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Adventure Learning in BWCA
"Clouds At Work"
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Twitter Highlights
I send 15-20 tweets per week with links to useful links and research. Here are a few of my latest, including links:

Yes, science and humanities can unite for a common cause -  http://tinyurl.com/9zr4y3n
@WSJ.com

Are you engaged in a "labor of love" or merely biding time? survey on work happiness - http://tinyurl.com/cpwurmy
via @WSJ.com

Valuable insight from @SteveBoehlke today: "There is a lot of connecting going on these days, but not as much relating."

Bumper sticker today: "Knowledge is telling; wisdom is listening."

"Mastery never consists of getting it right immediately. It consists of trusting yourself to know that you will." (John Goodman)

Agree: If you can't connect with a human, throw the Chief Customer Officer out the window! Schumpeter @TheEconomist
http://tinyurl.com/ceelebv

Yes - eject cullture "vampires" - When to Fire a Top Performer Who Hurts Your Company Culture @HarvardBiz
http://tinyurl.com/9dgh6ny

In all intellectual debates, both sides tend to be correct in what they affirm, and wrong in what they deny." (John Stuart Mill)

Board practices becoming more aligned with shareholder interests - Corporate Governance Grows Up -
http://tinyurl.com/9aom4qm
via @WSJ.com

Best Ways To Treat Stress At Work - http://tinyurl.com/8coct2u via @WSJ.com, and recommend "The Pause Principle" -
http://tinyurl.com/6vac937

"No one has ever listened himself out of a job." (Calvin Coolidge)

Yes, accountability is about "measuring what matters:" They Work Long Hours, but What About Results?
http://tinyurl.com/8fb8qpo

Yes, core values are important - wether you're a "bulldozer" or "bus driver"

Great idea: Strengthen Leadership With a Simple Weekly Quote -
http://tinyurl.com/92xzkfl

More transparency and accountability needed in health care: Hospital Horrors @WSJ.com - http://tinyurl.com/9f4e58u

Interesting survey results @smartbrief.com on how training delivered in organizations -
http://tinyurl.com/9mphjbe

On the mark: Do You Have Online Integrity?  
http://tinyurl.com/8elhcnm
via @marierleslie
See my comment

It's more important to know where you are going than to get there quickly. Never mistake activity for achievement. - Mable Newcomber

Very sound advice for communicating and executing strategy: Shape Strategy With Simple Rules @HarvardBiz
http://tinyurl.com/8skjcyd

What's true for integrity in academic institutions is likely true for businesses and industries.
http://tinyurl.com/cps5f97

Big pharma is broken. Read this if you give or use prescriptions: Pick Your Pills Out of a Hat -
http://tinyurl.com/8t5s4rg
via
@TheEconomist

One must not tie a ship to a single anchor, nor life to a single hope. - Epictetus

Good advice here on channeling anger at work: Finding the Roots of Your Office Anger -

Wise career advice from Citrix CEO: When I hire, I look for scars - a measure of wisdom -
http://tinyurl.com/9ujuetz

What does work mean in 2012?
via @FT.com

The Harvard cheating scandal and cowboy ethics -  http://tinyurl.com/9yqzflr
via @WSJ.com

Namaste! 5 leadership lessons form the Moksha yoga studio - http://tinyurl.com/cayj6wl
via @FastCompany.com

Aspirational goals, delivering as promised, getting the right people on the bus and more from Campbell's CEO -
http://tinyurl.com/8qfqn2h

Yes, leadership more about managing messes than solving problems: The Mesy Business of Management -
 http://tinyurl.com/8eutcf9
via @mismr

'Interesting observations about "unwritten rules:" Which does your organization or boss have?  http://tinyurl.com/9pm3esg
via @Chronicle.com

"To hit one out of the park, keep your eye on the ball." - Good advice & book review from Harvey Mackay
http://tinyurl.com/9shoe2n

Adversity creates character, and "character, more than IQ, is what leads to real and lasting success
http://tinyurl.com/9crq8cr
via @WSJ.com


 


If you missed it, below is a copy of my last blog: Adventure Learning in the BWCA. A portion of September's article, the "Work Word Cloud" project follows. Be sure to enter the "Who Said This?" contest at the bottom of this newsletter to win an autographed copy of Navigating Integrity - Transforming Business As Usual Into Business At Its Best.
Adventure Learning in the BWCA
BWCA paddling home banner  
 

As summer transitioned to fall not long ago, it was time for our annual adventure in the BWCA. (For those farther afield, Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area is over a million acres of waterways and forest on the Canadian border, virtually as it was when the glaciers retreated 10,000 years ago.) I've been fortunate to make the BWCA trek almost every year for nearly 30 years with the same men. This year I wanted to view the experience through the lens that I often adopt for sailing adventures: what leadership and teamwork lessons are there to be learned? Here are a few:

