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Let Go

by DW Green — September 28, 2022

Leadership grounded in love produces an enduring value that lives in your heart and not on your résumé.

When you let go you are free. Free to see and to act without filters. Difficulties will arise, celebrations will erupt, titles and people will come and go…and you will have gleaned the most you could from every moment and created experiences that will change you and the people you serve. Pay attention to the things you hold onto in your leadership. The things that bind you. Look at them unflinchingly and see them for what they are. Then let them go.

Let go of…

Control – You don’t really have it anyway. If you think you are in control rest assured that circumstances will conspire to teach you otherwise.

Outcomes – Allow things to unfold differently than you imagined. The way you see the outcome determines what it will mean to you, not the outcome itself.

Fear – When you are afraid, you project thoughts, attitudes and beliefs onto people and situations creating serious leadership blind spots.<...

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Don’t Let Your Attention Slide

by DW Green — September 21, 2022

Attention matters.

Winifred Gallagher, in her book Rapt, quotes David Meyer, a cognitive scientist at the University of Michigan: “Einstein didn’t invent the theory of relativity while he was multitasking at the Swiss patent office.” It came after, when he really had time to focus and study. I wonder if it was an invention at all? More like a discovery!

Attention matters—and in an era in which our attention is being fought for by every new app, website, article, book, tweet, and post, its value has only gone up. Attention is a habit, and that letting your attention slip and wander builds bad habits and enables mistakes.

You’ll never complete all your tasks if you allow yourself to be distracted with every tiny interruption. Your attention is one of your most critical resources. Don’t squander it!

Read More – The Vision, the Mission

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Opinions are like…

by DW Green — September 14, 2022

“What if we let our opinions go?”

Opinions. Everyone’s got one. Think about all the opinions you have: about whether today’s weather is convenient, about what liberals and conservatives believe, about whether so-and-so’s remark is rude or not, about whether you’re successful (or not), and on and on. We’re constantly looking at the world around us and putting our opinion on top of it. And our opinion is often shaped by dogma (religious or cultural), entitlements, expectations, and in some cases, ignorance.

No wonder we feel upset and angry so often! But what if we let these opinions go? Let’s try weeding them out of our lives so that things simply are. Not good or bad, not colored with opinion or judgment. Just are.

Read More – How do you handle an emergency?

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Company and the No-Name Trap

by DW Green — September 7, 2022

“The word company is warm and represents relationships.”

In the marketing classic Positioning, authors Al Ries and Jack Trout, probably the world’s best-known marketing strategists wrote that it is unwise to use initials for a company name. They have coined the practice the “no-name trap”. While there are successful exceptions to the initial rule, Ries and Trout warn against using the letter “w”. As “dou-ble-U” is the only letter in alphabet with more than one syllable. Unfortunately, I didn’t read the book until after I had named my company…unknowingly falling into the “no-name trap!”

I named my company DW Green after myself. It is easy for me to remember and I wanted to honor my parents. Neither is named DW, though DW is my father’s initials. Ries and Trout might still approve because DW Green is only 5 syllables long! And green is a popular word now.

When I incorporated DW Green, way back in 1988, my choices from Alaska’s Corporation Commission were Corporation, Inc., or Company. ...

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This Determines What You See

by DW Green — August 31, 2022

“Why can’t they see my point of view?”

The photoreceptors in your eye take in 1 billion photons a second. Your brain only translates 40 of the photons per second, the rest get discarded. These 40 photons determine what you see. So, it’s like you are presented with 1 billion choices and you only get to pick 40. Obviously with 1 billion choices everyone’s forty picks are not going to be anywhere close to being the same. This is why we all see the world differently and why we all disagree with each other, thinking, “Why can’t they see my point of view? It’s obvious!” The truth is they are not seeing the same way you are seeing. What determines the 40 photons your brain translates?

Your beliefs!

Read More – The Therapist

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Observe Cause and Effect

by DW Green — August 24, 2022

Become an observer of your own thoughts and the actions those thoughts provoke.

