Are you wearing your “yes” face?

1)    EXCUSES R US IS CLOSED FOR BUSINESS!

“Excuses R Us is Closed for Business”.  One of many signature phrases for high school music teacher Joan Rackey and experienced first-hand but Huffington Post contributor, Dave Cannon.  This beautifully written piece shares parallels with our work and reminded us of some of the “aha” moments that we share with our clients on a regular basis.

Results

“Your results will match the effort you bring but there will always be support when you want to improve.”

We talk about how our actions as leaders are correlate to the intention that we have and the commitment that we have made.  Therefore the results that we get follow that same vein.

Collaboration

“We could all be outstanding individual performers but true greatness comes with embracing your role as part of the whole?”

With the only constant in business being the increasing pace, scale and complexity of change, we work with our clients on harnessing the power that lies in collaborative thinking.  Collaboration across teams, organisations and even entire industries.  This calls for a different type of leadership capability which embraces the “missings” and which is grounded in a commitment that the future we need to create for our businesses is unlike anything we’ve done before. Achieve Breakthrough programmes can deliver collaboration within an organisation and increase internal business partnering.

Keep your eyes and ears open

“You’ll never learn anything if you don’t first listen and you’ll never push yourself if you’re ruled by doubt.”

Listening without the intent to reply demonstrates mastery of leadership, for it is often in our listening that we get access to the insights that will enable us to drive breakthroughs for our teams.  The key to mastering this ability is to ensure that you don’t have what we refer to as an “already listening” filter operating within your thought process.  “Already listenings” are created when something happens to us or around us which creates dissonance.  We don’t declare a “breakdown” or a “missing” and a failure to do this causes us to feel incomplete.  The initial experience and most poignantly our interpretation of it then becomes part of our context, the way we see the world around us and forms a filter for the way we act and the way we listen.   Next time you’re in a conversation with a colleague, tune into your “little voice” and observe what it says.  A common pattern of listening with a specific individual or on a certain topic may indicate that you have an “already listening” which you need to take action on to complete.

To read this story in full, click here

2)  DISRUPTORS IN EDUCATION: Inventing Futures wins Young Academy Accelerator award  

Two years ago, our founder established a social enterprise arm of Achieve Breakthrough called ‘Inventing Futures (IF)’, to enable young people to realize their potential and to create a future which they write for themselves. IF have delivered Enterprise Programmes with The Princes Trust and continue their work on employability with Kingston University.  But their new focus lies in realizing a commitment to disrupting educators and the government.

Some recent research that we carried out suggested that many young people leave the education system feeling vastly unprepared for the world around them and they feel ill equipped to take advantage of the opportunities that they are presented with. This is exacerbated by the lack of acknowledgment in the education system of the importance of emotional and social literacy and the underlying mindsets that enable a fulfilling life, despite its potentially profound effects.

This cross section between emotional and social intelligence and associated competencies determines how effectively we understand and express ourselves, understand others and relate with them and how we cope with daily demands and pressures. This context or frame of reference determines the outcomes that can be achieved and is made up of the individual assumptions, conclusions and an underlying mindset of what achievements are possible. If this context does not shift to one based on what’s possible versus one that’s driven by historic predictability, this will serve to be the ceiling of what can be accomplished and for young people, this can be damaging for those facing a transition or a decision regarding their future.

And this is the social need, the skills gap that we face in the education system and the heart of our new commitment. The real power of our work is in helping to instill the right mindsets for people at a young age, around nine years old, and then to embed those skills and ways of thinking throughout their education with particular focus on key youth transitions where big decisions are made. By focusing on the education system, we use our proven approach to tackle the inter-related issues concerning young people and their aspirations, enabling them to achieve their fullest potential.

That is why we exist – to build high levels of social and emotional acuity for our young people, creating a new context for them which enables them to create a future which they write for themselves based on what is possible for them individually and collectively versus what is predictable.

And at the end of May, we were recognised for our potential to drive systemic change in the education system and to impact the lives of millions of young people by winning a place on The Young Academy Programme.

The Programme lead from The Young Foundation said:

“We’re delighted to welcome Inventing Futures onto the course as part of a cohort of social ventures tackling inequality in education. We feel they have the combination of innovative product and motivated team that gives them real potential to grow their positive impact through The Young Academy Programme.”

To read more about IF visit: www.inventingfutures.org and you can also find out more about the amazing Young Academy Programme here.

3) ENVISION, ENGAGE AND EXECUTE:  The Emergence of Conscious Leadership

We really enjoyed an article in the Huffington Post this month which talked about a global shift in consciousness which has seen the emergence of a conscious leadership movement.  The narrative reflected the journey of our own business at Achieve Breakthrough and the kind of work we are increasingly doing with our clients.  In a world where the only constant is the increasing pace, scale and complexity of change, leaders need to embrace emerging business models that recognise their purpose of a business as well as its pursuit of profit. But conscious leadership is a very different beast.

