Greetings!
I'm going to cover a bunch of ground here, with my first 'catalyst' of 2012. This is going to be a kind of "thinking out loud" moment. I'd like to find some relationship between gratitude, the multiple generations of family, and, how to go into the new year with a fresh outlook. Because these three are coming up for me right now, I'd like to lean on you for a minute. Do you intuit any ways gratitude, family, and fresh outlook relate to one another? The holiday season ends the old year and begins the new year. This affords me an opportunity to get together with my family, and, its four generations. I feel keenly the obvious connection: I'm thankful for my family and its togetherness and the blessings extant in being, literally, a Great Aunt. When I carry this over to my friends and colleagues and clients, I grateful too, and recognize something similar is at work in organizations. Our organizations are multi-generational too, with tremendous potential woven in them in the sweep between elders and young persons. Who are the great aunts and uncles in your world and in your groups and in your companies. 
Many times a day I realize how much my own life is built on the labors of my fellowmen, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I have received. -Albert Einstein Ha, Uncle Albert provides a clear hint and allows me to ponder how to put it all together. "Earnest" is an old-fashioned kind of word! Consider it to be a grandfatherly or grandmotherly word, refreshing for us a time-honored idea: to do anything serious and do it with an unabashed, deep, sincerity. Yes, almost everything of lasting value in my life is built upon what others have given me. How does this insight help me renew my outlook in the new year? How about you? Can we be in this renewal together, and earnestly exert ourselves and give back in this new year? Reflect on the sorts of extended families and family-like group which give us so much, and, how these provide for so much to be grateful for. Consider how much wisdom is active and percolating in them down to the younger generation. I'm open to this wisdom. And, I hope some of what I know rubs off too. There's much to be thankful for when we reflect about our inter-generational experience, and, this seems a great source for animating my positive outlook in this new year.
Feel free to opt out, forward this newsletter along, opt in, and provide feedback. Have great days! Leslie |
new video: Hard & Soft Science Youtube
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SOCIAL LINKS: Facebook:Leslie Yerkes, Thought Leader Twitter:NowHavingFun LinkedIn: Leslie Yerkes YouTube: CatalystConsultingGr
 I've started research for two new books, and so I'm on the trail of great places to work, innovative approaches to the soft science of the advanced organization, and, I'm hoping to track down the many innovative ways great workplaces support people and performance.
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