  • "An adventure is an inconvenience rightly understood; an inconvenience is an adventure wrongly understood." (Gilbert K. Chesterton) We have two ways of looking at most uncomfortable situations: an inconvenience to merely tolerate, or an adventure to make the best of - whether a rain storm in the BWCA or a momentary setback at work.  Are we making the most of our challenges - to learn and build our capabilities?
  • "Failing to plan is planning to fail." (General Dwight Eisenhower) The odds of a rewarding and safe BWCA adventure are much higher with careful planning, including permits to gather, routes to plan, provisions needed and what to pack. Likewise, the chances of succeeding competitively are higher with careful planning. Reality intervenes, however; just as we needed to alter our BWCA plans because of fires in the area, strategic and operating plans need to accommodate shifting realities. Since all members of our party were involved formulating plans and contingency plans, execution went smoothly; plan ownership pays dividends elsewhere too. Are we failing to plan, or failing to build ownership for plans, and therefore planning to fail? Are we sufficiently flexible in order to adapt plans as needed?
  • Be aware of your surroundings. Like sailing, wilderness camping sharpens the senses. Perhaps that's because there can be real consequences for not paying attention - from drifting into dangerous rocky rapids (see  "Leading in Crises and Lessons From The Falls") to the discomfort of locating one's tent directly over a sharp rock. Organizations that don't practice careful awareness of potential opportunities or threats - external or internal - will also likely find themselves "down a creek without a paddle" or in uncomfortable situations.  Are we practicing situational awareness, and does our organization have mechanisms for staying on top of potential threats and opportunities?
  • "The map is not the territory."  Actual portages look different than they do on paper; in fact to me after a while they all look pretty much the same. Likewise, a camp site that looks great on a map - perhaps on an island or facing the sunset - could actually be very unwelcoming - wind-swept and / or devoid of fire wood. Life and work are messy, and don't neatly fit elaborate theories or models. Are we carrying around limited or outdated models or theories that limit our possibilities?
  • Experience and local knowledge count.  Partly because "the map is not the territory," it helps to travel with others who know the way - or where the fish are, or which campsite is best. Our group has no designated leaders; or rather, leadership shifts depending on what's needed. We're all experienced by this time in the BWCA, but some have a particular knack for navigation, "creative cookery," finding Walleyes or splitting wood. Are we sufficiently tapping the experience and unique capabilities of our team mates? Are we shifting leadership roles depending on who is best qualified to lead when?
  • There are always new things to learn. Most of us were already fairly accomplished campers when we started annual treks way back. What's great is observing how much we've learned from each other since then - better ways to pack, fish, cook or whatever. Of course that means we have to set our egos aside occasionally - enough to recognize that the ways we've always done things aren't necessarily always the best ways. Claude Bernard was right: "It is what we already know that prevents us from learning." Does what we or our teams already know get in the way of our learning and growth?
  • Humor helps. It's amazing how a little humor and well-intentioned kidding can make even setting a tarp up in a downpour or a "fishless," damp cold morning more enjoyable. Are we taking ourselves too seriously? Do we lighten team mates' loads occasionally by putting smiles on their faces?
  • Responsibility and good stewardship are much of what the BWCA is about. That the BWCA exists today is due largely to the stewardship of conservationists like Ernest Oberholtzer and Sigurd Olson. Preserving it for the benefit of future campers and generations requires faithfulness to Park regulations and to the spirit of those regulations - disciplines that at times seem in short supply reading headlines today.  Are we good stewards of our resources? Do we engage in "upstream" and "downstream" thinking - conscious of material sources and the impact of our actions?
  • To paraphrase Jim Collins, perhaps it's most important to "Get the right people in the canoe." An experience with the right people, even if hard, cold or uncomfortable in other ways, is vastly more enjoyable and rewarding than one with the wrong people under the best of circumstances. Life is too short to spend it with undesirable characters or with others who don't share our values and goals. Are we traveling with others who add to the experience and who share our values and goals? How can we spend more time with those kind of people?
 

Perhaps the most important lesson from wilderness camping or sailing is the value of taking time for an adventure and away from our usual routine. Not long after returning from our BWCA trek I participated in the launch of Kevin Cashman's new book  The Pause Principle. It's a wonderful reminder of the power that pausing has for renewal, creativity and growth; as Kevin puts it: "Paradoxically, pause powers purposeful performance." I hope that you are able to pause from your routine for an adventure soon.

 

One of our camping party was Steve Wilbers, a good friend, talented writer and exceptional writing coach. We were celebrating the release of his latest book: Canoeing The Boundarywaters Wilderness: A Sawbill Log; I highly recommend it!

 

The distinguishing mark of a true adventure is that it is often not fun at all while it is happening.

Kim Stanley Robinson

 

One doesn't discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.

 Andre Gide

 

It is good to have an end to journey for, but it is the journey that matters in the end.

Ursula K. Le Guin

 

Clouds At Work

(Here is one of the word clouds created from 100 responses to the question: "What 3 words describe what it's like to work in organizations today?")

See more here.
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All the best,

Al
Al Watts
inTEgro, Inc.
ph: (612) 827-2363