Through the work of the psychologist Albert Ellis, Stoicism has reached millions of people through what’s known as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). As a form of a therapy, CBT helps patients identify destructive patterns in their thoughts and behavior so they can, over time, direct and influence them in a more positive direction. As a form of therapy, CBT helps patients identify destructive patterns in their thoughts and behavior so they can, over time, direct and influence them in a more positive direction.Of course, Marcus Aurelius had no formal training in psychology, but his words are as important as any doctor’s. He’s asking you to become an observer of your own thoughts and the actions those thoughts provoke. Where do they come from? What biases do they contain? Are they constructive or destructive? Do they cause you to make mistakes or engage in behavior you later regret? Look for patterns; find where cause meets effect.Only when this is done can negative patterns be broken; only then can real life improvements be made.

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Intuition

by DW Green — August 17, 2022

Intuition draws on everything you’ve experienced for all the years you’ve been alive.

Intuition is a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning. Intuition involves trusting the collection of all your subconscious experiences. It draws on everything you’ve experienced for all the years you’ve been alive, which means it’s constantly growing and evolving. Intuition bypasses the linear thought and inference process of the mind to directly perceive or cognize a truth or insight. Rather than cobbling together different thoughts, ideas, and perceptions to reach a conclusion, intuition is a direct download of the final answer minus all the mental busywork. It has been said the “Intuition is the highest form of intelligence, transcending all individual abilities and skills.” Learn to trust your instinct. Trust the guidance. Know that you’re plugged into the cosmic mind and it has a holistic knowledge base that goes beyond linear cause and effect logic.

Read More – How Can I be of Service?

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Becoming An Expert In What Matters

by DW Green — August 10, 2022

Yet our own lives, habits, and tendencies might be a mystery to us.

The things some people manage to be experts in: fantasy sports, celebrity trivia, derivatives and commodities markets, thirteenth-century hygiene habits of the clergy.We can get very good at what we’re paid to do, or adept at a hobby we wish we could be paid to do. Yet our own lives, habits, and tendencies might be a mystery to us.At the end of your time on this planet, what expertise is going to be more valuable—your understanding of matters of living and dying, or your knowledge of the ’87 Bears? Which will help your children more—your insight into happiness and meaning, or that you followed breaking political news every day for thirty years?

Read More – Not Your Fans

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Expect To Change Your Opinions

by DW Green — August 3, 2022

Be doubly careful to honor what you do not know…

How often do we begin some project certain we know exactly it will go? How often do we meet people and think we know exactly who and what they are? And how often are these assumptions proved to be completely and utterly wrong?This is why we must fight our biases and preconceptions: because they are a liability. Ask yourself: What haven’t I considered? Why is this thing the way it is? Am I part of the problem here or the solution? Could I be wrong here? Be doubly careful to honor what you do not know, and then set that against the knowledge you actually have.Remember, if there is one core teaching at the heart of this philosophy. It’s that we’re not as smart and wise as we’d like to think we are. If we ever do want to become wise, it comes from the questioning and from humility—not, as many would like to think, from certainty, mistrust, and arrogance.

Read More – More on Non-Verbal Communication

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Trust But Verify

by DW Green — July 27, 2022

We are constantly making split decisions based on years of experience and knowledge.

One of the wonders of your mind is the quickness with which it can comprehend and categorize things. As Malcom Gladwell wrote in Blink, we are constantly making split decisions based on years of experience and knowledge as well as using the same skill to confirm prejudices, stereotypes, and assumptions. Clearly, the former thinking is a source of strength, whereas the latter is a great weakness.We lose very little by taking a beat to consider our own thoughts. Is this really so bad? What do I really need know about this person? Why do I have such strong feelings here? Is anxiety really adding much to the situation? What’s so special about­­______________?By asking these questions—by putting our impressions to the test—we’re less likely to be carried away by them or make a move on a mistaken or biased one. We’re still free to use our instincts, but we should always, as the Russian proverb says, “trust, but verify.”Trust but verify is a Russian proverb, made famous by President Ronald Regan.

Read More – Physical Communication

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