Those who are part of the conscious leadership movement say that to become the kind of leader that can drive purpose alongside profit, they must develop and hone three core abilities:

i) The ability to envision a strong and visionary purpose.

ii) The ability to engage others in your vision both within your organization but also externally with partners and across industry with competitors.

ii) And finally the ability to execute.  These are abilities that we recognise.

The most instrumental ability in shifting from conventional to conscious leadership is the ability to develop a big vision of what is possible.

The Huffington Post contributor says:

“They turn their vision into a powerful purpose used to drive their business. Leaders understand it is their responsibility to dream the future so vividly and communicate it so precisely that others will want to become a part of their team.”

To read the article in full, click here  and if you’d like to hear more about our Conscious Leadership Programmes contact Sam Ali on 07503 434 862.

4) A JOURNEY TO CHILE:  In search of Blue

The next chapter on the epic journey of Lindsay and her sons to find 7 colours in 7 countries was published this month in The Independent.  Her debut novel, Jakob's Colours, is a gripping story about a young gypsy boy during WWII, who uses a legacy of colour making, to survive.

This month’s article tells of their trip to Flores de los Andes, a lapis lazuli mine that lies high in the mountains of Ovalle in central Chile at an altitude of 4200m.  In an extract from the piece, Lindsay writes:

“Juan has brought a sac with him for the boys to collect what they want. They do so, excitedly picking out the bluest brightest rocks, the colour of the deepest ocean, scattered around our feet.  The Italian’s call it Oltramarino, meaning, “from beyond the seas.”  In the past it has coloured the fresco’s of Giotto, the paints of Fra Angelico, the cloaks of Christ and the veil of the virgin Mary.  It is quite something to stand at the source of such a colour, so close to the sky, you can touch it. It rains up here only once every seven years.  But when it does so, the flowers that spring up over the bare slopes of the Flores de los Andes, are blue, as if nature itself where leaving a clue as to where we might find one of the world’s most vivid, most precious colours.”

To read the article in full or to donate to her partner charity, War Child, follow this link

5) ACHIEVE BREAKTHROUGH IN THE PRESS:  Business Partnering EPM

Pharmaceutical companies face a perfect storm of challenges.  They are under increasing pressure from investors to improve financial returns, healthcare providers around the world are trying to rein in drug prices, waste needs to be reduced and a drive for total efficiency is gaining pace.  Do more, with less and do it quicker.  A seemingly impossible brief?

Not so asserts Mike Straw in a recent article in EPM, suggesting that the key for organisations thriving in the face of such pressures lies in the procurement function.  But research suggests that the value that lies in the function is often not seen, describing procurement as the “ugly step sister.”

Mike Straw offers some insights from Hollywood as the solution, saying:

“Perhaps they need to take some advice from Will Smith’s character, Alex Hitchens in the 2005 film ‘Hitch’ in which he professes that to be loved you have to “leap and hope to God you can fly! Because otherwise, we just drop like a rock... wondering the whole way down...’why in the hell did I jump?”

Procurement functions need to take this leap and start seeing themselves as the prettiest girl at the party. To do this they need to shift their thinking.”

To read the article in full and to learn about the 4 key changes that need to be made, click here.

6)  STORY FOR INSPIRATION: Are you wearing your “yes” face?

This week’s inspiration story is a brief but powerful tale of the journey of Thomas Jefferson and a group of travellers during his time as US President.  Whilst crossing a river, its bank overflowed leaving each man fighting for his life. In this short story, the writer tells of the treacherous journey:

“A lone traveler watched the group traverse the treacherous river and then asked President Jefferson to take him across. The president agreed without hesitation, the man climbed on, and the two made it safely to the other side of the river where somebody asked him: "Why did you select the President to ask this favour?" The man was shocked, admitting he had no idea it was the President of the United States who had carried him safely across. "All I know," he said, "is that on some of your faces was written the answer 'No' and on some of them was the answer 'Yes.' His was a 'Yes' face."

The writer of this article offers a compelling interpretation of this story and of the “yes” face, saying:

"The most significant decision I make each day is my choice of an attitude. When my attitudes are right there's no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme and no challenge too great."

Our mindset and corresponding attitudes and behaviours that come from the way we think are decisive. They are decisive in the organsiations that we create. They are decisive in the leaders we become.  And they are decisive in who we are “being” in the world. So get your “yes” face on!

To read the full article, click here

 Have you got an extraordinary story that you would like considered for publishing on our monthly blog: 6 Impossible Things? Do get in touch by contacting karen.neal@achievebreakthrough.com