moving Above the Line or staying there whenever a new challenge arises.  2) Own it-means being personally invested, learning from both successes and failures, aligning your work with desired company results and acting on the feedback you receive. 3) Solve it-requires persistent effort as you encounter obstacles that stand in the way of achieving results.  When you take this step, you constantly ask the question “What else can I do?’  4) Do it– the final step in the process, represents the natural culmination of the first three steps–it means doing what you say you will do.

If you think that this stuff is just for business people, think again.  The basic principles that Roger speaks about in this book are so important to your own personal growth and development.  If you follow the sound advice in the book about being personally accountable, not only to yourself but to those you work with you will find a wonderful transformation in your personal life.  You can only imagine the amazing results that occur when you can get a whole organization where personal accountability is the guiding light for the employees.  This is a company that you will want to do business with.

I highly recommend that you obtain a copy of “Change the Culture, Change the Game“.  It will give you the guidance both personally and professionally in creating cultures of accountability, once you know the forumla for creating accountable people,  positive organizational transformation is bound to occur.
If you would like to learn more about Roger Conner’s and Partners In Leadership  please click here, and enjoy my interview with Roger.

Podcast 265: Fried- Why You Burn Out and How to Revive with Joan Borysenko

 

Joan BorysenkoI know that many people go through times in their lives when they feel Fried, and burned out.  This is certainly not an uncommon feeling, especially when things have veered off course.  In my interview with author Joan Borysenko  about her new book entitled “Fried-Why You Burn Out and How to Revive“,  we discuss the challenges associated with these feelings and what one can do to revive.

As Joan states “Fried” may seem like an innocuous enough word since so many of us use it these days to describe our frenzied, speed-oriented, exhausted state of mind. But innocuous it is not.  Feeling fried is an alarm that life has veered off course.  It’s shorthand for losing our way individually and culturally in a world spinning so fast that it feels like we’re about to be launched into outer space.

In our interview together we discuss the work of author and psychologist Herbert Freudenberger who first popularized the condition in his book “Burnout: The Hight Cost of High Achievement“.  As Joan discribes in her book, and atributes to the work of Freudenberger ” Falling short of your ideal in a way–perceiving a gap between what you think is require of you and the reality of what you can produce can be disheartening to the point where your entire sense of self crumbles.

Joan certainly know the challenges of burn out herself, having gone through it several times and reverting to using antidepressants to combat the overwhelming feeling of depression. She soon learned that the use of drugs to treat the condition was only temporary and was not a permanent solution to the things she needed to change in her life to sustain a life of balance and harmony.   As Joan states knowing what to limit in your life and what to seek more of isn’t always easy to figure out, let alone implement.
Joan also reveals that burnout can have its roots in childhood, and the seeds germinate many years later and can be carried into adulthood.  They grow in emotional soil polluted by helplessness that was deeply rooted in the nervous system during childhood.  Given the right conditions–a bad economy, a mismatch of values at work, frequent rejection, and abusive or loveless relationship, those seeds of burnout and depression often germinate many years later.

If you are interested in learning more about burn out and want to know more about how to cope with it, then I highly recommend that you read Joan’s new book “Fried-Why You Burn Out and How to Revive“.  You can learn more about Joan’s book and become involved in her community of Facebook followers sharing their experiences by clicking here to be directed to her Facebook page.

Enjoy this great interview with a wonderful author and friend.

Podcast 264: Loyalty To Your Soul with Ron and Mary Hulnick

Ron and Mary HulnickI had the distinct honor to interview two spiritual teachers of mine  who have had a significant impact on transforming my life for the positive, and countless thousands of other University of Santa Monica graduate students in the study of Spiritual Psychology.

In my interview with authors Ron and Mary Hulnick we get the opportunity to discuss their new Hay House book entitled ” Loyalty To Your Soul-The Heart of Spiritual Psychology“.   This book at it’s essence distills the teachings of the Spiritual Psychology, a two year graduate course and it does an amazing job of covering so many of the valuable lessons of the course.

