Rebuilding from the ground up, from the inside out
There’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. As all around us we see old systems collapsing, it is more and more clear that whatever does not have a solid foundation, whatever is not truly sustainable, is simply not going to survive as planetary energy and human consciousness shift and change.
This is true on macro and micro levels. It’s true of the environment, the global economy, government and politics, and large-scale business. It’s also true in our personal lives and our entrepreneurial businesses.
So what is a solid foundation? What is sustainable? Jeddah Mali says, “When everything is changing, focus on what does not change.” For me, that is inner core values and inner worth. Where once some of us might have relied on brute force or emotionless logic or centuries of tradition to deal with life, we now have to be in alignment with more subtle aspects of life: love, integrity, intention and inner wisdom.
And that’s a good thing! I have days when I feel scared and scattered – but what gets me through is continuing to re-connect with what does not change – love, integrity, the wisdom of my soul’s guidance (when my mind is not too scared or chattery to connect with it!), and the power of intention.
I believe the work of 2010 is to re-think and re-build from the inside out and from the ground up to make sure that everything in our lives and our businesses is in alignment with our soul’s purpose, our highest good, and the unique gifts that each one of us came here to contribute.
And… that means also being powerful – i.e., able to make a difference – in the real world that we inhabit. Power without love is harmful. Love without power is ineffectual.
Small scale large scale
My work for many years included organizational development, community development, and “system wide” development.
I got very good at learning how to make a difference in smaller communities. When I worked in large urban settings, it was not as simple. The “topics” were similar (essentially, making the social and physical environment healthy for everyone), but the scale and level of complexity was different.
I got very good at helping small to medium size organizations make changes that radically improved their service to clients, customers and the public, the satisfaction of their managers and employees, and achievement of their goals whether those goals were financial or forms of service to the public. I even got good at helping multi-sector and multi-organization systems (say, the criminal justice system) to collaborate (even though they were not “legally” required to do so) in the best interests of those affected by the system and those who worked in it.
But… when it comes to multi-national, multi-stakeholder multi-cultural, multi-sector initiatives with global implications (say, the need for all human beings to have clean air, clean water, clean land, safe healthy food and safe physical environments), it’s not so clear to me how to make it so. I feel just a tad out of my depth!
I do believe, however, that the first step is to believe it matters, the second step is to become committed to making a positive difference, and the third step is to consult our inner wisdom about what to do next, and where to go for help.
My work in communities and with large organizations told me over and over again that when we open to inner guidance, small and large miracles happen. We can make a difference that extends beyond our wildest dreams. We tap into love and that helps us become powerful in a positive way.
And the issue for entrepreneurs is…
I believe that entrepreneurs often demonstrate, and certainly have the opportunity to model, ways of doing business that are both loving and powerful. At their best, entrepreneurs serve their clients, themselves and the world in a manner which is profitable and which honors the planet.
Perhaps if we as entrepreneurs turn our attention to large-scale global issues, we have gifts to offer that we haven’t even imagined yet!
A couple of books
If you, like me, have an interest in making change on a global level, you might be interested in the book that put this topic at the front of my mind this week:
Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change by Adam Kahane.
The back cover of the book sums it up nicely: “The two methods most frequently employed to solve our toughest social problems – either relying on violence and aggression or submitting to endless negotiation and compromise – are fundamentally flawed. This is because the seemingly contradictory drives behind these approaches – power, the desire to achieve one’s objectives, and love, the urge to unite with others – are actually complementary. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it, ‘Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic.’ But how do you combine them? This book tells stories of how the author learned to combine power and love.”
When I went to Amazon.com to see if Power and Love was available online, I also saw…
Love and Power: Awakening to Mastery by Lynn V. Andrews.
While I can’t speak directly for this book, the topic certainly resonates with me – especially for women -- and I have always been deeply and positively affected by the other Lynn Andrews’ books I’ve read.
Your Coaching Challenge
Think about the ways you use both love and power to create the life you want for yourself, your business and your customers and clients. Could you apply these methods to other aspects of your life?
Going Global
Thank about ways it could be possible to apply any of your successful methods to assist with larger global challenges – even if the methods appear to be small-scale at the moment!
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