I was looking into buying the domain of RawAbility dot com. I went to the online website store to check it out. It wasn’t available. Actually, it was available for a fee. So I am still thinking about that. A funny thing happened on the way to the checkout stand. Since the domain wasn’t available for immediate use the website I was on provides a service. They provide optional names that you might consider for your site. There were a few names that could work, but the best one was – uncookedability.com. I chuckled. I thought (in the sarcastic little voice in my head), “Oh that’ll work…uncookedability!?” Those that know me would probably say that sarcastic voice is more than just in my head. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Energy
Brains: A users manual
I just realized that I have been writing this blog for a few months and I have not yet written much about brains, learning, thinking, and behaving. WHOA! If you know me, or you have been in a class with me you know I talk about this stuff all of the time. I need to say something about the 3-pound (or so) cranial powerhouse we are all packing around up there. Oh sure, the things I have been writing about could be associated with brain power, mind, and how we make up our mind, set our intention and realize our ability. But today I thought a little about how brain based thinking, behaving and learning sounded like fun. Oh…that was one semi-geeky comment.
I associated with the work of Doctors Geil Browning and Wendell Williams about ten years ago; the profile and company is Emergenetics International. I love their tag line: Moving Thinking Forward. I liked it so much that I became a certified associate and have presented it to classes and groups and I’ve included the work in my presentations, research and writing. So, a little intro is appropriate here.
What’s this word – Emergenetics – you ask?
The word itself (Emergenetics) comprises the words emerge (i.e., life experience or nurture) and genetics (i.e., nature) to help explain how each person uses preferences based on thinking and behavioral preferences. An Emergenetics© profile provides a tool that will help you understand thinking and behavioral preferences based on the latest brain research.
So it really fits in with my theme of raw ability and the talents and strengths we each bring to an activity, a situation, a team, a group, a leadership responsibility, a….well…really everything. It is part of the total package we walk in with EVERYTIME we show up.
The metaphor we use in Emergenetics divides up the brain into four quadrants of the thinking attributes with an outline of our behavioral preferences. The behaviors are metaphorically encircling the thinking because one would notice our presenting styles through behaviors first, and then the thinking would follow as we engage in dialogue/interaction. The four thinking attributes (Analytical, Structural, Social, and Conceptual) and the three behavioral attributes (Expressiveness, Assertiveness, and Flexibility) combine patterns that can explain our diversity. Each of us has a beautiful brain regardless of the profile or picture of your brain. The beauty lies within the combination of how our strengths emerge from our genetics. More information can be found it the book Emergenetics: New Science of Success (2006). AND, just keep reading this blog….you can bet I will write more about this stuff.
Our approach to the world is the cumulative effect of our past, in the context of the present, as we prepare for the future. The leader’s identity process could become engaged before the person even realizes it is happening, “your brain changes with each movement, thought, experience or conversation you have” (Browning, 2006, p. 17). Our brain is engaged in the identity process and creating the leader within. Warren Bennis has written about this idea by stating that leaders are the products of their entire lives. He suggests that a leader is someone who takes in all his or her experiences and creates (and continually recreates) a new self.
ME + WE =
Wait, there’s more! Since we’ve established a team has multiple ME (you can’t really make me plural, hmmm imagine that). So there is a mixture of individuals, each with their own brain, which creates synergy and energy. This ME + WE = Energy, Synergy, and Esprit. I just found out that Esprit is defined as lively intelligence…I like it. In Emergenetics language we call this combination of people (i.e., brains) a WE Team. WE of course is the combo of members and it also means Whole Emergenetics Team. It is also possible to coordinate groups or teams (from a larger group) into a whole team that combines thinking and behavioral preferences so we have a balance of each of the seven preferences represented “at the table”.
It’s electric!
Our brain functions through the connections and synapses of a couple 100 billion neurons lighting up some scientific machinery. I read one place we have 100 billion neurons and then another source said that was a myth, we only have 86 billion. What’s a few billion neurons among friends? The point is…there is a whole lot of electricity moving around within us and between us. This alacrity (within each) building on the energy and esprit (lively intelligence) of ability is how we can create great things together.
How do you think about things? Are you more of a “let me think about it and get back to you” person or a “let me ask around and see what others think” type of person? Are you the grand entrance type of person or more of the slip in and sit down sort? What roles do you play in a team? Chances are…the role you play in one group is probably pretty much your persona. Yeah?
To find out more about this Emergenetics Profile for you or your organization:
Filed under Leadership, Uncategorized
Consider CO-incident versus a coincidence
Plain and simple….I don’t believe in coincidence. I believe that everything happens for a reason and IF we look into the situation at hand we can learn something it. Before I go on, let me soothe any that might have a Pollyanna (this-is-too-much-positivity-for-me) alert going off right about now. I don’t believe that EVERYTHING that happens has epiphany status nor do I think we will have major discoveries every single day. Simply put, our lives are both the sum total and the result of the energy generated by our thoughts and work
But…As I said…I don’t believe in coincidence. By coincidence, I mean a fluke, an accident, or just dumb luck (I realize that dumb luck is highly scientific, forgive my pompous use of technical terms). Having said all of this, let’s look at coincidence from a different perspective.
Co – (according to my favorite app of all – dictionary.com) is a prefix that when attached to a word it is can be an “auxiliary subsidiary.” It complements (which is to say it accompanies or harmonizes with) the first word. I like this CO thing so far.
Incident – Aptly (or perhaps App-ley) speaking this is an individual occurrence or an event. This episode or a piece of the action somehow fits into the story of our lives. An incident occurs in connection with something else, or somehow pertains to an event or a series of events. The family tree of the word incident has quite a history. In 1412 incident occurred casually with some thing else. 1462 it was an event viewed as a separate condition. Jumping to 1925 it came to be used to say, “by the way.” As in, by the way I don’t believe in coincidence.
So now, we have the Co to the incident that makes the party of the first part (i.e., Co-) somehow influencing the party of the second part (i.e., incident). Wait, wait, wait, that probably confuses things even more. J Maybe a diagram will help. Coincident Pic
The solid line connects CO with the INCIDENT showing that to which we refer as the EVENT. The dotted line shows the other incident that was viewed as a separate condition (a la 1462) that has some energy or impact on the complementary event. Thus (b) could be the precipitating event that has some meaning for the main event.
Our actions create energy and have an impact on our lives and those we interact with every day. What we think about has an impact on our actions. We are what we think about. We are what we give attention and energy. I read somewhere (a long time ago) that it takes 7 years to make an overnight success. Our success doesn’t happen through coincidence, it happens by focus and creating a series of events in our lives. Our inner ability drives our momentum.
“Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, Your values become your destiny.” -Mahatma Gandhi
The Chinese character for LUCK is the COmbination of opportunity and preparation. The CO-incidence of how we prepare and focus complements opportunity. Chinese LUCK Symbol
The incidents we create and insert in our way complement the present and the future events that will happen by CO-incidence. Some state lottery slogan is, “ya gotta play to win.” The incidents we create every day are those complementary auxiliary subsidiary events that will influence more events. Karma is action, it’s cause and effect. What effect have you caused? For yourself? For others? How’s that working for you? I hope it is working well…..
Filed under Leadership
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