There are 22 Principals of Spiritual Psychology covered in the book, and while Ron, Mary and I only have time to cover a few you will certainly want to purchase a copy of the book so that you can learn more, believe me it is well worth you investment of money and time.

A key point of the Spiritual Psychology course is something that Ron and Mary call your “Learning Orientation to Life“.   Most people in life are on the “goal line” of life.  Acquiring more things in the physical world reality, home, cars, more money etc.  While this is part of our physical world reality, it is not the most important.  We will soon get tired of just seeking the next new thing in life, and ultimately it will not fulfill our soul.  On the other hand if our orientation to life is on the learning line, we are focused on our spiritual evolution.

Ron and Mary state in Principle #5 ” Physical-world reality exists for the purpose of spiritual evolution.  If you understand this point, it changes your life perspective and will have major positive implications for your lifetime. Wins on the Goal Line stay here, while wins on the Learning Line go with you.  It’s the Learning Line that leads Home to God where progress is spiritual evolution is made.

Mary and I discuss that consciousness functions on three levels, physical, mental and emotional.  On each of these levels we have either positive or negative experiences.  As we grow in our consciousness evolution we seek to ascend to what is referred to as our Authentic Self Level.   At this level of understanding and peace is where we know Unconditional Love.

Your Authentic Self knows the curriculum you have come here to learn. It knows what ego work you’re here to complete.  It also knows that until your ego work is done, your spiritual agenda in the physical world will serve you by continually providing experiences that will tend to trigger your unresolved issues.  These experiences are actually spiritual opportunities to learn, grow and complete what must be done.  The Authentic Self cooperates with this structure, for it knows what it’s here to do and how this physical form supports it spiritual progression.
If you are at all interested in exploring your personal spiritual growth, and want a book that will provide you with so many of the answers you have probably been seeking then I highly recommend Ron and Mary’s Hulnick’s new book ” Loyalty To Your Soul”.  You can also visit the books website by clicking here, or you can learn more about the Spiritual Psychology Master’s program by clicking here to be directed to the USM website.

Please enjoy this wonderful interview with two of the most amazing spiritual teacher I have ever encountered.

Podcast 262: The Spirit of Adventure with Michael McCafferty

Michael McCaffertyIn this podcast I  interview a very good friend, and someone that I admire, author and adventurer Michael McCafferty . His new book entitled ” The Spirit of Adventure”  is about his amazing adventure  in a Waco bi-plane around Europe, and while in this interview we speak about Michael’s adventures we also speak about life as a entrepreneur  and father.

Every since I have known Michael he as had a thing for planes and fast cars, not a bad thing to have a fascination with. I remember going to a party at his home in Borrego Springs, CA many years back and his home was a hanger (literally) and the plane was in the living room.

In our interview together we discuss not only the planning it took to coordinate the transportation of his Waco bi-plane to Europe, but the ensuing 96 day adventure throughout the incredibly breathtaking countryside of  Europe.  Michael has lots of great stories from his adventure, and most of them are articulated in the book which is a series of emails that he was sending back to friends and family who were following him on his wonderful adventure.  For three months during the summer of 1997 he “went flying, low and slow, exploring Europe’s coastline, islands, Alps, big-cities and tiny villages.   As Michael recounts in our interview this was the greatest experience of his life”.

A very large part of this adventure has to do with Michael’s son Mike.  You see Mike broke his back in a plane accident in March of 1993 and was paralyzed from the waist down.  Michael stated that his son never once complained during extended rehabilitation and hospitalization, and he persevered.  He is and always will be his father’s hero.

