In This Issue
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'Tis Always The Season!
The Value of "Marginal Professionals"
Set Sail in 2016!
Twitter Highlights
WIN A FREE BOOK!
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Set Sail in 2016!
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Make room in your 2016 budget for unique and powerful leadership and team development experiences aboard Sail Pepin's well-appointed 31' sailing yachts, a scenic 90 minute drive from the Twin Cities. Click on the photo or here to begin exploring half to multi-day options for extraordinary personal, leadership, team and organizational renewal experiences.
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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:
"Only a baby with a wet diaper likes change." (J.C Penney chairman Mike Ullman)
Scientifically proven benefits of gratitude http://tinyurl.com/m894dqk
How "play," "purpose" and "potential" impact motivation. What's your organization's "ToMo"? http://tinyurl.com/nvfmfql
What is resilience? http://tinyurl.com/oao5tds
Excellent lessons for leadership and change from The Ship of Theseus: http://tinyurl.com/zqv4f52
Ethical challenges facing entrepreneurs http://tinyurl.com/pwek6z6
A close working relationship w/ a supervisor tends to result in higher performance. http://tinyurl.com/hcm6sks
Yes, measure what matters and mine your measures. http://tinyurl.com/nw4sxao
Leadership = trust; 'couldn't agree more. What makes a leader trustworthy? http://tinyurl.com/gmaycuaMeeting tomorrow's leadership challenges in multinational companies: DDI's 2016 Global Leadership Forecast http://tinyurl.com/j2b5nav
"Leading Through Storms" http://tinyurl.com/pn9n3g6
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Welcome to December's 'Tis Always The Season. Please visit the blog version to leave comments.
If you missed it, the start of "'The Value of Marginal Professionals" follows. Click on "Read more" at the end to continue, and check out inTEgro's newsletter archive to access all past articles.
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'Tis Always The Season!
"What if all we had tomorrow is what we were grateful for today?" One of our students in the Master of Organizational Leadership program at  St. Mary's University recently posed this powerful question, prompting me to fortify my efforts cultivating an "attitude of gratitude." There are too few days when I am grateful for what I already have or accomplished instead of focusing on what I hope to have or accomplish. Many of us no doubt expressed gratitude on our recent official day of Thanksgiving; this message comes to you after the big holiday in hopes of encouraging a year-long thankful outlook. The documented benefits of gratitude are many, including enhanced relationships, better sleep, improved mental and physical health, greater resiliency and higher performance. Researchers at the University of Miami and University of Pennsylvania discovered that acts of gratitude resulted in fewer visits to physicians and higher happiness scores respectively. Researchers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania documented higher productivity among workers who were thanked for their efforts compared to those who weren't. ( http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsletter_article/in-praise-of-gratitude) Even given evidence of gratitude's benefits, it's sometimes hard; we under-estimate its impact, we're too hurried, pressured or focused on what's next, we're fearful it might make us appear "soft," or we're simply at a loss for how to do it. Here are some suggestions: - Be mindful. Look around; take stock. What things, capabilities, resources, people and experiences are you thankful for? What has gone right?
- Say "thank you" and write thank you notes. The need to be thanked and how best to express it varies, including across
 cultures. Take the time to simply thank others in a manner that will be appreciated. - Reframe. A friend who recovered from cancer helped me here. Before his illness he would grumble as I often do about snow shoveling, yard maintenance and the like; after recovery, when he could perform those tasks again, instead of saying "I have to (shovel, mow or whatever,) he would say "Thank you, now I get to (shovel, mow or whatever.) 'Easier said than done, but when a job ends unexpectedly, reframing can help us be grateful for more time with family or chances to discover better opportunities.
- Look for a "silver lining." This is really hard, because it accompanies unfortunate developments when we're usually not in the mood. I just learned that an associate's home sustained major water damage from frozen pipes; his reaction: "Oh well, I needed to remodel that area at some point." I'm sure that my health and resilience would benefit if I could muster more of that spirit when things go south.
Given inTEgro's proclaimed purpose of "transforming business as usual into business at its best," let me name a few things in my work world that I'm grateful for:
- I'm grateful for companies large and small that despite challenges consistently model effective, engaging and ethical cultures. Among those are Allianz Life, General Mills and the Mayo Clinic, Minnesota based companies named by Fortune Magazine as three of the Top 100 Places To Work in America.
- I'm grateful for Minnesota's rich culture of investing in the development of its workforce, reinforced by the breadth and diversity of its higher learning institutions. I'm grateful for opportunities as a community faculty member to teach for two of those institutions, for St. Mary's Master of Organizational Leadership program and for Metropolitan State University, both of which have strong diversity and ethical leadership components.
- I'm grateful for the solid graduate training in organization development that I received from Bowling Green State University, and that the University of St. Thomas could attract as renowned a leader for its Learning and Organization Development graduate programs as David Jamieson.
- I'm grateful that Minnesota is home to one of the strongest resources nationally for sustaining ethical cultures, the Center for Ethical Business Cultures, headed by Ron James at the University of Saint Thomas.
- I'm grateful for the role that technology plays increasing our institutions' transparency and accountability, and for its role providing access to research and resources for bettering work.
- I'm grateful for the business associates, coaches and mentors who played and continue playing a pivotal role in my personal and professional development; if you are reading this you know who you are.
- I'm grateful for many clients over the years who have given me opportunities to help them achieve their goals.
What are you grateful for? Regularly asking and answering that question are sure to pay you, your organization and close ones benefits.
"Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses."
Alphonse Karr
"Gratitude is the sign of noble souls."
Aesop
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The Value of "Marginal Professionals"
Have you noticed that most of the action happens around the margins of things or across boundaries? Innovative products and medical breakthroughs often bridge biology and  chemistry or electrical and mechanical disciplines; many of Medtronics' products are prime examples. "Mashups" of musical recordings, digital technologies and art forms offer more examples. Intersections of cultures, traditions, tastes, geographical features and meteorological conditions also often yield positive results; think "Tex-Mex" cuisine, wine varietals or favorable winds for sailing when high and low pressure cells meet. Just as medical breakthroughs, popular mashups and desirable blends of cultures, tastes and conditions occur at intersections or across boundaries, we know that diverse perspectives, opinions and ideas,
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Win A Free Book! 
Enter the "WHO SAID THIS?" contest on our blog to win a free autographed copy.
"In this new book, Al Watts does a masterful job articulating how to live with integrity in your organization, on your team and in your life. A highly practical guide for leveraging the power of integrity."
- Kevin Cashman, Senior Partner Korn Ferrry
"This book expresses a strong conviction that Al Watts and I share - that integrity is fundamental for leaders and organizations to live up to their promise and potential. His simple and powerful Integrity Model is illustrated with practical and memorable examples."
- Jim Mitchell, Executive Fellow, Leadership, Center for Ethical Business Cultures, and EVP (Retired,) American Express Company
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Contact inTEgro to explore how we can be of service for strategic planning, senior team and board development or facilitating critical meetings. Click "Services" on our home page to learn more, including inTEgro's array of professional organization, team and leader surveys.
All the best,
Al
Al Watts
inTEgro, Inc.
ph: (612) 670-3715
Al Watts
inTEgro, Inc
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