As we discuss in our interview Michael had to decide if he would fly again.  He lamented as you can imagine, but as he states he would have sent the wrong message to Mike that it is OK to quit when things don’t come out as planned if he did not proceed with his bi-plane adventure.  If he had not flown again,  he would have backed away from a great personal goal, so he had on choice and, and the big adventure began.
If you are interested in learning more about Michael McCafferty and “The Spirit of Adventure” I highly recommend reading his book.  100% of the profits from this book go to research to find a cure for paralysis caused by spinal cord injuries as currently being done by Rutgers University’s Keck Center for Collaborative Nuroscience-Spinal Cord Injury Project.  Please enjoy this great interview with a wonderful man with a big adventure.  If you would like to visit his website just click here, and read the many adventures of Michael Mc Cafferty.

Podcast 260: The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy with Andrew Holecek

Andrew HolecekA good friend recently recommended that I interview Andrew Holecek, and I am certainly glad that I did.  Andrew’s new book entitled “The Power and the Pain: Transforming Spiritual Hardship into Joy” is a gift to all that read it.

In his book, Andrew directs or attention to the two key points of the Buddhist spiritual journey: suffering and the obstacles and opportunities that suffering presents us with as we try to understand and transcend it.  Essentially, it is a book about the hardships of the journey that sometime takes us by surprise, and wear us down, or even discourage us from continuing. We all have been in this position, and sometimes it seems like we will never emerge from the hardship.  But somehow with persistence and belief, we do.

In my interview with Andrew we discuss the the Four Nobel Truths that are articulated so clearly in the Buddhist philosophy: 1) Life means suffering 2) The origin of suffering is attachment 3) The cessation of suffering is attainable  4) The path to the cessation of suffering.

If you understand these basic truths, then you will understand that we are all going to suffer and that much of our personal suffering is due to our attachment to the material world and our beliefs about it.  What is clearly available to us, but frequently we are blinded to the truth is that their is a path to the cessation of suffering.

The Buddha summarized them thus: ” I teach one thing and one thing only: suffering and the end of suffering.” Suffering is not only the overt hardship of things like disease and disaster but also the everyday experiences of dissatisfaction, anxiety, and unhappiness.  If we simply open our eyes and acknowledge what we see and feel, we will discover the truth of suffering in its many guises.
If you are interested in reading a wonderfully well written book on the philosophy and paths to the end of suffering, then Andrew’s new book “The Power and the Pain” is a wonderful read.  The depth of his work is transformational as well as easy to read and understand.  If you would like more information about Andrew and his work, please visit his website by clicking here.  Please enjoy this wonderful interview with a great author.

Podcast 259: What on Earth? Inside the Crop Circle Mystery with Suzanne Taylor

Suzanne TaylorWhat a fascinating interview with author and producer of “What On Earth, Inside the Crop Circle Mystery” Suzanne Taylor.  I had heard lots about crop circles a few years back, but really did not give it to much attention, but this video really did move my viewpoint considerably.

Producer/Director Suzanne Taylor has become an leading authority on the subject, and produced this wonderful DVD with interviews from experts from around the world.   No matter what you believe about crop circles, this documentary will assist you in coming to your own conclusion.  I know that after watching “What On Earth” I am more convinced than ever that we are living with extraterrestrial life forms that are attempting to make connections with us, and very importantly attempting to get us to wake up to the primitive ways we are treating Mother Earth.

It would be  a miracle in my estimation after watching this video and  by examining the intricate circles to believe that humans could have made these designs, let alone smash the crops down in patters as shown in the video.

I believe “What On Earth”  gets you thinking about not only crop circles, but our existence on this planet and our relationship to all life forms that exist.  I know the message here is for us to wake up as a species, and pay attention to the environmental degradation that has occurred as a result of our relentless persist of more, and shift our consciousness.  The human species as it exists now needs to transform into a more intelligent, loving, kind and compassionate species if we are ever going to be able to help solve many of the challenges we are faced with today.
So no matter what you believe about the crop circles, this DVD is worth watching if only to get you thinking about your own personal evolution.  It certainly got me thinking about my existence here, and ways that I could transform to make this world a better place.

If you would like more information about Suzanne Taylor the producer and the documentary please click here to be directed to her website.  You can view trailers and order the DVD.  Also listen to my interview with Suzanne, your viewpoint will most likely be shifted as a result.

Podcast 258: Elemental Love Styles with Dr. Craig Martin

Dr. Craig MartinI had a lot of fun interviewing Dr. Craig Martin the author of “Elemental Love Styles“.  In his book people find and understand the deeper needs through the four natural elements which represent the human personality types: Fire (creative and enthusiastic) Air, (communicative and social), Water (emotional and intuitive) and Earth (practical and grounded).

Dr. Craig  guides the reader through an understanding of the elements, and how this effect your relationships.  He states that each person is a reflection of the elements found in nature.  Because the elements exist inside us as well as outside us, we don’t just go out in the elements; we live in them.  They are part of us.

Dr. Craig has a very simple 44 question questionnaire which assist the reader in determining their personal elemental style. Once you have determined your style the book does a great job of providing stories and examples of how your particular elemental style relates to the other elemental styles.  With this information you are ready to better understand, communicate and find a type that is better suited toward your personality type.

In our interview together Dr. Craig and I discuss what he refers to as “true intimacy”.  All relationships need intimacy, but what is true intimacy.  True intimacy is getting to know someone and having that person get to know you–and I mean more that knowing your name and what you do for a living. Getting to know each other means finding out how you affect each other. Intimacy is about openness with truth.   Dr Craig explains when we have this kind of intimacy, we have the likelihood of have a much deeper, loving and compassionate relationship which will last.
Dr. Craig also states that one of intimacy’s major components is dynamic inner growth or DIG.  DIG is about making better choices.  It enables your relationship to work out better.  A lasting relationship is one where you are going to have to work it out.  You can’t run, blame, or become immobilized by fear.

So if you are interested in learning more about the “Elemental Love Styles” so that you can better understand your partner, then I highly recommend reading Dr. Craig’s book.  It is one of those books where you have an aha not only about yourself, but about the people you love.  If you would like more information please visit Dr. Craig’s website by clicking here.

Podcast 257: The 12 Step Buddhist with Darren Littlejohn

Darren LittlejohnIn my recent interview with Darren LittleJohn the author of “The 12 Step Buddhist” we speak about his personal bouts with addiction as well as how he has learned to cope by utilizing his practices in the Buddhist philosophy.

Darren’s program is designed to augment the AA program, but is not intended to replace AA.  His states that Buddhism isn’t a substitute for the 12 Steps.   I don’t care how devout you are, whether your’ve meditated with the Dali Lama or had an audience with the pope states Darren.   The book is his personal story, his critical analysis of treatment methods, and practical advice on how to integrate Buddhism with a 12-Step recovery program.

In our interview together Darren addresses the Buddhist concept of attachment.  We’re all attached to something else: concepts. Our concepts form our identities, our selective, distorted memories, personalities, goals, dreams, complaints, and fears. And we love to have them.  When we look at attachment from this angle, it’s obvious that we’re addicted to our thoughts.  We’re willing to go to the mat for our right to believe them, especially the ones that we think define who we are.

The bigger questions we should really ask from a Buddhist perspective is ” Who are we?”  When an addict ( or anyone for that matter) asks this question, he or she can really understand at a very deep level this concept of  attachement. At this level of awareness we understand we are spiritual beings having a human experience, allowing us to let go of many of the addictions and attachements and this can be our awakening to a new life of sobriety.

If you are dealing with addiction and are looking to find alternative methods to supplement your current treatment program, then I would recommend reading Darren’s book “The 12-Step Buddhist“.  Darrens’ book is a great guide to alternative practices such as meditation which can really have an effect on both the physical and spiritual aspects of addiction.
Please visit Darren’s website by clicking here for more information as well as informative video of Darren speaking about the practices of Buddhism and their positive effects on addiction.

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